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

Mark at the Round Barn

Mark at the Round Barn___8x10 oil on linen panel__$450
Dale Nicholls is the great regional painter from this area, who made it big in the art world.
Now deceased, this was his family's home, and this type of barn is rare and unique...It is a treasure in Butler County, NE, and we had to have special permission to bring the workshop here for me to paint this study.
My aim was to NOT get tight and paint every board on the barn, and when I do another version, I will emphasize the scale more with some more people or equipment...see the little man by the door on the left? He is too BIG for this scale...the barn is HUGE!!!
I have a few more things to post from my workshop, but for the past few days, I have been working in some of the high schools here, speaking and demonstrating and introducing them to my Chicken Clinic...Great kids here, and a LOT of fun!
See my entire exhibit Passing America: The Great Plains
Next workshop: Fredericksburg, TX, Nov 9-11...FULL MOON FUN! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Dumas Shade

Dumas Shade___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
I am sitting at my friends' kitchen table, blogging from their computer in David City, NE....A LONG day started in Salina, KS, after a short visit with my son (and I dragged my daughter along for this ride), we headed up to Lincoln, NE to deliver 130 paintings to The Great Plains Art Museum...My show will open there on October 7, and runs through Dec. 11...
The small work above is one painted on the plains of the Texas panhandle, where shade is a big comodity this long hot summer.
I will be in Nebraska and Kansas for a few more days, telling the story of my drive-by painting effort and visiting with friends. Like the Bohaty's who we visited with tonight. They fed us a wonderful feast of their grass-fed beef from their own herd of British White cattle. We had a wonderful meal and talked about farming and such....

Before Loma__farms, vista, plains

Before Loma, NE__6x8 oil on panel__study for Passing America Exhibit in 2011

So much of Butler County, Nebraska looked like this: great, long views of miles and miles of farmland in the PEAK of the growing season. CORN, SOYBEANS, and that's about it!...This county is drained by the Platte River...the GREAT Platte River, which is not too deep, but VERY VERY wide at times....The river valley is great farmland, which you can see for miles when you are on the ridge above the river valley...I LOVE those long vistas on the plains!...Loma, NE is on top of one of those ridges. In fact, LOMA in Spanish means "hill"...I am not sure if this is a Spanish name on purpose, because the Spanish did not have much influence in settling this part of the Plains....On the way there we saw a covey of birds that I later identified as some kind of grouse. ...it was memorable, so I added birds to this painting ! Loma is a small town, but has the distinction of being the location where Patrick Swayze shot one of his movies. If Allen reads this, I hope he will leave a comment with the title of the movie...

Dancer- Sand HIll Crane

Dancer-a Sand Hill Crane___8x6 oil study on linen panel___$190
I hope you have enjoyed the "break from my almost daily postings of art. I am working hard on my museum show, and preparing for a flurry of posts about my recent trips through the Great Plains...these two go together! The museum exhibit will be at the Great Plains Art Museum in October of 2011...what seems like a long time from now will come on me in a hurry, so I am immersed in my studies, sketches and writings about this project....here is a painting of one of my favorite Plains residents: the Sand Hill Crane. Really, the cranes are "temporary residents, spending a few weeks along the Platte river as they fly north in early spring.
There is still room for a couple more painters in my Fredericksburg, TX workshop next week...PLEASE let me know if you want to come. It is OK to sign up at the last minute!MOST of the participants have signed up in the past couple days...what's the deal, y'all? :)
We will be working on Monday - Wed, with an optional day on Thursday. The days will be packed full of painting, sketching and studies to make you a FASTER painter...and we'll have great chat times with other artists...
The class is small...only about 10 or so, and I will NOT have more than 12, so you willl get lots of one on one time! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Passing Outside Muleshoe__red barns, snowy, landscape, plains

Passing Outside Muleshoe, TX__8 x 10 "drive-by" study ___
In a few days I will update some info and photos of a trip I am taking right now...Passing America Trip #2. Please see my other blog about the project, and I will let you know when you can read the latest. We are on the road, and connecting is always a hassle. I have been trying for 2 hours with no success...except if you click on the BLOG image you will see a WAY HUGE version...ooops...the painting isn't half this size...but the brush strokes are interesting this big :)...this little painting above was done one the move, pasing through the High Plains of Texas. Happy New Year! Be sure to sign up for a free painting from me...one I will give away next week. See the blog post from a few days ago for info :) Be sure to send an email that you want to be in on the drawing. To vvaughan8@yahoo.com