Cow Study 2

 

Cow Study 2__7x9 oil on oil paper__$190

 

As I kid I spent COUNTLESS hours sketching HORSES...(if you were once a little girl and were NOT obsessed with horses from age 5-12, I ask you, "REALLY?")

I sketched them from LIFE, from post cards, from my copies of Western Horseman Magazine and from my Walter Foster "How to Draw Horses" book!.I can draw horses from any angle and UPSIDEDOWN!...but cows???

Though I lived on a farm for 30 years with cows on the porch most of the time, I don't feel comfortable drawing them from memory. So, I go sketch them a lot!

Robin Cheers and I recently went cow tipping and sat on the hood of my truck for an afternoon of sketching!

Here is my tip to you artists...lay down the camera and pick up the sketchbook!

I blame my cow deficiencies on the camera!

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!

Spring Fed

Spring Fed___24 x 30 oil on linen

This is the one I worked on at the Chocolate Sketch class on Saturday. A typical Texas Hill country bluebonnet painting!

Many of our streams are "spring fed" as are the cattle!

I have some little things left to do, but you might not notice them so I decided to post it tonight...bigger paintings take a little time to "see". I like to hold them for many weeks and place them on walls around my house (or at coffee/chocolate shops!) to see things in different lighting conditions.I have planned this painting for a long while, after doing something outside that was very similar...

Rows of White

Rows of White__12 x 12 oil on linen__available

A few weeks ago I painted this in the cold morning paintout at the Bohaty Farm in Nebraska. This was after the "warm-up" painting that I posted...

British White Cattle are very pretty, and gentle. They gathered around as we set up to paint them...seeming to enjoy the extra company!

Below is a picture of me painting this one! Look hard and you can see what I saw!

 

Twilight Transit

Twilight Transit__16x20__available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

Boy do I have a lot of art to share!  ...and other stuff of life! 

Where to begin??

For now, I will share some art, and hope you enjoy!

A few weeks ago I did this painting as a demo for some great artists of the

Hill Country PACT.  

Below is the start of the demo...above is the finish. If you were there, tell  me what you think!

Since it a twilight scene, I am sending it to Act I Gallery inTaos, for the winter exhibit called "Twilight". 

Since this photo, I have added the "morning star", Venus, as it looked a few months ago during the rare Venus Transit. So that explains the title!

Tomorrow's post begins a little series I have begun. It is special to my heart, and will benefit some lovely elderly people I know! Please check in tomorrow!

Merry CHRISTmas, Joey!! 

See the Thunder 2

See the Thunder___24 x 30 oil on linen___$4500 framed at Wind Way Gallery, Rockport, TX

A few weeks ago I posted the study for this painting. H.L. purchased it, and graciously let me hang onto it while I used it for reference to paint this larger version. I will show this one in Rockport, TX at Wind Way Gallery, where I have a special exhibit as their guest artist for the next couple months...unless you ask for it first ...

As a plein air painter, I often take my outdoor works and use them as studies for larger versions. One of the things I teach in my workshops is HOW TO create a large painting from a smaller study. ...BUT, my next workshop is all about sketching, drawing and grasping a glance quickly with a drawing instrument. It's called Chiaroscuro and Chocolate...see info below __________________________________________ 

Here are some locations for a few of my workshops. email me if you want more info on any of these...

See this SPECIAL ONE.

I can't wait to see the water go down the drain BACKWARDS there!

September 6, 12, 20, 27__Austin___ "Chocolates and Chiaroscuro" contact V...,. 

Sept. 15, 2012___Salado TX, Contact Belinda Walker__1 or two spots open!

Oct. 28-30__Texas__at Fredericksburg Artists School

2013___New York City, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania...

2014___February 23-March 1___New Zealand

**BE SURE to tell me if you sign up! I like to send things to my students to get them ready, keep them "seeing", and thinking, and talking about it!

Sunny Dawn

Sunny Dawn__16x20 oil on linen___available next week Act I Gallery, Taos

Here are some locations for a few of my workshops. email me if you want more info on any of these...

And here is a link to a SPECIAL ONE.

I can't wait to see the water go down the drain BACKWARDS there!

July-August ___weekly__Austin___ "Chocolates and Chiaroscuro" 

Sept. 15, 2012___Salado TX

2013___New York City, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania...

2014___February 23-March 1___New Zealand

**BE SURE to tell me if you sign up! I like to send things to my students to get them ready, keep them "seeing", and thinking, and talking about it!

Gertrudis Gathering

Gertrudis Gathering___12 x 16 oil on canvas panel___$950 to the Gadsden Art Museum

I painted with artist Amanda Carder on a nice back road full of farms near Gadsden, Alabama....this herd kept moving that morning, giving me lots of "cow views", and a couple of small studies which I have already posted. All the works are still at the Museum, on display with Amanda's work and some 13 other artists...

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Works hang till May, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

The Fullback

The Fullback___8x10 oil on linen____ vvaughan8@yahoo.com for pricing
After my daughter's "Chicken Clinic" I gathered up all the artist's leftover goopy mixes of oil paint and saved it "for later"...it is with these "palette droppings" that I painted the one above. Look close and you see great chunks of paint! I will post a few of these over the next couple of days...

I am entering my busiest time of year. New paintings will be posted every week, and you are the first to see them. You have the first shot at them if you ask, and I always read mail in order! Otherwise, these will go with me to the shows on my Spring schedule. Come see me!!

_____________________

V....Vaughan Spring Schedule

Feb. 14, Artist Reception for Passing America...Cactus Jack's, Gruene, TX
Show runs through April

Feb. 17 - 19, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, Charleston, SC

March 15-17, C. M. Russell Museum Auction, Great Falls, MT

March 23-25, Cowgirl Up! Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ

April 9-13, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

...see my schedule for more dates upcoming

Cowside

Cowside___8x10 oil on linen panel___for K.F....I THINK!
I began this one as a one-color value sketch...demonstrating how our brush is a "shape-maker" and not a "line-maker" as a pencil is...I intended to fill the canvas with various views of the cattle in the pasture, but somehow ended up creating a composition with the elements there....ah well....I got carried away...

Chilly for Breakfast

Chilly for Breakfast__ oil on linen__sold to F.S.
We had a couple of paintouts at this location during my Fredericksburg workshop this week.
These cows look like they are all safe in the corral, but the gate was open the whole time and they were free to leave and roam up to our hilltop location....which they did! Cows are very curious and could not resist inspecting our easels and art gear!
Our hands froze on this chilly morning, but it was worth it to paint in such a great location!
(A BIG version of "Chilly for Breakfast" one will be on the easel right away)

Chilly Morning at Allen's Old Place

Chilly Morning at Allen's Old Place__8x10 oil on linen__$450 with wet paint
With miles and miles of Nebraska cornfields and soybeans ready to come out of the fields, my workshop found the PERFECT HILLTOP to paint from. A hilltop place (formerly belonging to one of my hosts, Allen, but now being restored by his good friends, the Moravec's) has given us 360 degrees of landscapes to paint! You will see a number of my hilltop demos in the next few days! Whereas the sun rose QUICKLY from reds to yellows in yesterday's post, this sunrise "stalled" when low, foggy damp clouds rode in on the western breezes. Artists like when there is a LITTLE more time to grasp the glance outside.
Passing America: The Great Plains click to see 154 works from the show

Gourmet Grass Fed

Gourmet Grass-Fed___6x8 study for the Bohaty's (sounds like "BO-hotty")
We painted at the Bohaty farm today....This is a study of their British White Cattle which they raise for their Gourmet Beef business. I will be ordering some of this delicious beef, grass fed, organic and raised with tender loving care by Walter, and Nancy Bohaty!
The Bohaty family are some of the most gracious people you could ever meet, and I have feasted with them several times now...including an impromptu picnic today on their lawn with all my workshop artists!!
The study above was to demonstrate how DARK shadows are on white things, and how much color is in white cows...I didn't mean to create a compsition, so it's not great, but the lessons are there...
Here is the beef website... http://www.gourmetgrassfedbeef.com/

AND...here is a WONDERFULLY NICE article in the Lincoln Star Journal newspaper, written by their art critic, Kent Wolgamott...it is well written, and the image is clickable! http://journalstar.com/entertainment/arts-and-culture/visual/article_a0655375-4498-5346-a901-a6ca136ae0dc.html Please tell me what you think! And drop him a note if you like it!

#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!

#96 - Plain Mesa

Plain Mesa__8x10 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains__$590 framed
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. I will give a little talk about the practice of "drive-by" impressionism, and some thoughts about the passing of America, during the opening reception in Lincoln. Come if you can on October 7, next Friday night.
The painting here was done near Santa Ana, TX, at the edge of the plains, where a few mesas break up the plain, and in this case, some skipping shadows moved over the plainscape. I love the suummer sky!
I now have ALL 154 paintings for this exhibit on my web site. Go take a look!, and come back as I am adding more details every day...but the good part is the pictures, and they are all there!

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!

#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

Kansas Ridge

Kansas Ridge__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains__$490 framed/shipped
Another winter painting from my upcoming solo show.
Passing America: The Great Plains consists of about 100 paintings in oil, created mostly while ON THE MOVE through the plains. Small farms are passing away, and my works tell the story of these passing American impressions.
The exhibit opens with an artist reception (that's me!) at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln on October 7. You can see the works there from Oct. 7 through December 11. Please tell your friends! Especially the "Corn Husker" types...October 7 is the beginning of Homecoming weekend for the U of N! Please let me know if you are coming, so I can look for you!

Plain Cold

Plain Cold___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
It will be a few months before the plains look like this again....Of course I painted this on a winter drive headed west across the Great Plains. I LOVE ANY drive in this direction, because there is a DEFINITE BOUNDARY of the plain, as it STOPS at the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Often the line is severe an you can see the mountains coming from MANY miles away, like this scene in southern Colorado....My Central Texas is looking forward to another week of record breaking heat: 107 and 108 are predicted for the next few days...can you imagine?...just a few years ago, when I painted my Last Year on the Farm, I waited all summer to paint the farm on a day over 1oo degrees, but we went the whole year never getting to 100! I was disappointed!

Step Ladder Sky

Step Ladder Sky___8 x 10 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains
I was going to post this one today, anyway...a drive-by painting in the plains of northern New Mexico. But, this is the first time I have given a title like this...the title goes with that step ladder of cirrus cloudy sky, but it also goes with a LANDMARK EVENT in my life.
For 27 years, I have been a FULL-TIME MOTHER (doing a little art on the side)...This week, my youngest (a 6'4"+ football athlete) goes away to college and the "new normal" begins!...
So, the FIRST THING I noticed about this "new normal", is that since all my TALL KIDS are gone, I do not have easy access to the top shelves, anymore....yesterday, I had to go to Lowes and buy a step ladder....

August___Painting the Plains...I will be ALL OVER The place, finishing my project which opens on Oct. 7...
October 7___Passing America: The Great Plains. Lincoln, NE...Reception and Gallery Talk in the evening
Oct. 8-13___Nebraska Workshops...painting farms en plein air
Oct. 18-Nov. 17___Remembering the Farm, Solo show at Inspiration Gallery at Riverbend Church, Austin
October 27___Remembering the Farm Reception and Gallery Talk 5-8 pm. Riverbend, Austin
Nov. 9-11___Fall Workshop at Fredericksburg Artists' School
June 11-13, 2012___Spring Workshop at Fredericksburg Artists School
Summer 2012 Workshop...early August, 2012! TBA!