Road Trip

Road Trip___12 x 12 oil on canvas, gallery wrap____$550, i think
I delivered this one to an exhibit a couple of weeks ago. In Austin, Hill COuntry Bible Church Northwest (on 620) has a beautiful exhibit space (several of them!), and some greatly skilled and dedicated artists who bring new exhibits every 3 months...The current exhibit is called "Roads and Directions", and this is my submission. I used a small study from my Bluebonnet spring paintings, and worked it up on a 12 x 12 gallery wrap. That means the canvas wraps around a deep edge. I painted the edge (see below) .
For this show, artists are to write an interpretation of the work. Here is mine, pertaining to "Roads and Directions:
TITLE: Road Trip
The open road is a PERFECT picture of our walk with Christ.
There are places along the way where we can see a great distance. Yet, even then the road seems to vanish over the edge of the earth as it receeds into the countryside. There are curves in the road, trees obscuring the path and shadows of clouds skipping along. Maybe this is why we enjoy the summer road trip!

Light on the Way

Light on the Way___12x12 oil on canvas____$550
I prepared this art for an exhibit at Hill Country Bible Church. The exhibit is called "Roads and Directions" and opens next weekend.

There are 4 exhibits a year here and each one is WONDERFUL and full of variety. Each piece of art comes with an "Artists Interpretation"...Here is my interpretation for this painting:
On a dark path, there is little temptation to stray off course,
or to proceed with the lights turned off!
The dark unknown has a way of keeping us close to the light.
There is a certain comfort in staying ONLY in the place illuminated by the headlights.
Though it is only a short distance, it is all we can see. Our walk with the Lord is much like the path at night. Yet we can FULLY trust that if it is His light shining on our path, we are going the right way.

Willow City Loop

Willow City Loop____30x40 oil on linen____Available at Whistle Pik Galleries, Texas
in early April, I did the plein air study for this large painting. I knew right away that I ought to do a big one...here it is! Click the image on the BLOG to see it larger. I will deliver this one (in my new, special, unique, REALLY COOL FRAME!!!) to Whistle Pik Galleries in Fredericksburg, TX next week.... I have just a few more of my spring bluebonnet studies to post, so I will scatter them with the new things I am working on....TOMORROW I will post a "drive-by" painting which I have not done yet! I am starting my third trip across a portion of the plains, to work some more on "Passing America the Great Plains" This will be a solo exhibit at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska....I have three plains trips this month. This weekend I will cover the Texas High Plains...to read more about my plains project click here.

Goat Barn

Pat's Goat Barn___12 x 16 oil on linen panel___workshop demo for Pat

Yesterday I taught a nice group of artists in Dripping Springs, TX. We worked at the ranch of my friend Pat Haberman. I set up here, looking up at the 100 year old goat barn, and really enjoyed painting this as our morning demo. It got really windy, but the day was so nice! THANK YOU, Pat! ...and EVERYONE else who got to come! S, P, R, N, P, D and A!

My next workshop is in a few weeks in Fredericksburg, TX. There are lots of little old buildings nearby, and I plan a drawing lesson using them as models! E-mail if you want to join us on June 14-16 (with an extra day on June 17!) vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Over the Hill Blues

Over the Hill Blues___6x8 oil study on linen panel__a "sort of "drive-by" painting__$190 before it dries!
Actually this one IS dry, but I prepared this post a few weeks ago...I am preparing, now, for a couple of FAST trips through the Plains. If you have not become a FOLLOWER of my other blog, now is a good time to do it! You can follow me along the Texas Plains Trail. Click to see where I am going on Thursday. This is a "quickie trip" with a friend driving me around the trail, while I prepare "drive-by" works for a museum show in fall 2011. It is a big undertaking, but I have a story to tell. The story is a sort of extension of my own farm story, as I have learned that others all over America are moving off their small farms. ...After the Texas Plains Trail, I will fly to Omaha, and paint across the Plains all the way to Denver....stay tuned!...email me if you are interested in my June workshop vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Faraway Blues

Faraway Blues___6x8 oil study on linen panel___$190__WET PAINT vvaughan8@yahoo.com
Back on the Secret Road with my buddy Earlayne...
When we first got off the main road, this little view appeared. There was a stretch of about 500 yards that took us 10 minutes to drive because every few feet was a new view and photo op! If I had not been there myself, I would look at these thick bluebonnets and say "...way too 'fantastic'"...but they really have been this thick and bushy!...on the other hand, travelling to the northern counties of the Hill Country, yesterday, I could see a big difference in the fullness of the bluebonnet patches. Not only that, but the dirt in Salado (north) is NOT RED, like the dirt in the sandy marble and pink granite areas near Fredericksburg...I think I will go out again tomorrow....just doin' my job!

Hill Country

Hill Country__6x8 oil study on linen panel___$150 still wet
This is an idea I like, but the outcome doesn't please me much , so I will do it again...
I have talked about the "two paintings"...one is a verb (I was PAINTING this) and the other is a noun ( this PAINTING has a lot of green). Every time I work, there are two paintings (the verb and the noun)....an artist MUST NOT judge the noun part while "verbing"....It's better to wait a few days...so I will not comment on this painting (noun), anymore :)

Across the Way_school bus, country road, farm

"Across the Way"___5 x 7 oil on canvas___$150 if you want it first... add $50 for the great frame I have on it

Well, I just put this one and yesterday's bus into a couple of matching 5 x 7 frames I didn't know I had. Nice black frames with a gold liner...matches the bus! To put this one side by side with yesterday's bus, you can trace the path they took as they skirted our farm each morning and afternoon.

I heard bus musings from SO MANY PEOPLE after yesterday's post! Poor H. tripped getting on once and STILL remembers it!...J. had her shoelaces tied to the seat and fell on her face, too, at the hand of a class bully. R. decided to walk the two miles to school after FIVE years of riding with all the riff-raff...I forgot to ask her if it was barefoot, in the snow, up hill both ways....

Speaking of school, some of you have asked...my son's school was hit so hard by that swine flu. Most of the football team missed at LEAST a game or two, and it killed our chances at the playoffs. SO...they moved my son to varsity for good and are grooming him to be next year's QB...Friday Night Lights for us from now on!

So I framed these busses...wet...and am putting them in my art show, tomorrow. Come see me if you are in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area of Texas! This is my last art show of the year...I think...

Or JOIN ME at one of these events this month:

TOMORROW! Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.comMark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast is the theme....how to see and put it down and trust yourself capturing the moment!