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...

#114 - Stanley Cold

Stanley Cold__6x8 oil__#114 of 154 works for Passing America: The Great Plains
Passing America: The Great Plains opens Friday, Oct. 7 in Lincoln. If you can come, LET ME KNOW! I will teach a workshop right after the opening, on Sat. through Mon.
For this exhibit, I created over 150 works, MOSTLY on the move as "drive-by" paintings. This one was painted on a train. The Amtrak leg between St. Paul, MN and Montana. I took this trip during the deepest part of winter in order to paint snow and not endanger my usual drivers! It was one of the best trips EVER! This one was painted near Stanley, ND on a bitter cold winter day. Under all that snow was a lonely, isolated little farm....resting.

I am slowly putting all 150+ paintings up on a web page. Click this link to see my first draft. the works are all here, but there is a LOT of editing to do. Browse around and let me know if something catches your eye...
http://virginiavaughan.com/gallery/

Looking West

Looking West___6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains

I LOVE road trips. All my life of travel has mostly been by car, and nearly ALWAYS west, through the Great Plains. I have lived ALL my years on the Plains (except that one year I was born, they tell me, but I don't believe them, since I don't remember :)
The biggest thrill along the way, is when the LONG OPEN plains, finally end at the foot of the Rockies. We always keep a "lookout" so we can be first to say "there's the mountains!"...(bad grammar, but we are Texans! We do it on purpose just to annoy people! :)
This is another painting from a winter batch that I delivered along with the rest. My solo exhibit at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, NE is called Passing America: The Great Plains and runs from Oct. 7, through Dec. 11, 2011. Come meet me at the opening reception on Oct. 7! I will tell a few tales of my journey and purpose for this exhibit.

Great Plains Great Day

Great Plains Great Day__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains
The little sketch above was the last one I painted during my winter jaunt by Amtrak from Minnesota to Montana. The plains were covered with deep snow at that time, and this sketch was in Great Falls Montana....just before I flew home.
I am posting this from a hotel room in Salina, KS, having delivered all the paintings for my solo exhibit to the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The show opens Oct 7 (come meet me at the reception!). It will run through Dec 11. That gives you THREE months to go see it, and I hope you will...Art of the West magazine did a short feature on it (see the Sept. issue, pg 18 )...and I will be posting the complete collection, all my field notes and many photos on my other blog this month. Stay tuned, and I will tell you when to go look there.

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!

McPherson in Kansas

McPherson in Kansas____6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains
I had planned to post this one today, anyway, and a nice coincidence happened!...A collector FROM MCPHERSON, Kansas contacted me to purchase a couple of my recent Kansas paintings. It is not every day that I hear from someone in McPherson, but now I have a new friend there! Not only that, but the college in McPherson is a rival of Kansas Wesleyan University, where my son is playing football!...We are headed up there Saturday for the first scrimmage of the year, and since I heard it is supposed to be 101 (HOT degrees) during the game, I thought I would post a painting that I did when the weather was cooler there!
I am pretty sure that my Texas boy brought the heat with him to Kansas...I sure hope they don't hold this against him!
OK, OK, I know a few of you artists were looking for something about Kevin McPherson, the great artist...I do not mind if that is what made you read this far...he is a hero of mine, too!!!

Snowpaths

Snowpaths___8x10 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: The Great Plains, exhibit opens in October
The record-breaking heat in Texas has me remembering the good cold days many months ago!. This little drive-by was in the Texas High Plains on a bright, clear winter day.
My "location" work on this one was a quick oil sketch as we drove by. I finished it farther down the road, and only recently made a "painting" out of it...all from memory, letting the first IMPRESSION on canvas speak to me to complete it....
Guess what, y'all....I will be teaching a LOT real soon!...get ready!

My Schedule-----------------
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!

Plain Flurries

Plain Flurries__6x8 oil on linen panel for Passing America: The Great Plains
As I wrap up the details for my upcoming exhibit, I cleaned up this little "drive-by" painting, today...I painted it last year as we came out of the northern New Mexico mountains and had our first view of the plains. Just then, the clouds opened up and let down some light flurries of snow...
By the way, all the plains paintings are for sale, but I will not be able to deliver them until after the event is over (late December)...That gives you time to pay off a lay-away purchase if you want to take your time paying it off....a number of collectors are doing JUST THAT, right now...just e-mail me if you see one you like ! vvaughan8@yahoo.com
My workshop and show/event schedule is below....
My Schedule-----------------
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!

Snow Spread Before Shelby

Snow Spread Before Shelby___6x8 oil on linen___for Passing America...exhibit
The snow was deep and covered every inch of the plains...deep! From Minnesota to Montana!! We saw a lot of animals struggle through the drifts: coyotes, deer, foxes...and bald eagles flying above!....And domestic cattle and horses huddled together, too, but they all seemed used to it! I REALLY LIKED to see a herd of deer gathered around some hay bales nibbling their lunch...
This was the last painting I did "en train air", on my Amtrak trip through the Great Plains. I have a number of other "starts" from the train, and a few I did while spending a couple days in Great Falls. But for now, I have to earn a living and paint for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC. I have some nice ones prepared for the show...I will begin to post those tomorrow, and you can see them FIRST! (and buy them first, too, if you want!)
***GOOD NEWS! My cancelled workshop in Rockport, TX has been rescheduled for THIS MONDAY, Feb 7. Monday is an odd day, but why not come! The details are below.
____________________________________________________________________________________
V…. Vaughan
1-Day Plein Air Workshop: Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dusk
Monday, February 7, 7:00 a.m. to noon,and 4:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Bonus (optional) Sunrise Sketching Tuesday, February 8 at Charlotte Plummers. Be there at 7:00 to set up. DONE by 8:30
$100 for members, $125 for non-members
$50 deposit reserves seat, balance due by workshop;
Please call to enroll. Supply list available.
I will share my methods of seeing and sketching FAST. We will work with pencils and sketchbooks, but will also sketch with brush on canvas or panel. The day starts at sunrise and we will work all morning, then take a break after lunch and come back for another session, ending with the moon at sunset! You will create many small sketches and color studies…lessons to take with you into the studio! BRING your plein air gear, a sketchbook and plenty of small panels (6x8, 8x10). Monday 7 am – 12 pm …Meet at Cove Harbor at 7, sunrise demo and boatyard plein air sketching. Topic: pushing color…Break for lunch and talk about art, marketing, etc. Meet for a crescent moonset 5 -7 pm or a little later if the moon and sky are interesting … we can paint the crescent moon and sunset till about 6:30 pm Those who want to can meet at Charlotte Plummers for a BONUS session on Saturday morning at 7 to paint the sunrise there

Pawnee Morning Star Ritual

Cold Crescent__11x14 oil on linen___available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM next week.

A few days ago I posted a study I did on my Amtrak trip of The Morning star. An artist buddy quickly wrote to me about The Morning Star ceremony of the Pawnee Indians -a ritual sacrifice of a young girl in the spring. It's a shame that such a beautiful phenomena is associated with such a terrible ritual. I prefer the Bible reference to "The Bright and Morning Star" as a special name/description for Jesus.
Michael Ome Untiedt , a great artist and friend told me all about it and sent me some info. He also mentioned that there is a place in Ireland where there is evidence that their ancient peoples followed the movement of Venus, (actually a planet and NOT a star). They followed its very course in the solar system, and studies indicate that they had to keep track of this for some 400 years, handing down their observations to the next generation without the benefit of WRITING...So fascinating that I caught myself "wikipedia-ing" for part of my morning and had to hustle myself back to the Plains....

I decided today to make a larger version of the Amtrak study, and altered it a bit...can you tell how???

My workshop in Rockport this weekend has been postponed. They are expecting BAD WINTER WEATHER there for the next day or two. We are pushing it forward to next week, so NOW YOU CAN plan to come! It might be Monday, Feb 7...maybe Friday Feb 11. I will know the new date on Thursday.

PLEASE e-mail me if you are interested...maybe you can caravan with those of us going down from the Austin area. vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Cattle Paths

Cattle Paths- Williston, North Dakota___6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America exhibit Oct 7-Dec11

Williston is fairly close to the Montana border, so by this time, I had been painting and sketching many hours on my Amtrak trip Passing America: The Great Plains. I think this was the sun's highest point in the sky all day! My Montana friend, Sarah, said in the winter, the sun feels like it is at eye level all the time....though it shone brightly, it was very cold outside, and we all wondered how those cows make it through the winter! My last winter on the farm was such a bitter cold one, and our southern cows suffered a great deal.

In response to D....who recently asked me if I ever paint from photos. Below are a few photos from the train...Bad Photo 2 was adjusted with photoshop, and STILL is lacking! I just could NOT paint from these!!! Photography is a whole 'nother gift which I do not possess! For a painter, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for training your eye outside...or on location.
Now, NO SASSY comments about my photography, please....I am a sensitive artist!!! ;)

Bad Photo 1

Bad Photo 2

Bad Photo 3

Bad Photo 4

Trees by the Tracks

Trees by the Tracks___8x6 oil on linen___for Passing America....exhibit Oct-Dec 2011,

Great Plains Art Museum, Lincoln, NE

The Amtrak Empire Builder stopped in Minot, ND. It was just long enough that I was able to do a little more detail on this small canvas. The sun was up, but still low in the sky, and shadows played across the lower part of the branches. I never looked to see what was making the shadows, but spent the time trying to catch the impression of sunlight on the tops of the trees.

I will be teaching this kind of "painting fast impressions" in an upcoming one-day workshop in Rockport, TX. Join us on Friday, Feb 4, and we also will paint on Saturday morning. Details below! If it is cold we will work in the Art center, right on the waterfront. I am also looking into the option of another indoor venue with a view

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND

Barn Light Near Rugby, ND__6x8 oil "drive-by" study for Passing America: The Great Plains
Another sunrise study near Rugby.
This scene passed by fast, and I sketched the buildings in quickly with just a few lines, and made notes about the color in my sketchbook. The sunrise color lingered awhile, so I was able to do the sky and use the landscape along the rails to put color notes on the canvas. I am betting that the buildings I saw look nothing like this, but the IMPRESSION I had of them is "just right" in this little painting.
Haha, My train travel buddy, Rhonda, commented that she slept through all the excitement of my night time works....I had a bunch of sketches and notes to show her the next morning....and wondered how she slept through my rattling around in the bottom bunk, frequently turning on my light to write the notes...I can sketch in the (nearly) dark, but needed a little light for the words...
I am an "impressionist", after all! And I will be teaching some of my techniques in a one-day-plus a morning workshop in Rockport, TX next Friday and Saturday. Oh, I hope the weather is 1/2 as beautiful as it was this weekend. I hear it might be a little chilly, but we have a nice classroom to work in if that happens. See details below.
I got to teach about 30 amazing ART TEACHERS at the Art Educator Days events at the Rockport Center for the Arts. THhey had a blast, taking workshops from about 10 instructors and learning a wide variety of art disciplines to take back to the classroom. These teachers are amazing artists in their own right. I had a BIGGER blast than they did!...I hope some of the local ones (and YOU!)can join the FULL day workshop next Friday!
***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Sunrise West of Rugby

Sunrise West of Rugby, ND___6x8 oil on linen___for Passing America...Exhibit opens Oct. 7

Rugby, North Dakota was a landmark for a few of us on the train (Amtrak Empire Builder). When anyone wondered where we were that morning, we all said things like "30 minutes from Rugby" or we passed Rugby a while ago"....it was an easy name to remember. Later in the day, when we were FAR from Rugby, we STILL referenced it, because it was fun to say! ...As I mentioned yesterday, the sunrise seemed to last a while this far north, so I enjoyed painting several small works back to back to back!.

***a friend, Dot Courson suggested that I am not a plein air painter, but this would be "train air"...I corrected the spelling to "trein air"...

I will be teaching this technique of capturing impressions quickly in Rockport, TX next Friday-Saturday. JOIN ME! ...info below

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til about noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

Morning Star-East of Rugby

Morning Star East of Rugby, ND___6x8 oil on linen___for Passing America ...exhibit opens in October 2011

I took the Amtrak Empire Builder train from St. Paul, MN to Shelby MT last week and after a night of beautiful full moon views, we had a spectacular sunrise! I painted in a fury, doing small canvas sketches, putting down "color notes". After 2 or 3 of these I realized that the light was staying very consistent, and the sun didn't seem to move! First, the clouds helped, by keeping the sun out of my eyes. But I noticed that the sun never really came UP in the sky! My friend, Sarah described it well: "In the winter, the sun stays at "eye level" all day!" TRUE! In the south (where I live) the sun comes up at a lower angle in the winter, but it still comes up. In Montana last week, though, It stays low and runs across the sky, rather than "up". THIS WAS GREAT for me, the artist, who enjoys long, strong shadows. The reds and golden colors lasted longer, it seemed to me!
For the next two weekends, I will be in Rockport, TX, teaching some of my "quick-draw" techniques! JOIN US!...info below

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
FRIDAY, Feb 4 (with an optional Saturday morning paint-out)
7am at Cove Harbour til albout noon, and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…with pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non

St. Cloud to Staples

St. Cloud to Staples__Passing America___6x8 oil on linen____for the show in October

Sometime in the night (1:02 am in fact!), I was snuggled in my Amtrak sleeper bed, looking out the window with my sketchbook...I had given up trying to PAINT from the viewing car....was not used to the "motion" of the train, and frankly, I was a little tired! I had been up since 4 am the morning before. So I arranged my bed so I could lay down with my sketchbook and see the farms going by at night. Of course, this gave me a "second wind"...I stayed up through the night, sketching almost the whole time. I can tell by my time log that I must have taken cat naps! There are some big gaps between 1-5 am, but I OFTEN just looked out the window and memorized colors and compositions....THIS ONE above was painted the following day, using my sketch and memory....The porch light was illuminating the trees in the yard of this farm house.
To read about my project Passing America: The Great Plains click the link.

***WORKSHOP in Rockport! ***
Here are the basics, but email me if you want more info...this is an intensive one-day study workshop to equip you to move forward...(plus optional Saturday am paintout)
Sketching and Pushing Color from Dawn til Dark
7am Cove Harbour-noon and 4:30 – 7 pm
also, Sat 7am at Charlotte Plummers
Seeing and sketching fast…pencils, sketchbooks, brush on panels,
$100 for members, $125 for non
Phase of the Moon on 4 February: waxing crescent with 3% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.

Moonset West of Rugby, ND

Moonset West of Rugby, ND__6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America: the Great Plains

This leg of my journey across the plains doing "drive-by" paintings, was chosen so that I could find some SERIOUS WINTER. ...and wanting to find snow, but not endanger my driver! I chose well! Minnesota to Montana in mid-January is a guaranty for snowy landscapes. A few weeks ago, it had been -30 in these parts, so I was blessed to have much milder weather. It was 7 in this part of North Dakota this day!

I also chose this PARTICULAR winter day because of the moon phase and the Amtrak schedule. Whether traveling east to west or west to east, the MN to MT Empire Builder route travels half the time in the dark. My mission is to paint on the move, so I need LIGHT to see. I chose a day when the moon would be full, and I would have opportunity to see reflected light off the snow....After a night spent sketching put the window from my bed in the sleeper car, with my buddy, Rhonda on the top bunk, we were gifted with a beautiful and brief moonset peaking through the clouds.

We passed many little farms at night. I viewed them all night long....sometimes the train would stop near their towns, other times we would pass on by...more about that tomorrow

***Oh, yes!!! About that moonset from the train! All night long I monitored the full moon. I sketched it's reflection on ponds (...I THINK they were ponds!), noted the deep shadows on the snow, and watched it track across the sky....THEN I LOST IT!!!...at about 6 am I noticed it was "gone", and I did not think it was due to clouds, but rather the direction we traveled! The train veered a little bit and I assumed the moon was right in front of us... Thinking I wouldn't see it again, I settled in to do other things when Rhonda came runing through the train, leaving her breakfast, to tell me she spotted it going down! THAT IS WHY I was able to paint this one!!! THANK YOU, RHONDA!!! (And hey....running down a narrow aisle of a moving train ain't easy!)

St Cloud, MN

St Cloud, Minnesota__6x8 oil on linen panel___for Passing America exhibit in October 2011
This little sketch was painted just outside of St. Cloud, MN, while Passing America...it was almost midnight, the moon was full, but in and out of hazy clouds. The little farmhouse was blanketed with a recent snow, but the glow of the lights reminded me of the many nights I woke at our farm, to see lights on and tractors being moved for the day's work on our farm.
My southern eyes had trouble adjusting to these new colors of night in the great white north....Hey Rhonda, this is what "I saw" when I smooshed those three colors onto this first canvas of many! Of course I tweaked it when I got home. Thank you for being polite when I showed it to you before the tweaking!

I have been planning this trip for over a year, and now it's DONE! The "northern leg" of my Great Plains adventure came off without a (major) hitch, and was WAY MORE than I could have hoped for! Get ready, because I am about to post A LOT of works from this journey, and the great stories to go with them!
The sketch above was my first painting while passing this part of America. I flew to Minneapolis, MN last Tuesday, and my aunt Yvonne and cousin Jeff and his wife Tricia met me at the airport and brought me to St. Paul....what a WONDERFUL time we had, catching up on old family stories and telling NEW ones! (I have a very large Italian family, so we talked nonstop for about 5 hours and did not make a dent in the news!...I NEED TO GO BACK!) ...cousin Paul came to visit and I was in hog heaven, enjoying Italian food for both lunch AND DINNER that day!...After a little drama with my cell phone, Aunt Yvonne then brought me to the Amtrak station to meet an old buddy, Rhonda, and we took the 11:15 Empire Builder west toward Montana....I will continue the journal tomorrow...

Little Twilight Glow

Little Twilight Glow___9x12 oil on linen panel___sold (a commission)
This is a sort of "backwards" commission. USUALLY I do small studies in oils, as I work out compositional and color problems...and sometimes I make things up. When the idea works, I might turn it into a large canvas, using the smaller one as reference. THIS ONE, though, is a small version of a LARGE painting I posted in December. Click here to see it and compare composition, color and design. I will ship it to a collector in Colorado next week when it dries!
Hey you artists! Have you taken a workshop lately? It's a good way to snap out of "doldrums", to get some new ideas and to have some constant critique to sharpen you up. I welcome you to my winter workshop at Fredericksburg Artists School, Feb. 5-7. Email for info vvaughan8@yahoo.com