Plain View

Plain View___6x8 oil on linen___one from Passing America__$350 unframed

This one has a story...it was painted for my current exhibit, "Passing America...".

...in the place with the biggest sky of my travels: western Nebraska...Because I ran out of panels that day, I painted it on a "loose" piece of linen, and then never found time to mount it, so it was not delivered it to the museum for the show! I have since mounted it, so it is available unframed...

The Digital Goddess, Kim Komando mentioned my "Last Year on the Farm" in her newsletter this week! I have received some HEARTFELT notes from all over the country from people who are missing their farms, too. Click for Kim's newsletter, and scroll down halfway for my feature (it's a video)

Lit Up Cloud Tops

Lit Up Cloud Tops__6x8 oil on linen panel__$350 while wet!
There was rain predicted for each day of my workshop here in Nebraska, but somehow we managed to avoid it! These little cloud tops were in the east as the sun set at our backs on the Moravec Hilltop. I forgot the point I was making to the students when I grabbed this small canvas and put in the color of the cloud tops....maybe it was something about the complementary colors in daylight...
I am in NE for the opening of my long project, "Passing America: The Great Plains" at the University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum...it has been well received, so far, and will be up through mid December! Click link to see all 154 works

Hilltop Sunrise

Hilltop Sunrise___8x10 oil in linen panel___$550 unframed
Yes, there are hilltops in Nebraska! I am teaching a workshop here in Butler County where there is a region called the "Bohemian Alps", because the hills are ....um...."noteable"! They rise and give GREAT vista's of the farmland. It is harvest time right now. Corn, soybeans and corn.
The painting above was my sunrise demo...the weather has been great!!! Tomorrow,...Sunrise and MOONRISE from this hilltop...stay tuned
*** if you are in the Lincoln, NE area from now to December, go see my solo show at the Great Plains Art Museum... Passing America: The Great Plains

I have one more workshop this year! COME paint with me in Texas!
Nov. is a PERFECT time to paint in fabulous Fredericksburg... http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan

Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

Daily Nebraskan Story

Workshop Demo__after "Where Morning Gathers"___12x16__$950 unless you are in the workshop

So! Last night was the opening of "Passing America: The Great Plains"...lots of people came, on a busy night in Lincoln, NE. Bill Cosby performed across the street, and the Husker Homecoming festivities were in full force. As I type this, the Huskers are on TV, momentum on their side as they are catching up to BEAT Ohio State! (football fan, here).

I am staying in NE an extra week, to teach a series of workshops.

Today, I taught a full group of mostly professional artists. I demonstrated my technique of painting fast, by simplifying the scene into 5-7 shapes of color, and pre-mixing the colors. Below is my palette, with colors pre-mixed, in ORDER as they will be placed on the canvas. ...The demo is a derivative of my LARGEST painting at the Great Plains Art Museum..

Tomorrow we will meet at sunrise and paint till sunset! Get ready, y'all!!!

Please read the nice article below...

Danielle Rue is a young writer for the Daily Nebraskan, (University paper) and she did a VERY good job of interviewing me! Thank you, Danielle! The story is great, and makes me want to meet me! hahaha

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/a-e/texas-artist-v-vaughan-presents-exhibition-representing-the-loss-of-farms-on-the-plains-1.2645680#.ToyTzevgJDU

#72 - In the Sandhills

In the Sandhills of NE__6x8 oil on linen___ for Passing America...__$490 framed
I painted this on one of my journeys doing drive-by paintings for my Passing America...exhibit which opens FRIDAY NIGHT in Lincoln. I remember painting it during a span of time when I was churning out the works...painting and putting them away...When I got home, I did not appreciate this one! Didn't really like it, till JUST NOW!
I write this from a hotel in Ogallala, NE, at the edge of these same sandhills! I am here to shoot pictures and do a few studies of a ranch that I get to paint in the upcoming months. It is not REALLY on the way to Lincoln, where I need to be tomorrow, but it was close enough that I HAD to come, to see it in THIS season.
Having just returned from the sandhills, I see the beauty here, and this little painting above is not terrible! You might have to be from Nebraska to know what I mean )
COME SEE THE EXHIBIT if you can, or see them on my website. I now have ALL 154 paintings for this exhibit on my web site. Go take a look! You can see the size, price and availability of each painting.

there is still time to sign up for one of these two workshops below!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf ...FULL

http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan

Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

#114 - Stanley Cold

Stanley Cold__6x8 oil__#114 of 154 works for Passing America: The Great Plains
Passing America: The Great Plains opens Friday, Oct. 7 in Lincoln. If you can come, LET ME KNOW! I will teach a workshop right after the opening, on Sat. through Mon.
For this exhibit, I created over 150 works, MOSTLY on the move as "drive-by" paintings. This one was painted on a train. The Amtrak leg between St. Paul, MN and Montana. I took this trip during the deepest part of winter in order to paint snow and not endanger my usual drivers! It was one of the best trips EVER! This one was painted near Stanley, ND on a bitter cold winter day. Under all that snow was a lonely, isolated little farm....resting.

I am slowly putting all 150+ paintings up on a web page. Click this link to see my first draft. the works are all here, but there is a LOT of editing to do. Browse around and let me know if something catches your eye...
http://virginiavaughan.com/gallery/

#80 Lightning Path

Lightning Path____8x10 oil on linen_for Passing America: The Great Plains__$590 framed

I painted this after painting #79 (yesterday's post)...we drove right into the storm and I continued to paint it...studying the CONSTANT flashes of lightning so that I could try to nail the color. It was a FIERCE storm on the plains...the kind that gets your adrenaline rushing. Zoom in on this one and you will see some NERVOUS brush work!

Sign up for one of my two upcoming workshops!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf

http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down page to V....Vaughan

Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

#79- Approaching the Storm-2

Approaching the Storm__6x8 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains __$590

I posted the immediate drive-by version of this canvas right after I did it. Compare the "before and after", and also note the differences in the quality of the photos...You artists out there know how hard it is to get good color on a photo of your paintings...the real painting is somewhere between the images...
Here is what I wrote about the storm we approached...read it in preparation for tomorrow's blog post with the LIGHTNING painting I did right after this one ...
http://vvaughan.blogspot.com/2010/05/approaching-storm.html
"...here is another one from last week's trip thru the Texas Plains Trail....This was the only bad weather we had ...a huge storm before Coleman and Winters, TX. The sky was black and lightning was all around us. Do those brush strokes seem nervous? I painted this one and another one as we went through the storm. The strokes are even MORE nervous on the next painting...tomorrow!

Your chance to paint with me at one of these workshops!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf
http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan

#91 - Thunderhead Glow

Thunderhead Glow___6x8 oil on linen _for Passing America: The Great Plains_$490 framed and shipped
This one was my last drive-by of the day last spring when my friend Barbara C. drove me on the entire circuit of the Texas Plains Trail...I have some interesting posts to put up about that trip...they were LONELY roads in wide open farming places, but so few people in the towns, including Crosbyton, TX, where I painted this one. I hate to say it, but we got a creepy feeling at the hotel there, and moved on down to Lubbock for the night. It was not the town itself ...towns can't be creepy, people are, and there was a strange character checking into the hotel ahead of us, so we "moseyed"...even though we were REALLY tired and it was almost dark...PLEASE stay tuned for some news about my upcoming show. I have a lot of things to "unveil" and many of you have been following along all these years...I REALLY enjoy your input...THANK YOU!

See a special feature about my upcoming solo show at the University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum in this month's issue of Peaks&Plains Magazine.

Sign up for one of these two workshops!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf

http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan

Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

#90 - Windy Hilltop

Cow Hilltop__8x10 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains__$590 framed

Some of you have noticed the #89 before the painting title (or #90, for this post!). I have numbered each painting that is in the upcoming exhibit as a way to track and catalog the pieces. VERY SOON, I will have all the works TOGETHER in a special place on my web site, and you will be able to view thumbnails and a LARGE image, and to see which works are available. I will give my blog/email/Google group/and facebook friends the first look at the exhibit "all together". There is still a lot of writing to do, but each painting has a story of travel and observation of the lost farms across the Plains. I hope you will stay along for the finish of my journey.
Below is some info about upcoming workshops, and help for a Texas fire victim ...

See a special feature about my upcoming solo show at the University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum in this month's issue of Peaks&Plains Magazine.

Sign up for one of these two workshops!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf

http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan

Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

#89 - Canyon's Canyon

Canyon's Canyon__8x10 oil on linen panel_for Passing America: The Great Plains__$590 framed
This is a "drive-by" painting for my upcoming solo show in Nebraska. This one was painted along the road east of Canyon, TX and along the rim of the great Palo Duro Canyon...

Below is a link to a great magazine feature about my plains project...

And below that are other important links I hope you will look at!

See a special feature about my upcoming solo show at the University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum in this month's issue of Peaks&Plains Magazine.

Sign up for one of these two workshops!
http://bonecreek.org/pdf/Vaughan%20workshop.pdf

http://www.fbgartschool.com/2011_classes.htm scroll down this page to V....Vaughan


Click to see SPECIAL piece of artwork to benefit a Texas fire victim. A fun way to help if you can!

#88- Panhandle Span

Panhandle Span___8x10 Oil on linen panel __for Passing America: The Great Plains_$590 framed
Location: Texas Panhandle, along the Texas Plains Trail on the span of plains, under the span of sky.

See a special feature about my upcoming solo show at the University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum in this month's issue of Peaks&Plains Magazine.

ALSO...PLEASE see what you can do to help a Bastrop, TX fire victim...My good friend, Linda....(below)

Flames of Life

A SPECIAL REPRODUCTION to benefit a Texas fire victim___various sizes

To see the sad story, and photos click here...PLEASE pass this along to ANYONE who might help!

For order/size info, click here http://www.reallybigcanvas.com/content/flames-life

#93 - Morning Puff

Morning Puff___8x10 oil on linen__$590 framed for Passing America: The Great Plains

Along the Texas Plains Trail one morning, I did this "drive-by" painting south of Lubbock, near Slaton, TX. These humid clouds and all the moisture and "lift" became tornados later in the day. (May 17, 2010)

This canvas is one of 150 works completed for a solo show at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Please join me at the opening reception on Friday, October 7, 5 - 7 pm. I will give a brief talk about the works and my journey through the Plains. The Exhibit runs from Oct 7 - Dec 11, 2011...please let me know if you go, and what you think!

ALSO...PLEASE see what you can do to help a Bastrop, TX fire victim...My good friend, Linda....(below)

Flames of Life

A SPECIAL REPRODUCTION to benefit a Texas fire victim___various sizes

To see the sad story, and photos click here...PLEASE pass this along to ANYONE who might help!

For order/size info, click here http://www.reallybigcanvas.com/content/flames-life

Spring Lace

Spring Lace___8x10 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains $590 framed and delivered

I painted this drive-by painting, somewhere in Oklahoma or Kansas, last spring... THe day was bright, and with sunshine reflecting off of EVERYTHING, there were few contrasts, except for tree trunks and buzzards!

My area of Texas is still reeling a little bit from the huge fires nearby. Several of my good friends have suffered BIG losses. I am amazed at the outpouring of fundraisers and ACTION being taken by people from all over the place...ESPECIALLY here in Texas! There are folks already out there ON SITE doing clean-up and HELPING, and not waiting for the government to sweep in here with solutions that usually cause problems on top of problems...there is something really encouraging and admirable about watching COMMUNITY roll up their sleeves...the fires rage on, with MUCH FUEL available, as everything is so parched from lack of rain...We wish we could take some of that rain from the Northeast, which is suffering, too, in their own way....

Looking West

Looking West___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains

I LOVE road trips. All my life of travel has mostly been by car, and nearly ALWAYS west, through the Great Plains. I have lived ALL my years on the Plains (except that one year I was born, they tell me, but I don't believe them, since I don't remember :)
The biggest thrill along the way, is when the LONG OPEN plains, finally end at the foot of the Rockies. We always keep a "lookout" so we can be first to say "there's the mountains!"...(bad grammar, but we are Texans! We do it on purpose just to annoy people! :)
This is another painting from a winter batch that I delivered along with the rest. My solo exhibit at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, NE is called Passing America: The Great Plains and runs from Oct. 7, through Dec. 11, 2011. Come meet me at the opening reception on Oct. 7! I will tell a few tales of my journey and purpose for this exhibit.

Winter Rest

Winter Rest__6x8 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains _$490 framed
On a plains "drive-by" last winter, I painted this as we drove on a ridge in Oklahoma. As you read this, I am probably in the same area of the country, driving home from delivering about 130 other paintings for the exhibit in Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum.
I really enjoyed my trip this weekend. First, my daughter drove from Texas to Nebraska with me. She got to meet my museum friends in Lincoln and David City, and we enjoyed the usual mother-daughter chit chat for hundreds of miles along the way! A few people commented, recently that they never knew I have a daughter, because I seldom have mentioned her. SHAME ON ME! But, I figured it's because she has been out on her own since I started blogging, and I have not been "responsible" for her athletics, activities and schooling for a few years, now!...Her name is Davie, and I had to fly her home so she could get back to work in Austin...

Great Plains Great Day

Great Plains Great Day__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
The little sketch above was the last one I painted during my winter jaunt by Amtrak from Minnesota to Montana. The plains were covered with deep snow at that time, and this sketch was in Great Falls Montana....just before I flew home.
I am posting this from a hotel room in Salina, KS, having delivered all the paintings for my solo exhibit to the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The show opens Oct 7 (come meet me at the reception!). It will run through Dec 11. That gives you THREE months to go see it, and I hope you will...Art of the West magazine did a short feature on it (see the Sept. issue, pg 18 )...and I will be posting the complete collection, all my field notes and many photos on my other blog this month. Stay tuned, and I will tell you when to go look there.

Left in Kansas

Left in Kansas__8x6 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
When we drove home from Kansas last Sunday, we left our son there again....couldn't persuade him to quit school and come home to mom....That's a good thing!!! We also left this beautiful END of the moon phase for August. I noticed at sunset last night, the sliver crescent of September's new moon.
This is one of the last ones I will paint for my upcoming exhibit at the University f Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum. The exhibit opens on October 7, 2011 and runs through December 11. But in a few hours I will pack the truck to drive the works to Nebraska. They need it a month early, in order to check it all in and get the exhibit literature ready...it is an exciting process. Tonight I have had enough of that kind of excitement, though...It is past 1 am and my good friend, Priti just left my studio after spending MUCH time typing in all my titles and information. WHAT A FRIEND!!! Hey Priti...I just counted, and there are 150 paintings, TOTAL....WOAH!!
I will cull out about 20, so the show will have about 130 or so...The strange part will be in the car on the way through the Plains tomorrow, I won't NEED to do any drive-by painting!

After Brownwood

After Brownwood___6x8 oil on linen for Passing America: The Great Plains

Here is a "drive-by" painted for my project. This area of Texas is TECHNICALLY in the Great Plains, along the western edge...I painted it back when the grass was green. These days we are all suffering here, and breaking records for the number of days we have had temperatures over 100...my area is on day 75, I think. We hit 112 the other day, an ALL TIME record.

In a few days I will take 100 paintings to The University of Nebraska's Great Plains Art Museum...I will have more info about it, and will be updating my project blog in time for the October 7 opening! Please come if you can!

The Vast

The Vast__8x10 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains

Believe it or not, we left yesterday for Kansas, and are already back to Texas (at 2 pm!) it was a whirlwind trip! We started at Round Rock Donuts, picking up a few dozen of those warm world's best donuts ...a special order from my son. I am proud to say EVERY ONE OF THEM made it to Kansas...not proud to say that I do not think I trained my son very well in the art of SHARING :)
The Kansas Wesleyan Coyote football team had their first inter-squad scrimmage game. There were about 120 men on the sideline, including SIX quarterbacks...my young freshman played about half of the second half, and did really well in a "hurry-up" , "no-huddle" offense, running plays that he had never seen before 10 days ago...The highlight of his night was a 60 yard TD pass (only about 40 of it in the air, the rest of it was from the legs of the receiver)

On Thursday, I will leave for Nebraska, to deliver the works for the exhibit, which opens on October 7.