Trout Ready

Trout Ready___8x6 oil on linen panel__available at Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, Feb 17-20, 2011

SEWE is in Charleston, SC. It is my FAVORITE SHOW each year, for so many reasons! For the next few days I will depart from my Great Plains project posts, and show off some of the small works I am taking to The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in a couple weeks. Of course, as my blog buddy, you have the first chance to claim it, if you are interested in a purchase. Please e-mail me! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

For you artists, below is a conversation with an artist pal Robin Cheers. We had a chit chat, today...everyone can relate to it! If you look at Robin's work you would never guess she EVER struggles with ANYTHING!

R...instead of painting, when I have a real painting to do, I do other things, look for the perfect image to work from, change my mind, etc.
Here is the reply...and a DISCLAIMER: It is ESPECIALLY for my WOMEN artists!
V....Every artist does that!!…some days it just rolls out of us, and then when we REALLY Want to do a good one, we fall into a “hold” or “circle pattern”…hovering and agitating and hearing voices that say “what do you think you are doing…??”
One of the most amazing things I have noticed about SOME artists (usually a man) who picks up the brush and BOLDLY slaps on the paint and thinks that each stroke he makes is brilliant and presents a loose, high contrasty thing and immediately sells it!!...with cockiness!! They just don’t seem to anguish like we do…but they GET AFTER IT AND CONQUER IT! We tend to try to “love” our paintings into quality…they aim to “CONQUER” it, and end up with stronger works many times!

Hmmm….as I type this I am thinking I should go “CONQUER” something right now!

Fish For Supper__Trout, sketch, fish

Fish for Supper___Sketch #24 from my Colorado Sketchbook...to be auctioned soon
When my guys catch fish in Colorado, we have a rule...no cooking it till I get to photograph or sketch it...and I only CLEAN the tabletop where I laid it down...no cleaning fish for me! I set this little still-life up with grapes, apples and tabasco and the little trout...yum~!
THis entire sketchbook will be auctioned, probably starting next week. To see all the sketches posted so far, go to the BLOG and scroll down into mid July :)

Fruity Demo__still life, fruit, grapes, pears

Fruity__a demo___9x12 oil on student canvas___$280
Yesterday, I painted a demo to kick off Gail Smith's workshop in San Antonio. There were 15 or so artists of all ages and they were nice enough to watch me paint this and hear what I had to say about working with a LIMITED PALETTE....This work was created with only Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Yellow Light and white. Painting with a limited color palette helps an artist SEE better, and is a good way to improve QUICKLY!
...Gail is one of my BEST friends, and someone I greatly admire. She is the art department head at San Antonio Christian Schools and her students are some of the most accomplished artists in TEXAS! Each year they CLEAN UP the awards at the prestigious San Antonio Stock Show/Rodeo Youth Art Competitions...and their works sell for MANY thousands of dollars at auction!...some of these kids have their entire college expenses nearly paid in full from their Art contest winnings...I am MOST impressed with how Gail crafts their artistic abilities...she is a fine artist and AMAZING teacher!...

Grapes in Florence__14 x 11 oil on linen

"Grapes in Florence"__14 x 11 oil on linen
Everyone knows that Florence is in TEXAS! But not everyone knows there is a beautiful vineyard there!. I painted at The Vineyard, today, with a buddy artist and here's what happened....They are just about to harvest these little beauties.
I shared this painting thought with someone in my workshop lately, and it came to me, again today:

Approach your painting time with NO idea in mind about HOW it ought to look….
Any thought you have about what it ought to look like is just you IMAGINING SOMEONE ELSE’S PAINTING, anyway…”grown ups” tend to do this more than youngsters, because we KNOW good art when we see it. The reason why we WANT to create is because something impressed us “out there” and we want to do it, too! ….after a lot of brush miles, good complements, and helpful critique (even if unwanted, it’s ALL helpful), we become our own artist. And it is THEN that we can approach a painting with an idea in mind….So, I no longer think of my teachers…like “How would Kevin paint this”…or “….Rick Howell”….well, I STILL wonder how Rick would paint it..!
...any comment?

Sauce Top

"Sauce Top"__a study for H.
I made this simple study in H's sketchbook, to help him see the turn of the planes (easy to see on the cap in red...more gradual transition on the green label.) Also, for this label, we brought out the pthalo blue to make just the PERFECT green of a Tabasco Label...otherwise, the Academy students worked with a limited palette of Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium yellow light....Tonite we made it to Colorado, tomorrow begins some new works from the Rockies!

Louisiana Trout

Louisiana Trout___8x10 oil ___SOLD a long time ago!

I first posted this in October of 2006...I am editing this post on May 12, 2015, because the manufacturer of that stuff in the bottle  (which I happen to LOVE and eat on almost EVERYTHING!) has notified me today that they do not want me to use their symbols in any of my artwork...

 I am considering a series!