Brad the Chocolatier__My sketch class demo__JOIN US Wednesday!

The second installment of "Chiaroscuro and Chocolate" is THIS WEDNESDAY, Sept 12, from 6:30 - 8:30 sharp at Joel's Coffee Shop (and tea and truffles and tees!) It is a great location for sketching, talking art and enjoying some gourmet goodies!

I hope this sketch is right side up...a little glitch shows it sideways, but this is Brad, our host and chocolatier! Email me if you want to come...cost is $30 and includes tea, coffee and my drawing supplies...you supply the sketchbook!

Signed with Polenta___a sketch

Took a little diversion today when I went with my pal Robin Cheers to sketch at Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School. We sketched during a couple of cooking demos. Here, Chef Shoyer prepares Italian Polenta, which, of course we all sampled at the end....I decided to "sign" my sketch with the Polenta and my fork...starting a trend, maybe???

 

Next week's Austin sketch workshop is WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12. 6:30 - 8:30 at Joel's Coffee Shop.

email me if you want to come! vvaughan8@yahoo

Young Hat

Young Hat___a sketch at the coffee shop

OK the details are done! It's time for Chiaroscuro and Chocolate! We can add charcoal, chalk and coffee if you like!...there will be a model there, doing coffee shop things, and Brad promises to have plenty of free tea and coffee there while he fills the place with the rich aromas of fresh made gourmet chocolate. Cost is $30 each session. Includes model fees, tea coffee...email me for a suggested supply list. 

My recent longhorn painting, "The Backfield" won the "Artist Retreat Award" at the American Plains Artists National Show, which opened in Midland last week. If you are in the area, go see the show which is at the Museum of the Southwest for the next month or so.....On my "retreat", I will be visiting a working ranch "Our Heritage Guest Ranch"  in a most beautiful area of northwestern Nebraska. Painting, hiking, and generally horsing around sounds like my "thing"...CAN'T WAIT!

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Here are some locations for a few of my workshops. email me if you want more info on any of these...

See this SPECIAL ONE.

I can't wait to see the water go down the drain BACKWARDS there!

September 6, 12, 20, 27__Austin___ "Chocolates and Chiaroscuro" contact V...,. 

Sept. 15, 2012___Salado TX, Contact Belinda Walker__1 or two spots open!

Oct. 28-30__Texas__at Fredericksburg Artists School

2013___New York City, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania...

2014___February 23-March 1___New Zealand

**BE SURE to tell me if you sign up! I like to send things to my students to get them ready, keep them "seeing", and thinking, and talking about it!

Strider_dog, sketch

Strider___a sketch for client approval

Strider's family gave me some photos so that I can paint him! Trouble is, there is no photo exactly like the pose they want, so I am combining elements from different photos and hoping that it looks like him! I like this kind of work, because it is more interesting than just copying a photo.

HERE IS SOME NEW NEWS!

-My entry in the American Plains Artists National Juried Show in Lincoln, Nebraska was awarded THIRD PLACE...

-There are still spots in my one day workshop in Rockport, TX, Thus. Oct. 21...a FULL day of "Studies and Sketching"

-My whole Colorado Sketchbook is being sold on ebay...Oct 23 is the end of the sale...GO SEE IT!

-For you football fans: the Round Rock Dragons play Leander Lions in Texas 5-A High School ball Friday night...please pray for the Dragon QB...my favorite player :)

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

Romeo_Upward

Romeo__Upward__9x12 pastel pencil on archival paper__from my sketchbook

I do not remember what he was looking at, but Romeo let me shoot the photo which I used for this sketch.

I tweaked my blog today. On the right side I added some things, including a picture of my book about the farm. And at the bottom of the page is a neat gadget to click and preview the first 15 pages of the book. If you have not seen the book, please go to the blog, scroll to the bottom, and turn the pages! It's really cool...and if you want to, you can order from there, too! If you get this post in an e-mail, click this link to go to the blog. If you want to get my postings in an e-mail, let me know, and I will add you to the group that gets the pictures FIRST...let me know vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Listener

Listener___12 x 9 pastel pencil on archival paper
Ah Romeo, my "good Dane", not "great"...
...he is EVER PRESENT, at my feet while I work, at my side while I move around the house, waiting outside the bathroom with his paws crossed while I shower...the Great Dane breed is definitely a "lap dog" breed - extremely loyal. Never hyper in trying to get attention (he's so big he just walks up and looks you in the eye...he knows I know what that means. If I do not respond, he speaks his famous, deep "woo, woo" and then a deeper big "WOO" for emphasis. He also does this if he wants to get close to me but something blocks his way...like books on the floor, or Velcro the cat. He is bothered when he can't get close to me. In fact, he is looking at me now, blocked by the chair and a pile of bills on the floor....oh Romeo, Romeo...

Parker at the Plate

"Arun Catching, and Parker at the Plate"...from my NEW Sketchbook!

One of the other Round Rock Dragon moms noticed I was running out of pages in my sketchbook, so she showed up at the last game with a BRAND NEW sketchbook just for me! Not only that, she had added her own artwork to the hard bound cover, gluing REAL DiAMONDS and embelleshments to the cover!...well, they might as well be real diamonds!

The Catcher here is my good friend Priti's boy, Arun. Just two of a team-full of great young men!

So, WELCOME to the blog-mail, Kathi! Here's your boy Parker!...The Dragons won two tough games this week!

I am off to Nebraska EARLY Saturday...will miss my other son's series. UMHB won their first game tonight, though. GO CRU! Sweep 'em up!

Please come meet me at the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art. The Artist's reception for "Last Year on the Farm: Seasons of 24" is THIS Sunday, March 30, from 4 - 7. David City, NE...

See you there!