Prairie Ponies

Oil sketch on paper

Another little study created while traveling to the Texas coast this past weekend. The tall white flowers are called Snow on the Prairie. I hadn't seen them before. Good thing V, the farm girl, was along to tell me what I was seeing. 

Mike's Tractor

11x14 oil on panel
sold

This was my second painting of the weekend paint out. My first is really not worth showing - or keeping. But this tractor and old gnarled oak just intrigued me. It was a challenging scene to paint. I was sure I wasn't going to be able to do it. AND my new friend Mike wanted to watch me work! After a rocky start, I settled down and figured out how to paint the tree and the background and then began to make some marks on the tractor until it began to look like a tractor! Its loose and colorful. Sometimes its a lot of fun to leave things in the sketchy phase and don't retouch those bold color "test" marks. 

I'm about to head out to another type of farmland - Indiana - to celebrate my inlaws 50th wedding anniversary. Will be mixing a little business in there and plan to meet a collector about a commission of her favorite restaurant. What a cool job I have! :-)

Winter Morning

9x12 oil on panel

This morning I went painting at Spicewood Farms with Plein Air Austin. The weather was brisk, and the sun didn't make an appearance until we left, go figure, but I got a couple of nice paintings/starts. The stables were bustling with morning chores and some riders. And the horses were frisky because of the cold air.
Its funny that I don't paint horses more often. Growing up I did everything I could to be around horses. I've worked with saddlebreds, racehorses and hunters. I mucked stalls and cleaned tack and groomed all to pay for lessons and in the hopes of getting offered a ride. I eventually got to own them too (thanks Mom and Dad!) and spent many years training, riding and showing hunters. I think they are truly one of God's most amazing creations. They are such beautiful animals. And so curious and friendly. I think only the dog could compete with the loyalty and affection a horse can share with its master.


8x8 oil on panel - unfinished obviously

Red Barn

6x6 oil on panel
$110 + $11 s/h

Trekking across Indiana last week I had plenty of time in the car to sketch the passing scenery. This is one of many barns and cornfields I saw along the way. Most of the corn was still not harvested, but dried, and the trees were just beginning to show signs of turning. This is a bit of a switch for me. I can't think of the last time I painted a landscape, but my desire was to mark the trip, practice painting my impressions from pencil sketches and memory and to announce a new gallery representing me - Castle Gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Its a really wonderful space, so if you are in the area, you should make a point to go see them.

Besides getting back home and back into somewhat of the normal routine, all my time has been spent framing and shipping works to Georgia, for my OTHER new gallery. Hopefully they will have a website up soon, but I will certainly share opening info here.

Seven Strokes

oil on paper

My friend and fellow artist V Vaughan inspired me to try this "technique". Today I painted at her farm with Plein Air Austin and did several scenes using just seven brushtrokes. The idea is to plan the values and colors and how you'll lay it in, and load your brush and not lift while you make your strokes. It was a great experiment and I really enjoyed the exercise. I also found that it was a great way to lay a scene in quickly allowing more time to dabble with deatils while the light remains. I wonder if this would work for figures/cafes?