Chamisa Shack

Chamisa Shack__16x20 oil on linen__available at Act I Gallery in Taos...next week

I have not sent this one to Taos, yet, so you are first to know about it!..If it looks familiar, scroll down and you might have seen this sketch which I posted a few weeks ago. I actually did the PAINTING FIRST! It was my field study and has been unfinished till I made some "oil changes" today...now I can call it "done" and will send it off to Taos....the sketch is in my Colorado sketchbook, and I did the sketch to solve some problems in the painting! Click Here to see the whole sketchbook on my web site. RIGHT NOW I am offering the sketchbook for sale. THE WHOLE SKETCHBOOK, with field notes, grocery lists and all! I have never done this before, so I am just going to see what happens. The sale is over on Oct. 23, unless someone does "Buy it Now".

WORKSHOP in Rockport, TX this month. Email me for details! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

click to see and Watch the Sketchbook Sale on Ebay

Chamisa Shack__sketch, New Mexico, adobe

Chamisa Shack__Sketch #17 from my Colorado sketchbook to be auctioned in September

To explain this sketch, I could say "ditto" to yesterday's post! This is the same location, the same chamisa bushes and fence line. If you could see to the left of this shack, you would see the church from yesterday! This was one of those locations where you could stay in the same place and paint 4 or 5 great compositions!

Ditto, also, to the wedding plan things I mentioned yesterday.

A Gentle Sound___14 x 11 oil on linen panel__for Roundup, MOWA, Kerrville TX, April 9-11
I hope you will click the image above to see this one larger...the brush strokes look neat and the dove looks ready to fly! The Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, TX will present its annual "Roundup" on April 9-11. I brought this one and two other paintings to the museum this morning for that show.
Today "opened" a special exhibit of about 100 paintings from "Last Year on the Farm" in Marble Falls, TX. From now till April 20, the works will hang in the Gallery at 205 Main Street. PLEASE VISIT when you take your "bluebonnet" trip to the Hill Country in the next few weeks. The Gallery is open Thus. - Sunday. If you have a group of 10 or more planning to go, please let me know! I might be able to meet y'all there and give a little talk about the works and my current project.

Nestled in Taos__12 x 16, adobe, church, southwestern

" Nestled in Taos"__12 x 16 oil on linen panel__available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM
click image to see details
HELLO AGAIN! I have been in the mountains with no email or phone....painting the change of seasons in the Rocky Mountains. PLEASE stay tuned for a few sweet little paintings from this COLORFUL trip!
It started last Saturday, as I spent the day in Taos, doing business with my gallery there, ct I. I stayed on and painted this on a PERFECT DAY to paint outside! This little church is across the street from Act I, so I was able to send people inside to see finished works (just in case I flubbed the demo)...
After the demo we drove north into Colorado, to stay at my in-laws summer home along the Conejos River. Fall was in full force, so getting three artists to go 70 miles was quite a task....stopping every few minutes or so to snap pictures tends to slow you down...we'd still be out there if it weren't for dead cameras (sorry B.) and more dead batteries than you can imagine, (right N.?)....Tomorrow I will post the first one from Colorado.

Mision School Bell_archway

Mission School Bell__8 x 6 oil on linen_Available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

Well, this was one of those paintings I LOVED doing...so it, to me was a GREAT PAINTING (verb-wise)...as I got away from it for a few hours and then came back to shoot it and make this blog post, I can look at it more objectively as a "noun" painting...now, it's ordinary...to me... As I mentioned once before, there are TWO PAINTINGS every time you paint...one is a VERB, one is a NOUN....The two CAN NOT BE COMPARED! I am a very enthusiastic person, so almost ALL of my "verbs" are great paintings! (Because I LOVE THE PROCESS of painting and teaching painting!)...BUT..., I have to be real careful to sit on them a while before setting them free to the shows and galleries....often times I think a painting is good just because I had fun doing it! I think lots of artists do this. We have to step back from the verb and be very critical as to whether the "noun" painting is worthy to show...While photographing this I noticed that many of my paintings are better to photograph with the sun over my left shoulder, rather than right....for some reason the brush strokes don't catch the glare like they do when I shoot the other way....I will talk more on this tomorrow...if I remember