Remembered

Remembered___8x10 oil study

If you look at the tree trunks on the left you can see some of the actual grasses that stuck to the paint when I painted this on location in Nebraska last week. The day started very cold at the Bohaty Farm. They just updated their web site with some of the photos I took! Go see the Sandhill cranes that stopped by their beautiful farm that day!
 By late afternoon when I painted this, most of the snow had melted and the breeze died down and I could actually feel a little warmth from the sun...This is a long abandoned farm owned by my friend, Allen. Since it is surrounded by busy farms, everyone in these parts REMEMBERS its purpose, and the families that once lived and worked here! I bet everyone has a farm in teir memory!

Amy's Lake

Amy's Lake___8x10___sold

This lake has a name, but I forget what it is. Since my friend, Amy lives here, I call it Amy's Lake.

It is near David City, Nebraska, where I painted last week... the location where I painted the coots on that cold windy day! M.B. took this painting home with him...THANKS, M.B.!

British White Warmup

British White - Warm-Up

Last week in Nebraska, I painted with a group outside in various locations.

One location was the Bohaty Farm, one of the top breeding places for the beautiful British White catte. It was a PERFECT DAY on their farm: enthusiastic cattle people were there to purchase at their auction, the fields were full of Sandhill cranes and the artists were scattered around, creating works in oils and watercolor.This one is my morning study. I often grab a tiny canvas as a warm-up.

41- Snowy Robin

Snowy Robin__tiny oil on canvas 3.5 x 3.5__$150 includes a little easel

#41 in my Birdseed Project

 

This is a tiny warm-up painting I did in the snow over the weekend in Nebraska. There were Robins EVERYWHERE there, ALL fluffed up in the cold. My friend, Allen said that he saw one that looked confused as if to say "where is SPRING?"

That might be a better title for this little canvas...winter seems to be hanging on tight in the Great Plains!

Please consider this painting, or a little donation to the Birdseed Project!

Your purchase will provide seed for bird feeders at a nursing home, and light to a lonely place.

NOW, you can even send a few tax deductible dollars, without having to buy art!

Contact Friends of the Forgotten and mention BIRDSEED!

5th and Nebraska

5th and Nebraska___tiny oil study for Allen and Anna

This beautiful home is where Allen grew up and now lives with Anna! They are a couple of the founders of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, in David City, Nebraska. I stay with them whenever I visit there. They sweetly were my "ground transportation" last week, meeting me at the airport in a FIERCE hail storm...the kind that ONLY happens on the Great Plains!

And it hailed on us from Omaha all the way to David City, where it froze solid and then was covered with a few inches of snow. Waking to the fresh snowfall I just had to get out in it and PAINT. Since the house is on the corner of 5th and Nebraska, I have given this little study that name. That's me below, in the cold...

40- Coots are Cute

Coots are Cute___4x6 oil study on canvas

#40 in the Birdseed Project

 

I have been in Nebraska this week, painting, and participating in plenty of things with the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art!

I'll talk about it this week after I get home tomorrow.

This is my warm up sketch on the first day!

 



Bay Day

Bay Day___6x12 oil on panel__Rockport Art Festival, July 5, 2013

I started this plein air oil the last time I was down in Rockport, TX. A few days ago I uncovered it, unfinished in my studio and could see enough info that it was easy to finish. I will set it aside for the Rockport Art Festival, in early July, unless someone wants it BEFORE then!

As I type this, I am surrounded by winter's last grip on the Great Plains! So STAY TUNED for some winter paintings, which will be a real exercise for this Texas girl! I figure it will be EASY!! I brought a big tube of WHITE...

I am in Nebraska to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art! My exhibit, Last Year on the Farm was their first EVER exhibit, and that's when I became friends with the museum! I come up here EVERY CHANCE I can, and get my fill of agrarian (FARM) life, which surrounds this area of Nebraska....FRIDAY thru Sunday I will be LEARNING from painters Michael Albrectsen and Michael Bingham, both from Utah (AMAZING ARTISTS). If you are nearby PLEASE try to come to ONE EVENT here in David City, NE. I can PROBABLY get you into the workshop, even at the last minute   vvaughan8@yahoo.com

OR, come meet everyone at the opening reception for the current exhibition "The Barn as a Chapel", presented by artist Michael Wilson. Saturday, April 13, 6-8 pm...you can meet me and ALL the

Michaels, and tour this little GEM of a museum....

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!

39 Arizona Roadrunner

 Roadrunner__ in Arizona__10x10 watercolor pencil__$250 unframed

#39 in my Birdseed Project

 

YESTERDAY'S POST was put up hastily, because I needed to post before midnight and it was 11:58!

So I didn't identify the bird: a beautiful golden orange and black bird that I saw in Arizona. THE FIRST ONE to respond to my call for "help" was the greatest bird artist I know,
 Adele Earnshaw. www.adeleearnshaw.blogspot.com She is an active blogger and frequently paints birds...GO SEE!!!!...Adele is a real pal and lives in New Zealand, after many years in Arizona. New Zealand is her homeland and she achieved her dream to move there for good! (well, for HER OWN GOOD....I say it's BAD for the rest of us!!) In March 2015 I will teach a workshop in New Zealand, and Adele will be our host....CAN'T WAIT!

Tomorrow I will share my heart about a few recent struggles I have had, and why I have been a spotty blogger....so many of you care and ask....I just want to get my thoughts together before "sharing"  :)

#38 in the Birdseed Project - Hooded Oriole

 

NAME THIS BIRD__ in Arizona__6 x 86 oil__$250 unframed

#38 in my Birdseed Project

 

This one from Arizona is the Hooded Oriole. I saw him on a hike near Tucson with artist frind, Lydia Dillon-Sutton...She does the BEST BATIK art!

Here is the video of my Quick Draw at the recent Cowgirl Up event in Wickenburg, Arizona's Desert Caballeros Museum. 

Turn up your speakers!

37- House Finch

House Finch in Arizona__6 x 6 oil__$190 unframed

#37 in my Birdseed Project

 

This little bird brightens the trees in northern Arizona! Sorry the photo is blurry! I will replace it as soon as I remember...it was a rainy day and this photo is bad!

HEY! Did you see my Quick Draw Video? Here it is below! Thank you MIKE'S ROAD TRIP for sending the actual player !!! THE MUSIC IS SO COOL!!! Y'all tell me what you think! Be sure to watch to the end to see the world's best auctioneer, Carson Thomas. He made it a really fun event!

Then go LIKE MIKE on facebook! ...

 

 

ENJOY the time lapse video created by Mike's Road Trip. I told him that all my friends would watch this and LIKE HIM on facebook....PLEASE do that!!!

This painting is not available, and it is not part of my Birdseed Project. But the video is a blast!!! Watch it twice and turn up the music!

 

http://www.mikesroadtrip.com/cowgirl-up-quick-draw/

 

https://www.facebook.com/MikesRoadTrip

Cowgirl Quick Draw Video

Cowgirl Hawk___16 x 12 oil on panel__SOLD

 

WATCH THIS ONE BEING PAINTED!
 

 

Here is my Quick Draw Painting at Cowgirl Up! 2013

I derived it from photos and a painting I did a few weeks ago (which now belongs to M.D.!)

ENJOY the time lapse video created by Mike's Road Trip. I told him that all my friends would watch this and LIKE HIM on facebook....PLEASE do that!!!

This painting is not available, and it is not part of my Birdseed Project. But the video is a blast!!! Watch it twice and turn up the music!

 

http://www.mikesroadtrip.com/cowgirl-up-quick-draw/

 

https://www.facebook.com/MikesRoadTrip

Vuelo del Dia

Vuelo del Dia__30 x 24 oil on linen

This larger painting of the Mission San Jose (San Antonio) will be ready soon for a big celebration at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, TX.

I still have some little things to do to it, but you might not notice the changes...

This will be my last post for a few days as I head out to Arizona for Cowgirl Up!!

Please tell your friends ! 

Wickenburg is close to EVERYWHERE in AZ...The show will be up at the Desert Caballeros Museum till the end of May

Hook This

Hook This___10 x 30 oil for Cowgirl Up!___Wickenburg, Arizona, March 22 - May 31

 

This is the first one I painted for this year's event, Cowgirl Up in Wickenburg Arizona, at the Desert Caballeros Museum. Opening festivities are next weekend, March 22-24. And I mean FESTIVITIES!!! This is one event that I LOVE to go to! There are wonderful beautiful cowgirl artists everywhere, and their great art to match. It is a fun time to catch up with old friends, to be in the old west, and enjoy Arizona before the heat kicks in. Please tap me on the shoulder if you are out there. I will probably tap you right back!

Sonidos de Paz

 

Sonidos de Paz___10 x 30 oil on linen___available

 

"Sounds of Peace" is the translation of this title...

It is a painting of the Presidio, La Bahia in Goliad, Texas...

March in Texas is a month of remembrance...The Alamo and Goliad are  solemn places where terrible battles were fought in March of 1836...

Our family was out and about this weekend, and Springtime is EVERYWHERE: bluebonnets, nesting and singing birds, the new greens of grasses and trees, the "hold-out" pecan trees still waiting for "warmer" before they will bud.

 

I will be in Arizona by week's end. If you have friends there, PLEASE tell them to come see me at Cowgirl Up! March 22-24, Wickenburg, AZ

Swept Away

Swept Away__12 x 36 oil on linen___Available at Cowgirl Up!

Wickenburg, Arizona, March 22-24

Gee, I shipped this painting off to Arizona a few weeks ago, and cannot remember the title! I am sure it is a very cool title, and I am totally sure the title is NOT "Swept Away"....but for the sake of friends who might want to comment on this one (like how about suggesting another title?)

I needed to call it something for the blog post!

I hope you will zoom in and see some of the details :)

 

__________________________________________________________________________

In April, the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in Nebraska is hosting a workshop with TWO fine painters leading the way! I am going out there to paint with Michael Albrechtsen and

Michael Bingham...CAN'T WAIT to be a landscape student! I think there is still room for a few more painters, so if you can, COME PAINT WITH US! The price is AMAZING for these two great painters, and I know a few of the attendees...SERIOUS artists who like to have SERIOUS fun...I have painted in these locations (see ME in the photo at the link below!)....they are BEAUTIFUL locations! Especially this time of year. Go a few days early and see the cranes on the Platte River, if you can! Here is the link with registration and location info...

http://bonecreek.org/news-events/events/plein-aire-artist-workshop/

Paloma en la Noche

 

Paloma en la Noche___24 x 24 oil on linen___available at Cowgirl Up!

The "Dove of the Desert" is San Xavier Mission in Tucson, AZ. "Dove in the Night" is my painting of this solemn place under the moonlight.

Cowgirl Up! kicks off in about a week. It is the best gathering of western women artists in the country... an event full of fun and fabulous art.

For the next three days, I will post the large works I created especially for this event.

_______________________

 

Below is a special piece of art created by my art student, Ethan, for a big contest. It came out SO WELL, I just HAD TO post it!

 

Mallard in Flight over the Shallows by Ethan Wiggins__9x12  oil on panel

Ethan's entry for the Federal Jr. Duck Stamp Competition, Texas event 2013

Good Luck, Ethan!

SEWE Demo and the Bone Creek Workshop

SEWE Demo for the Junior Duck Stamp Artists

A Tricolor Heron

A few weeks ago I painted this one as a demo for some young artists in a workshop in South Carolina. The Federal Junior Duck Stamp Competition in South Carolina names their winners earlier than most states...our Texas competition is tomorrow...Good luck, Ethan!

 

Speaking of WORKSHOPS!!!!

FINALLY, I get to go to one FOR FUN, and not "work"!

In April, the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in Nebraska is hosting a workshop with TWO fine painters leading the way! I am going out there to paint with Michael Albrechtsen and

Michael Bingham...I plan to be the class troublemaker and make them really push me!...CAN'T WAIT! I think there is still room for a few more painters, so if you can, COME PAINT WITH US! The price is AMAZING for these two great painters, and I know a few of the attendees...SERIOUS artists who like to have SERIOUS fun...I have painted in these locations (see ME in the photo at the link below!)....they are BEAUTIFUL locations! Especially this time of year. Go a few days early and see the cranes on the Platte River, if you can! Here is the link with registration and location info...

http://bonecreek.org/news-events/events/plein-aire-artist-workshop/

36- Saguaro Hawk

 

Saguaro Hawk

12 x 9 oil___$550

#36 in the Birdseed Project

 

Hi Friends...I appreciate the notes of concern about my "absence"...again...First I will talk about today's ART! It's fun when I remember to take a picture of "step 1"...see below! You artists can look at these two pictures and almost "see" how I paint! I always look at step 1 and ask myself, "why did I go past that point?"...meaning, I usually like my "start" better than my "finish"  :)  Would love to hear from my artist friends about what you think, or if you have a question about how I got from "step 1" to "step 10" ...notice I did not bore you with pics of the middle steps :)

 

I came home from South Carolina to find a VERY SICK mom. She spent 2 weeks in hospital with pneumonia, and some other serious issues. At 89, her prognosis was not good...but, as "Mama Pedro", this was just a little blip in her routine! Of course, I was holding my breath...only exhaling to PRAY, but she seems on the road to recovery and is back at her nursing home!...I am back to feeding her birds, and asking y'all to pass the word about my birdseed project!  In fact PLEASE CLICK the link to read the latest news!!!

 God Bless Mom...and you ALL, too!

 

Saguaro Hawk---State 1

the "start"

The Birdseed Project: More Than Many Sparrows

#2 Mocking Sage__for the Birdseed Project__6x8 oil __$190 includes shipping

The Birdseed Project ... "More Than Many Sparrows"

 My mom and dad always fed the backyard birds. Mom now lives in a nursing home, so for several years I have been feeding the birds there. Her room and "family room" windows have a view of a small yard which can be enjoyed by residents and guests, so I have put out bird feeders, and a bird bath.

Recently, other residents have told me that they love the birds! They ask me to sprinkle seed here and there so they can see the birds better. 

To afford more seed for the hungry birds and these precious older people, I am doing a short-term project. Since I have photographed birds all over America, I am painting small bird studies. When I sell one,10-20% of the sales price is "seed money". I hope these small art works will fund the filling of the feeders a little bit at a time. I call it
 "The Birdseed Project: More Than Many Sparrows"...
because Jesus once said that The Father even knows every sparrow that falls. He said that OUR LIFE is precious to Him and worth more than many sparrows.
I want old people to know this!

You may contribute to The Birdseed Project! 

$10 will purchase a large bag of seed that can fill 5 feeders TWICE!

TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donations can be made without having to purchase a painting!

Threefold Cord Ministries are "Friends of the Forgotten". They accept ANY donation, and will send it to the Birdseed Project. They will use 10% to administer the details. Contact Threefold Cord Ministries, and ASK!!! These are AWESOME people, and good friends of mine. If you have a loved one who is in the "Last Season" of life, I urge you to get their book:

 "Finding Life in the Last Season"....You will be encouraged!

 I will post an occasional bird painting that I hope you will like. Tell your bird-loving friends!...if you would like more info or price and cost numbers, please e-mail me.

To see all the paintings, click on my blog, and type in a search for "bird seed".

http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com