Aspen Stems__sketch, trees, lesson,

Aspen Stems__#22 from my Colorado sketchbook__auction REAL soon

The thing about sketching is VALUES. It's a "art term" meaning "lights and darks". This sketch has light values, whereas yesterday's sketch has middle to dark values. Another way to describe this is that it is "high key"...the values being high key mean that the painting or drawing has a lot of light...low key means it has a lot of darks...Even though this one is high key, the sketch has enough darks to hold it together.
I learned something on this one...not sure I can describe it, but these trees were backlit, and I wanted to create that impression...One way would have been to make the background very dark so the leaves would appear lighter...but keeping it high key almost makes me squint at the brightness of all the white paper...so I left it this way, and I think it looks backlit, anyway!


Sketching workshop, Rockport, TX, coming this fall. Let me know if you are interested!vvaughan8@yahoo.com

San Pedro y San Rafael

San Pedro y San Rafael___#15 in my Colorado Sketchbook__auction soon

Out of our canyon and on the way to Antonito, CO there are plenty of little farms and homes in the valley. Between Mogote and Antonito this little church stands with Blanca Peak far in the distance. I have photographed this church MANY times over the years, but have never seen the doors open, and I wonder if anyone worships here anymore. ...but, there are homes directly across the street, so I suppose that even if there is no pastor, the building itself might remind people in the little community that ANY time is a good time for worship!

REMINDER…I will be “drive-by” painting some farms in Nebraska on Wed. through Friday this week…another leg of my Passing America: The Great Plains exhibit for 2011. I will also be at the Curator’s Choice reception at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, from 5-7 pm Friday, August 6. Please come meet me if you can!

**NOTE to Gail Smith's class!! I promise I will post my demo TOMORROW! I forgot that I already had this one above scheduled to post tonight...SORRY, but you have to come look at my blog TOMORROW, too!...hey, while you are here, why not sign up to get my blogpost by e-mail! see the "subscribe" button at right. :) or email me vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Sketch 11__Walking Companion__deer sketch

Walking Companion__sketch #11 from my Colorado Sketchbook__auction soon!
In Colorado at 9,000 feet in the mountains the air is cool and thin...PERFECT for taking long hikes, which I do every morning...usually a few miles with our Lab, Maria. One morning we stopped to watch this little doe walking across a meadow below us...then she saw us and walked up the hill to see what we were doing! We watched each other for 15 minutes from about 40 yards away, then each of us continued on in our original directions. It reminded me of what I have just read in a book by Stephen Ambrose about the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery....they came upon places where the elk had never been hunted and the elk were curious and came close to see them...
We are home now. It is HOT in Texas....I made the serious mistake of taking Maria for a walk at mid-day and I think she almost had a heat stroke...I had to put her in a cold shower...morning walks from now on.

To all my friends in NEBRASKA! Right now there is a special exhibit in Lincoln, at the Great Plains Art Museum. This is a special exhibit called Curator's Choice. Each of the curators from the past 30 years has selected their favorite works for this exhibit, and my painting called "Passing" was selected. Next week is a special reception at the museum, and I will get to go! PLEASE COME MEET ME! The reception is Friday, August 6, 5-7 pm. ...otherwise, keep a lookout for me along the backroads! I will be doing some "drive-by painting" on the backroads for a few days! Let me know if you are coming vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Sketch 10-Daisy Day

Daisy Day___sketch #10 from my Colorado Sketchbook__Auction soon

My mother-in-law, Bilie's favorite flower is the daisy, and there have always been bunches of them on the high mountain passes above their place in Colorado. A few years ago, my father-in-law, RV brought a bunch down to our canyon place and planted them....now they are EVERYWHERE!!! RV has shared them with all the neighbors and they are growing all over...BUT, this year they were not as tall and full as usual, making me think they need more early rain, or colder springtime!

For all my friends in NEBRASKA! Right now there is a special exhibit in Lincoln, at the Great Plains Art Museum. This is a special exhibit called Curator's Choice. Each of the curators from the past 30 years has selected their favorite works for this exhibit, and my painting called "Passing" was selected. Next week is a special reception at the museum, and I will get to go! PLEASE COME MEET ME! The reception is

Friday, August 6, 5-7 pm. ...otherwise, keep a lookout for me along the backroads! I will be doing some

"drive-by painting" on the highways and byways for a few days! Let me know if you are coming! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Let's Do Breakfast__chipmunk, ground squirrel, sketch

Let's Do Lunch__sketch #9 from my Colorado sketchbook__auction soon (click image to enlarge)
We used to feed the many ground squirrels near our place in Colorado. Then they got pesky and demanding and would actually jump on us to get food...this was about the same time we all started bringing our dogs up there with us, so the ground squirrels got the message and stay farther away, now. This one was in the yard, though, enjoying last night's home-made tortillas, which came out AWFUL...the masa had gotten bad over the winter, and nobody liked them...except the ground squirrels!

Here is an update for all my friends in NEBRASKA! Right now there is a special exhibit in Lincoln, at the Great Plains Art Museum. This is a special exhibit called Curator's Choice. Each of the curators from the past 30 years has selected their favorite works for this exhibit, and my painting called "Passing" was selected. Next week is a special reception at the museum, and I will get to go! PLEASE COME MEET ME! The reception is Friday, August 6, 5-7 pm. ...otherwise, keep a lookout for me along the backroads! I will be doing some "drive-by painting" on the backroads for a few days! Let me know if you are coming vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Sketch #7- Down the Canyon-mountains,

Down the Canyon- from my Colorado Sketchbook to be auctioned soon!
The past few days in Colorado saw rain. Each day at about 2 pm, the rain would come down the canyon from this north direction. In southern Colroado, the summer is short at 9,000 feet. Snow stays till April or May ( we have had snow there in July!). June is WINDY, July is dry, and late July begins the "monsoon season", when it rains almost every day...here we are!

Sketch 6__Barrel Racer

Barrel Racer ___from my Colorado sketchbook___auction soon
I like this one best, of all the recent sketches...probably because I did it from a photo, and had more "eye time" on the subject!....Cool rain in Colorado, today!

...OH!!!...about the mystery crop (click here to see what I am talking about...)
I heard from an "expert" in agriculture from that area of south Louisiana...here is what he says...
All of you who guessed it can say "I told you so!"

It appears to be a variety of soybeans. Some varieties have long, narrow, pointed leave. I can’t think of anything else that anyone would be growing in Assumption parish.

Michael C. Hebert
County Agent
LSU Ag Center

Romeo__Decision

Romeo__Decision__9x12 pastel pencil on archival paper__from my sketchbook
I mentioned a while ago that when Romeo sees me looking at him (or aiming a camera) he jumps up and gets in my face. So it's hard to sketch him from life sometimes. If I have the right angle and he doesn't SEE me studying him, I can get away with it. In this sketch, he obviously knows I am looking at him, so his "decision" is whether to jump up "now" or after I am finished sketching him....Guess what he decided?
Below is an invitation I have been meaning to send....I wish I had mentioned it sooner for my Texas friends...It's the last big exhibit of my Last Year on the Farm paintings. About 100 selected paintings will be on display for a month in Marble Falls, TX....the reception is THIS SATURDAY, but the show hangs till April 18. I will speak a little bit on Saturday and on April 18, too and tell a little bit about the farm...PLEASE COME! I would love for you to see all these plein air paintings, and hear what you think of my farm....

Romeo__Sigh

Romeo_Sigh__9x12 pastel pencil on archival paper__from my sketchbook
I am not sure if all Great Danes are like this, but Romeo is so alert to whatever I am doing, that if I look at him for any length of time, he gets up to come see me...making sure I am OK, I guess. So for the next few days I will post sketches from photos of him. Right after I snapped the photo for this one, he jumped up and got in my face.....sigh
Below is a little "blog award" that I just received from Stephanie Berry in Maine. I think I have actually won one of these before, but was not sure what it was! Stephanie explained it to me well, and NOW I get it!...so I am posting my OWN award winners' links below! Please take a look at the blogs I look at the most...not all are artists, but all have great "sunshine" when they post!
http://stephanieberryart.blogspot.com/
http://lorraineklotzart.blogspot.com/
http://adeleearnshaw.blogspot.com/
http://fullerfotography.blogspot.com/
http://architectpainterjoshi.blogspot.com/
http://joyjoyinthejourney.blogspot.com/
http://cecelia-throughmyeyes.blogspot.com/
http://robincheers.blogspot.com/
http://joannehanson.blogspot.com/

According to someone's blog, "The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging world." Pass it on....
1. Post the flower logo on your blog.

2. Pass the award on to 12 fellow bloggers.

3. Link your nominees

4. Let nominees know they have won this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Be sure to link to the person you received this award from.

Drowse

"Drowse"____9x12 from my sketchbook
Romeo has his "own" couch, downstairs. When the storms roll in, he hears the thunder miles before we do, and he gets upset and demands to be wherever we are. Giving us his famous, deep "Woo, woo" before the storm the other night, he really really wanted to be on "our" couch. Since everyone else had gone to bed, I was alone on the couch, and relented...just this once...here he is straddling the couch and the ottoman, taking a drowse...

Sam's First Outing

Sam's First Outing___from my sketchbook
It's already baseball season! I took my sketchbook to the field today, thinking I would sketch one of my son's teammates, Joe. Joe's mom won my donation at the silent auction fundraiser a few weeks ago. I donated a small painting of "whoever" wanted their ball player sketched in oils, and Joe's mom, Jennifer bid the highest! What I did not know was that Joe had pitched earlier in the week. My son has been injured and I really wasn't expecting him on the mound, but here he is...with a little sketch in the middle and my make-shift scorecard at left (he played 2 innings, and had 4 strikeouts, 2 base on balls and a couple of earned runs...yikes...preseason craziness! (also had a base hit at the plate!) Welcome back, Sam! Now go put ice on that arm!

Lion Lounge

Lion Lounge_11x14 pencil on acid free paper__$250 (click to enlarge)
I hope some of the kids and teachers who saw the start of this drawing will send me a note of "howdy" if they see this one finished. I did a demo for the Federal Junior Duck Stamp group in South Carolina on Tuesday. The talk I gave while drawing this was all about the importance of sketching. I spoke about "seeing" the easiest elements: line, shapes, values, and built the drawing with values rather than "outlines"....I will be teaching this thoroughly at my next big workshop in June (5-7) here in Texas. Ask for info! vvaughan8@yahoo.com
This morning I was leaving the house to go pick up my new tennis racquet at Golfsmith in Austin, TX. As I was leaving, my daughter called about a big fire across the highway from Golfsmith. The police had just passed her on the road and she snapped a few pics with her cell phone. She was passing it as we spoke, and said it looked like the building exploded. Just then my son called and his boss had been nearby at the same location and heard that an airplane crashed into the building!...It is all over the national news. I decided to save the errand for later. A few hours ago I went to get the racquet and snapped my own picture of the building you are seeing on the news today. The real damage is around to the left...This was an awful day in Austin, but many are thankful that the evil intended did not pan out to the extent that the pilot intended when he flew the plane into the building...

Christina 2_woman, sketch, Indian, pencil drawing

"Christina 2"___from my sketchbook__$90
Again, no "boundary lines" or "outlines" or "contour lines" to start this sketch. ..I learned to draw the hard way...trial and error and LOTS of erasing. After MANY YEARS as a busy artist, I now SELDOM use an eraser! It is my opinion that ANYBODY can be proficient with drawing...while teaching art for 19 years, I saw MANY students who approached every drawing with contour lines, or the "outline"...this SEEMS easy, but is the worst way to get a good drawing, unless you have a GIFTED eye, and can naturally solve problems of proportion, scale, perspective, and all those difficult things. Since not many are THAT gifted, I teach PRACTICAL lessons for ANYONE who wants to draw better! THERE REALLY ARE SECRETS and SHORTCUTS!...I will be teaching a FEW workshops next year...not as many as I have in the past. First one is Feb 5 - 7 at Fredericksburg Artists School, in Texas. Click the link and scroll down for info...MERRY CHRISTmas! (Happy Birthday, Tanner :)