Guitarrista

 Guitarrista__12 x 9 water soluble graphite__$290

 

Mariachi music is some of my very favorite. Growing up in south-central Texas, this music is in the background EVERYWHERE. My Ruben y Alfonso Ramos CD stays in the CD player in my downstairs bathroom...And, have you ever heard Linda Ronstadt's mariachi music? I get chills listening to her...she is the greatest! Even George Strait has a classic mariachi tune "El Rey"... Sing with me: "Yo se bien que estoy afuera, pero el dia que yo me muera, se que tendras que llorar...llorar y llorrar"...cry and cry... oops! Was I just singing? Sorry !

I had an amazing experience not long ago at San Jose Mission in San Antonio. There was a mariachi Mass going on inside, and after the service, all the musicians and a few dancing ladies in the congregation came out and played under the arches. That's what inspired this sketch....they ended with "Cielito Lindo"..."ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores"...SING, don't cry!

 

Mission Sketch and Cheery Birds

Mission San Jose Sketch

 

A few weeks ago I spent some time in San Antonio....mostly photographing, but I managed a QUICKIE sketch with a water soluble graphite stick (above)...Click image to see this one BIG...it's better bigger :)

 

Below are a couple of BIRD WORKS, by my first "guest artists" for the birdseed project!

Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing either of these! You will recognize the famous artist's name - Robin Cheers....the other artist is her mother! That explains Where R.... got her talent!!!

Please contact me if you would like to purchase one of these for the benefit of the

Birdseed Project.

 

Robin by Robin___By Robin Cheers__6 x 6 oil___available for the Birdseed Project

  

 "Sparrow" by O....Cheers__6x6___available for the Birdseed Project

 

 

 

Vuelo del Dia

Vuelo del Dia__30 x 24 oil on linen

This larger painting of the Mission San Jose (San Antonio) will be ready soon for a big celebration at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, TX.

I still have some little things to do to it, but you might not notice the changes...

This will be my last post for a few days as I head out to Arizona for Cowgirl Up!!

Please tell your friends ! 

Wickenburg is close to EVERYWHERE in AZ...The show will be up at the Desert Caballeros Museum till the end of May

El Confin de la Luz

El Confin de la Luz___a gallery work__24 x 30 oil on linen

Here is a big one I have been working on for a while. The mission, here, is San Jose in San Antonio, TX. I have had this painting in mind since last spring when I was there as a BIG STORM blew up and The rain cloud was literally over the mission, much like this.

I love the symbolism of the mission, its architecture and purpose, juxtaposed with the symbols from nature: light, shadow, storm cloud, big heavens, rain left behind, doves flying through...The title is Spanish, meaning "Boundary of the Light". It is a line from the book of Job in chapter 10....

The hardest part of this painting was the perspective drawing, and keeping the verticals vertical! If you have drawn with me, you remember how I STRESS VERTICALS on man-made things..they are ALWAYS vertical, from any angle...my next drawing workshop is June 14-17 in Fredericksburg, TX. e-mail me for info vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Back Door at Concepcion

"Back Door at Concepcion"___8 x 6 oil study on linen panel__$190 unframed and wet!
More from the San Antonio missions! Along with my painting studies, I have been reading books and studying the missions of the southwestern USA. What great stories in history...stories of America! I Love them!...I think I mentioned a while ago that we discovered a family of SKUNKS living in our garage. We keep one garage door crackes a little bit so the cats, Duster and Velcro can come and go, and since our back fence is the edge of a big ranch, we have all kinds of wildlife tromping through: deer, fox, owls, armadillos, etc...but the skunks found a place to nest in our garage. We discovered them a long time ago (guess how...phew!) but they only made a stink once or twice, then we thought they were gone...but lately we see them all the time at night and in the early pre-dawn...they eat the cat food and...GET THIS...they use the cat's litter box!!!! My husband and I suspected it for weeks (because the cats never use it, but suddenly it was being "used", and something was different about it....not "skunky", though...just different :) Well, yesterday my husband saw one of the little ones using the box!...I never heard of a litter-box-trained skunk, but we have three!

Mission San Jose_6x8 oil on linen panel

"Mission San Jose_6x8 oil study on linen panel___$190 unframed and wet! click image to see detail
The best restoration of all the San Antonio missions. I could paint here all day! San Jose means "Saint Joseph"...
I have a monitor problem, and had to edit this photo by "feel"...if it looks dark and muddy to you (like it does on MY monitor:), that's my fault! The original is really nice! Here is an endoresement: TigerDirect.com is an AMAZING web site full of all kinds of computer and digital related things. Thanks to my friend Eric, I bought a little video camera, some SD cards (4GB for $5....REALLY!), and other things I REALLY needed. Besides the amazing prices, shipping is FREE and they update you on the shipping almost every 5 minutes! I ordered on Monday and got my goodies on Wednesday...FAST!...guess it's time for a monitor...

Palm with a Mission_Concepcion_8 x 6

"Palm With a Mission"_at Concepcion___8 x 6 oil on linen study__$190 click image to enlarge.
My trip to the missions last week yielded a bunch of nice photos, but I worked this study up from a Daniel's photo! What you think, kid?...

San Jose Panorama _ study_ 4 x 10

"San Jose Panorama _Study_ 4 x 10 oil on linen panel. Click for detail...$190 unframed, $250 framed
When I visited the San Antonio Missions the other day, it was HOT...about 103 that day. (Texans are making sport of all this heat now...just 3 more days of this and we will have broken the all time record for number of days over 100 in a year! woohoo!)...Some of the living quarters in the wall around this great mission have been restored and inside these thick walled rooms, it was only about 85-90 degrees...MUCH cooler than the outside air! These rooms weren't restored last time I was there, so I was REALLY excited to see the changes! I think this is the most painted mission in San Antonio...it is simply beautiful. One time I was visiting and there was a wedding. OFTEN there is a Mariachi Mass going on...I have a really neat frame for this painting. Let me know if you want to see it framed.

Mission Concepcion__6 x 4 oil study

"Mission Concepcion_Study" 6 x 4 oil on linen with a really beautiful special frame! $220 vvauhan8@yahoo.com
Sunday after church my son and a pack of his buddies went to Schlitterbahn to say goodbye to summer. (If you ever come to central Texas in the summer you MUST spend a day at Schlitterbahn...no matter how you look in a swim suit!)...I drove my son there after church and then went on to San Antonio by myself to visit the missions with some tiny canvases on hand. I have been working with some special framing methoods for these tiny canvases, so that I can send these little gems to my great galleries. I will tell more about these frames tomorrow...