By Chama

By Chama  6x8  Available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

Another TINY ONE!!! Check with Act I Gallery for this one, and say HOWDY to New Owners D. and G. !

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UPCOMING FOR V....

Phippen Museum Western Art Show___Prescott, AZ___May 23-25

Ballad of the Farm: Then. Now. Tomorrow__OPENING__David City, NE__May 23

This event is a VERY SPECIAL exhibit, that I have put my heart into since October, 2014. I will have a month of TARGETED blog posts about this topic, and "unveil" my special painting very soon. Visit Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art for more, and PLEASE follow my journey...soon!

Vacquero Study

Vacquero Study __9x12 watercolor

 

Watercolor pencils are my latest toy for demonstrating drawing techniques to my special students! This one is helping me solve some problems with a studio piece I am working on in oils!

If you read the art magazines you'll see some of my work there this month. Both

Fine Art Connoisseur and Southwest Art Magazines used my works within the stories they did on the AWA Show opening this Friday.

Come meet me and other artists on November 1 at RS Hanna Gallery in

Fredericksburg, TX. You will love this wonderful gallery, and PROMISE ME that you will make a spoecial effort to meet Shannon Hanna, who has put together a fine show for the American Women Artists.

Coach

Coach__12x16 oil on paper

This began as a sketch, as I experimented with a new, special "oil paper"...I kept trying things with this new  (to me) surface, and after toying with putting it on, taking it off,  and making "oil changes", it ended up as a "painting"!

Now....how do I mount this so that I don't have to frame it in glass? Your thoughts?

The Right Hand

The Right Hand

12 x 12 oil on canvas

 

Like yesterday's post, I have wanted to paint this for quite a while, having shot a great photo of this cowgirl, Tara. She is the "Right Hand" that goes with "The Hand", I guess! I will resume the Birdseed Project tomorrow!

Blue Trailer

Blue Trailer II___11x14 oil on linen panel___$850 unframed

I am painting things now for the Phippen Museum Western Art Show in Prescott, AZ. I'll be there in a few weeks with new stuff and visiting old friends! The painting here is another ne using my student's "palette droppings". Zoom in to see some surprise color!

I used a palette knife, here, and painted for another small audience at my mom's nursing home. I like to joke that they are the best audience, because many of them do not see so well, and they were all raised to be polite and say "That's GOOD, dear!" hahaha...

I will teach a workshop in Fredericksburg next month, and plan to show how to work with palette droppings. My theme again is "Capturing Impressions Quickly"...this year we will work outside less and draw MORE! Email me if you are interested! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

_______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

Workshop: Fredericksburg Artists School, June 11-14

High School/Middle School Student Workshops: Austin, TX, June 18-21

 Southeastern Plein Air Festival, works hang thru May, Gadsden, AL

Memorial Dy Weekend-May, Phippen Museum Western Art Show, Prescott, AZ

Summer Workshops in Texas, Colorado and more!

...see my schedule for more dates and events

Russell Sky Study

Russell Sky Study__7x5 oil on cotton panel___$100
Yesterday's post showed my "quick finish" painting for the Russell Art in Action, a benefit auction for the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, MT.
Please see that story and the TV interview! I give the "chamber of commerce" quote of the day!!
...One interesting thing about such an event, is that artists plan very diligently so that their work will hopefully come out good, ESPECIALLY as we work in front of hundreds of sophisticated art patrons! I showd how I arrived with a plan and a start on my canvas, but changed my mind once I got there....this study above was 'Plan "C"'!...I sketched it out on a small panel the night before, but didn't use it for the big canvas. It is a true little study, at a nice little price!
More to come, so please see my schedule!! I will be in Wickenburg, AZ this week!

Shady Wait

Shady Wait___16 x 48 oil on wood panel (see frame below on blog___$4500

This one was painted especially for the upcoming Cowgirl Up! art show in Arizona

I did the studies for this painting right there in the corral at Colorado's Rainbow Trout Ranch last summer...This one has an unusual proportion, which really is hard to photograph....looks better in person. I shipped it and 4 other works to Arizona last week for Cowgirl Up! Talk about a FUN event! If you are anywhere near Wickenburg, AZ From March 23 to May, please go see the show. The events weekend is March 23-24, and the show runs through May.....BUT!

Today I arrived in Montana for the great C.M. Russell Auction, another huge western art event. This is my first year at the Russell, and I will be at the museum for the auction (Thursday night) and then at the Meadow Lark Country Club (on Friday morning) for a "Quick Draw", which is really a "Quick Finish" event... I am planning to do a BIG work. Come watch me paint !

______________V....Vaughan Spring Schedule________________

March 15-17, C. M. Russell Museum Auction, Great Falls, MT

March 23-25, Cowgirl Up! Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
April 9-13, Southeastern Plein Air Festival, Gadsden, AL

...see my schedule for more dates and events
Framed version__click to enlarge

detail

Drive By Cattle Drive

Drive-By Cattle Drive___8x10 oil on linen panel___for the "Passing America..." exhibit

My last time to drive through the central plains was in the winter. My son was at the wheel and we saw a mounted cowboy and a couple of calves on the top of a hill. I grabbed my camera and snapped a few good ones with the snowy scene looking so typically western!..so, a few weeks ago I pulled out those pictures to make a new painting for the Western Art Show. As I zoomed in I saw that the figures were only metal cut-outs placed on the hill . You have seen them, They are black silhouettes and look like cowboys or bears or something that grabs your eye!. They sure fooled me! I felt pretty stupid to think I had almost painted them! (If it weren't for the platform stand under each figure, I would have created a sure masterpiece of yard decorations! )

So just now, as my husband was driving us through the Plains, a REAL cattle drive was moving over the sandhills of northwest Nebraska. He was kind enough to stop and let me snap, snap snap. I have great reference for a large work, and this study above, created on the road from memory and other pastures passing by.

I am rethinking the idea of placing trips back to back to back....I am a slow learner, but have learned this one the hard way...In 9 days I will be back FOR GOOD! and not taking any more extended trips for a while.

I am REALLY eager to put my new art and observations on the blogs, and to tell my recent tales of the Plains...But I want it to be in order! So it will be a while...I have some 25 new "drive-by" paintings/sketches, and interesting musings to go with them. I will be working on that in my "spare time" as I am in Arizona at the Phippen Museum Western Art Show for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend. While in Arizona I have decided to extend my trip an extra week. I am even flying my daughter out to drive home with me. Together we will tool around Arizona and spend all our money there with other friends who are joining us!!

When I get back I'll teach a workshop in Fredericksburg, TX. I will bring all the drive-bys to "show and tell" the class, because much of what I am DOING is what I also TEACH about drawing and capturing the impressions FAST and WELL!!! PLEASE join me June 14-16 with an optional extra day on June 17. Click here and scroll down to my class info.