Update: Tesuque Cottonwood sold at the Santa Fe Art Auction! This beautiful view of New Mexico will be gracing a new wall and we’re sending our congratulations to the new owners.
“Clearly 1976 was a good year in the area, because there’s water in the stream and all the chamisa are green and happy.”
This week we’re back again in Tesuque. This classic Northern New Mexico landscape shows the last gasp of fall, before the leaves fall off the trees and all the chamisa shrubs die and turn into tumbleweeds. Clearly 1976 was a good year in the area, because there’s water in the stream and all the chamisa are green and happy. Judging from the clouds, the monsoon hasn’t ended yet.
Nature & Structure
The protagonist here is clearly the majestic tree, but even in this broad landscape setting, Hulings has included an interesting architectural detail. If you look carefully at the shadow in the foreground, you’ll see that it shows a railing: he is painting the scene from the vantage point of a bridge. It’s one of many examples of Hulings “keeping it real”—sure it’s a spectacular portrait of nature, but the reality of human intervention and the artist’s place as an observer of the scene both get a nod as well.
Cloud Atlas
Technically, Tesuque Cottonwood is stunning. The smooth, romantic realism of the clouds directly contrasts with the percussive technique he’s using on the tree—it’s one of many examples of his work that shows influences ranging from Thomas Moran to Jackson Pollock in the same painting. The composition is classic, with the strong presence of the tree in the upper left corner creating a diagonal line. It’s full of life and movement and suggests nature has a few surprises left for us.
Six for Sale
This beauty will be sold close to home on November 10th at Santa Fe Art Auction. It’s one of six Hulings works up for auction that day, and we’ll be doing profiles of the all of the paintings over the next few weeks. If this window to Northern New Mexico belongs on your wall, send us an email and we will introduce you to our friends at the auction.
