5th and Nebraska

5th and Nebraska___tiny oil study for Allen and Anna

This beautiful home is where Allen grew up and now lives with Anna! They are a couple of the founders of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, in David City, Nebraska. I stay with them whenever I visit there. They sweetly were my "ground transportation" last week, meeting me at the airport in a FIERCE hail storm...the kind that ONLY happens on the Great Plains!

And it hailed on us from Omaha all the way to David City, where it froze solid and then was covered with a few inches of snow. Waking to the fresh snowfall I just had to get out in it and PAINT. Since the house is on the corner of 5th and Nebraska, I have given this little study that name. That's me below, in the cold...

Laura's Place

Laura's Place___8x10 oil on linen panel___commission / SOLD
I enjoy painting commissions...especially when the patron says "do it your way!"
I did not have to change much for Laura's Place...only leaving out the swingset and a few house-tops in the distance....Having a "deadline" brings me back to my years as a "commercial artist"...years that I really enjoyed!
I have just added a few teaching dates to my calendar (not posted, yet...but SOON!), and a new show in Montana...I will put all the info on my website, but FIRST it is time for me to deliver all the sold works from Passing America....
If you purchased one of these, watch for an e-mail from me!

Blue Place

Blue Place__6x8 oil on linen panel__$190 wet paint! click blog image to see the details.

One of the first places we drove by on E's secret road was this little old place, surrounded by bluebonnets! It reminded me of a story I heard about some folks who REMOVED a building like this from their property, after well over 50 years! In that long time period, the ground had been moved and tilled and disturbed, but the year after removing the house, a great batch of bluebonnets burst forth in the exact spot (and space!) of the foundation ...perfectly in the shape of the dimensions. The seed had laid dormant under the house all those years!

Tomorrow I am heading to some counties north of here with a friend, to see what bluebonnets there are doing...but I have a few more bluebonnet paintings to post from the secret road! Stay tuned!

Victorian Tea-Giglee

Victorian Tea - 14 x 11 giclee reproduction on stretched canvas, edition size: 10____ only 5 available $190 each
I do not often have reproductions of my work, but a few people wanted this one, so I printed a small limited edition. Each print is signed and numbered by me. To read about the painting, which I did on site back in October, Click Here.
Tomorrow I will post another giclee reproduction of an Arabian Horse....
A "giclee" (pronounced zshee-clay) is a fancy word for "ink jet printing"...I think. In the old days, artists had to reproduce our work by offset printing with film negatives and 4 color process printing....it was NOT cost effective, and the edition sizes had to be HUGE! I think it was trickery to sell a piece of paper for HUNDREDS of dollars, calling it a "signed, numbered, limited edition"...that, in my opinion is NOT artwork, but "giftwrap". Even today, with digital printing, and artist can reproduce their work INEXPENSIVELY. When I create a "Reproduction", I ALWAYS make the edition size and the PRICE VERY SMALL! It simply is NOT WORTH what fine art originals are worth. Please try to buy ORIGINAL art when you can...there are a LOT of GREAT ARTISTS out there with beautiful work that is affordable...

Victorian Tea_house, lawn, tea,Victorian

Victorian Tea - Calvert, TX___20 x 16 oil on linen___SOLD at auction
Yesterday I attended a Victorian Tea in Calvert, TX, and painted the festivities for a couple of hours! This is an annual event, and I was asked, along with Robin Cheers to paint the events of the weekend. Robin did the evening shift at the gala...I worked at this afternoon tea. The day was PERFECT, the people were BEAUTIFUL, and the setting was inspiring!...My thanks to the Hensarlings, who bought this one at auction, and introduced me to Zack and Rompy, the young man and his dog on the upstairs porch!
JOIN ME at one of these events in October:
Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival
...then Sunday, 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.com
Mark 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

Little Bungalow_click to bid

"Little Bungalow"___8 x 6 oil on linen panel___Click to bid
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140261725374
I have been holding this little painting for a customer who decided to purchase a different painting. I like the frame (looks like a "warm" silver, or you might see a "cool" gold!), and so I am selling this painting framed. Click the link to bid and to see a detail version.
School started today and I got to meet a nice small group of high schoolers. Some of my students are international students, studying here and working on their English! I LOVE meeting other "cultures" and wish I could let them speak in thier language in class, but they need to practice speaking English!

Brown House

"Brown House"____6 x 8 oil on linen______V....Vaughan

I spent the night with my neice Tracie and my GREAT neice and nephew, Chelsea and Payden, at their lake house in Brownwood, TX. The UMHB Cru baseball team has a weekend series in Brownwood , so we went and saw my son, Tanner, pitch and enjoyed a time on the beautiful lake!

Why do I call this "Brown House"?

Because this house belongs to Tracie and Shawn BROWN...

I will TRY to post tomorrow, but at sunrise I will return to the Farm to paint 24 paintings in 24 hours for "One Last Day on the FARM". I WILL LET EVERYONE KNOW HOW THE PAINTINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE, and when, and I am sure to have a lot of thoughts to share. I hope you will let me know what you think. ...if you live in the Austin area, News 8 is doing a sunrise interview and a little story that will run tomorrow (evening?). Let me know if you see it...I don't get the channel!

Cove Harbor in Feb.

"Cove Harbor in February"______sold...sort of
If you ever come to my workshop in Rockport, TX, I can pretty well promise you that we WILL paint here. This area is on the way to Aransas Pass....on the left as you leave Rockport. There are ALWAYS pelicans here, fishermen, barges tugging by, and beautiful skies! The next Plein Air Workshop day is in March! I THINK March 17, but maybe the 31....please contact me if you are interested!....I hope you like this one, Caro and Don!!

Windy Rockport

"Windy Rockport" 6 x 8 $150

From the North side of the art Center in Rockport we could SEE the wind, but were sheltered from it! So we painted there, Saturday....a fun group of serious painters all enjoying a great plein air session. I teach there once a month and we try something new each session....this time we worked on SPEED....painting fast because sometimes you just HAVE to hurry outside. By the end of the day, we had a bunch of little quickies that I hope will be turned into BIG works by the artists! Tomorrow I will show you my favorite one!