Happy Holly

Happy Holly___11x14 oil on linen__a commission for Act I Gallery

A few days ago I posted a happy dog sketch. It was the last drawing I did for my mom...one I sketched upside down so she could watch it happen while laying in bed....Mom passed away on Sept 12....

Well that happy dog sketch was from a photo of this dog, Holly.

Holly's family sent me some pics to paint from...I usually play around with several views, combining them for an original view. I showed them "mom's sketch" and asked if I could keep it (for sentimental reasons), and then painted this as their final commission. I thought of my mom, all the while I worked on Holly...remembering how much my mom loved me to paint animals, and loved to watch me work...I will miss that!

Bird- Dove Sketch in Blue

Little Blue Dove

#13 in the Birdseed Project

 

My mom's funeral was yesterday.

Special  "thank yous" go out to the amazing friends who came....and to my beautiful great niece and nephew who spoke, and their mom, my niece, Tracie, who put together a slide show tribute that made us all laugh, and then stopped the Priest while he spoke. Tracie stopped Father Pedro (pronounced with the proper Spanish "short e"), and corrected him when he kept pronouncing the family name that way! Our name sounds like PEEEE-dro, but is spelled like Father "Pedro"'s name!....I have never been to a funeral where someone said "NOPE, NO, UH, uh, STOP!" while the priest talked! She said, "sorry, Father Pedro, but our name is pronounced PEEE-dro!"

I then added that , just for today, he would be known as Father "PEEE-dro".

My mom would have loved the loud, irreverent laughter at her funeral!!

At the graveside, my sister, Mary had arranged for a symbolic release of doves.

BIRDS! Beautiful and white, symbolizing my mother's release from the bonds of this physical life, and accompanied by three other doves, suggesting God, The Father, Son, and Spirit. They flew off and away to their home! (We learned it was to Cedar Park, Texas, not really heaven, but close!)

ALL OF LIFE is sweet and symbolic...

I am thankful.

 

 

 

2nd from right, I am joined by 4 of my 6 siblings... 

 

 

My sister, Mary is at my right

 

 

The 4 white doves circled us for a few minutes and headed for heaven...aka Cedar Park :)

 

THANK YOU, Ashton Vaughan, for the photos!

 

***** 

Please read yesterday's post for a story about my mom,

 

The Birdseed Project will continue... and now I have the final chapter for the book that will come out in Spring...

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations (instead of flowers!) can be made here, but please designate Birdseed Project on the envelope

Make check payable to Threefold Cord Ministries and mail it to

them at P.O. Box 540591, Omaha, NE 68154.

*******

Happy Dog For Mom

Happy Dog ...My last drawing for mom

 

I drew this at mom's bedside. Holding the photo and pad upside down so she could see it right side up...She LOVED when I drew upside down for her! She would just marvel! And for a short moment I could "pretend" to have some sort of edge over her!...We laughed and smiled at each other a LOT. She always wanted me to "draw more animals!", so how fitting that the last art I ever drew for her is a HAPPY, laughing dog!

*******

On Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, The Lord came for mom!

He also said YES to three BIG prayers I had been pestering Him with for about 6 years:

1. That she would be READY to go, and not in pain.

2. That she would be in her own comfortable room, and NOT in a hospital.

3. That I would be WITH HER when she left us.

I shouldn't be amazed that God can do such wonders, but I am humbled that He made this so personal to me....T H A N K  Y O U   SWEET L O R D

 

Below is a short excerpt from the tribute (Obituary) I wrote for the funeral announcement.

The Birdseed Project will continue... and now I have the final chapter for the book that will come out in Spring...

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations (instead of flowers!) can be made here, but please designate Birdseed Project on the envelope

 

 Make check payable to Threefold Cord Ministries and mail it to

Threefold Cord Ministries, P.O. Box 540591, Omaha, NE 68154.

 

*******

My Mom (Doreen Westaway Pedro) had enduring ears to hear sorrows, but knew when to tell you to “snap out of it”. And if her discipline was hard, she quickly restored and mended the wounds…usually with a comment to make you laugh through the tears.

 

Mom insisted on FUN. Laughter, or else!…she had more fun than any of us ... Wherever she went, people NOTICED her, because a spark of laughter would rush in with her, and she would look you in the eye, so you knew you were included in the fun. People felt special around “mom”, so they liked her a lot. 

Mom circa 1942...                      ... and 2007 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beautiful Place

A Beautiful Place___6x12 oil on canvas panel___Commission

This is a companion piece to yesterday's post. This is the farm where yesterday's couple celebrated their wedding!

Of course I jumped on the opportunity to paint another farm....I will always be on the lookout for another farm, and hope to have one of my own some day!

***

Spent the weekend on the Texas Coast with artist Robin Cheers.

The south Texas skies have been amazing...if you like heat and solid humidity, this is the place to be right now! we dodged rain but got a lot of painting done. Tomorrow I will start to post some studies...till then, go look at Robin's!

 

First Stroll

First Stroll__10 x 8 oil on linen___A commission for Up Against the Wall Gallery, Tennessee

I usually paint whatever I feel like painting, but occasionally I get asked to do something "on purpose". This couple was married at the family farm place in the beautiful hills of Tennessee. The reception was there, too, and they sent a lovely photo of their first stroll across the footpath. I just shipped it to them today, with a second painting of the farm for their parents...I will post that one tomorrow.

Coach

Coach__12x16 oil on paper

This began as a sketch, as I experimented with a new, special "oil paper"...I kept trying things with this new  (to me) surface, and after toying with putting it on, taking it off,  and making "oil changes", it ended up as a "painting"!

Now....how do I mount this so that I don't have to frame it in glass? Your thoughts?

Backseat Driver

Backseat Driver__8x10 oil study on panel__$450

This week I have been working from some reference obtained along my farm journeys. I remember this cattle drive alongside the road we traveled out west. We slowed down so I could paint as we passed. The drive-by painting I did then was of the COWS! It was snapped up by the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska.

This one is available!

Chef - Chicken Prep

Chef at Chicken Prep___8x10 graphite wash sketch

A few weeks ago I took a seminar at the Art Institute here in Austin. During our break, I wandered over to the Culinary Art Department, and watched some students preparing ...an assignment, I guess! Since I had some sketching things with me, I doodled up a few graphite works that I could "wash" later....here is one chef candidate practicing his chicken technique....I wonder if he had any homework!



Angus Canyon

Angus Canyon___6 x 8 oil study

Here was a real quicky in the canyon just before I left last week..

HERE IS WHERE WE WILL PAINT during next summer's workshop in COLORADO!

Read a little bit about it and stay tuned!

.I am already back into the school swing, teaching a couple of High School classes at Hyde Park High School in Austin...Get ready, kids!

55 - Great Blue

 

Great Blue__7.5x11 watercolor pencil study

#55 in the Birdseed Project

 

I had a sweet visit with some family tonight and then ART making broke out!!!

Our cousin Kirsten and her beautiful family just moved to town and invited me over to see their new home! That makes the kids my first cousins once removed!

Few things are more fun than hanging out with 3 youngsters, loaded with colors and paper! WOOHOO!!!....We painted some trees, and bull dozers and then I had to try my hand at a bird! This one is #55 in my birdseed project!

I think I will OFFICIALLY DOT my little "cuzz-es". The younger two are now "I...." and "N"....Below, posing with the painting is

"lower case v...." !

Thanks "K" and "E"!!

Conejos Pop

Conejos Pop__6 x 8 oil study

This was a great summer for poppies at the family place in Colorado. On the Conejos River, in fact!

The guys in our family began calling it the "Cojones River" this year, after a certain incident which I will share tomorrow...

The poppies blaze for about 3-4 weeks and some years are better than others...The first few that "popped" open this year were beaten to a pulp by a HUGE hail storm. The hail also took out all the rhubarb that my father in law nurtures. Though there were JUST enough good stalks underneath to make a rhubarb pie!....my favorite!

The second batch of poppies were spectacular...

The Old Bridge

The Old Bridge___6x8 oil study__available at Firedworks, Alamosa, CO

LOTS OF EXCUSES why I have not posted in the longest time EVER since starting the blog!....mainly "life stuff", and travel...and school starting....and travel again!

I went back to Colorado to deliver paintings to galleries in Alamosa and Act I, in Taos, NM (click the link to see my "little dipper" on the home page :)

While there, I HAD TO paint some more. Here is a view of the old bridge near our cabin. THIS IS WHERE I will take our workshop group for a day of painting, next August!

I have big plans for this workshop and will post location works for the next few days...it is my FAVORITE place to paint.

email me  for a little e-brochure with pics!



Mi Mariachi

Mi Mariachi__water soluble Graphite sketch__12 x 9

Along with the watercolor pencils, this water soluble media is becoming my favorite

"doodle medium"...

I was at the San Antonio Missions (San Jose) not long ago, when the Mariachis came out of the chapel and played...loud and awesome, and the whole place (including ME!) sang along to "Cielito Lindo"...aka, "Ay, ay, ay, ay, Canta y no Llores!"

 

 

54-Ouzel...aka American Dipper

Ouzel__8x10 oil

#54 in the Birdseed Project

 

Slowly, my birdseed project is "catching on". Please read the link if you forget what it is all about. As school starts up, please remember this would make a great service project for students, youth groups, fraternities or ANYONE! If you start a project in your area, I am happy to provide materials for your use!

 

Really this bird is an American Dipper. A fun companion on the rivers and streams of Colorado...they are not shy, but walk alongside and dip their whole body under water looking for food!  I am sure it does NOT eat seeds, but bugs and worms!...I had fun photographing this little guy on the Conejos River and Rough Creek.

"OOzle" is how we pronounce it, and I had a heck of a time finding it in my bird guides (Sibley's and Peterson's were no help for my bad spelling!)...So once again I sing the praises of the world's greatest bird identifying place.  The Cornell  Lab of Ornithology's web site "All About Birds".Even if you don't think you are interested in birds, go look at it!...really cool!

 



53 - Flamingo

Flamingo ___12 x 9 watercolor pencil

#53 in The Birdseed Project

 

Click the blog image, to see some detail on this, and how the watercolor pencils work...I enjoy the drawing aspect...just LOVE scribbling...then finishing it off with the unpredictability of WATER!...add to that, the component of doing this "live" for my mom, while she sits by...watching quietly....

It brought back many memories... painting with mom watching. Almost ALL of my art memories as a child include mom there.

I was the youngest of seven kids, so there was never a "secluded" place to be doing my art. I often sat at the kitchen counter, with family coming and going...ALWAYS taking a chance that something would spill on my masterpiece...sometimes it was mom's coffee!

Mom chose this flamingo from a stack of my photos that I brought to the nursing home...it reminds her of her long legged daughter, and reminds ME of MY longER legged daughter!So, we sat on the hot patio, while other residents smoked nearby. Mom prefers to sit alone with me in the gazebo, but the sun was beating down at an angle, and the roof of the gazebo provided no shade, so we sat on the smoking patio.

Mom was especially quiet and several times I stopped to ask if she was OK?...bored?...hot?...she assured me that she was LOVING to watch....just like mom...

Southfork Trailhead

 Southfork Trailhead__8x10 oil

Below is the graphite (water soluble) wash I did just before my friend Pat and I settled in to paint at this location a couple weeks ago...This southern Colorado river valley is the place where I will teach a 5 day workshop during the August full moon-time in 2014.
Click here to read a little tease about it, and to see some photos. I will have all the details in order, in a couple weeks, after I spend a little more time up there!

***
ONCE AGAIN, I want to apologize for the group hacking I endured this weekend....
I have adjusted every possible security measure with Google, and will have my tech man polish up details on Tuesday, just in case.
I feel pretty safe with my new 15 digit password!!!
NO WAY to hack that...I hope!



This Summer's Poppies

This Summer's Poppies___10 x 8 oil Study

 

Hi again!

It has been a fast summer for me, with lots of travels but VERY FEW POSTS!

THANK YOU for missing me, (SOME of you!), and the nice comments on "old" posts!

FIRST, I want to apologize for some recent "spam"!

It seems that someone was able to take advantage of my inactivity, but we seem to have fixed it quickly, thanks to many friends wondering about my new interest in ISLAMIC WALLPAPER!

???   what   ???

Y'all are GREAT to let me know, because that helped us fix it fast :)

I hope

 

I have spent time in Colorado recently, (see preliminary info on my Colorado 2014 WORKSHOP!!)and this study above is a small oil from dad-in-law's garden!

I will be adding the workshop details soon, but click the link to see a few pictures of the locations.

 

But, what has really occupied my time lately is that I am compiling images (photos and paintings) and writings for a book about The Birdseed Project...A book publisher in the D.C. area has asked me to do this and tell the story for others to enjoy and hopefully keep the project rolling along!

The book will be out in the spring, and YOU will be first to see it take shape....

Mom is doing pretty well!

 

52 - Rufous Hummmmmm

Rufous Hum__8x6 oil on canvas panel__$250 framed, shipped

#52 in the Birdseed Project

Yesterday's Bear lives in the same Colorado canyon as this little hummingbird.

Our family place on the Conejos River is a secluded place with beauty and LIFE everywhere!

This time of year, the wildlife are just beginning to pack on the calories, getting themselves ready to hibernate or migrate! This Rufous Hummingbird laid claim to one of the feeders and attempted to have it to himself. He burned more energy than he ate!

I have this one and a dozen other works on sale at the Annual Fire House Fund Raiser this weekend (July 27-28)...I hope you can go see it and support the fire prevention efforts all over the Rockies.

NEXT YEAR I will teach and lead a few painters all over this area, capturing some of the diverse beauty of Southern Colorado. I have prepared a little pdf flyer with LOTS of location pictures. Let me know if you are interested!

vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Canyon Bear

Canyon Bear

6x8 oil

Available at the Firehouse Sale on the Conejos this weekend

Framed $250

 

I just returned from a few weeks in the mountains...ahhhhh....a nice break from our Texas heat (which seemed to go away... while we were gone there was eight inches of rain in Austin!)

Our Colorado place has bear visitors from time to time..BOY could I share some stories! This one visited last fall and several friends shared photos so I could paint !

On July 27-28 a few of the artists here have a small art event to benefit our volunteer fire department...as you know, fire fighting is SERIOUS BUSINESS in the dry Rocky Mountains.

Please let me know if you would like to help the Conejos Canyon Rocky Mountain Estates Fire Department by purchasing this Bear...tomorrow I will post another one for the show...

a hummingbird!

WANT TO PAINT HERE??? NEXT AUGUST 7-11, 2014 I will lead a painting workshop at this great location in Southern Colorado. click  V....Colorado Workshop - August 2014  for brochure and info.

 

Below is the Firehouse, and across the river is our place under the mountain. (you can see it above the rear view mirror :)



51 - Dancer

 

"Dancer"

"Dancer"___8x6 oil on linen panel___$190

#51 in the Birdseed Project

My newest little bird painting is a bird that spends wintertime in Texas. Rockport, TX is home to the great flocks of Sandhill cranes that travel America's central flyway.

Rockport is also where I am for the weekend Art Festival. This is truly a terrific event. A gathering of some of the most CREATIVE art things you'll ever see! I am humble to bring "boring" paintings amidst such FUN and well crafted works. Artists here create things you'll never see anywhere else.

Please come say hello if you are nearby!