The Hard Way

The Hard Way_____24x24 oil___ Phippen Museum Western Art Show

 

The Hard Way needs to be seen up close! Zoom in and you can see some texture there! I'll have this painting at the Phippen Museum Western Art Show in Prescott, AZ over Memorial Day Weekend. PLEASE com e see me! Below is a funny story while I painted it.

 

YESTERDAY and below

I posted info about a special workshop coming up in June. CLICK HERE to see that.

 

 

I had just finished the detail on the horse's eye, and went to get a drink, but when I came back to the easel, there were smudgies all over the area I had worked! Sometimes my little finger steadies my hand while I paint, and I "step" into the painted area with it, but these smudges were too high....I was mad! Someone came in and slapped around my wet paint!!

see culprit below

 ...dang moth



Vacquero Study

Vacquero Study __9x12 watercolor

 

Watercolor pencils are my latest toy for demonstrating drawing techniques to my special students! This one is helping me solve some problems with a studio piece I am working on in oils!

If you read the art magazines you'll see some of my work there this month. Both

Fine Art Connoisseur and Southwest Art Magazines used my works within the stories they did on the AWA Show opening this Friday.

Come meet me and other artists on November 1 at RS Hanna Gallery in

Fredericksburg, TX. You will love this wonderful gallery, and PROMISE ME that you will make a spoecial effort to meet Shannon Hanna, who has put together a fine show for the American Women Artists.

Under a Cowboy Sky

Under a Cowboy Sky___11 x 14 oil__SOLD

My Quick-Draw at the Light on the Land event

 

 

Ever heard of St. Jo, Texas?

My first time there was in August, when I had back-tracked to find highway 82 to go west and reconnect with 287 in Wichita Falls. I was headed from Ft. Worth to Colorado with my friend, and we were so busy talking that we missed our turn west and ended up in Oklahoma.... oops

But a few weeks before that, an artist friend Donna Howells-Sickles invited me to paint

in St. Jo at a brand new event called "Light on the Land"...she described her area of Texas as the north Texas Hill Country....so when Tina and I were making our way west on 82, and I noticed the beautiful scenery there near the Red River, we checked the map and, sure enough, St. Jo was just ahead!...

This weekend was the event, and the painting above was my quick-draw at last night's gala. 

Backseat Driver

Backseat Driver__8x10 oil study on panel__$450

This week I have been working from some reference obtained along my farm journeys. I remember this cattle drive alongside the road we traveled out west. We slowed down so I could paint as we passed. The drive-by painting I did then was of the COWS! It was snapped up by the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska.

This one is available!

Goliad Guns

Goliad Guns__8x10 oil "palette droppings"

I used my "palette droppings" from yesterday's work at Joel's to create Goliad Guns, above.

Using B.C's photo and a palette knife...now my palette is clean!

Yesterday morning I met at Joel's Coffee House in Austin with Artist, Robin Cheers.

Click the Joel's link for the BEST PART of what we did, yesterday...a little sidetracking with CUPCAKES...Really "good" artists would have painted them, but Robin and I just ate them. We did not know it was CUPCAKE SATURDAY, so we had to find our way with the distraction...somebody has to...

As usual, the time at Joel's passed too fast.

COME NEXT WEEK!
On Saturday, June 15, and June 22 we'll do it again! You can join us with your sketch supplies, or USE OURS! We will each do a short demo...Mine will be a quick draw like the video below...

And we persuaded Calli to do her cupcakes again!

Cost is $20

 

V....Vaughan's Quick Draw at Cowgirl Up, 2013...Thank you MIKE'S ROAD TRIP

I wonder where Mike is, TODAY?

Getaway__The Phippen Show

Getaway ___16x20 "Quick Draw" at the Phippen Museum Western Art Show

 

Last weekend I was in Arizona at the Phippen Museum Western Art Show, held at the courthouse square in Prescott, AZ. The highlight of the weekend is the "Quick Draw", when 20 artists stand back to back, draw their weapons (paint brushes!) and have one hour to complete a work of art. It is then auctioned for the benefit of the Museum (AND the artist!)...the auction is a lively time with a lot of laughs...and a little bit of competition from the art patrons! 

I call this one "Getaway"...it's one of the biggest quick draws I have ever done.

The Grand Champion painter this year was Bill Cramer, a good friend (his work is breathtaking!)...He had fun bidding on my painting, but alas, was outbid...but THANKS, BILL, for the validation!

Prescott is just about THE place for western art. I think more prominant western artist live here than ANY PLACE! Some of them (Bill Anton, Cynthia Rigden, Dave Powell) judged the art and I won THIRD place in a very competetive oil painting category.

The award winning work is below

El Presidio_Sonidos de Paz__10x30

The Right Hand

The Right Hand

12 x 12 oil on canvas

 

Like yesterday's post, I have wanted to paint this for quite a while, having shot a great photo of this cowgirl, Tara. She is the "Right Hand" that goes with "The Hand", I guess! I will resume the Birdseed Project tomorrow!

The Hand-12x12

The Hand
12 x 12 oil on canvas
I have wanted to paint this one for a while now...from a photo I took while exhibiting in Arizona at the Cowgirl Up! event. Dang if I don't forget this man's name...! He was nice enough to let me snap a few pictures at the sunset hour while we all finished up a trail ride.
***
I am in the midst of a special project I call The Birdseed Project. Please read about it, here, and watch my blog for announcements about some special things related to it!

A Little Paint

A Little Paint___8x10 oil on linen panel__$250 all wet

Here is the one I started at the corrals a couple days ago, and just now finished on the porch. I mentioned it a few days ago... it matches the other painting really well... http://vvaughan.blogspot.com/2011/07/shady-wait.html

If you click here you can see both horses along with my painting set-up....Tomorrow we head back to Texas...hot times ahead!!!

UPCOMING SCHEDULE-----------------------------------------------------------------
August___Painting the Plains...I will be ALL OVER The place, finishing my project which opens on...
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
Late Summer 2012 Workshop in a COOL PLACE...early August! TBA!

Cowgirl Up! Quick Draw, state 1

Cowgirl Up! Quick-Draw__State 1_______done and gone!
Many art shows have a "Quick-Draw". The artists create a painting or a small sculpture in one hour, then frame it and auction it to the crowd which watched the whole thing happen. It's a fun time and raises money for the museum...I usually have a quick draw painting in my head and work it from memory or a sketch. (Remember my big red poppy quick draws?) The Cowgirl Up! folks offered "models" if we wanted them, so I tried something different this time and ordered a mule!...One reason why I like painting the quick draws from memory is that I get to make it up as I go and I am not trying to make it look like the photo if I had one...So, when I got my mule, I ended up likeing the mule's owner as a subject to paint...then I thought it would be cool to do BOTH..only had an hour, and this canvas was 12 x 12...probably way too ambitious, but fun...This is "state 1", just about 3/4 of the way done. My friend Marla took the photo, and it's all I have to show for it! Still pretty rough at this stage, I actually left it fairly rough. The cowboy's name was Merlon, I think, and he had a cigar in his hand which I included in the painting...his wife bought the framed painting in the auction :)

Tall One__Sketch, cowboy, roper, Texan

"Tall One"___from my sketchbook
I am still sketching a lot these days, finding it easier to grab the pencil than the brush...and waiting for a shipment of linen panels I ordered...they arrived, so expect a little more color to come :)
The focus of my recent workshops has been DRAWING...Drawing does not always mean "pencil work". ANY painting must be drawn first, whether you use line or shapes to draw is up to you! I teach all aspects of drawing as we paint...next workshop is February 5 - 7 in Texas! Join us if you can! E-mail me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com ...yes, Barbara, this is a sketch of Frank :)

Little Drive_cows, Cowboy, horse, cattle drive

"Little Drive"__4 x 8 oil on linen___$120

That's it! Just four calves. They needed to be moved from one pasture to another, so here was Bobby, moving them on horseback. I painted this from a photo of our farm. I miss the constant activity there...and the open spaces....and the change of seasons. I have noticed that in a neighborhood, the cycles of life and seasons and even weather are not very apparent...I am eager to be back on the land some day....looking!

JOIN ME at one of these events in October:

THIS Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,

Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.

Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Mark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!

Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast is the theme....how to see and put it down and trust yourself capturing the moment!

Drawing the Gate_sketch, cowboy, horse, ranch

"Drawing the Gate""Drawing the Gate" "Drawing the Gate"___from my travel sketchbook...driving by the Birdwell Ranch in New Mexico
STOP THE CAR!!!!
Yeah, I guess I might say that from time to time as I travel as a passenger across the plains...God bless my friend Barbara who was driving this leg, and who was so agreeable to "obey" hahaha.
This was a precious scene we came upon, as the mounted cowboy turned his horse, grabbed the gate and drew it shut. Then he loaded his horse in a trailer and drove off. Behind them was a small group of hereford cattle that we guessed were either dropped off or rounded up.
This scene reminded me of the frequent "wranglings" at our farm, where some of our family members were cowboys and rodeo riders and did the practical cowboying of moving cattle from pasture to pasture....I miss those days!