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!