Finding the Name

As this painting has progressed I have had no idea what to name it.  The adobe building caught my eye years ago sitting on its hill, silhouetted against the sky and abandoned.  Every time I drive down that highway it calls to me- I've wanted to paint it for ages.

The vegetation begins, mesquites and tumbleweeds

To be honest, the thing that calls my name the most is to get inside and take a look around.  I have a thing for abandoned houses.  Old adobes like this are standing all over New Mexico, left alone to slowly crumble and die.  They often have peeling linoleum floors and scant kitchen cupboards filled with packrat leavings.  I love to stand in the rooms and imagine what life was like when the house was still loved and imagine how I would have furnished it.  

I never fail to be fascinated with how the foreground can push the background into its correct perspective

As I've begun to add the foreground, I keep being reminded of my favorite childhood movie, Disney's Sleeping Beauty.  Briar Rose's tower was behind thorns, inaccessible to intruders, and so is this house.   It's as though one could slip through that gate, cut back the mesquite growing there and find a treasure waiting.  I've decided to call this one La Bella Durmiente, the sleeping beauty- New Mexico style.  

Thanks for stopping by! Alice