On the Way

On the Way___12 x 12 gallery wrap___for an upcoming show
YES! THis one is a larger version of my last post called On the 28th. WHen I do similar paintings I like to keep the titles similar so that I can find them in my files...This painting was prepared for an upcoming exhibit of the PACT Team at Hill Country Bible Church next month...I will talk about that as the time draws near.
I have a couple of almost full workshops drawing near...June 13-15 in Fredericksburg, TX and June 18 in Smithville, TX...I have heard that the Smithville group has been doing their "homework" which I "assigned" a few weeks ago! I am eager to meet up with some of these artists who have already worked with me!
....V

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...

Ginger

Ginger___6x6 oil on linen___a graduation gift for Katy

Please don't tell her!!!! ;)

The Shapes of Sunrise

The Shapes of Sunrise---A LESSON---painting is SOLD
I say that painting is easy! Like everything else it takes time and practice to get comfortable with all the variables. Variables such as what type of canvas? board? brush? brand of paint?...and then there's the KNOWLEDGE factor: does green and yellow make blue? what ratio of green to yellow? WHAT??? OH, I just wasted a bunch of green...
But after a while, you get better at it, or at LEAST braver! (I say that you ought to at least be brave when you try new things...this is also my driving philosophy when I am in a new town, and a rental car...I get lost a lot, but I do it with CONFIDENCE!)
I started the painting above with a class watching me. The lesson was this "painting is SIMPLY shapes of colors"...using a photo from my farm (September 30, to be precise) I made myself see the shapes of color. See below for this first step. Putting them in order first, I then COMPARE the relationships of the colors. For the finish, I make adjustments, and then "de-edge" some of the color shapes...
Now, that was a FREE lesson, but there's a little more to it...JOIN ME at one of my upcoming workshops, and I will share the rest! :) (schedule below)
WORKSHOPS:______________________________________________________________________
Jun 13-15 2011
Fredericksburg Artists School
Plein Air Color – Capturing the Impression Quickly ...or Painting and Sketching, Every Day (…and what to do with all those field studies!) http://www.fbgartschool.com/ for info and to register...hurry, it's almost full!

June 18- A one-day workshop, Smithville, TX... GREAT for beginners or "rusty" artists. Learn how to manage oil paints and the basics of painting quickly and impressionistically.

Oct 8-10
Workshop at Bone Creek, David City, NE ...in conjunction with the opening of my solo show

Passing America: The Great Plains in Lincoln, NE

FIrst Thermals

First Thermals___8x10 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains (click image for details!)
Early in the spring the air is often too cool and heavy for the buzzards to float as they like to do, but the day I painted this was warm. In fact, it was one of the very FIRST warm days of spring. The air was warm and light and the buzzards were enjoying their ride on the thermals!
I mentioned yesterday (or so) that I am a crazy person for the next couple of weeks, as my son prepares to graduate high school....CONGRATULATIONS Sam!

Spring Patchwork

Spring Patchwork-Caldwell, Kansas_8x10 oil on linen_for Passing America: The Great Plains

This one was painted through Kansas last month...a "drive-by" painting for my project.

It is GRADUATION time for my youngest son...if you have had a high school graduate in your life lately, you understand...it is a crazy time, with proms, parties, powderpuff football games, dodgeball tournaments and important things like that! Oh, yes, and academics! Tonite was the academic awards, and I am amazed at the success earned by the beautiful young people who have worked so hard! I will be erratic with posts for the ext couple of weeks...did I mention finals, parties and family and friends at graduation time???

Flyover

Flyover__Decatur, TX___8x10 oi on linen___for Passing America: The Great Plains exhibit

**YOU ARE INVITED!...FRIDAY, May 13 (TONIGHT!) I will give a gallery talk in Smithville, TX at a reception for the opening of an exhibit. Thirty of my Farm paintings are there, for a month-long exhibit we call "Missing the Farm". Come, if you can! Stay till Saturday for a special one-day workshop. E-mail me for info vvaughan8@yahoo.com

You have to look hard to see the "flyover" in this "drive-by" painting. THe last of the birds flying north from Texas last month. I was not sure what these were, but we saw pelicans when we stopped for gas. The pelicans were not in "formation" when I saw them, so these might be geese???

Lavender Textures - 1 of 2

Lavender Textures- 1 of 2__6x8 oil on linen panel___$150 or $285 for pair!

Last week I stopped by the lavender farm at Becker Vineyard in Texas. THIS time I brought my camera and snapped a few pics before going to paint a demo for Die Kuenstler (Art Association). It is late in the season...a season with NO rain, so there was NO PURPLE to speak of. This color is all imaginary. I painted two studies from my photos, because I mixed a lot of color at the demo and was able to use the "demo sky purples" in the lavender bushes. This is the first of the two....it so happens that the paintings are VERY similar and actually seem to be a continuation of the same scene. If you get my group mail, I have shown the two works together....even the perspective works right....

I will post #2 tomorrow...but e-mail me if you want to see them side by side....they make a nice "pairing"

**YOU ARE INVITED!...FRIDAY, May 13 I will give a gallery talk in Smithville, TX at a reception for the opening of an exhibit. Thirty of my Farm paintings are there, for a month-long exhibit we call "Missing the Farm". Come, if you can! Stay till Saturday for a special one-day workshop. E-mail me for info vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Tracks out of Enid_

Out of Enid__24 x 30 oil on linen...available for Passing AMerica: The Great Plains
Here is another LARGE one, worked up from a study that I posted a few days ago. Click here to read about the "drive-by" study, and see the image below.
I started the larger version as a demo in Frederikcsburg, TX Thursday for Der Kuenstler Artists. Der Kuenstler is a large group that I have done a demo for before. Many of them follow my blog, so I told them that i would post the FINAL finished version...here it is, above, . The middle version is where we left off after the 1-1/2 hour demo...the version at bottom is the study (a drive-by painting)
As I compare these, I still see a few little "oil changes" to make, but nothing significant. I really like the character of the study, but need to remember that the bigger one is a NEW work and cannot be a perfect replica.I will Photograph it again and exchange that image on this post as soon as I can, so check back in a week or so if you want to see the "final final"...

Out of Enid_24x30 demo "start" for Der Kuenstler...working from the one below

Out of Enid___8x10 "drive-by" study on linen....sold to BK

Irish North Star

Irish North Star__6x8 oil on linen panel___a commission
Here is one that is similar to others I have painted in Colorado...But this one is on its way to Ireland, I think!
Last night I did a demonstration for an art group in Fredericksburg, TX....Many of those artists follow my blog, so I am letting them know that I FINISHED the big one I started with them...y'all tune in tomorrow to see it! I THINK I am pleased with it, but we'll see tomorrow!
I have a few other demos and workshops coming this month and next. See my web site schedule page for details.

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning__18x24 oil on linen___available, and for the exhibit "Passing America..."

A few days ago I posted the small study for this painting, which was a "drive-by" memory while passing through Enid, Oklahoma. I used the drive-by study as my reference for this larger work. There are more details: more lights, street signs and vehicles. Again, I have given it a title with a broader appeal...this "Sunday Morning" could be ANYWHERE. We have all seen brilliant sunrises like this one, and they are even more special when you can enjoy them on the way to early services!. The study is below and to read about it, click here :
http://vvaughan.blogspot.com/2011/04/next-morning-enid.html


Next Morning-Enid___8x10 oil on linen panel___available for exhibit, "Passing America..."

Rowdy

Rowdy___9x12 oil on linen panel___SOLD commission


I hear Rowdy is a famous bulldog, with a prestigious bloodline! I was given the commission by one of the galleries that represents my work in Tennessee, Up Against The Wall Gallery.

Rowdy is the grandson of the Bulldog mascot at the University of Georgia (UGA VI)....this must be why he is so handsome! (He is described to me as a "sweet dog with a gigantic personality") I suppose when he is not posing for the pictures he is wild and crazy and was given his special name....I hope the collector who Mr. G, who commissioned this likes it!

Spring's Skipping Light

Spring's Skipping Light__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America...exhibit in October

We took an Easter jaunt over to my in-law's in College Station, TX and I brought the gear along to paint some drive-by's. I only did this ONE small canvas on the trip...the truck was full (5 people, and 4 small dogs who were MOST interested in my drive-by painting, or maybe they just needed my lap...).... Our south plains region is fairly flat, sloping toward the gulf coast to the east. Occasionally there is a broad vista toward the east, as in this view near Thorndale, TX.

I feel sad for our Texas farmers...it promises to be a BAD year, with the draught we are in. Already the spring color is gone, even though the pecans are only in early leaf. Everything else is the deep green of summer, and the grasses and grains are already golden, on the way to brown. We really are praying for rain...

April's New Moon

April's New Moon__16x20 oil on linen__for Passing America : The Great Plains, exhibit in the Fall

A few days ago I posted the location study for this painting. Click to see and read about it: http://vvaughan.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-moon-enidok.html When I do a small one that "works" for me, I enjoy using that small canvas as reference for a larger work. Since I have no photos of the scene I saw, I could only use the small canvas to refer to. This was fun and freed me up to make changes and play with the subject a little bit. Also, I gave it a new title, that makes the location more generic...just in case viewers cannot relate to Enid, OK...Now, hopefully, the scene will stir up something that others have seen before...something that brings back a good memory...

Texas Elevators

Texas Elevators__6x8 oil on linen panel_ for Passing America: The Great Plains

Saturday I posted a "drive-by" painting from my April plains trip...this one is from my late-February Plains Trip. it is a different view of the same location, not far from my home. I just realized this and am fascinated by the differences. The paintings were completed a month apart, so the change of seasons is noticeable. All the "art words" can be used to describe the differences: The COLOR, VALUE, CONTRAST, TEXTURE, EDGES, INTENSITY, Warm colors, Cool colors, COMPLEMENTS...ALL of these are DIFFERENT in each painting, giving each one it's personality, and specific "voice"...this is why a student artist should never have a formula! Rather, the artist needs to OBSERVE and simply match their paint with what they see! If you can match the color of something, and its relationship to the things around it, your painting will give the IMPRESSION of what you are seeing: its mood, season, temperature and all!
Happy Easter, everyone...I hope your weekend was blessed!

Near Home on the Plains

Near Home on the Plains__8x10 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains

The landscape from my home on the southern reaches of the Great Plains to the middle of our American Heartland does not change much, superficially: pastures alternate with wooded fence lines, horizons punctuated with water towers or grain elevators, and the distant "line" where plain meets sky. The main difference I observed on my early April trip was the progressive change from spring in Texas to Late Winter in Nebraska. Careful observation tells a story of uniqueness of the regions from state to state, though. I notice subtle differences in crops, architecture, wild places between the farms and even the attire of the farmers! Things that Lady Bird Johnson once described in her book as each region "speaking in its own accent". I agree with her that each area of the country has a story to tell and it ought to "speak" and retain its personality...

Meridian Highway

Tracks Out of Enid___8x10 oil on linen panel__for Passing America...but available!

Leaving Enid we had a spectacular sunrise, and I was able to start several canvases for "drive- by" paintings...this one is about the sky. As we drove I snapped photos between brush strokes, and this rail yard was my favorite foreground. I imagine the cars will be full of farm products in a few months, but this day things looked quiet there.
The route for this leg of my recent plains trip a few weeks ago was the Meridian Highway. We call it US 81, now, and it was EXACTLY what I'd hoped it would be: A BIG ROAD FOR FARMS! It passed through MANY towns, and unlike to towns in the Texas Panhandle Plains, these towns were ALIVE with commerce, mostly driven by agriculture. This Meridian Highway has a great history and even its own web site.

http://www.drivetheost.com/meridianhighway.html This web site says:

As the only primary north-south highway girding America’s heartland, the Meridian intersected with dozens of named trails, including the Old Spanish Trail at San Antonio; the Bankead Highway at Fort Worth; the Ozark Trails at Oklahoma City; the National Old Trails at Wichita; the Santa Fe Trail at Newton, Kansas; the Victory Highway at Salina, Kansas; the Lincoln Highway at Columbus, Nebraska; and the Yellowstone Trail, at Millbank, South Dakota.
In 1926 most of the 2,400-mile-long Meridian Road was converted into U.S. 81, an improved two-lane highway connecting Laredo to Joliette, North Dakota.

Lavender Layers

Lavender Layers__6x8 oil on linen panel___$150 wet!! ...sketch included

Yesterday's post was a painting at this same location, the lavender fields at Becker Vineyards in Fredericksburg, TX. Just as this is not a banner year for our bluebonnets, it looks like the lavender crop might be sparse, too. But then, maybe lavender plants peak later in the spring....for now, the plants are not very big or lush, but I like the scruffy colors in the foliage with just hints of blooming flower. Sometimes a BEAUTIFUL, thick growth of blooms can look too "fantastic" in a painting...bordering on "cartoonish"...like yesterday, I painted this from my sketch, (below). See the difference in composition?

Deere in the Lavender

Deere in the Lavender__6x8 oil on linen panel___$150 wet! (sketch is included)

Does two years in a row count as a "tradition"? I say "YES", and my friend, artist Pat Haberman and I have a tradition to go out and paint the bluebonnets on my birthday....OK, so my birthday was LAST WEEK (but we were both busy)....and there were only 17 bluebonnets in the Hill Country this year (a terrible contrast to last year's bumper crop)....so we went to the Lavender farm at Becker Vineyard... (OK, so it's too early for the lavender, but NOT BY MUCH!)...AND, it was too windy to get out the full plein air gear, so I sketched this (see below), and went home to paint it from my notes....more and more often along my Plains journey, I am finding myself very comfortable painting from memory...there's something nice about being able to "make it up", and my many years of plein air study has given me some understanding about light and color...So, I painted the one above, working only from this sketch, because I forgot to bring my camera...The paper is wrinkly because I had a death grip on it because it was so windy!

HP Bluebonnet demo

Bluebonnet demo__6x8 oil on linen__$190 wet! Thursday evening I presented a short workshop in Austin. I began the lesson with a demo, using a photo I took last year. I had pre-mixed my palette ahead of time, but I prefer the "direct" approach, mixing paint as I go along. I remember watching a demo before I was a full-time painter, and wondering "how does he know how to mix those colors?" (I learned that it takes a lot of brush mileage before you can do it instinctively)...So, for this class of less experienced artists, I had the colors prepared for the first demo, and they could focus on seeing the painting process...later in the evening they got to wrangle paint for themselves as we did one of my "Chicken Clinic" paintings together....In REAL LIFE, there are NO bluebonnets this year! What a contrast to LAST YEAR~! Thank you to ALL the workshop attendees! What a successful event thrown by Hyde Park Baptist School at their Quarries Campus. Jillynn Shaver had it perfectly planned and the only bad part was that it was too short! We all had fun painting (and EATING, and visiting, and looking at the other art there!)...I HOPE that I passed along a few bits of info to a full class of 12 or 13 painters! EVERYONE had a great outcome ...probably because we ran short on time and many had to "wing it" to finish. They finished their backgrounds "solo", and some ended up with a background color that I liked more than my own, so I changed mine when I got home! (see my "finish" below)

HP Chicken Clinic___10x8 oil on linen panel__demo $250...click image to see detail