Cattle Paths

Cattle Paths- Williston, North Dakota___6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America exhibit Oct 7-Dec11

Williston is fairly close to the Montana border, so by this time, I had been painting and sketching many hours on my Amtrak trip Passing America: The Great Plains. I think this was the sun's highest point in the sky all day! My Montana friend, Sarah, said in the winter, the sun feels like it is at eye level all the time....though it shone brightly, it was very cold outside, and we all wondered how those cows make it through the winter! My last winter on the farm was such a bitter cold one, and our southern cows suffered a great deal.

In response to D....who recently asked me if I ever paint from photos. Below are a few photos from the train...Bad Photo 2 was adjusted with photoshop, and STILL is lacking! I just could NOT paint from these!!! Photography is a whole 'nother gift which I do not possess! For a painter, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for training your eye outside...or on location.
Now, NO SASSY comments about my photography, please....I am a sensitive artist!!! ;)

Bad Photo 1

Bad Photo 2

Bad Photo 3

Bad Photo 4

Trees by the Tracks

Trees by the Tracks___8x6 oil on linen___for Passing America....exhibit Oct-Dec 2011,

Great Plains Art Museum, Lincoln, NE

The Amtrak Empire Builder stopped in Minot, ND. It was just long enough that I was able to do a little more detail on this small canvas. The sun was up, but still low in the sky, and shadows played across the lower part of the branches. I never looked to see what was making the shadows, but spent the time trying to catch the impression of sunlight on the tops of the trees.

I will be teaching this kind of "painting fast impressions" in an upcoming one-day workshop in Rockport, TX. Join us on Friday, Feb 4, and we also will paint on Saturday morning. Details below! If it is cold we will work in the Art center, right on the waterfront. I am also looking into the option of another indoor venue with a view

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND__6x8 oil "drive-by" study for Passing America: The Great Plains
Another sunrise study near Rugby.
This scene passed by fast, and I sketched the buildings in quickly with just a few lines, and made notes about the color in my sketchbook. The sunrise color lingered awhile, so I was able to do the sky and use the landscape along the rails to put color notes on the canvas. I am betting that the buildings I saw look nothing like this, but the IMPRESSION I had of them is "just right" in this little painting.
Haha, My train travel buddy, Rhonda, commented that she slept through all the excitement of my night time works....I had a bunch of sketches and notes to show her the next morning....and wondered how she slept through my rattling around in the bottom bunk, frequently turning on my light to write the notes...I can sketch in the (nearly) dark, but needed a little light for the words...
I am an "impressionist", after all! And I will be teaching some of my techniques in a one-day-plus a morning workshop in Rockport, TX next Friday and Saturday. Oh, I hope the weather is 1/2 as beautiful as it was this weekend. I hear it might be a little chilly, but we have a nice classroom to work in if that happens. See details below.
I got to teach about 30 amazing ART TEACHERS at the Art Educator Days events at the Rockport Center for the Arts. THhey had a blast, taking workshops from about 10 instructors and learning a wide variety of art disciplines to take back to the classroom. These teachers are amazing artists in their own right. I had a BIGGER blast than they did!...I hope some of the local ones (and YOU!)can join the FULL day workshop next Friday!
***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Sunrise West of Rugby

Sunrise West of Rugby, ND___6x8 oil on linen___for Passing America...Exhibit opens Oct. 7

Rugby, North Dakota was a landmark for a few of us on the train (Amtrak Empire Builder). When anyone wondered where we were that morning, we all said things like "30 minutes from Rugby" or we passed Rugby a while ago"....it was an easy name to remember. Later in the day, when we were FAR from Rugby, we STILL referenced it, because it was fun to say! ...As I mentioned yesterday, the sunrise seemed to last a while this far north, so I enjoyed painting several small works back to back to back!.

***a friend, Dot Courson suggested that I am not a plein air painter, but this would be "train air"...I corrected the spelling to "trein air"...

I will be teaching this technique of capturing impressions quickly in Rockport, TX next Friday-Saturday. JOIN ME! ...info below

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Morning Star-East of Rugby

Morning Star East of Rugby, ND___6x8 oil on linen___for Passing America ...exhibit opens in October 2011

I took the Amtrak Empire Builder train from St. Paul, MN to Shelby MT last week and after a night of beautiful full moon views, we had a spectacular sunrise! I painted in a fury, doing small canvas sketches, putting down "color notes". After 2 or 3 of these I realized that the light was staying very consistent, and the sun didn't seem to move! First, the clouds helped, by keeping the sun out of my eyes. But I noticed that the sun never really came UP in the sky! My friend, Sarah described it well: "In the winter, the sun stays at "eye level" all day!" TRUE! In the south (where I live) the sun comes up at a lower angle in the winter, but it still comes up. In Montana last week, though, It stays low and runs across the sky, rather than "up". THIS WAS GREAT for me, the artist, who enjoys long, strong shadows. The reds and golden colors lasted longer, it seemed to me!
For the next two weekends, I will be in Rockport, TX, teaching some of my "quick-draw" techniques! JOIN US!...info below

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til albout noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

St. Cloud to Staples

St. Cloud to Staples__Passing America___6x8 oil on linen____for the show in October

Sometime in the night (1:02 am in fact!), I was snuggled in my Amtrak sleeper bed, looking out the window with my sketchbook...I had given up trying to PAINT from the viewing car....was not used to the "motion" of the train, and frankly, I was a little tired! I had been up since 4 am the morning before. So I arranged my bed so I could lay down with my sketchbook and see the farms going by at night. Of course, this gave me a "second wind"...I stayed up through the night, sketching almost the whole time. I can tell by my time log that I must have taken cat naps! There are some big gaps between 1-5 am, but I OFTEN just looked out the window and memorized colors and compositions....THIS ONE above was painted the following day, using my sketch and memory....The porch light was illuminating the trees in the yard of this farm house.
To read about my project Passing America: The Great Plains click the link.

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
7am Cove Harbour-noon and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non
Phase of the Moon on 4 February: waxing crescent with 3% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.

Moonset West of Rugby, ND

Moonset West of Rugby, ND__6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: the Great Plains

This leg of my journey across the plains doing "drive-by" paintings, was chosen so that I could find some SERIOUS WINTER. ...and wanting to find snow, but not endanger my driver! I chose well! Minnesota to Montana in mid-January is a guaranty for snowy landscapes. A few weeks ago, it had been -30 in these parts, so I was blessed to have much milder weather. It was 7 in this part of North Dakota this day!

I also chose this PARTICULAR winter day because of the moon phase and the Amtrak schedule. Whether traveling east to west or west to east, the MN to MT Empire Builder route travels half the time in the dark. My mission is to paint on the move, so I need LIGHT to see. I chose a day when the moon would be full, and I would have opportunity to see reflected light off the snow....After a night spent sketching put the window from my bed in the sleeper car, with my buddy, Rhonda on the top bunk, we were gifted with a beautiful and brief moonset peaking through the clouds.

We passed many little farms at night. I viewed them all night long....sometimes the train would stop near their towns, other times we would pass on by...more about that tomorrow

***Oh, yes!!! About that moonset from the train! All night long I monitored the full moon. I sketched it's reflection on ponds (...I THINK they were ponds!), noted the deep shadows on the snow, and watched it track across the sky....THEN I LOST IT!!!...at about 6 am I noticed it was "gone", and I did not think it was due to clouds, but rather the direction we traveled! The train veered a little bit and I assumed the moon was right in front of us... Thinking I wouldn't see it again, I settled in to do other things when Rhonda came runing through the train, leaving her breakfast, to tell me she spotted it going down! THAT IS WHY I was able to paint this one!!! THANK YOU, RHONDA!!! (And hey....running down a narrow aisle of a moving train ain't easy!)

St Cloud, MN

St Cloud, Minnesota__6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America exhibit in October 2011
This little sketch was painted just outside of St. Cloud, MN, while Passing America...it was almost midnight, the moon was full, but in and out of hazy clouds. The little farmhouse was blanketed with a recent snow, but the glow of the lights reminded me of the many nights I woke at our farm, to see lights on and tractors being moved for the day's work on our farm.
My southern eyes had trouble adjusting to these new colors of night in the great white north....Hey Rhonda, this is what "I saw" when I smooshed those three colors onto this first canvas of many! Of course I tweaked it when I got home. Thank you for being polite when I showed it to you before the tweaking!

I have been planning this trip for over a year, and now it's DONE! The "northern leg" of my Great Plains adventure came off without a (major) hitch, and was WAY MORE than I could have hoped for! Get ready, because I am about to post A LOT of works from this journey, and the great stories to go with them!
The sketch above was my first painting while passing this part of America. I flew to Minneapolis, MN last Tuesday, and my aunt Yvonne and cousin Jeff and his wife Tricia met me at the airport and brought me to St. Paul....what a WONDERFUL time we had, catching up on old family stories and telling NEW ones! (I have a very large Italian family, so we talked nonstop for about 5 hours and did not make a dent in the news!...I NEED TO GO BACK!) ...cousin Paul came to visit and I was in hog heaven, enjoying Italian food for both lunch AND DINNER that day!...After a little drama with my cell phone, Aunt Yvonne then brought me to the Amtrak station to meet an old buddy, Rhonda, and we took the 11:15 Empire Builder west toward Montana....I will continue the journal tomorrow...

Abiquiu Bluff

Abiquiu Bluff___6x8____for SB
I am headed off to the northern Great Plains tomorrow. A fantastic trip I have planned for over a YEAR is finally going to happen!
Here is the "itinerary" in brief:
From St. Paul, MN I will take the Amtrak Empire Builder across the plains to Montana!...painting all the way! These will be "drive-by" paintings, many studies, and sketches from the rails. MANY of the works will be under the full moon. I am MOST excited about that part.
My oldest friend in the world (well, she is about my age, but I have known her longer than anyone) is coming along for the ride, and we expect to have a blast on the rails.
I hope to blog a little bit, but if not, there will be PLENTY of new thoughts when I get back, next week.

Jan. 14 and Jan. 15

January 14, Last Year on the Farm__2007

January 15, Last Year on the Farm___2007

To look at these images quickly, they look like the EXACT SAME painting!

When I painted day after day for my exhibit of 365 works called "Last Year on the Farm" I "accidently" painted the same thing twice...almost exactly! On January 15, I picked up the small canvas and looked around for the BEST impression to paint that day on the farm! We were in a stretch of COLD weather and the days were drab. Since I chose this view (forgetting that I had chosen it the day before), I would conclude that THIS VIEW was the best view of our farm on a cold drab day! haha ...In those 365 paintings I OFTEN painted the same scene, but SELDOM the same COMPOSITION of that scene and NEVER on two consecutive days! ....But, actually, if you look hard, you will see differences, even in these two :) I should do a "Where's Waldo"-type contest to see who notices the differences!

The January 14 painting is part of an exhibit in Austin, hanging thru March at Hill Country Bible Church. They have a Balcony Gallery with rotating exhibits. My work is part of the 2020 Retrospective and includes works by David Rigney (Sculptor) and Kathy Miller (Mixed Media, metal and glass and....I like to tell her she works in "wood, hay and stubble"....you Bible readers will understand that one :) Go see the exhibit when you can. It is a beautiful combination of diverse works! Go on Sunday or Call Dee for the rest of the week (512) 577-3339

Today, was our funeral for our beloved Nana, the "Matriarch" of our farm. It was a JOYOUS service at Walnut Creek Baptist Church. The church was started by Pa's parents or grandparents over 150 years ago! It used to take all day to get to Austin (by horseback) from there, and now it is surrounded by Austin. It's a small congregation, a little bit off the beaten path, and has a small cemetery where many of our family "fathers and mothers" are buried . It is on a little hilltop with oak and cedar trees...and now, Nana is buried there, too....

Next week I am off to the NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS!....more on that, tomorrow...I have rambled too much already!

Goodbye Nana

Sept 13-LAst Year onthe Farm

Sept 1-Last Year on the Farm

Nov 15-Last Year on the Farm

Nov. 15 - Last Year on the Farm

Last Year on the Farm___Selections: Nana’s House
Just now we got the phone call that our beloved Nana has passed away. She was the Matriarch of our family’s farm. A beautiful, strong farm woman of 98 1/2 years. Wow….what a life! What a heritage! She was my husband’s maternal grandmother, and I actually had her longer than I had my OWN grandparents.
The paintings above are a few from my “Last Year on the Farm” series of 365 works I did during the year our family had to leave the farm. This was my view from the studio where I lived and worked for nearly 30 years. It is Nana’s house! IT was to the north of us, so the weather seemed to change from that direction: cold fronts, rain systems, and the build-up of summer thunderheads….
There is something special about our grandparents’ homes. They seem safe, and comforting…a REFUGE! Maybe because our earliest memories of grandparents are always filled with love…. and special attention and home cooking! Nana kept a HUGE garden and taught me to can and make jams. She was up before dawn, taking care of Pa who ran the Gault Dairy Farm for over 35 years, milking cows EVERY DAY, TWICE a day(2 am, then 2 pm)without a vacation!
My bedroom window looked out at this same scene, and MANY nights I lay awake, just watching the activity up at Nana’s place. The lights would be on in the kitchen and I would imagine them getting ready for their day. It was a comforting scene.
On New Year’s Day, last week, ALL our families were together again. Nana at the center of our day! She was not a big lady but had a BIG MEAL! My husband asked if she wanted more and she nodded. He brought her “second helpings” of everything on a plate bigger than one he would eat!....she ate every bite….then a plate full of desserts! We all marveled and were so pleased at her apetite! But sometime in the night as she slept, she had a stroke and never woke up….so we have been on watch ever since. Doctors said she would pass on in a day or two, but our Nana stayed for 10 days! What a woman….what a gift from God! Nana’s passing was sweet. She loved Jesus 

Boatyard-State 1

Boatyard-State 1____20x60 oil on linen_____wondering where to put the birds?
Well, it's way too soon to post this one, but I NEEDED to post SOMETHING today to have an excuse to apologize for the "sideways" painting I posted yesterday. It was a Blogger glitch and I simply could NOT get the picture to go in there right....I had hoped no one would notice. Those of you who get my art in an e-mail were MOSTLY polite about it! There were a few "sassy" comments, which I deserve, and my evil nature will remember and reciprocate asap! haha

This painting is a work similar to the Harbor painting posted a few days ago. I wanted to see the focus on the boats...These are the basic colors, laid down to get me started...I have a LOT MORE to do and likely will not finish it till I get back from the North Plains (see yesterday's post)...But I do have an "audience participation" question, especially for you artists here: Where would YOU put the (necessary) birds? I have my plan, but would love to hear or see YOURS!

Abiquiu Sage_16x20

This painting will be on the way to Act I Gallery in Taos as soon as I make a few oil changes....I used the same reference as another painting I did recently, but backed out to shw more sky....I think I like this one better....

I have been quiet about my big Plains project, lately. Soon and VERY soon, I will be updating that blog with info about recent stages of the project, but NEXT WEEK, I will embark on the most adventurous part! Since I have been"Passing America" I have gathered images and studies of the south and central American Plains, and now it's time to take on the NORTHERN plains.

Past trips were done by car with special friends and suporters accompanying me aand driving while I painted in the passenger eat.

I am doing a series of "drive-by" paintings, PASSING by along our northern border in the deepest part of winter! I will paint impressions of our American Great Plains while passing by on the Amtrak Empire Builder, from St. Paul, MN to the western part of Montana. Much of the trip will be at night, and I am supposing that the snow will be reflective enough that I will be able to see beautiful snowy plains to paint.

Uh oh! I just heard from a friend in Montana that the temerature is predicted to be -40 that week! I hope this Texan will hold up OK!