Snowpaths

Snowpaths___8x10 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains, exhibit opens in October
The record-breaking heat in Texas has me remembering the good cold days many months ago!. This little drive-by was in the Texas High Plains on a bright, clear winter day.
My "location" work on this one was a quick oil sketch as we drove by. I finished it farther down the road, and only recently made a "painting" out of it...all from memory, letting the first IMPRESSION on canvas speak to me to complete it....
Guess what, y'all....I will be teaching a LOT real soon!...get ready!

My Schedule-----------------
August___Painting the Plains...I will be ALL OVER The place, finishing my project which opens on Oct. 7...
October 7___Passing America: The Great Plains. Lincoln, NE...Reception and Gallery Talk in the evening
Oct. 8-13___Nebraska Workshops...painting farms en plein air
Oct. 18-Nov. 17___Remembering the Farm, Solo show at Inspiration Gallery at Riverbend Church, Austin
October 27___Remembering the Farm Reception and Gallery Talk 5-8 pm. Riverbend, Austin
Nov. 9-11___Fall Workshop at Fredericksburg Artists' School
June 11-13, 2012___Spring Workshop at Fredericksburg Artists School
Summer 2012 Workshop...early August, 2012! TBA!

Uphill from Here

Uphill From Here__6x8 oil on linen panel__a "drive-by" for Passing America... exhibit, Oct., 2007

I think I will work on this one a little bit, now that I see it "in print". (A good way to "proof" your work is to look at a picture of it, a few days after it's done, when your eye is "removed" from the process of MAKING, and can view it less "personally").
Sorry that the picture has some bad glare on it! I shot it in a hurry today and only took one picture (another lesson....ALWAYS take several pictures...)
I painted this one on the way to Kansas...I only glimpsed the scene for 10-15 seconds as we drove by, and it made an "impression" that I wanted to paint....The best thing I like about this "drive-by" painting is that I happened to see the same scene on the way back! I wasn't looking for it, but there it was, and I noticed that, though I simplified the impression, (took out a few buildings and fences) it was VERY CLOSE to the actual scene!
One last lesson for you artists...your IMPRESSION of something is FAR MORE VALUABLE as ART, than copying a careful rendering of all the details! Any good technician can copy accurately, but only YOU can communicate YOUR personal impression!!!

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND__6x8 oil "drive-by" study for Passing America: The Great Plains
Another sunrise study near Rugby.
This scene passed by fast, and I sketched the buildings in quickly with just a few lines, and made notes about the color in my sketchbook. The sunrise color lingered awhile, so I was able to do the sky and use the landscape along the rails to put color notes on the canvas. I am betting that the buildings I saw look nothing like this, but the IMPRESSION I had of them is "just right" in this little painting.
Haha, My train travel buddy, Rhonda, commented that she slept through all the excitement of my night time works....I had a bunch of sketches and notes to show her the next morning....and wondered how she slept through my rattling around in the bottom bunk, frequently turning on my light to write the notes...I can sketch in the (nearly) dark, but needed a little light for the words...
I am an "impressionist", after all! And I will be teaching some of my techniques in a one-day-plus a morning workshop in Rockport, TX next Friday and Saturday. Oh, I hope the weather is 1/2 as beautiful as it was this weekend. I hear it might be a little chilly, but we have a nice classroom to work in if that happens. See details below.
I got to teach about 30 amazing ART TEACHERS at the Art Educator Days events at the Rockport Center for the Arts. THhey had a blast, taking workshops from about 10 instructors and learning a wide variety of art disciplines to take back to the classroom. These teachers are amazing artists in their own right. I had a BIGGER blast than they did!...I hope some of the local ones (and YOU!)can join the FULL day workshop next Friday!
***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Goat Barn

Pat's Goat Barn___12 x 16 oil on linen panel___workshop demo for Pat

Yesterday I taught a nice group of artists in Dripping Springs, TX. We worked at the ranch of my friend Pat Haberman. I set up here, looking up at the 100 year old goat barn, and really enjoyed painting this as our morning demo. It got really windy, but the day was so nice! THANK YOU, Pat! ...and EVERYONE else who got to come! S, P, R, N, P, D and A!

My next workshop is in a few weeks in Fredericksburg, TX. There are lots of little old buildings nearby, and I plan a drawing lesson using them as models! E-mail if you want to join us on June 14-16 (with an extra day on June 17!) vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Blue Place

Blue Place__6x8 oil on linen panel__$190 wet paint! click blog image to see the details.

One of the first places we drove by on E's secret road was this little old place, surrounded by bluebonnets! It reminded me of a story I heard about some folks who REMOVED a building like this from their property, after well over 50 years! In that long time period, the ground had been moved and tilled and disturbed, but the year after removing the house, a great batch of bluebonnets burst forth in the exact spot (and space!) of the foundation ...perfectly in the shape of the dimensions. The seed had laid dormant under the house all those years!

Tomorrow I am heading to some counties north of here with a friend, to see what bluebonnets there are doing...but I have a few more bluebonnet paintings to post from the secret road! Stay tuned!

RFD-TV

The Last Painting at the farm.....April8 2008...click here to see all 365 paintings
(well, I went back a couple times after this, but this one is official :)

TEXAS COUNTRY REPORTER is re-running the feature they did about my Last Year on the Farm. SUNDAY MORNING (10:30 am central time on RFD-TV...but check the time in your area)...They did such a great job of telling my story and show a LOT of the paintings. Please tune in to see! You can turn off the sound and cover your eyes when I am on...The paintings were featured in three solo museum shows in 2008....it's the best thing I have ever done, art-wise. This is the painting they filmed me working on...my last one at the farm... WATCH THE SHOW if you can!...let me know what you think! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

And if you are in Marble Falls, TX come see me Sunday at 1 pm. I will be giving a talk about the farm project, and there are 100 of the paintings on display. Main street Gallery, 205 Main Street...downtown

Same View

03-04-2007 Last Year on the Farm

Same view as yesterday and I will probably paint it again today! The days are bright and clear and a bit cool....but spring is DEFINITELY here. Next stop....BLUEBONNETS!