After spending the last decade in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Andrea Vargas has become taken with the skies of the Southwest. “They’re bold and full of majesty,” she says. “It’s easy to feel arrested and create.” 
Luna Lluena, mixed media on canvas, 40 x 20"
In Cielos de Arrebol at King Galleries, Vargas will showcase a series of landscapes of the Piedra Lumbre formations in Northern New Mexico. “Arrebol” is an evocative word in Spanish that has no straightforward English translation. “It’s literally describing the pink glow of the atmosphere, the temperament of the sky,” Vargas says, and each landscape in the show conjures up that idea. 
Cielos de Arrebol, oil on canvas, 10 x 20"
To capture these images, Vargas works both in plein air and in the studio. “I load up my Subaru with all the supplies I need for a week out in the desert,” she says. “I try and spend time getting as close to the source material as possible.” In addition to sketching, she hikes the area to get to know the landscapes and breathe in the desert air. She might complete on site, but larger works she brings back into the studio. 
Canyon Walls, oil, 30 x 30"Out of around 30 works that will be featured in the show, Vargas says there are two in particular that capture the idea of “arrebol”: Montaña de Lumbre and the titular Cielos de Arrebol. “They stay very true to the palette of the landscape,” she describes. “It’s the sky with the afterglow, and it’s the closest way I could translate it for the viewers.” Montaña de Lumbre also features the lake that is a landmark in the Piedra Lumbre region.
Wet Desert and Earth, oil on canvas, 16 x 20"In Journey of Gold, the landscape has a yellow sky that changes into a more gentle lavender. It’s a large-scale painting, which Vargas says gave her a chance to experiment. “With a bigger piece, it can be so exciting to use a range of brushes and the palette knife,” she explains. Painting in a larger format was a breakthrough for her. “There was no holding back when it came to integrating more paint. You can take risks, and the journey teaches you so much.”
Cielos de Arrebol opens with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. on July 29 at King Galleries in Santa Fe. Gallery founder Charles King says, “Andrea Vargas paints the Southwest with a combination of tight brushstrokes for the landscape, and larger flowing movement for the dramatic skies. She captures not just motion, but the emotion of her environment.”
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