<<<    to my website    >>>

>>> Check my Countdown Clock <<<
scroll to the bottom for the newest entry

................................................................	....................................................................................................................................................................	..................	....................................... Index Below
click here to open present	Holiday Party Time (12/1):          Tonight several docent friends, from the Albuquerque Museum, are coming over for a party. These docents and I are on the team that gives tours every other Tuesday morning. Good friends deserve a good party. Frani has been baking up a storm. Now is the time of year for me to destroy my diet. I've been holding my weight at 206 1/2 lbs. But for how long - only time will tell.         Tomorrow, the watercolor society holds it's holiday party at the museum. I get to play Santa and pass out presents. It's sort of an exchange called a "Chinese Auction". If you bring a matted watercolor wrapped in christmas paper - then you will go home with a painting you choose - unless someone takes it from you. If three people have had the painting then it goes home with the third person. Lots of fun - and everyone goes home with someone's original watercolor. Even Santa gets to bring home a masterpiece.		About Me March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007
	Detail of my Cluster Map:          If you click on any region of the globe (on my cluster map) on my home page you will see an enlarged view of that portion of the world. This gives a better idea where the visitors to my web site live. Below is a view of North America from this morning. click on the map for a larger view		October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008
Send a dollar for each ticket you want to: CARMELITE  GIFTSHOP 2155 TERRY RD. JACKSON MS 39204 601-373-3412 to see the quilt click on photo	Win a Quilt Made by Frani (12/2):          Every year my beautiful wife Frani donates one of her famous quilts to the Carmelite Nuns in Jackson, Mississippi.  They give it away as a "Door Prize" by selecting from the one dollar tickets sold. They can't call it a raffle - something about the laws in Mississippi. Frani's older sister Mary is a Carmelite Nun in Jackson. Someone has to pray for souls like me.         If you would like to buy chances on the quilt - send $1 times the number of chances you want to: CARMELITE  GIFTSHOP 2155 TERRY RD JACKSON MS 39204 Include your name, address and phone number - the good nuns will fill out the tickets for you (you can always trust nuns) and they will contact you if you become the lucky winner. Frani's quilt has double batting so it will keep you warm even in Minnesota. It fits on a Queen Sized bed. I shot the photo on our bed. All her quilts are pieced by machine and machine quilted by a professional quilter in Kansas City. You can get a good look at the quilt at: http://www.taospaint.com/Carmelite/Quilt.html The drawing takes place on December 25th be sure your donation is mailed on time Feeling Lucky ?  Win a Quilt
	Playing Santa:            Today I played Santa at the NMWS holiday party at the Albuquerque Museum. It is a potluck party and Frani is brought BBQ brisket. This year's was a fun party as it always is. Frani and I came home with a masterpiece.          When I checked my e-mail last night - I got a real laugh. The triplets sent us a link to a greeting they had created. It's a hoot. I put a link to it below - It may take a while to load but it's worth the wait. click on the picture to watch them dance From left to right: Tiffanie, Timothy, Tess and Blossom
Added to our Collection click on painting for a larger view	Museum Art Curator Position (12/3):          Today at the docent council meeting we found out that 200 people had applied for the position of Art Curator at our museum. I guess the numbers are a good sign. I had told friends around the country about the opening even though I would like to see our assistant art curator get the job. Other numbers that seem impressive is our attendance for "Temples and Tombs". We are getting 1400 to 1700 per day. That's a real plus for our little museum.          If you can't land the position at our museum - there is an opening in Las Cruces in Southern New Mexico. For a detailed job description, instructions, and application Click-Here. For information about the Las Cruces Museum System Click-Here. I can forward the e-mail notice I received if you contact me at woodyduncan@comcast.net. Duncan Art Collection:          We came home from the NMWS holiday party with a masterpiece. We are now the proud owners of a "Bob Gutchen". Bob has a specialty - he is know for the "butts" he paints. We are very glad to add his watercolor to our collection. Someone went home with my watercolor of Tim and Tess playing in the surf. Not exactly a fair trade but I hope they are happy with it.
Santa Runs Auction  >>> Members Hold Choices  >>>			be kind to snowmen remember to curb your dog
From Today's Cluster Map	Cluster Map Works (12/4):          I checked the map this morning and found people had visited my site from: 3 locations in England, 1 each in Spain, Italy, Poland, France, Finland, and Kuwait plus one in Slovakia. There were even dots in China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. In South America there was even a dot in Uruguay. This new toy will be good for my waining geography skills. In North America there were 5 dots in Canada and 1 in Mexico and of course dots at 75 locations around the US, including Alaska. I think I like my new toy and it's only been counting hits to my website for a week now. Keep Art In Our Schools CLICK HERE
Hollywood Mummy	Docent Training and Tours (12/5):          Monday we had training on New Mexican Tin Work by our museum director Cathy Wright. Her specialty is Spanish Colonial Arts. On Tuesday our team took fifth graders through Temples and Tombs. They were quite interested in the pieces from ancient Egypt. Perhaps much of this interest stems from all the movies about "Mummies" and all that scary stuff.          It's refreshing to see the museum gallery full of visitors. We are adding extra tour times to our schedule to keep up with the demand. I'm doing two tours on my next duty day to help out. Then I, like most docents will leave town, to visit family for the holidays. Next Monday we skip training to have our docent holiday party. Good friends and good food make this time of the year really special.          Frani and I also went Christmas shopping for the grandkids today. Just in case they read my blog I'd better let them know that we have "alternative gifts" just in case they are not on their best behavior this time of year. We saved all the receipts so we can get our money back on the good stuff - just in case.
"sometimes words are just not adequate to explain the beauty of an albuquerque sunset"	Sandia At Sunset (12/7): click on sunset to view larger image photo shot from our backyard
	Back to College (12/8):          On Monday, I plan to enroll a UNM. Just one course at a time for this old retired art teacher. But it's every Wednesday morning and that fits my schedule perfectly since I have docent training on Mondays and tours on Tuesdays. The course is on "The Art of Teaching in the Museum". It fits perfect with what I'm doing now. We will see if I remember how to take notes, write papers and take tests - it's been a while since this old man did anything for college credit other than paint watercolors in Taos.
	Snow on the Sandia (12/9):          Here's todays photo of our sunset against the mountain behind our house. If you look closely you can see the snow at higher altitudes. It looks like the radio towers on the peak might be covered with ice. click on sunset to view larger image
	Docent Holiday Party (12/11):          Yesterday the docents from the Albuquerque museum held our annual holiday party at the Cooperage on Lomas. It's my first time at this beautiful restaurant which is an local institution. The food was wonderful - but the company was more important.          I volunteered to help with a tour of third graders this morning. The Egyptian exhibition is really drawing in the crowds. Next Tuesday I have two tours of "Temples and Tombs" before leaving for Christmas with the triplets. Who, by the way, are iced in today. Most of the Kansas City area is shut down due to an ice storm. They have a backup generator in case the power goes out. Tiffanie phoned me at 6:30 this am to let me know how "Blossom" is doing. She is taking care of our new puppy until we bring her back to New Mexico.          Kansas may be iced in but New Mexico has the snow. The snowfall reports in this mornings paper were:         Taos Ski Valley       38 inches         Angel Fire               13 inches         Red River                24 inches         Ski Santa Fe            13 inches         Sandia Peak              6 inches         Albuquerque             0 inches (just rain) We can see our snow - on the mountain - where it belongs.
	Snow Today:          I actually saw a few snow flakes today but nothing stuck. Nature must have been baking last night because it looks like she dusted powdered sugar all over the Sandia. click on the mountain to view larger image
Gas Prices Up	Gas Price Puzzle (12/12):          I fail to understand why some folks pay more for gas than necessary. I'm not talking about why the price goes up or down - but when you have a choice - why pay more ? Now, I buy my gas at Sam's because I have a membership, it's close by and usually the best buy. I bought gas at Sam's yesterday for $257.9 per gallon. But as I drive down San Mateo there are two stations across the street from each other. Both are easy to drive in and out of. Phillips 66 sells gas at $272.9, while Chevron, across the street sells gas at $2.83.9 per gallon. Yet cars are lined up at both stations ???  For eleven cents you would think it would make cents to cross the street for gas. At 11 cents times 20 gallons, that's $2.20 in savings per tank of gas. The prices have been eleven cents apart for several days now. Am I not seeing something here ? Best Gas Price:           If you want to know where the lowest gas prices in Albuquerque are click here. It varies between $238.9 all the way up to $2.97.9 - Go Figure ???
	I'm Enrolled at UNM:          I thought I was tech savvy - but jumping through all the hoops to complete the on-line enrollment at UNM was a real pain. But I did it and my class starts on January 22nd. I'm enrolled in a 3 hour course called "The Art of Teaching in the Museum". Can a Jayhawk make it in Lobo land ?
click on the cactus  to view larger image	Snow on Cactus (12/14):          We awoke this morning to see a delightful light snow falling on our backyard. It won't last long - so I shot a few pics. We are packing for our trip back to frozen Kansas. click on the cactus to view larger image
	Recycled Watercolors (12/15):          In an effort to be "Green" we try to recycle or reuse most everything. I got my rejections from Western Federation of Watercolor Societies just yesterday. So, this morning, I recycled the same paintings. I entered all three of them into MasterWorks of New Mexico. Perhaps that juror will be kinder to my paintings for that exhibition. The recycled watercolors are below. Click on any of them to see a larger view.
Donna's Poppies to view her website click on the poppies	My Color Pallet (12/16):           Thanks to Donna, in South Dakota, for asking about my pallet and my color choices. Donna loves to paint poppies too. Just check out her website. I'm using a round plastic Quiller Pallet and the color wheel I painted (on the right) is taped to the lid. My colorwheel is based on Cyan, Magenta and Yellow as the primaries. You might call it a tertiary color wheel, although I plugged in other pigments in between.  I got most of my pigment selections from the workshop I took from Jan Hart. I love her new book on color. If you notice the spots within the color circles, I'm testing which colors will allow me to lift after they dry. Take a look at the skin tones on my recent watercolor of my grand daughter Tiffanie (above). I archived those skin tones by using careful layers of glazes with mixtures of three hues - Cobalt Blue, Rose Madder Genuine and Hansa Yellow Light. All three colors are quite transparent and lift easily allowing me to build up the desired effect. click on my colorwheel to view a larger image so you can read the hues
	Have a Very Merry Christmas See Y'all Next Year
	Scroll Up to View Earlier Entries
	let me know what you think woodyduncan@comcast.net

>>> Check my Countdown Clock <<<

<<<    back to november

on to january    >>>

END