Spring Fed

Spring Fed___24 x 30 oil on linen

This is the one I worked on at the Chocolate Sketch class on Saturday. A typical Texas Hill country bluebonnet painting!

Many of our streams are "spring fed" as are the cattle!

I have some little things left to do, but you might not notice them so I decided to post it tonight...bigger paintings take a little time to "see". I like to hold them for many weeks and place them on walls around my house (or at coffee/chocolate shops!) to see things in different lighting conditions.I have planned this painting for a long while, after doing something outside that was very similar...

Ann's Bluebonnets

Ann's Bluebonnets__12 x 36  oil on linen__sold

 

 

I delivered this one to an old friend Friday night. Ann lives in Panama but was in town visiting family, so we had this date planned for months for her to pick up this painting...and the REAL bluebonnets are everywhere!...

The proportion made it difficult to photograph...

For the past few months I have been a spotty blogger. I hope you have enjoyed the break!

Frankly, these have been tough months, in many ways. The main thing is loss...the loss of my mom's health, mainly. I am really enjoying a lot of time with her these days, because I know I will not have her much longer....And also the loss of a few dear friends...different situations, but feeling their loss in deep ways.

If you live long enough these times happen, I know. So many of you have shared personal stories with me as we correspond.

So as Spring is here with NEW LIFE all around, PLEASE KNOW that I thank God for you...really!

Up a Creek

Up the Creek___6x8 oil study on linen___$250
Yesterday's post was looking down the creek before the fog lifted. This one is
"up the creek" just after the fog lifted.The fog cloud burned off quickly,
leaving blue skies for the rest of the day.
Blue skies are sort of boring, so I am glad I put these in FIRST.One thing I stress
when I teach is that a painter needs to FIRST paint the thing that will change the quickest.
It might be the color of a sunrise, or livestock moving by or fog, like this day. I teach painters
how to anticipate these changes....It delves into science at times, as I am
fascinated about "why"....I have some great workshops in great locations coming up!
Please sign up and come paint with me!!

_____________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule______________

April 9-13, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, 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

Blue as Fog

Blue as Fog___6x8 oil on linen__$190

Saturday we greeted the sunrise along a Hill Country creek near Marble Falls. I had hoped for sunrise color but this fog was a nice change. I had not painted "en plein fog" in awhile and it was fun this time, because we had some long views in a tight canyon.

If you take a workshop from me, be ready for some EARLY mornings. It is my favorite time to paint, because there are ALWAYS surprises!...our surprise this time was that Kay and Carol brought a tent to set up so that they could stay out of the sun and paint all day. While they set it up, I went traipsing around our perimeter, looking for things of interest. It is always good to do a "walk through"before painting. When I was a soccer coach, I always scoped out our field, from end to end and all the way around, noting things like where the sun was, and which way it was tracking....which way the wind was blowing, and if the field had any bumps or holes or even glass or rocks on it!....as a painter, I look for dangerous things like wasp nests, fire ant mounds and snakes...and if we have cell service or can get out quickly if "bad guys" show up. It all looked great till I noticed a sign on a tree right by our cars! "POSTED, no tresspassing"...Kay's tent was already staked in, so we got our stories synchronized and stayed put....ready to ask permission if someone busted us!....just to be safe, though, I left early! So, I hope they ended up OK! hahaha

_____________________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule______________________

April 9-13, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

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

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Russell Sunrise

Russell Sunrise___24 x30___SOLD at auction
I shipped my big frame and canvas out here for today's quick finish art event at the C.M. Rusell Museum auction. We were allowed to start the canvas, ahead of times and had 3 hours to finish it here. When I saw my "start" this morning (a western canyon scene...see below), I did not "feel" it! SO! I started over from scratch! The photo below shows my first strokes of blue mountains while the canyon tree remained hovering in the sky. I kept it this way as long as I could, while people watched me work on it. I enjoyed the polite comments, as people wondered what I was REALLY painting. The finish above came out OK!...
At last night's auction, the newspaper photographer caught me studying a Greg Kelsey sculpture, so Great Falls woke up to me on the front page...yikes!...see below...

BIG Gathering_ Crossing Kansas

BIG Gathering _ Crossing Kansas _24x30 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains
I am probably not finished with this one, yet...it is a large one for my plains exhibit in the fall. A few weeks ago, I posted the study for this one. It was called "Gathering for Kansas"...click link to see it and compare. The study was a "drive-by" painting, created on the move as we went past the little farm where these cows were crossing.

On the Twenty-Eighth

On the Twenty-Eighth__6x8 oil on linen__special commission
I painted this as a special commission for DB and KB...I hope they like it....the date of this farm painting was OCTOBER 28...
Saturday is the 28th of May....a day I have been preparing for for 12 years! My youngest son will graduate high school tomorrow....on his way to college and life beyond!...Just as I am on my way to an empty nest and life beyond!....We were reminded of that today, (Friday) as we went to the funeral for Aunt June....my husband's GREAT Aunt. Our families had a lot of contact with one another...it was great to see the extended family at the funeral on the south side of San Antonio...we all vowed to get together soon BEFORE the next funeral....June was almost 90. She was a friend of Grandmother Helen and married to her brother, Roy who died a few years ago....WONDERFUL TEXAS PEOPLE with a rich love of life and family...from an era that we owe a lot to..... She passed quietly in her sleep...what a blessing and GIFT to her daughters...

Gathering for Kansas

Gathering for Kansas___6x8 oil on linen panel__for my October exhibit, Passing America: The Great Plains I have returned from my latest Plains jaunt, and ended up with 18 small "drive-by" studies, several thousand photos, and lots of sketches and notes. This little scene caught my eye in Kansas on the way back. It was a small gathering of cattle crossing the gathered waters of snow melt, under a little gathering of clouds, which were the only clouds we saw on the way home. We got home just in time for a special day for my son. On Friday, April 8, he signed his letter of intent to play football at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, KS. (Now you know why I asked if anyone knows anybody in Salina or Wichita, KS!) After many college visits, and lots of consideration, Sam chose this wonderful small University and is eager to become part of that community. His high school makes a big deal when kids get scholarships, so Sam enjoyed a nice morning with his friends, and we got to dote on him for a few minutes before school. It also happened to be my birthday!!! A great day which ended with the boy pitching in a victorious baseball game, and lots of time with family and friends.... Purple CUPCAKES!!! (I am a better painter than "froster")

Friend, Priti helped design the tables complete with Kansas sunflowers and Round Rock Donuts.

The boy (coyote shirt), and some of the greatest "other boys" in Round Rock.

Vaughans 1 through 7...

...I don't talk much about my personal life...sorry to break tradition....back to art and such tomorrow!

Bluebonnet Stream 2

Bluebonnet Stream 2___6x8 oil on linen panel___wet today, dry for CHRISTmas!__$250 includes shipping
I halway expect the fllowers to start blooming! It is 85 DEGREES in Texas today!!! I am still in the midst of a week of little studies...solving bluebonnet problems! See my blog for the past three or 4 days of posts...these little works are good examples of painting shapes and colors and having the outcome look like something! Click the blog image to see the juicy details! MERRY CHRISTMAS from Texas!!!

Bluebonnet Stream 1

Bluebonnet Stream 1____6x8 oil on linen___will be dry for Christmas! $250 includes shipping
Saturday I mentioned that I have spent a few days solving "bluebonnet problems". The problems I am working on involve the little bluebonnet flower...they are very detailed, but as an Impressionist, I try not to dabble in all the details, but rather I try to create the impression of the big batch of blue! Here is one of three of the same scene I painted. They are all real JUICY and full of color. click the blog image to see the thick paint! But the paint will be dry by CHRISTmas!...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bluebonnet Stream 3

Bluebonnet Stream 3 ___6x8 oil on linen___$250 delivered for Christmas!