Spring Lace

Spring Lace___8x10 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains $590 framed and delivered

I painted this drive-by painting, somewhere in Oklahoma or Kansas, last spring... THe day was bright, and with sunshine reflecting off of EVERYTHING, there were few contrasts, except for tree trunks and buzzards!

My area of Texas is still reeling a little bit from the huge fires nearby. Several of my good friends have suffered BIG losses. I am amazed at the outpouring of fundraisers and ACTION being taken by people from all over the place...ESPECIALLY here in Texas! There are folks already out there ON SITE doing clean-up and HELPING, and not waiting for the government to sweep in here with solutions that usually cause problems on top of problems...there is something really encouraging and admirable about watching COMMUNITY roll up their sleeves...the fires rage on, with MUCH FUEL available, as everything is so parched from lack of rain...We wish we could take some of that rain from the Northeast, which is suffering, too, in their own way....

Looking West

Looking West___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains

I LOVE road trips. All my life of travel has mostly been by car, and nearly ALWAYS west, through the Great Plains. I have lived ALL my years on the Plains (except that one year I was born, they tell me, but I don't believe them, since I don't remember :)
The biggest thrill along the way, is when the LONG OPEN plains, finally end at the foot of the Rockies. We always keep a "lookout" so we can be first to say "there's the mountains!"...(bad grammar, but we are Texans! We do it on purpose just to annoy people! :)
This is another painting from a winter batch that I delivered along with the rest. My solo exhibit at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, NE is called Passing America: The Great Plains and runs from Oct. 7, through Dec. 11, 2011. Come meet me at the opening reception on Oct. 7! I will tell a few tales of my journey and purpose for this exhibit.

Winter Rest

Winter Rest__6x8 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains _$490 framed
On a plains "drive-by" last winter, I painted this as we drove on a ridge in Oklahoma. As you read this, I am probably in the same area of the country, driving home from delivering about 130 other paintings for the exhibit in Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum.
I really enjoyed my trip this weekend. First, my daughter drove from Texas to Nebraska with me. She got to meet my museum friends in Lincoln and David City, and we enjoyed the usual mother-daughter chit chat for hundreds of miles along the way! A few people commented, recently that they never knew I have a daughter, because I seldom have mentioned her. SHAME ON ME! But, I figured it's because she has been out on her own since I started blogging, and I have not been "responsible" for her athletics, activities and schooling for a few years, now!...Her name is Davie, and I had to fly her home so she could get back to work in Austin...

Great Plains Great Day

Great Plains Great Day__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
The little sketch above was the last one I painted during my winter jaunt by Amtrak from Minnesota to Montana. The plains were covered with deep snow at that time, and this sketch was in Great Falls Montana....just before I flew home.
I am posting this from a hotel room in Salina, KS, having delivered all the paintings for my solo exhibit to the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The show opens Oct 7 (come meet me at the reception!). It will run through Dec 11. That gives you THREE months to go see it, and I hope you will...Art of the West magazine did a short feature on it (see the Sept. issue, pg 18 )...and I will be posting the complete collection, all my field notes and many photos on my other blog this month. Stay tuned, and I will tell you when to go look there.

New Farm

New Farm__8x10 ol on linen panel for Passing America: THe Great Plains__$590 Framed
I write this from Kansas, with a truck-load of paintings in the hotel parking lot! Tomorrow I will unload all the works I have created for Passing America: The Great Plains. It's my story about the passing away of America's small farms and agrarian way of life.
The painting shown here is a scene I see a lot these days out on the Great Farms. The "new farm" shown is a so-called "wind farm". I focus on the landscape, but the windmills are back there on the mesa...this scene is on the Texas plains.

Channing Rain

Channing Rain___6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
Yesterday's post was painted in the same vicinity as this one....Both were painted on a trip I took along the entire Texas Plains Trail, one spring. This trip ws about 800 miles over 3 days and each day we would learn that tornados visited the place we visited the day before....it seemed as if the twisters were following us! AH, SPRINGTIME on the Great Plains!!! I remember painting this one with lots of "agitated" brushstrokes. I find that if I feel anxious, my brushwork looks that way...tornados make me anxious :)
***PLEASE follow my blog closely for the next month if you can....I have a LOT to say about upcoming events, and will be giving a lot of info about my "almost completed" plains project. I try hard to NOT say too much at a time...hate to be tedious! But I am a teacher at heart. Everything in life is a "lesson" and I like to share it...I think the lessons I have been given in the course of this 3 year project are very meaningful, and the meaning to ME might differ from the meaning to the viewer....that is the great beauty of communicating with ART!...stay tuned!

Dumas Shade

Dumas Shade___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
I am sitting at my friends' kitchen table, blogging from their computer in David City, NE....A LONG day started in Salina, KS, after a short visit with my son (and I dragged my daughter along for this ride), we headed up to Lincoln, NE to deliver 130 paintings to The Great Plains Art Museum...My show will open there on October 7, and runs through Dec. 11...
The small work above is one painted on the plains of the Texas panhandle, where shade is a big comodity this long hot summer.
I will be in Nebraska and Kansas for a few more days, telling the story of my drive-by painting effort and visiting with friends. Like the Bohaty's who we visited with tonight. They fed us a wonderful feast of their grass-fed beef from their own herd of British White cattle. We had a wonderful meal and talked about farming and such....

Left in Kansas

Left in Kansas__8x6 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
When we drove home from Kansas last Sunday, we left our son there again....couldn't persuade him to quit school and come home to mom....That's a good thing!!! We also left this beautiful END of the moon phase for August. I noticed at sunset last night, the sliver crescent of September's new moon.
This is one of the last ones I will paint for my upcoming exhibit at the University f Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum. The exhibit opens on October 7, 2011 and runs through December 11. But in a few hours I will pack the truck to drive the works to Nebraska. They need it a month early, in order to check it all in and get the exhibit literature ready...it is an exciting process. Tonight I have had enough of that kind of excitement, though...It is past 1 am and my good friend, Priti just left my studio after spending MUCH time typing in all my titles and information. WHAT A FRIEND!!! Hey Priti...I just counted, and there are 150 paintings, TOTAL....WOAH!!
I will cull out about 20, so the show will have about 130 or so...The strange part will be in the car on the way through the Plains tomorrow, I won't NEED to do any drive-by painting!

After Brownwood

After Brownwood___6x8 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains

Here is a "drive-by" painted for my project. This area of Texas is TECHNICALLY in the Great Plains, along the western edge...I painted it back when the grass was green. These days we are all suffering here, and breaking records for the number of days we have had temperatures over 100...my area is on day 75, I think. We hit 112 the other day, an ALL TIME record.

In a few days I will take 100 paintings to The University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum...I will have more info about it, and will be updating my project blog in time for the October 7 opening! Please come if you can!

The Vast

The Vast__8x10 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains

Believe it or not, we left yesterday for Kansas, and are already back to Texas (at 2 pm!) it was a whirlwind trip! We started at Round Rock Donuts, picking up a few dozen of those warm world's best donuts ...a special order from my son. I am proud to say EVERY ONE OF THEM made it to Kansas...not proud to say that I do not think I trained my son very well in the art of SHARING :)
The Kansas Wesleyan Coyote football team had their first inter-squad scrimmage game. There were about 120 men on the sideline, including SIX quarterbacks...my young freshman played about half of the second half, and did really well in a "hurry-up" , "no-huddle" offense, running plays that he had never seen before 10 days ago...The highlight of his night was a 60 yard TD pass (only about 40 of it in the air, the rest of it was from the legs of the receiver)

On Thursday, I will leave for Nebraska, to deliver the works for the exhibit, which opens on October 7.

High Plain Span

High Plain Farm Span___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
I painted this one last spring...back when it was green...These days my nearby "plainscape" is various shades of brown and gold.
In a few hours I will venture north to Kansas...painting the sunrise and HEAT along the way, I hope!...I have a few more quick trips to gather some last minute drive-bys, before the opening reception of my solo exhibit, Passing America: The Great Plains

Kansas Ridge

Kansas Ridge__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains__$490 framed/shipped
Another winter painting from my upcoming solo show.
Passing America: The Great Plains consists of about 100 paintings in oil, created mostly while ON THE MOVE through the plains. Small farms are passing away, and my works tell the story of these passing American impressions.
The exhibit opens with an artist reception (that's me!) at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln on October 7. You can see the works there from Oct. 7 through December 11. Please tell your friends! Especially the "Corn Husker" types...October 7 is the beginning of Homecoming weekend for the U of N! Please let me know if you are coming, so I can look for you!

Plain Cold

Plain Cold___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
It will be a few months before the plains look like this again....Of course I painted this on a winter drive headed west across the Great Plains. I LOVE ANY drive in this direction, because there is a DEFINITE BOUNDARY of the plain, as it STOPS at the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Often the line is severe an you can see the mountains coming from MANY miles away, like this scene in southern Colorado....My Central Texas is looking forward to another week of record breaking heat: 107 and 108 are predicted for the next few days...can you imagine?...just a few years ago, when I painted my Last Year on the Farm, I waited all summer to paint the farm on a day over 1oo degrees, but we went the whole year never getting to 100! I was disappointed!

McPherson in Kansas

McPherson in Kansas____6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains
I had planned to post this one today, anyway, and a nice coincidence happened!...A collector FROM MCPHERSON, Kansas contacted me to purchase a couple of my recent Kansas paintings. It is not every day that I hear from someone in McPherson, but now I have a new friend there! Not only that, but the college in McPherson is a rival of Kansas Wesleyan University, where my son is playing football!...We are headed up there Saturday for the first scrimmage of the year, and since I heard it is supposed to be 101 (HOT degrees) during the game, I thought I would post a painting that I did when the weather was cooler there!
I am pretty sure that my Texas boy brought the heat with him to Kansas...I sure hope they don't hold this against him!
OK, OK, I know a few of you artists were looking for something about Kevin McPherson, the great artist...I do not mind if that is what made you read this far...he is a hero of mine, too!!!

New Mexican Plain

New Mexican Plain____6x8 oil on linen__-for Passing America: The Great Plains
This one was painted on the way out of the mountains, heading east and into the Great Plains. The farms there are mainly places that grow feed for the herds of cattle...Ranches, really...I enjoy the discussion about the difference between a "farm" and a "ranch" ...weigh in , if you want to ad your two cents!

Colors of Drought

Colors of Drought___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing AMerica: The Great Plains
Driving through this southern end of the plains where I ive in Texas, is fairly depressing...somewhere in northern Oklahoma, the green appears a little bit, and it is nice and green in Kansas, but our Texas Plains are suffering from the aweful heat and drought...ONE GOOD THING, that only an artist would appreciate, is that there is more "color" with drought...when things are "normal", there is a lot of green this time of year. THe frought gives us many browns, purples, gold and warm colors to complement the blue skies...

Sandia Plain

Sandia Plain___6x8 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains
In my Great Plains studies, I've been amused by the various (and MANY) versions of the boundaries of what we call "The Great Plains". Every "expert" map shows a different line on the eastern boundary, but almost all agree that the Great Plains' western boundary ends where the Rocky Mountains begin.
My favorite drive through the plains might be on I25 where there is a HARD LINE between mountains and plains! ...THe painting here is along that route. Driving along Sandia Peak near Albuquerque, the plains are clearly in view from some of the ridges, as you look of to the east....and when you are out on the plain, one of the most thrilling things is to peel your eyes, hoping for the first glance of the mountains in the distance....

Moonset Elevators in Kansas

Moonset Elevators in Kansas__8x6 oil ___for Passing America:The Great Plains
I just now compared this one with the painting I posted yesterday...Both are "drive-by" paintings, prepared for my upcoming exhibit. Both were painted along the same stretch of highway, about 30 minutes apart. The time difference is evident by the color in the sky! As the sun got higher (at my back), the full moon dissolved into the clear sky...The morning moonset is one of my favorite subjects, and is a focus of my upcoming workshop ...I hope you will come paint with me in November...get some sleep first! We will paint the "extremes" of the daylight :) Email Bill for info: bill@fbgartschool.com

Moonset Morning Over Kansas

Moonset Morning Over Kansas ___8x6 oil on linen panel___for Passing America...exhibit reception in Oct.

I just now returned from Kansas...we took our son to college. This is my last one, and it feels a little bit strange. For the first time in over 27 years, I do not have a child at home, nor am I waiting for one to "check in" with me tonight!....I do not like how this feels at ALL...
We left the boy with his football coaches last night and went back to the hotel. I was up all night, taking my son's dog outside every few hours (she had a stomach issue....probably missing her boy)...so I saw the full moon at all stages of its trek across the sky!
On the way home this morning the full moon was going down as the morning was rising behind us...It's one of my FAVORITE things to paint! I will be teaching THIS in early November! Check your moon calendar and you will see that the full moon is on the 9-11. PLEASE JOIN ME in Fredericksburg, TX, and we will focus on this and Nocturne painting! It is a BLAST to paint the extreme ends of the day. e-mail Bill for info bush@fbgartschool.com

View to the Bottom

View to the Bottom___16 x 20 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains
At the farm, we called the area where the water drained to, "the bottom"... It was always greener there, of course and the light seemed brighter and warmer in that direction, so I painted it often.
I used a photo and lots of great memories to paint this work. At 16 x 20, it is a larger one than most of the paintings for my upcoming solo show in Nebraska...as you read this, we are on our way to Kansas, to move my son into the dorms for college....GO GET'EM, SAM!!!