Stormy Thumb

Stormy Thumb___16x20 "Quick Draw" in oil
Yesterday's post showed my first "quick draw" at the Phippen Museum Western Art Show out in Prescott, AZ. Here is the one I did on Sunday last week. It also took one hour and was auctioned off along with 18 other artist's works. The scene is Thumb Butte, with the lights of Prescott twinkling.
I worked from a reference photo I took the day before, when I took a wrong turn on the way to the event, and saw a spectacular view from the hill top!
The painting is larger than my usual quick draw canvas....see ?

 

 

I AM HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE that my works are now represented in Sedona, Arizona at the wonderful

Mountain Trails Gallery

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Flight

12 x 36 oil

Available at Mountain Trails Gallery, Sedona, AZ



Day's Last Sliver

Day's Last Sliver__6x8 oil__$190 unframed

There was a little sliver of bright light as the storms closed in over the Santa Fe area. I think these are the mountains near Los Alamos, and we were on the way to pick up a couple of our kids in Santa Fe...Love those summer monsoon clouds over the southwest!!!

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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!

Chamisa Shack

Chamisa Shack__16x20 oil on linen__available at Act I Gallery in Taos...next week

I have not sent this one to Taos, yet, so you are first to know about it!..If it looks familiar, scroll down and you might have seen this sketch which I posted a few weeks ago. I actually did the PAINTING FIRST! It was my field study and has been unfinished till I made some "oil changes" today...now I can call it "done" and will send it off to Taos....the sketch is in my Colorado sketchbook, and I did the sketch to solve some problems in the painting! Click Here to see the whole sketchbook on my web site. RIGHT NOW I am offering the sketchbook for sale. THE WHOLE SKETCHBOOK, with field notes, grocery lists and all! I have never done this before, so I am just going to see what happens. The sale is over on Oct. 23, unless someone does "Buy it Now".

WORKSHOP in Rockport, TX this month. Email me for details! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

click to see and Watch the Sketchbook Sale on Ebay

San Pedro From the Back_church, sketch, New Mexico, southwest

San Pedro y San Rafael from the Back__#18 from my Colorado sketchbook...auction soon!

At this great location, we spent the whole morning painting, sketching, photographing and running for cover from lightning and hail! It was a BEAUTIFUL morning! Only a plein air painter will call hail "beautiful"....I LOVE this church!...Not just because it carries my name ("PEDRO" is my maiden name), but because it reflects the culture of this area of Colorado...so close to New Mexico....also, after the rain and hail cleared out, the southwestern sunshine makes crisp edges of light on the building, and hard shadow edges in the clear, dry air....

I am building the page for displaying all 30 sketches in my Colorado sketchbook. I have decided to have an auction, to sell the entire sketchbook...complete with my field notes. I have never really finished a WHOLE sketchbook before...usually halfway through I begin using pages to tear out for grocery lists or brainstorm lists......Even in this book I couldn't help myself, though I tried HARD! ...There are notes and lists inside the front cover ...I wrote them lightly, so that they can be erased if someone hates them :)

Chamisa Study

Chamisa Study_sketch 16 from my Colorado sketchbook__auction soon

Chamisa is this rugged plant that grows over the mesas in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. In the early fall they turn golden yellow with little flowers. Here you can see the San Pedro church in the distance. For a fuller view of the little church, page back to my sketch #15. I will post more Great Plains "drive-by" paintings as soon as I photograph them.

The sketch above continues the 30 sketches from Colorado. I plan to offer the entire sketchbook in an online auction soon.

Right now I am snowed under, wrapping up details from my summer Plains excursions....but MAINLY, I am planning my part of my son's wedding! The bride's family has done the big heavy lifting so far, but now is my time to plan a few parties and gather photos and things for the ceremony and rehearsals...So, I might be out of touch, off and on ...

Colorado Sketchbook-page 3

San Luis Valley Mesas - From my Colorado sketchbook, 2010 -
On the way "in" to our canyon and summer house, the land changes from farm valley, to mesas to the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. I did this sketch in the mesa area, near Mogote and Fox Creek....The trees there, mark the path of the Conejos River.
This is a really remote area of wildflowers, wildlife and certainly CRICKETS!
Not that I have seen many (mostly small grasshoppers, which I noticed while out painting yesterday), but I mention crickets, because I read a funny and thought provoking essay about "Cricket Places"...I pasted the link below...

http://www.insight.org/library/insight-for-today/devotional-archive.html
Friday, July 16

Xavier Study

Xavier Study____6x8 oil on linen___$190 or I am taking it to Phippen!
I just painted this. See the photo below for the "real" view. I shouldn't show these together, but click the image above and see the quick strokes of color...this is a SKETCH in oils, meant to gather color and the impression....but sometimes the impression is not all that "IMPRESSIVE".....I spent the morning at the "Dove of the Desert", San Xavier Mission in southern Arizona. This is near the Mexican border...a BEAUTIFUL place of such diversity. I also spent sunset there last night...and saw the moonrise...it was here that I discovered that I FORGOT all my painting gear, except a small pouchade box still loaded up for my drive-by paintings! Better than nothing!. So I am typing this 90 miles up the road at a McDonalds in Phoenix, hoping to squeeze in a visit with a former student who lives here (CALL ME JULIE!), and will bide my time at the Jerry's Artarama, buying new paints etc., so I can do the quick-draw at the Phippen Museum Art Show on Saturday-Monday. WHEW! Come see me!
OR, come to my workshop in Fredericksburg June 14-16 or 17. We'll be learning to sketch like this and MORE! vvaughan8@yahoo.com for info

Passing the Edge_daybreak, subnrise, mesa, New Mexico, Southwest, plains

"Passing the Edge"___8x10 oil___a drive-by painting, Passing America: the Great Plains
Driving east from the southern Rockies there is a definite "LINE " where one can actually SEE the Great Plains . Just south of Las Vegas, New Mexico on US 84 this view stood out before us at sunrise. Click to zoom in, and you can see the line of the plain, which I emphasized by a bead of paint made by pressing down on a loaded brush...hard to explain, but I can "show it" at a workshop...if you can come!...my schedule is below...
This painting begins a new project I will talk a lot about in the coming days.
It is called "Passing America: The Great Plains".
OCTOBER SCHEDULE_________________________
Oct. 17 Workshop in Calvert, TX. A mini half-day Plein Air Workshop. Sunrise demo, followed by workshop until noon. Primarily in oils, but all media and skill levels are welcome. Officially starts at 8 a.m. and ends with lunch. $45 Contact Cecelia at grannyc_54@yahoo.com for information and a supply list. http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/profile.php?id=1380900702
Oct. 24 Texas Country Reporter show, Waxahachie, TX Courthouse. ALL DAYSunday
Oct. 25 First Annual Bovine Art Show, Cactus Jack's in Gruene, TX
Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com
FEB 5 - 7 , Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast