""Mighty Quin"____watercolor and pencil on acid free board___Lloyd Collection

Not a great picture, but look at this carefully and you will see my friend Quin Lloyd in action (a few years ago!) His wife, my greatest friend, Pam, commissioned this watercolor and pencil artwork, a montage of his athletic passions...I was not as "experienced" an artist back then, and would love to make compositional "fixes" but will have to just make BETTER ones next time! If you know a "hero" (husband, wife, CHILD...) and can send me lots of pictures, I would love to paint something like this for YOU! Please e-mail me if you want more info vvaughan8@yahoo.com

I am in Charleston RIGHT NOW for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. GREAT weather and crowds and wonderful southern hospitality! (It's REAL, y'all!). I get to do a couple of demos today, so I will be posting new works tomorrow!

Dean

Dean___from my sketchbook
I have been in South Carolina at the Wildlife show and busier than I thought I would be! I hope you enjoyed the break from hearing from me every day...As I have done the past 4 years, after the show I joined artists Joe Garcia, Adele Earnshaw and Melanie Fain at ACE Basin Wildlife Area south of Charleston. The place is wild and remote in the heart of the low country and at the edge of where sea meets the low country. It abounds with ALL KINDS of waterfowl, alligators, bald eagles, and armadillos, otters, and more. We spend our time there unwinding from the four-day show, painting, and photographing this amazing area. But the main thing we get to do is teach a full day workshop to South Carolina's Junior Duck Stamp winners. We had a group of over 20 people this year (including a few teachers and parents), who watched demos, and listened to us share our thoughts on art. A great group this year, they asked many questions and seemed VERY interested in what we had to say...Dean (above) is the Game Warden and property manager at this wildlife area. He is a biologist and a REAL EXPERT in ALL THINGS "wildlife" in this part of South Carolina. When Joe and Adele went to visit Adele's new gallery in Charleston one day, I tagged along with Dean on a drive all around the islands and wetlands. Poor guy had his brain picked for almost 3 hours, answering my questions about everything from anhinga birds to hurricanes to the ancient rice field trunks on the property....while he visited with us I sketched him on the couch...