No Water Crossing

12x12 oil on panel
Available at Kerrville Arts & Culture Center

Another of my paintings from the KOPE this past weekend.

This is a creek/river but it was completely dry this year. We've had more rains in Central Texas but they are spotty and while we might get an inch or 2 in town (or 5 in Pflugerville a couple of weeks ago) somewhere else might get none. And the lakes are filled from rains much farther upstream. I guess the rain hasn't been happening there as Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan are still only 33% full - combined!

The cottonwoods were just beginning to turn and placed so nicely against the limestone bluff that it provided a nice colorful scene despite the morning clouds.
I see things now that I'd change but I don't know....leave it as a sketch or make it more finished?

I tend to treat my plein air work as sketches. Some artists like to make their paintings complete and quite representational. But I strive for looseness in all my work and don't like to spend too long on one scene. The sun moves so quickly, too, that you really can't or you will be changing the work continuously. Better to start a new painting.

A lot of people don't realize this area of Texas is so hilly - the painting from yesterday is a good example. Here are some photos from the area. 

looking east Collins Ranch

West from Collins Ranch

View from Kerrville Hills Winery

Lovely Longhorn

  

Collins' Climb

16x12

Oil on panel

Third place Kerrville Outdoor Painters' Event

I was honored to win another award at the plein air event opening reception Saturday night. This painting was almost a sketch really. But that is more of how I approach plein air painting. The driveway into Collins ranch is about a mile and a half on caliche and goes up and down two crazy steep hills. I loved the view from top and bottom but finally settled on this view. It was late Thursday evening and the sun was moving fast. I started badly, wiped off and started again. My friend Terri Wells - http://www.terrimwells.com - was sitting next to me (we scrambled to catch the light and just sat in the road to work) and painted one of her amazing watercolors. 

What a fun weekend. Our judges, Joe Anna Arnett and James Asher, were lovely people. Many of our local plein air group were representing - taking 3 of the 5 awards! 

The sun didn't perform well in the mornings but was sure brilliant and putting out its strongest heat in the afternoons. A cool front came in late Saturday. We had really interesting sites again and the event staff and volunteers at the Kerrville arts center did a fantastic job!! 

Congratulations to Julie Davis on her much deserved first place!!

http://juliedavisstudio.com/

Plein Air Painting - Don't Fence Me In

Been pretty quite here. Well - in my art world. The rest of my life hasn't been quiet at all. I always swear I am not going to get too busy and let my calendar get too full, but its out of my control a lot of time. Since school started, its been one thing after another and this month is going to be nuts.

Starting off the month though, its me time! I'm heading back to Kerrville, Texas for their second annual paint out event. Last year, much to my own amazement, I won the grand prize for the painting below (still available!)

Don't Fence Me In
11x14 oil on panel

I'm excited to go back again and have access to some beautiful private ranches and spend time in the scenic hill country of central Texas with lots of other like minded people.

I haven't picked up a brush in a week or more. Hope I remember what to do when faced with the great outdoors and miles of options!

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. 

Foggy Top

11x14 oil on panel
$500 unframed
Available from my studio

This was such a beautiful setting. I saw it driving in and out of Bushwhack Road in Kerrville and wanted to paint it. The morning I did so was very foggy. The fog would move in and out over the hillside and I wanted to capture that haze, the muted tones and the lost edges of the hillside. The little metal roof sometimes would just glow too. Now, tonal paintings are not my forte' but I often like to try a higher "key" painting and this was a good exercise. I had a couple of fun ladies pull over where I painted along the roadside who were thrilled that I had chosen this subject. They'd often thought it needed painting. Another person pulled over to see if I had car trouble. Nice people out there in Kerrville.

Road Block

10x10 oil on panel  
$425 framed
Available at the Kerrville Arts & Culture Center

Another painting from my weekend in Kerrville. This one also hangs in the show at the KACC until Nov. 3. Just like my figurative works, I prefer closer views to vistas when painting outdoors. This sunny ranch road and gate looked so welcoming hugged by all the bright greens of the surrounding trees. 

Don't Fence Me In

11x14 oil on panel
$700
Available at the Kerrville Arts & Culture Center

What a weekend! My painting above won first place in the plein air painting event judged by Albert Handell. I am "gobsmacked" - to borrow a fun word from the Brits. Its a good word. I am still so amazed. There was a lot of talent out there - some 70 artists attended I think - and some really lovely paintings were created during the event. I am thrilled for the KACC for putting together such a good event. I hope they continue and I will definitely go back. We had access to some amazingly beautiful hill country properties. 

Above is the painting in progress along with a cute couple of goats that roamed around keeping us company. I just loved the ramshackle scene and the old gnarled oaks. I was more comfortable than ever working outdoors and didn't get lost or forget how to paint. I was able to apply what I normally in the studio quite naturally. BUT I stopped before I thought I should. LOL
That might be the key. I loved the looseness of this scene. I didn't want to go too far. 

Albert Handell (in the cap above) was the judge and he is leading a workshop in the area this week. I left three paintings at the KACC and if there are sales a percentage goes to support the excellent art community and arts center in Kerrville.

I've put a photo album of the event on my Facebook page - check it out!

Guadalupe Morning

I'm participating in a plein air painting event in Kerrville, Texas this weekend. We've had access to some beautiful spots on the river and on private ranches. I painted the one below at the river this morning and then two more out along bushwhack creek. Yep.

I'm recruiting my strength for a quick draw event at 5 pm tonight. Will be a fun challenge as its downtown and during a public block party (a monthly wine share!)

 

Sparkling River

12x16 oil on panel  
$850 framed
Available at the Kerrville Arts & Culture Center

Estuary

9x12 oil on panel - nfs

Saturday morning we got to go out to Crane House which is a private wildlife sanctuary and bed & breakfast. It was beautiful and our host, Al, was very gracious and clearly loved this special place. We saw an alligator smiling on the bank, we saw pretty pink-footed whistling ducks and lots of deer. No whooping cranes though at this time of year. During winter, they are found in the estuaries I painted above. The mosquitoes could have carried us away if not for the wind. 

This is not my cup of tea - painting vistas. I learned a long time ago when I was painting the landscape regularly that I just could not do long vistas. My friend Terri asked if I was near-sighted or far. I'm near-sighted - and without contacts/glasses - I can barely see my hand in front of my face. She, on the other hand, is far-sighted and can't see well close up. So when we painted up close subjects in the dockyards, I was happiest. It made me wonder if vision is really a factor even with corrective lenses? I obviously like to paint things close up, intimate and personal. I like to have things cropped in the foreground, or door frames, or something framing a scene even. Its an interesting idea. Terri enjoyed this long distance view and much of her work is of western desert scenes from a high perspective. I liked my sky above. That is about it. Oh, and because of the wind and insects, we timed ourselves and painted just 30 mins. or so. I hope to go back when the cranes are there. What a sight that must be!

Texas Rose

11x14 oil on panel - nfs

This past weekend I went to the Texas Coast - Rockport/Fulton area - with Plein Air Austin. We had 10 artists attend the retreat and enjoyed the challenge of painting some really tough subject matter in some equally tough conditions. The wind was up, to say the least. The oystermen on these boats didn't like it any better than we did. This boat was begging to be painted with the afternoon light hitting the one side. My friend Terri painted along with me - here she is at work on her beautiful watercolor.

It was really cool to be alongside the working docks and watching the boats come in with shrimp and oysters. They would offload them directly to a waiting refrigerated semi for overnight delivery I bet. "Texas Rose" was the name of the red boat, but with the wind, there was no way I could paint a straight enough line to try to get that on the bow.

Weather Beaten

14x18 oil on linen

This is an oldie but goodie. I don't know why it hasn't found a home, except that its been in my studio for almost 2 years. I personally love it and am proud of it. Anyway - today I submitted it to the Oil Painters of America and maybe they will accept it in their 20th annual national exhibition. The audience in Coeur d'Alene, ID should be right for it.

California Coast

Somewhere on the California Coast

3.5 x 2.5 oil on playing card

The cards I've worked on these last couple of days were "reclaimed"... I found them on the street actually a long time ago. So they have a few divets or pock marks from being run over. They are adequate for my initial experiments. Though I have several decks of cards in the house which we never use. I will gesso them this weekend and get them ready to work on.

What to do with the miniature paintings? Well, they are the size of the ACEO - or art cards - so they can be framed, matted or floating, or compiled in an album collection.

Brotherhood

12x12 oil on canvas

Available at Dutch Art Gallery Oct. 17th - Nov. 30th as part of the Daily Painters of Texas group show.

This is one I am really excited about. Very colorful. I loved the light I caught. Just one of those "ahhh" moments!

Over the Fence

I have no idea how the color will appear on these. I scanned them onto my parents computer (and have to clean the white paint off it now. Even my quick-dry white won't dry. I guess its the humidity!)
Anyway - these little sketches are of the house behind the fence at my folks'. Its newly built but in an old farmhouse style. The first one was most complete but never thought I quite got the values correct. The white house, reflecting a lot of green and blues, was deceptive. Until I really squinted, I could not get the sky and house the correct values. I then did a "thumbnail" painting of just those values with no details. I think it is closer to reality. But maybe if I'd done it in grays, I would have gotten even more accurate.
We are having such a nice time - its so nice to NOT have to do anything. This is my one break each year.

Bull Creek Study

8x8 oil on panel

This is a painting I did last week at Bull Creek when I did the one below. This was a very quick study as I decided I'd try to just block in the big shapes and worry about details later. Something Kevin Macpherson demonstrates in his first book.
The sky was a truly beautiful solid cerulean blue which is pretty typical of Texas. Big, blue, cloudless skies that stretch from horizon to horizon practically. We have "scrub" here and I've gotten so used to it that I feel rather claustrophobic in heavily wooded areas with big trees.

I was supposed to paint out today with Plein Air Austin again, but the weather (32 NOW!) and my daughter(sick again) kept me home.

December Morning

8x10 oil on panel - sold

Another plein air piece. It was COLD this morning too! I wiped off several starts and then finally decided on trying to stay in the same color family and block in large shapes and not muck about with color changes between bare trees, cedars and fall colors. I've sort of forgotten all my plein air painting techniques. I used to paint landscapes on site a lot, but its been many years and its not like riding a bike. I have to start from square one again.

Cedars

8x10 oil on panel - sold

This was done on site. And boy did I struggle. I have not painted outdoors, or landscapes, in a very long time. I moved several times and wiped off a couple of starts and was eventually inspired to do the cedars by Qiang Huang who was also out with the Plein Air Austin group on Saturday morning. These trees are quintessential Hill Country. And soon will be producing the pollen that cause most of Austin to have Cedar Fever.

Its rather an abstract little painting, but not as bad as I expected it to be when I got home. If you are interested in purchasing, send me an email.

Morning Drive

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h

This was another scene I witnessed yesterday morning - through my rear view mirror. Done from memory. We sure had a lot of rain last night again and some areas had hail and the chance of tornadoes developing. None did, thank goodness.

Country Road

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h

I am hearing Monty Python... "And now for something completely different!"

When you are having trouble, switch gears for awhile.
This was a fun little painting. Its the road my in-laws live off in Indiana. We have nice walks down to the stream and collect nuts and leaves, etc. along the way. I'd paint these areas in all the seasons if I could. Hmm... that gives me an idea for tomorrow!

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.