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.

Swept Away

Swept Away__12 x 36 oil on linen___Available at Cowgirl Up!

Wickenburg, Arizona, March 22-24

Gee, I shipped this painting off to Arizona a few weeks ago, and cannot remember the title! I am sure it is a very cool title, and I am totally sure the title is NOT "Swept Away"....but for the sake of friends who might want to comment on this one (like how about suggesting another title?)

I needed to call it something for the blog post!

I hope you will zoom in and see some of the details :)

 

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In April, the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in Nebraska is hosting a workshop with TWO fine painters leading the way! I am going out there to paint with Michael Albrechtsen and

Michael Bingham...CAN'T WAIT to be a landscape student! I think there is still room for a few more painters, so if you can, COME PAINT WITH US! The price is AMAZING for these two great painters, and I know a few of the attendees...SERIOUS artists who like to have SERIOUS fun...I have painted in these locations (see ME in the photo at the link below!)....they are BEAUTIFUL locations! Especially this time of year. Go a few days early and see the cranes on the Platte River, if you can! Here is the link with registration and location info...

http://bonecreek.org/news-events/events/plein-aire-artist-workshop/

Horse Whisper II

Horse Whisper II___7x5 oil on canvas___$150 (after it dries)

This one "goes with" the one I posted yesterday (Horse Whisper I).

Right now I am using up some "palette droppings": clumps of leftover paint from teaching all week...

This is the same horse we encountered in Nebraska last fall.

I applied the paint with a palette knife and tried hard to not mix the color....if you want this one it might be a couple weeks before it is dry enough to ship!

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Workshop: Fredericksburg Artists School, June 11-14

High School/Middle School Student Workshops: Austin, TX, June 18-21

 Southeastern Plein Air Festival, works hang thru May, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Horse Whisper I

Horse Whisper 1___5x7 oil study__$150

I have been teaching oils to my high school students and that means there are plenty of "palette droppings" after class. So I have been doing some knife studies with the globs of semi-dry paint. I have two similar ones of this horse, who I photographed in the sandhills of Nebraska a few months ago. He acted like he had never seen a pick-up truck before!

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Workshop: Fredericksburg Artists School, June 11-14

High School/Middle School Student Workshops: Austin, TX, June 18-21

 Southeastern Plein Air Festival, works hang thru May, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Head On

Head On___6x6 oil on canvas panel

The other day I painted this one at the nursing home so that my mom could watch. I told about it on my April 26 blog post. She liked it and said "paint another one!" so here is the other one! And below is how they look together. A nice little grouping!

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Workshop: Fredericksburg Artists School, June 11-14

High School/Middle School Student Workshops: Austin, TX, June 18-21

 Southeastern Plein Air Festival, works hang thru May, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Longhorn to the Right

Longhorn to the Right__6x6 oil on canvas panel___$150 unframed

Tomorrow I will post a companion painting for this one...I painted both at the nursing home for my mom. She used to travel a lot with me but can't get out anymore. Her mind is sharp and she is interested in EVERYTHING! Mom always liked watching me draw and paint, so I like to draw for her...the fun for her is just WATCHING! I reminded her that watching me paint is as exciting as watching paint dry...literally! :)

I have some great workshops SOON! Beginners welcome and the fun is guaranteed! Contact me soon for your spot....

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Workshop: Fredericksburg Artists School, June 11-14
High School/Middle School Student Workshops: Austin, TX, June 18-21
 Southeastern Plein Air Festival, works hang thru May, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Grazing Riverside

Grazing Riverside__11x14 oil on canvas panel__available at the Gadsden Art Museum

Painted on location on the Coosa River in northern Alabama. I photographed while still in the field, and never took a picture after I "formed" the horses a little better...so this (above) is a step before "finish"...below is a picture that, when I looked at it later, seems to "line up" with the scene I was painting...

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Works hang till May, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott,

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Shady Wait

Shady Wait___16 x 48 oil on wood panel (see frame below on blog___$4500

This one was painted especially for the upcoming Cowgirl Up! art show in Arizona

I did the studies for this painting right there in the corral at Colorado's Rainbow Trout Ranch last summer...This one has an unusual proportion, which really is hard to photograph....looks better in person. I shipped it and 4 other works to Arizona last week for Cowgirl Up! Talk about a FUN event! If you are anywhere near Wickenburg, AZ From March 23 to May, please go see the show. The events weekend is March 23-24, and the show runs through May.....BUT!

Today I arrived in Montana for the great C.M. Russell Auction, another huge western art event. This is my first year at the Russell, and I will be at the museum for the auction (Thursday night) and then at the Meadow Lark Country Club (on Friday morning) for a "Quick Draw", which is really a "Quick Finish" event... I am planning to do a BIG work. Come watch me paint !

______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

March 15-17, C. M. Russell Museum Auction, Great Falls, MT

March 23-25, Cowgirl Up! Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
April 9-13, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

...see my schedule for more dates and events
Framed version__click to enlarge

detail

Watercolorpencil Ponies

Watercolorpencil Ponies___12 x 18 sketch on paper___$190
I am teaching my high school classes about quick sketching and this week we are using watercolor...here is my class demo with watercolor pencils...
Next week I will do a demo in oils for the Austin Palette Club...and I have a whole bunch of things coming up soon....SEE MY UPDATED SCHEDULE! ...and please let me know if you can come to any of the events!!!

Cottonwood Chill

Cottonwood Chill___20x16 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains__$1700 unframed
With Summer here and temperatures in the 100's every day, we can only DREAM of fall! Somehow, though, "dreaming" is a good tool for the artist! ...

I remember being young and BEGGING my parents for a horse! My friends had horses and we lived neat a stable where they were kept. Every day after school and all summer long I would hang out at the stables, brushing the horses, cleaning the stalls (YES, I LOVED doing that!...ANYTHING to be around the horses...I even loved the smells!...you tom-boys know exactly what I mean!).

...my friend Betty Sue would often let me watch her horse Ginger when she was out of town. This was the best of all worlds! I got to spend every moment with Ginger, and I would take her down to a far pasture to ride bareback, to halter her up to a tree and sketch her for hours. Her eyes told me that she loved me better than Betty Sue...(dreaming, remember?). My favorite thing was riding her into the deeper waters of Walnut Creek, and she would swim across with me holding onto her mane...Walnut Creek was cool because it was spring-fed, so this was a great summertime treat!....I never got my own horse as a kid, but DREAMING about them , I think, made me a better artist! I can draw a horse now, from memory, at ANY angle....

Palominos_horses, sketch, pencil

Palominos___sketch # 19 from my Colorado Sketchbook...auction real soon

These friendly horses were right there at the same location I have posted the past few days in Southern Colorado. I did the sketches last month and have been to the Plains since then...But these horses were fidgety and milling around the whole time, as the mosquitoes were pretty furious between the rains...Note to artists...Sketching from life is good practice for your eye...even if the subject is fidgety (think 10 year old ball players, pets, wildlife at the zoo)...you will learn to decide WHAT is URGENT to put down, and what to save for later...you will "abbreviate" and use fewer lines to communicate and you will develop your own sketching plan of attack, and will see your technique develop as you choose what to omit...now, go sketch!!!

I will have a sketching workshop in Rockport Texas this upcoming fall. Contact me if you want to be on the list vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Bearing Gifts _ 20x16

Bearing Gifts__20x16 oil on linen__for Cowgirl Up! Wickenburg, AZ, March 26-28
A few months ago I posted the study for this one. It was a little 6 x 6 and sold so fast with so many great comments, that I decided to create a composition with the same theme. These are actually some of the wranglers that "wrangled" all us "cowgirls" when we went on a trail ride last year in Wickenburg at the Cowgirl Up! festivities. Please click the image to see it larger.
I just shipped out my last piece of art for this wonderful show...My favorite thing is that I am "unveiling " some spectacular new frames for this event. I have been working with a special craftsman for a few months, now, and he has created something that is UNIQUE just for my work...it something that I really like...I hope the public will, too.
When I remember to shoot the frames on my art, I will post it to show on the blog... Tell me what you think of this one, above! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Night Lights

"Night Lights"____36 x 36 oil on linen___for Cowgirl Up!__Wickenburg, AZ, March 26-28, 2010

Here is one of the big paintings I have been working on for the upcoming western art show called Cowgirl Up! in Wickenburg, Arizona. It was hard to photograph...I do not take good shots of the big ones, and there's no telling how it will look on your monitor!

If you follow my work, this one might look familiar to you! I combined a couple of my favorite themes to create this painting. I have painted this scene in the daytime...and I have recently painted this sky several times, after studies I painted in Colorado last summer.

In the Tall Grass_sketch_V....Vaughan

In the Tall Grass__9 x 12 quick sketch___$80 from my sketch book
It was a hot morning and I did not have much time to sketch this one before a 10 am baseball game...I call it an "impatient sketch". Even though it was really hot, this horse moved through the tall grass fairly quickly...click it to see some detail.
I have not mentioned this in a while, but if you want to be the first to see my daily paintings you can sign up on my BLOG to be a "follower"...or e-mail me and I will put you on the list that gets the art in a daily (almost) e-mail, if you prefer that vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Conejos Clique

"Conejos Clique".....6 x 8 oil on linen panel......$150

It has rained every afternoon....like the usual monsoon season in the southern Rockies, but it seems to be here earlier this year. This lively band of horses paused for a few minutes while I did this little sketch yesterday morning.