45 - Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret__10 x 8 oil on linen panel

#45 in the Birdseed Project

SPRING!!! Brings on the cattle egrets! I see them here most of the year now (in the southern parts of Texas), but in spring they GLOW against the electric greens of the new pasture grasses. So the cattle egrets just seem more plentiful this time of year.

For you artists: if you like to photograph white birds outside (or white ANYTHING), you will want to adjust your meter to shoot DARKER, so that the white bird's shadows will show up....and so that it is not over exposed, making it a glowy blob.

Yes, I learned this the hard way :)

Blues for Ann

Blues for Ann___8x10____SOLD

We have had a fairly good bluebonnet season this spring. Our Texas state flower is simply THE MOST beautiful flower there is. And it smells great, too! A trip to Texas I. The springtime is way worth it, just to see the bluebonnets!... I drove a little bit north today and it seems like bluebonnets are really at their peak north of Austin.  

44 - Caracara

Caracara__10 x 8 oil on linen panel__$550

#44 in the Birdseed Project

Caracaras started showing up on our farm just a couple of years before we left. I never remembered seeing them as a kid, and I heard that they were rather "new" to central Texas. We also call them Mexican Eagles, because they come up from Mexico... BIG BIRDS that sit on fence posts and stand around in fields. They are very handsome and not too shy, so I have gotten some pretty decent photos.

 

43- Hawk Greens

 Hawk Greens__8x6 oil on panel__$350

#43 in the Birdseed Project

 

Yesterday's post was this same red-tailed hawk. Click to read the story and to see a BETTER IMAGE than what you saw yesterday.

Hawks are my younger son's favorite birds, and to watch them in the fields hunting is a thrill! Below is a recent video (sped up!) of me painting a hawk!

Take a look!

 

 

42 - Red Shouldered Hawk

 

Red Shouldered Hawk__8 x 6 oil on linen panel__$350

#42 in the Birdseed Project

Please read about this important project at the link above, and consider donating!

I painted this from a photo I took of this magnificent bird out in the wild!...Yes, the busy Austin intersection of Parmer Lane and McNiel Road is a VERY wild place! That's where I saw this hawk as I drove by during rush hour! I circled back and went through the intersection again, pulling onto the shoulder and parking RIGHT NEXT to the fence wire where he perched.

Usually hawks are wary and will fly away if you park too close. This one was used to traffic and stayed long enough for me to get a BUNCH of pictures. I watched him (her?) searching the small field area for mice (or something), and flying from fence post to tree and back. He (she) actually outlasted me, and was still there after my memory card filled up and I had to drive away.

Remembered

Remembered___8x10 oil study

If you look at the tree trunks on the left you can see some of the actual grasses that stuck to the paint when I painted this on location in Nebraska last week. The day started very cold at the Bohaty Farm. They just updated their web site with some of the photos I took! Go see the Sandhill cranes that stopped by their beautiful farm that day!
 By late afternoon when I painted this, most of the snow had melted and the breeze died down and I could actually feel a little warmth from the sun...This is a long abandoned farm owned by my friend, Allen. Since it is surrounded by busy farms, everyone in these parts REMEMBERS its purpose, and the families that once lived and worked here! I bet everyone has a farm in teir memory!

Amy's Lake

Amy's Lake___8x10___sold

This lake has a name, but I forget what it is. Since my friend, Amy lives here, I call it Amy's Lake.

It is near David City, Nebraska, where I painted last week... the location where I painted the coots on that cold windy day! M.B. took this painting home with him...THANKS, M.B.!

British White Warmup

British White - Warm-Up

Last week in Nebraska, I painted with a group outside in various locations.

One location was the Bohaty Farm, one of the top breeding places for the beautiful British White catte. It was a PERFECT DAY on their farm: enthusiastic cattle people were there to purchase at their auction, the fields were full of Sandhill cranes and the artists were scattered around, creating works in oils and watercolor.This one is my morning study. I often grab a tiny canvas as a warm-up.

41- Snowy Robin

Snowy Robin__tiny oil on canvas 3.5 x 3.5__$150 includes a little easel

#41 in my Birdseed Project

 

This is a tiny warm-up painting I did in the snow over the weekend in Nebraska. There were Robins EVERYWHERE there, ALL fluffed up in the cold. My friend, Allen said that he saw one that looked confused as if to say "where is SPRING?"

That might be a better title for this little canvas...winter seems to be hanging on tight in the Great Plains!

Please consider this painting, or a little donation to the Birdseed Project!

Your purchase will provide seed for bird feeders at a nursing home, and light to a lonely place.

NOW, you can even send a few tax deductible dollars, without having to buy art!

Contact Friends of the Forgotten and mention BIRDSEED!

5th and Nebraska

5th and Nebraska___tiny oil study for Allen and Anna

This beautiful home is where Allen grew up and now lives with Anna! They are a couple of the founders of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, in David City, Nebraska. I stay with them whenever I visit there. They sweetly were my "ground transportation" last week, meeting me at the airport in a FIERCE hail storm...the kind that ONLY happens on the Great Plains!

And it hailed on us from Omaha all the way to David City, where it froze solid and then was covered with a few inches of snow. Waking to the fresh snowfall I just had to get out in it and PAINT. Since the house is on the corner of 5th and Nebraska, I have given this little study that name. That's me below, in the cold...

40- Coots are Cute

Coots are Cute___4x6 oil study on canvas

#40 in the Birdseed Project

 

I have been in Nebraska this week, painting, and participating in plenty of things with the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art!

I'll talk about it this week after I get home tomorrow.

This is my warm up sketch on the first day!

 



Bay Day

Bay Day___6x12 oil on panel__Rockport Art Festival, July 5, 2013

I started this plein air oil the last time I was down in Rockport, TX. A few days ago I uncovered it, unfinished in my studio and could see enough info that it was easy to finish. I will set it aside for the Rockport Art Festival, in early July, unless someone wants it BEFORE then!

As I type this, I am surrounded by winter's last grip on the Great Plains! So STAY TUNED for some winter paintings, which will be a real exercise for this Texas girl! I figure it will be EASY!! I brought a big tube of WHITE...

I am in Nebraska to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art! My exhibit, Last Year on the Farm was their first EVER exhibit, and that's when I became friends with the museum! I come up here EVERY CHANCE I can, and get my fill of agrarian (FARM) life, which surrounds this area of Nebraska....FRIDAY thru Sunday I will be LEARNING from painters Michael Albrectsen and Michael Bingham, both from Utah (AMAZING ARTISTS). If you are nearby PLEASE try to come to ONE EVENT here in David City, NE. I can PROBABLY get you into the workshop, even at the last minute   vvaughan8@yahoo.com

OR, come meet everyone at the opening reception for the current exhibition "The Barn as a Chapel", presented by artist Michael Wilson. Saturday, April 13, 6-8 pm...you can meet me and ALL the

Michaels, and tour this little GEM of a museum....

Ann's Bluebonnets

Ann's Bluebonnets__12 x 36  oil on linen__sold

 

 

I delivered this one to an old friend Friday night. Ann lives in Panama but was in town visiting family, so we had this date planned for months for her to pick up this painting...and the REAL bluebonnets are everywhere!...

The proportion made it difficult to photograph...

For the past few months I have been a spotty blogger. I hope you have enjoyed the break!

Frankly, these have been tough months, in many ways. The main thing is loss...the loss of my mom's health, mainly. I am really enjoying a lot of time with her these days, because I know I will not have her much longer....And also the loss of a few dear friends...different situations, but feeling their loss in deep ways.

If you live long enough these times happen, I know. So many of you have shared personal stories with me as we correspond.

So as Spring is here with NEW LIFE all around, PLEASE KNOW that I thank God for you...really!

39 Arizona Roadrunner

 Roadrunner__ in Arizona__10x10 watercolor pencil__$250 unframed

#39 in my Birdseed Project

 

YESTERDAY'S POST was put up hastily, because I needed to post before midnight and it was 11:58!

So I didn't identify the bird: a beautiful golden orange and black bird that I saw in Arizona. THE FIRST ONE to respond to my call for "help" was the greatest bird artist I know,
 Adele Earnshaw. www.adeleearnshaw.blogspot.com She is an active blogger and frequently paints birds...GO SEE!!!!...Adele is a real pal and lives in New Zealand, after many years in Arizona. New Zealand is her homeland and she achieved her dream to move there for good! (well, for HER OWN GOOD....I say it's BAD for the rest of us!!) In March 2015 I will teach a workshop in New Zealand, and Adele will be our host....CAN'T WAIT!

Tomorrow I will share my heart about a few recent struggles I have had, and why I have been a spotty blogger....so many of you care and ask....I just want to get my thoughts together before "sharing"  :)

#38 in the Birdseed Project - Hooded Oriole

 

NAME THIS BIRD__ in Arizona__6 x 86 oil__$250 unframed

#38 in my Birdseed Project

 

This one from Arizona is the Hooded Oriole. I saw him on a hike near Tucson with artist frind, Lydia Dillon-Sutton...She does the BEST BATIK art!

Here is the video of my Quick Draw at the recent Cowgirl Up event in Wickenburg, Arizona's Desert Caballeros Museum. 

Turn up your speakers!

37- House Finch

House Finch in Arizona__6 x 6 oil__$190 unframed

#37 in my Birdseed Project

 

This little bird brightens the trees in northern Arizona! Sorry the photo is blurry! I will replace it as soon as I remember...it was a rainy day and this photo is bad!

HEY! Did you see my Quick Draw Video? Here it is below! Thank you MIKE'S ROAD TRIP for sending the actual player !!! THE MUSIC IS SO COOL!!! Y'all tell me what you think! Be sure to watch to the end to see the world's best auctioneer, Carson Thomas. He made it a really fun event!

Then go LIKE MIKE on facebook! ...

 

 

ENJOY the time lapse video created by Mike's Road Trip. I told him that all my friends would watch this and LIKE HIM on facebook....PLEASE do that!!!

This painting is not available, and it is not part of my Birdseed Project. But the video is a blast!!! Watch it twice and turn up the music!

 

http://www.mikesroadtrip.com/cowgirl-up-quick-draw/

 

https://www.facebook.com/MikesRoadTrip