Desolation

"02-01-2006" Last Year on the Farm Desolation

I painted this just days after the cows were gone...I don't think I was consciously feeling the desolation, but as I look back, I can see the emptiness I felt that day. It was bright, cold and quiet...

All 365 of the "Last Year on the Farm" paintings will be on display at our farm in the month of October. YOU ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL RECEPTION on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007, from 10 am till 8 pm. PLEASE e-mail me your address and I can send you a proper invitation, if you would like to come see where these were painted...before the gate is locked forever and development happens. :)

Frosty Memory

"01-06-2007 Last Year on the Farm" ... available for dibs

On back I titled this "Frosty Memory". I painted this shortly before the cows were sold off. We are the last ones to leave. My poor husband wishes we were long gone. It is hard on him in a different way, but he's ready to move forward with optimism. I, the artist, have to finish this time in a "meaningful" way....I guess that means torturing him for a while! hahaha

all 365 of the "Last Year on the Farm" paintings will be on display at our farm in the month of October. YOU ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL RECEPTION on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007, from 10 am till 8 pm. PLEASE e-mail me your address and I can send you a proper invitation, if you would like to come :)

Rainy Day Sunshine

"Rainy Day Sunshine" Last Year on the Farm....available for dibs
It seems that our rainy summer is over....but now we are into the tropical weather season and The rains are coming up from the gulf... When I painted this the skies were heavy, but the sun was HOT when it broke through the clouds....
I stand on my studio deck to paint and it is almost unbearable...the lonliness of an isolated farm...

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Baled in Time

"Baled in Time" Last Year on the Farm....available for dibs
With all the summer rains, it was hard to put up the hay....here is one successful day...

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Baler Haze

"Baler Haze" Last Year on the Farm....available for dibs
The heat and summer is finally here...but there is no more hay being cut...all farming operations have stopped and the grasses are putting their pollen up making this place hazy...Our new (non farming) neighbors noticed this and pointed out the "smog" to us....I did not have the heart to correct them. It takes a while to understand the "rhythm" of farm life....oh, I will miss it....
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Hay for Today

"Hay for Today" Last Year on the Farm.....available for dibs

The title of this painting speaks of the feeding cattle...but in the background is "Hay for Tomorrow"...one of the beautiful parables lived out in the farming life is the princible of "saving"...how will they eat in the cold lean winter months, unless the farmers put up reserves for them today? What a blessing of abundance we have had in Central Texas this year....
and these pastures are FULL of tall hay today, that will not be cut...seems like a waste of a blessing.... wish I had a tractor! If you know anyone who wants a bunch of hay, let me know!
:)

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Egret Trailers

"Egret Trailers" Last Year on the Farm......available for dibs
This is one of my favorite "Egret" paintings...I am never sure if the egrets are following the cattle or each other...It always seems that the cows are less restless when the birds are along. I wonder if they relax, knowing that the birds will alert them if they need to look up...

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Bottom Feeders

"Bottom Feeders" Last Year On the Farm.....available for dibs
When the grasses are really tall the cows still eat the tender new growth below, so their heads are buried under the depths... Also....This is the part of the farm that we call "The Bottom", so this little painting has a double meaning... It is one of the small ones I plan to make BIG...
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Egret Fly-By

"Egret Fly-By"Last Year on the Farm.......available for dibs
Cows and egrets...They seem to take each other for granted....but not in a bad way :)
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Touch and Go

"Touch and Go" Last Year on the Farm.......available for dibs
When the egrets follow the cows around the pasture, they are in constant motion. Often they will land on the backs of the cows, but the cows don't mind....
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Egrets Over

"Threegrets" Last Year on the Farm.....available for first dibs
They flew by us last year and As they passed over, they seemed to be above the tops of a distant thunderhead. The cows were taken away before summer came this year and the egrets do not even come close any more. The saddest part about leaving the farm has been seeing all the LIFE go away....
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Threegret Liftoff

"Threegret Liftoff" Last Year on the Farm........available for first dibs
When one takes off they all do...they usually just travel a few steps to the next cow...where they can feed on the bugs stirred up...
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...for now, I am taking "first dibs" from anyone interested in these little studies. If you see one you like you can be first in line to buy it when they come available soon...just let me know! My kids get first pick :)

Egret Breath

"Threegrets Down" Last Year on the Farm...
Last Summer I woke up early and saw all the cows grazing with LOTS of cattle egrets around them. I grabbed up my camera and sketch book and moved toward them behind the barn. Not many of them saw me and I was able to sneak up to a small trailer by the barn, where I sat for about THREE hours, photographing and observing. It didn't take them long to forget I was there and after a long while there were many cows gathered so close I could hear them breathing....never could hear the egrets breathe, though....
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! OCTOBER 15 - 30 is the official unveiling for "Last Year on the Farm". 365 paintings. A tribute to a special place and the passing of time. I hope you can come to see this body of work on display in the location where it was created. Let me know if you would like more info...

Trails Above

"Trails Above" 11 x 14 see http://www.southwestart.com/aug07/RMPAP/VVaughan/index.html

Southwest Art Magazine has posted this on their web site for the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters show. Click above to see 4 of my 5 paintings which are on display in Winter Park. The 5th one went home with "Oscar", whom I never did get to THANK "properly"....THANKS, Oscar, you made my day buying my "Quick Draw" poppy painting!

Moonset Over Mountain

"Moonset" 6 x 8 sold

Last few weeks I was painting in Colorado, starting with some drive-by paintings which I will post later in the week....for now, here is my first little one which I did in the morning of our first day at Winter Park. While waiting for the gang to come out, I saw the moon setting quickly over the mountain, so I grabbed a small canvas and my little pouchade box and sketched this out with a little color....it was my favorite painting of the entire week!

Between the Rains

"Last Year on the Farm 07-21-2007 Between the Rains"

We TRULY have never seen it so green at this point in the summer....thank you for the refreshment, Lord!

At least it looked like this before I left town a couple weeks ago....Will be back on Monday with LOTS of new Colorado paintings and "drive-by" paintings from the car window at 80 mph....husband driving....if you like western landscapes, stay tuned!

Dawn Rains

"Last Year on the Farm ...Dawn Rains"

This is all it did all summer these days!!! We are still in CO, and I hear that REAL summer has finally arrived in Texas.

Let me know if you want first dibs on this one...the Farm paintings will be "unveiled" together in Sept. and Oct....my kids get first pick :)

Low Places

"Last Year on the Farm...Low Places"

This was a demo I did for a workshop a few weeks ago. I worked from a photo. It is from a chilly winter morning on the farm. Compare it with the July fog paintings I posted a few days ago!...and the "high" places in Manor that I posted on Aug. 3

Let me know if you want first dibs on this one...the Farm paintings will be "unveiled" together in Sept. and Oct....my kids get first pick :)

Fredericksburg Sky Demo

"Fredericksburg Sky Demo".........sold

For you, Bill

:)

Manor High Rise

"Last Year on the Farm...Manor High Rise"

THe sky was towering above the Manor water tower...a COUPLE of "high rises " here....I have been getting used to the rain and wonderful skies to paint!

Still off in CO for a few weeks...watch for some new Colorado paintings when I get home in Mid August.

Wet Hay

"Last Year of Wet Hay"

More wet!
This was the last one I did before church last week...the fog was just about to roll away...

Fog Rolling

"Last Year.....Fog Rolling"

This was the last one I did before church a couple of weeks ago...the fog was just about to roll away...and the color of the day was just about to roll in!!

Let me know if you want first dibs on this one...the Farm paintings will be "unveiled" together in Sept. and Oct....my kids get first pick :)