Cello Etude #1

By: Joel Becktell

Cello Etude #1

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Mesa and Clouds

By: Joel Becktell

Mesa and Clouds

During the monsoon in New Mexico, the skies compete with the landscape in their dramatic appearance. Sometimes the similarity of the roiling storm clouds to brush strokes is uncanny.

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Mountainside and Clouds #1

By: Joel Becktell

Mountainside and Clouds #1

I never tire of the variety and drama of monsoon clouds in New Mexico.

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Sunset #1

By: Joel Becktell

Sunset #1

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Sunset #2

By: Joel Becktell

Sunset #2

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Snow in the Bosque

By: Joel Becktell

Snow in the Bosque

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Summer Fields #1

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Fields #1

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Summer Fields #2

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Fields #2

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Summer Fields #3

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Fields #3

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Fall Sky

By: Joel Becktell

Fall Sky

Nature is a master of spatial composition. I never tire of the combinations of sky and land to be seen, with new variations daily.

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Summer Sky

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Sky

The summer monsoon in New Mexico is unreliable. Sometimes there are clouds, but little rain. On dry days, the temperatures can be scorching, and the skies are bright and burning, even if there are clouds.

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Mountainside in Fall

By: Joel Becktell

Mountainside in Fall

Not all of New Mexico is flat and sandy. That's an understatement -- the state's many mountains are not only beautiful geological features, the elevation of their slopes and peaks constitute a huge variety of climates and habitats. From a distance, the mountains themselves seem to change colors in the fall.

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Fall Landscape with Fields and Mountains

By: Joel Becktell

Fall Landscape with Fields and Mountains

Very often when I am driving, I glimpse scenes of powerful resonance, and it's hard to tear my eyes away from them. But, safety first! As I drive on, I'm reflecting on scenes that I've only glanced at briefly. These often resolve themselves in my memory as flashes of shape and color.

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Mountain Landscape, Fall

By: Joel Becktell

Mountain Landscape, Fall

Sometimes the shapes and colors of the land seem like works of a wild imagination. To me it seems a good way to try to capture the feeling of looking at such a scene is through abstraction.

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Landscape with Mountain

By: Joel Becktell

Landscape with Mountain

I love to see how the land sometimes seems as changing as the sky. Both are inexhaustible plays of color and shape.

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Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #1

By: Joel Becktell

Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #1

The Sandia Mountains are, like many New Mexico mountains, named for something red -- in this case, watermelon -- because when atmospheric conditions are right, at sunset they glow reddish-pink. They command the landscape to the east of Albuquerque, and in the morning they act first as a curtain, then a stage, for the rising sun.

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Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #2

By: Joel Becktell

Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #2

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Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #3

By: Joel Becktell

Sandia Mountain Sunrise, #3

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Piano Still Life

By: Joel Becktell

Piano Still Life

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Summer Landscape

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Landscape

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Fallow Fields, Just Before Spring

By: Joel Becktell

Fallow Fields, Just Before Spring

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Grisaille Landscape

By: Joel Becktell

Grisaille Landscape

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Night Sky with Full Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn

By: Joel Becktell

Night Sky with Full Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn

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Stand Partners

By: Joel Becktell

Stand Partners

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Landscape, Early Spring

By: Joel Becktell

Landscape, Early Spring

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Untitled

By: Joel Becktell

Untitled

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Cello, Grisaille

By: Joel Becktell

Cello, Grisaille

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Cellist

By: Joel Becktell

Cellist

I am naturally drawn to make paintings of music-making, and I like the experience of seeing them to reflect the kinetic act of playing the instrument.

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Santa Cecilia with Cello

By: Joel Becktell

Santa Cecilia with Cello

Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, is often depicted with a musical instrument, often a small pipe organ. I think it makes just as much sense for her to have a cello. I love looking at renaissance paintings, and here I used an ancient composition and subject and combined it with a modern painting style.

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Kelly Church #1

By: Joel Becktell

Kelly Church #1

I often go for walks or hikes in the Magdalena Mountains, and I usually park my car in the field next to this church. The entire mining town of Kelly was abandoned after the mines played out in the mid-20th century, and all of the buildings were actually moved down the hill to Magdalena. The only remaining building is the St. John the Baptist Church, which is a poignant and lonely sight amid the abandoned foundations and mining equipment. I have painted it a few times, sometimes varying it in my memory in the process.

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Summer Fields #4

By: Joel Becktell

Summer Fields #4

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Snow in the Bosque

By: Joel Becktell

Snow in the Bosque

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