Twilight Glow__mountains, snow, cabin lights

Twilight Glow__30 x 40 Oil on linen__a BIG one

Making plans for a family Christmas ski trip, I just HAD to paint from last year's photos. Of course I combined a few of my favorite shots. This was that beautiful time of day that artists call "the golden hour" when the sun is about an hour from setting and all the warmest colors of the spectrum take over.  There is a glow on the mountain and long cool shadows at the same time. If you look hard you will see the glow of a couple of cabins welcoming you home!....This is a very large work that I will commit to a gallery as soon as I am through tinkering with it. Tomorrow, though, I will loan it to the Hill Country Bible Church  in northwest Austin, TX, and it will hand in the Cafe area for a few weeks.

E-mail vvaughan8@yahoo.com

web http://www.v-vaughan.com/

Follow me on the Great Plains http://www.vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/

Hook Em_sketch, Longhorn, Texas

Hook Em__8.5 x 5.5 pencil sketch__$75

Ah, Longhorns! Our great symbol of Texas pride and the mascot of our University! I have always lived near pastures of longhorns, even now in a Round Rock neighborhood, there is a ranch nearby with many longhorns! I like to sketch them, because they have a different physique from the cows on our old farm. You cannot just sketch any old cow and then add horns. Longhorns look different!....and the females have horns, too!

PLEASE look at my new blog, and consider following my project "Passing America: The Great Plains". I heard from an artist buddy. Michael Ome Untiedt who was not real fond of the way I explained the project. He is one of my VERY FAVORITE artists and just about the best writer I know, so I will be doing some editing on that blog to communicate better what it is all about . Stay tuned and go take a look.

Click to reply E-mail vvaughan8@yahoo.com

web http://www.v-vaughan.com/

NEW BLOG  http://www.vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/

Low Tank__Angus, cows, water, tank, pond, whiteface

 

Low Tank__18 x 24 oil on linen___available

I finished this one today, using one of my studies from the farm collection . (click link to see all 365 of those works). I have wanted to paint this one BIG since I first painted the study a few years ago. The title describes the setting. A "tank" is what we call "water ponds" in this part of Texas...They are "stock tanks" made to keep livestock watered. Our farm had 4 or 5 of them and they were gathering places for cows, herons, migrating birds and our boys who loved to fish, and the dogs who loved to swim there. The water is VERY low in this view, but I remember a rainy fall followed and the water came nearly to the top of the dam that year.

I shot this photo late in the day, and will replace this image with a better one tomorrow, so if it looks funny, check the blog tomorrow afternoon :)

E-mail vvaughan8@yahoo.com  
web http://www.v-vaughan.com/

Grazing Together_cow, cattle egrets, angus, black

Grazing Together__24 x 30 oil on linen__available

FINALLY, I completed the demo start I did the other evening at the PACT meeting (PACT is an art group in Austin...and I hope y'all can remember how this one started...it was difficult to photograph, but you can click on the image to see details.) This subject might be my favorite thing to paint...really, ANYTHING having to do with farms is my passion. Please see my new blog and project at http://www.vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/  and be sure to sign up to be a follower, as I am making changes  constantly to update the project.

E-mail vvaughan8@yahoo.com
web http://www.v-vaughan.com/
Passing America: The Great Plains http://www.vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/

Announcing a new BLOG_Passing America_drive-by paintings fromthe Great Plains

Passing America__a sketch 5 miles south of Roaring Springs, on the Texas High Plains

ANNOUNCING

A NEW BLOG 

V....Vaughan Passing America

I have been given another solo museum show at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The exhibit opens in October, 2011. For the next 2 years I will be extending the themes of my own Last Year on the Farm. America's small farms are passing away, and the landscape is changing. Especially in the Great Plains. I want to explore what that means and how it can be communicated. I am an impressionist and will paint the Passing of family farms in a special way...on the move, as I pass by on the roads and rails of the plains.

My new blog is documenting every step of the way...see where I have been so far and please sign up to follow! This will NOT be a daily painting effort, but I will post as I prepare works for the exhibit and while I travel the plains.

BELOW: Grazing Along__sketch for that painting I keep promising to show...TOMORROW!....maybe

E-mail vvaughan8@yahoo.com
web www.v-vaughan.com

Grazing Trio_cow, angus, egrets, sketch

Grazing Trio___5.5 x 8.5 sketch
I have been painting this week, but not well enough to photograph the cow painting I began as a demo Tuesday night...Actually I lost most of the day, doing some heavy duty house cleaning and solving a self inflicted cell phone problem...TOMORROW I will finish and post the Angus painting. I am on the verge of creating so much anticipation that I hope it's not a let-down!

Angus Place_sketch, pen, Black Angus, cow

"Angus Place"___from my sketchbook, 5.5 x  8.5
I am still sketching the angus this week, preparing paintings, and working out problems, all while re-configuring my studio...I FINALLY finished that project today!
The demo I did last night was a good start! (Notice I chose to NOT post it, yet). There was a good crowd of at least 40, so I chose to work BIG, though I only had about 45 minutes...I hope to post it tomorrow!

Big Boy___black cow, angus, pen sketch, cattle

"Big Boy"...sketching a lotta bull!

This is officially "angus Week" for me, since I will be painting an angus scene tonite at a demo I am doing for an art club nearby. I have been enjoying the sketches, and when it came time to prepare reference for a demo, the angus angle seemed just right! I will post it tomorrow, unless it comes out awful...

Some of you, my "regulars" replied a few weeks ago that you'd like to follow my new blog "Passing America..." I will get more info out on that sometime during the Holidays. I created the blog this week, and am learning new things about Blogger. Since I started this blog a few years ago, I have done NOTHING to update it...just too busy to get on that roll, but last night I really got into it. It appears that while working on the new blog, I must have ordered changes or updates for this one , too, because it LOOKS different....UH OH, I hope I didn't lose all my archived content....

Angus Reflection_cow, angus, black, sketch

Angus Reflection__from my sketchbook__8.5 x 5.5__$50
We have water in Texas now....ahhhhh
I am moving my studio downstairs this week...what a chore! I don't have an easel I like down there, yet, so twill be sketches this week!

Big Nap_sketch, Dog, pen drawing, Great Dane

Big Nap__a sketch of Romeo, my Good Dane___5.5 x 8.5__$90
Romeo, my "good" Dane does not leave my side. He just had a birthday last week, making him 6, which is real OLD in Great Dane years. As I sketched him, he fell deeper and deeper to sleep and by the time I was done, that right ear was on the floor, along with his drooly jowels...
Well, I was wrong about the football game being on national TV....but son Samuel did get his opportunity and played all but a couple of plays in a great game against Texas' 10th ranked team. They held them off for most of the game, and except for a couple of missed big plays, the Round Rock Dragons did well in a 14 - 31 loss! Sam threw a couple of touchdown passes and had one good run! ...He is sad that his football season is over, so guess what he did today???...went to the batting cages for some baseball action...Happy Sunday!

November Moon_Full moon, Texas Hill Country, night

November Moon__12 x 16 oil on linen___available
Monday night was a beautiful full moonrise, and some of my artist friends and I met to paint it. I could not stay long, so ended up with a study while there, which I worked on in the studio today.Couple a bad photographer (me) with a bad monitor (mine) and you have an explanation as to why there are two versions of this painting today. It's the same painting, but I cannot tell which one looks closest to the original, since my monitor is unreliable these days. So, pick the BEST one, and that's what the painting looks like!
Our Central Texas moonrises are the BEST! Maybe because there are sweeping views of the distance and one gets a good feeling of the majesty of creation. I will be teaching a workshop in February at the beautiful Fredericksburg Artists School. We will take on the moon! ...and probably a couple of sunrises and sunsets, too. Come if you can, Feb 5 - 7. Click the FAS link for info.

Midnight Pie_sketch, old people, grandparents

"Midnight Pie"___an old sketch while Grandmother told me the story....
Grandmother Helen was a fearless cook, and often tried new recipes. But Pappy's favorite dish of all was Grandmother's cherry pie. She told me the story about how one time, neither of them could sleep, so they went outside together, in the moonlight, on the front porch at 8 Sunset Trail, Sunset Valley, south Austin, TX...a sleepy little community, established over 60 years ago...a place where the yards were big enough that they had a small stable full of horses in the back. They sat in the metal chairs there with Pappy eating a big piece of cherry pie...she in her robe, he in his birthday suit! I couldn't get this image out of my mind and HAD to sketch it. ...haha!!....I have been looking for the sketch to share with the family, but didn't find it till today...too late for the funeral.

To FULLY understand this, please look back at my blog from a few days ago, where I tell about the passing of a great lady, Helen Vaughan, my grandmother (for the past 33 years).
http://vvaughan.blogspot.com/2009/10/seventy-years-agocows-angus-farm.html

Our family came together for Grandmother Helen's funeral, yesterday in San Antonio. The cemetery there is just full of family, and walking among the headstones was, somehow, comforting. ...In my blog post few days ago There is a photo of Helen and her best friend/cousin, Dorothy, who also passed away last week. What a moment to see Dorothy's fresh grave right there by Helen's. The stories and memories were flying and a few new memories were made...especially for the youngest kids in the family.
I will always have this vision of midnight pie, and probably will not be satisfied till I paint it someday.

Fall Flight_Geese, goose

"Fall Flight"___7 x 8 framed size....oil on matt board, framed and ready to hang__$190
I worked this study from some reference photos I took in Maryland last fall. There was a pasture full of Canada Geese grazing, and flocks were flying over at the same time. I have been to the Eastern Shore several times in the fall and am always amazed at how many birds gather there. I am still not sure if they are there for the winter, or are just passing through on their way south. To me, Maryland is "way north".
Since I have two more years of high school football, I will not be going to Maryland in the fall (or any place for that matter) till 2011. Till then, I will stay close to home and in the studio! As fun as travel is, and as exciting as art selling and painting all over the country are, there is NOTHING to compare with watching your own young "chicks" prepare to fly out on their own!...I FINALLY believe what everyone told me: "They grow so fast!"

Geranium Day_geraniums, red flowers

"Geranium Day"___12 x 12 demo. Oil in linen panel___$ wet and available $ to the first who asks

At the end of a great workshop, yesterday, the light was low and fell perfectly on these geraniums at D.'s place, so I did a quick demo...the bottom image was what I ended the day with: a "nearly finished" 30 - 45 minute demo. The top image is how it looks after about another hour of tweaks. I put little containers under the "floating stems" on the left side...and added some juicy paint for the finish. The light caught me off guard, today...the sun sets an hour earlier...so I photographed the finish in VERY warm sunset light...if you are interested in it, please et me send you a better image :)

state 1_Geranium Day...

"Shadows on Dee's Hilltop"___6 x 8 oil study on canvas panel___$100

Today was my last workshop of the year...My last real event for 2009, and it ended with a bang! We had a FULL workshop who met at the home of the organizer, D. ...the morning demo was from her hilltop, looking across the way to a beautiful ridge of Texas Hill Country....the group has decided to meet there for the full moon on Monday night, and I can't wait!

For you football fans, my young son finally saw action for nearly three quarters of the game last night. I told him that if they let him run the ball he needs to run it to OUR sideline so that I can get good film...what a nice kid...he did it just for me! ...and he threw well, too...and the team played well so the Dragons won...

Canada Fall_ Canada goose, fall color

Canada Fall___oil on mat board with frame__Framed size 8 x 10 or so___Framed price $175
I have a little batch of frames that were assembled too small for my paintings, so I am working up a few studies on the matt backing. Here is a little Canada Goose from photos I took in Maryland last fall.
Off to a football game, now! Next week our Round Rock Dragons will be on ESPN-U for their High School game of the week. We will play the state ranked Stony Point Tigers, also in Round Rock...stay tuned! Look for the tall thin QB, my son, a junior back-up QB #14...

Seventy Years Ago_cows, angus, farm, landscape

"Seventy Years Ago"___3.5 x 16 oil on linen panel___click to enlarge___$250
I imagine that seventy years ago this farmscape probably looked just about the same. I painted it today from a photo, using a long piece of linen panel I have....It was a pensive moment as I painted this, now looking back on my relationship with a wonderful lady who passed into eternity, yesterday. Her picture is below, taken 70 years ago!!
Helen Vaughan was my husband's Grandmother, my children's GREAT-Grandmother. I counted her as my Grandmother, too, since I lost all mine while I was young. She was from that Great American generation which loved freedom and worked hard for everything they had. She rode and trained Arabian horses til she was past 80! She was the youngest at heart as anyone could be...never getting TOO set in her ways. But her GREATEST ability was that she was able to make YOU the center of attention. She had a way of engaging in conversation that never pointed to herself, and she did this by asking questions. Questions that could NOT be answered by merely a "yes" or "no": "What is your favorite thing to think about?" "What did you enjoy playing when you were little?" "Tell me about your best friend when you were ten"...A few days ago she asked me "what month is this"? I said "It's October..."and had to bite my tongue, because I ALMOST reminded her that in a few days it would be the day that her beloved Eddie, our Pappy died, in 2001....She was a Texas woman through and through, but "all-girl" as she loved dolls, and shoes and accessorizing! ...we all laughed at the contents of her suitcase, which she took to the hospital a few weeks ago: about 300 packets of sweet-n-low and 7 pairs of shoes! I do not remember seeing anything else in that suitcase....Grandmother seemed to wait till she had seen everyone yesterday, and just as the last few family members left for a bite of dinner, she left us....October 28, 2009, exactly one month past her 97th birthday, and EXACTLY, to the day, 8 years after Pappy died...same day...
She loved Jesus, and now is alive like Him, forever....THANK YOU, Lord for Grandmother Helen.
Helen Vaughan (left) and Dorothy Miller, her life-long best friend ...Dorothy just died this week, too....The photo was taken in 1939. Seventy years ago.

Bovine Winner_cows, angus, farm

Looking Forward_ 20 x 30 oil on linen__available!
This past weekend was the first annual show for the American Society of Bovine Artists...yes, Bovine. And yes, I am a (new) proud member! I am also proud to be the first winner of the first show. The painting above is a studio version of my field study from "Last Year on the Farm", my series of 365 paintings of my last year....all 365 paintings are on my web site, if you have not seen them, yet, please go look!
This art is also the image I chose for the cover of my book about it. The book title is "Last Year onthe Farm: A Story of Change. You can see the first 10 pages of the book here http://www.blurb.com/books/196927
...Today is a sad day. My husband's beloved grandmother, Helen Vaughan, who we call "Grandmother", was placed in Hospice care. She may not live long. I will like to tell about her beautiful life...she just turned 97...was born the year that the Titanic sank....wow. She lives very close to me, so I am going to spend the night there tonight and may not be in touch much for a while...please enjoy my links.

Last Full Moon_farm, moon, moonrise, harvest

"Last Full Moon, Last Year on the Farm 10-26-2007"_____________sold
It seems longer ago than just two years when I painted for the last time on our farm...oh, I went back for a "last day", but this was the day before I left and locked the door behind me....my kids later went back and broke into the house with a photographer friend and took pictures which they gave me for Mother's Day...that's another story...especially when they got caught.
I remember this painting so well, because by this time all the furniture was gone and no one was there but me. The night was quiet and I could HEAR every brushstroke.It was a hard, hard time, and I get a lump in my throat just typing this. Please 'feel sorry for me, though. I am one who NEEDS the reflective moments and the sad moments in order to REALLY feel blessed. Hard to explain, but I must confront the hard times head on, and understand them fully before I can accept them. Because of this I was the last one to leave the farm. Sometimes I admire folks who can turn a page quickly and get on with life...speaking of turning pages, I have a link below to my little book "Last Year on the Farm: A Story of Change". Click on the book cover and it turns pages so you can see the first 10 pages or so. You can order the book from this link, too.





http://www.blurb.com/books/196927

Taste of Red_16 x 20_Red poppy, flower

"Taste of Red"__16 x 20 oil on linen__available from me...without the bee

What a great and busy weekend!

Saturday my husband and I got up at 3 am to drive to Waxahachie, TX for the Texas Country Reporter Festival. We had a football game (youngest son) Friday night, so had to leave Saturday... Got there at sunrise and set up on the courthouse square. Thousands of people were there and a bee, who couldn't take his eyes off my poppy painting. He roamed all over both flowers for several hours, coming and going, and finally resting atop the smaller bloom...see him at the top left? So I shot him...with the camera, of course.

Then, today I painted at the first annual American Bovine Art juried show in Gruene, TX. I brought this painting with me and decided to varnish it while it hung in the courtyard. It caught the eye of a beautiful butterfly and I had to stand guard until the varnish dried, shooing the little fellow away so he wouldn't land and get stuck....all in all, I am happy to have the endorsement of bees and butterflies!

Oh, and my painting for the Bovine show won first place... Thanks to Kay at Cactus Jack's for hosting a great show!!!

Across the Way_school bus, country road, farm

"Across the Way"___5 x 7 oil on canvas___$150 if you want it first... add $50 for the great frame I have on it

Well, I just put this one and yesterday's bus into a couple of matching 5 x 7 frames I didn't know I had. Nice black frames with a gold liner...matches the bus! To put this one side by side with yesterday's bus, you can trace the path they took as they skirted our farm each morning and afternoon.

I heard bus musings from SO MANY PEOPLE after yesterday's post! Poor H. tripped getting on once and STILL remembers it!...J. had her shoelaces tied to the seat and fell on her face, too, at the hand of a class bully. R. decided to walk the two miles to school after FIVE years of riding with all the riff-raff...I forgot to ask her if it was barefoot, in the snow, up hill both ways....

Speaking of school, some of you have asked...my son's school was hit so hard by that swine flu. Most of the football team missed at LEAST a game or two, and it killed our chances at the playoffs. SO...they moved my son to varsity for good and are grooming him to be next year's QB...Friday Night Lights for us from now on!

So I framed these busses...wet...and am putting them in my art show, tomorrow. Come see me if you are in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area of Texas! This is my last art show of the year...I think...

Or JOIN ME at one of these events this month:

TOMORROW! Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.comMark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast is the theme....how to see and put it down and trust yourself capturing the moment!

Topping the Hill_school bus, country, telephone pole

Topping the Hill___5 x 7 oil on canvas panel____$150 if you want it first
Fall is back to school time...I never took the bus, and neither did my children....except for field trips and travel to footbal games with the team...I do not really like them, except that I like the way they look. They are always the BRIGHT focal point whenever they are in view...And busses riding over country roads are especially bright and cheery, somehow.

JOIN ME at one of these events in October:
THIS Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,
Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.
Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com
Mark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!
Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast is the theme....how to see and put it down and trust yourself capturing the moment!

Little Drive_cows, Cowboy, horse, cattle drive

"Little Drive"__4 x 8 oil on linen___$120

That's it! Just four calves. They needed to be moved from one pasture to another, so here was Bobby, moving them on horseback. I painted this from a photo of our farm. I miss the constant activity there...and the open spaces....and the change of seasons. I have noticed that in a neighborhood, the cycles of life and seasons and even weather are not very apparent...I am eager to be back on the land some day....looking!

JOIN ME at one of these events in October:

THIS Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,

Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.

Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Mark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!

Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast is the theme....how to see and put it down and trust yourself capturing the moment!

Phone Call_sketch, girl on phone, woman

"Phone Call"__from my sketchbook
It all starts with sketching. Want to be a good painter? Start sketching! Want to sculpt? Begin by sketching! Put away the camera for a few minutes and pick up a pencil or a brush. (I know some of my pals are rolling their eyes at me, because I ALWAYS have a camera or two (three if you count the phone) in my purse. I am a happy snapper, BUT, I am a voracious sketcher, too. Doing a sketch is EXPERIENCING the subject...your eye has to fall on each part, you MUST make judgments about every detail compared to every OTHER detail, and you become FAMILIAR...whereas SHOOTING it is a fleeting moment and your eye approaches the subject as a WHOLE. Heck, I rarely focus my eyes when shooting, preferring to see the whole composition....sketching frequently will make you a better artist....more on the subject tomorrow...
JOIN ME at one of these events in October:
THIS Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival ...then ,
Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.
Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.comMark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold!
Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...
painting fast

Daybreak in Calvert_farm, cow, fenceline, shadows, green

Daybreak in Calvert_6x8 oil study on linen_____$150
Whenever I teach a plein air workshop I always schedule a sunrise demo...this painting gets everyone out of bed, and loosens me up for the day! The Backroads around Calvert, TX are full of small farms and familiar looking scenes...I love it! The sun rose behind us. Since the sky was crisp and clear, I knew the light would hit FAST and chose to look WEST for sunrise. The long shadows drew slowly toward us, till the foreground finally got lit up. My painting shows the foreground still in shadow, with sunlight hitting just the tops of the trees and the cow. While I painted, the class sat in lawn chairs and enjoyed the break of day! ...a new experience for a couple of them, I think!
As I prepare for my upcoming exhibit "Passing America..." I will be staying home more, working in my studio, and taking care of my partner/galleries. I have a few shows I will keep doing, but I am trying hard to NOT look for new opportunities....It turns out that my October is fairly full, so if you want to get out to see me, this month is your chance!
Sat. Oct 24 - Texas Country Reporter Show, Waxahachie, TX (by Dallas) 9am - 5 pm
Sun. Oct 25 - Bovine Art Show, Gruene, TX at Cactus Jack's
Sat. Oct 31 - Workshop, near Austin, TX...I think it's full, but call me if you are nearby and want to come vvaughan8@yahoo.com
Feb 5 - 7, 2010 Workshop at Fredericksburg Artists School. 3 days of sunrises, moonrises and plein air!

Victorian Tea_house, lawn, tea,Victorian

Victorian Tea - Calvert, TX___20 x 16 oil on linen___SOLD at auction
Yesterday I attended a Victorian Tea in Calvert, TX, and painted the festivities for a couple of hours! This is an annual event, and I was asked, along with Robin Cheers to paint the events of the weekend. Robin did the evening shift at the gala...I worked at this afternoon tea. The day was PERFECT, the people were BEAUTIFUL, and the setting was inspiring!...My thanks to the Hensarlings, who bought this one at auction, and introduced me to Zack and Rompy, the young man and his dog on the upstairs porch!
JOIN ME at one of these events in October:
Saturday, Oct. 24 in Waxahachie, TX at the Texas Country Reporter Festival
...then Sunday, Oct 25, I will be in Gruene, at the first annual Bovine Art Festival, painting on location at Cactus Jacks.
Oct. 31 All Day Workshop with Austin's PACT. Limit 20 students email me for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com
Mark your long range calendar to take a break from the winter cold! Come to my FEB 5 - 7 , Workshop in Texas at Fredericksburg Artists School...sunrise to moonrise...painting fast

Farm_Two Years Ago_cows, white face, angus

"Farm_Two Years Ago" __Oct 16, 2006____From Last Year on the Farm___available
I actually painted this three years ago, but it was two years ago this month that we left the farm. Several people new to my blog have asked me about the story...please browse my web site and see all the art and read some of the articles there...it's still precious to my heart.
Tomorrow I am spending the day in Calvert, TX (over by College Station.) I will be painting at the Calvert
Victorian Tea, and my friend Robin Cheers will be painting at the evening Gala. Robin and I will be staying with Barbara and Cecilia...native Calvertonians, and I have made a cherry pie for our meal together!
I am teaching a short workshop in the morning...sunrise and Kolaches are beautiful in Calvert! Then I will head over to paint the ladies at the tea. (I am betting on ladies, since it's a big college football day tomorrow!) We anticipate a beautiful scene, with people in Victorian dress. The events will be in a couple of the restored Victorian mansions of Calvert. Robin is great at this sort of thing...I might bail and paint a landscape with cows.... Victorian Cows, of course!! :)

Passing America: Windy Plow_John Deere Tractor, plains, farm,

"Passing America: Windy Plow"__6 x 8 Drive-by painting for Passing America:the Great Plains

On the way home from the mountains last week, I planned for us to frive through the southern Great Plains, so I could officially begin my next museum exhibit, "Passing America: The Great Plains". We pulled off the road on a lonely stretch. I forgot why (Nancy and Barbara, please comment below and remind me wy we pulled over!)...It was fiercely windy and a little bit cold. I turned around to look over the land, and saw this cloud of dirt in the distance. When we finally drove off, I made sure we drove by slowly so that I could sketch John Deere coming at us. Here is my small canvas sketch. I wanted it to look windy.

Passing America: The Great Plains is an exhibit which will continue my work of "Last Year on the Farm". As I gave gallery talks about my farm works, I met many hundreds of people who have similar stories of families having to leave the farm way of life...for various reasons. I realized tht there was more to say about this "passing" way of life. Small farms are disappearing, and it's most obvious in the Great Plains. So, for the next two years, I will travel the plains to document what I see and study. To underscore the theme, I will be creating the paintings WHILE ON THE MOVE, "PASSING" by...I call these my "drive-by" paintings. (I am in the process of trademarking that phrase.)

I have been laying the groundwork for the exhibit for a year, now, and am finally mapping out my travels.

A new blog will communicate the progress....please let me know if you want to follow that. It will be "live" soon. I am working on putting it up NOW!...There's a lot more to say about my "drive by" paintings....soon!

Join me at a workshop or event, soon, if you can :) See yesterday's blog for dates.

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

Moonlit Cabin_sketch, mountains, night,

Moonlit Cabin__from my Colorado Sketchbook
I sketched this last week in Colorado. Our neighbors were gone for the winter, so there was no light at their cabin, except moonlight reflecting off their roof.
You can't see your palette at night. It takes LIGHT to see color....color is in the light! And if you take a little light with you outside, it's almost as difficult to see the colors on your palette, because the lights themselves are all incomplete as far as the spectrum goes. ( I go into this in depth at my longer workshops...I even touch on this at the one-day workshops)...SO...to work outside at night I usually start with a value study...and a lot of memory. This takes practice, but it's a worthwhile exercise... Here is the rest of my workshop schedule for 2009...
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

Nestled in Gold__moonrise, mesa, night lights, New Mexico, Colorado

"Nestled in Gold" 11 x 14 oil on linen___available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM
This is MY FAVORITE painting from last week in the mountains. Our place is so closed in to a canyon, that it takes the moon a couple of hours to rise above the mountain tops. So, since I knew there's be a full moon, I dragged my buddies out for a little drive. As soon as we rounded a bend away from the low mesas at the mouth of our canyon, THIS SCENE presented itself... We quickly found a place to pull off and I got my gear out in a hurry. I hate wrangling a lot of equipment, and never even took out my easel for this one. I just held the canvas in my hand and threw my palette on the ground and hunkered behind a tire to block the wind...I got all the major colors and shapes down in a hurry and painted till I couldn't tell white from yellow (that's how I know it's too dark to paint :) If you can come to a workshop, I will show you how!
(click the image to see it bigger)
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

Drawing the Gate_sketch, cowboy, horse, ranch

"Drawing the Gate""Drawing the Gate" "Drawing the Gate"___from my travel sketchbook...driving by the Birdwell Ranch in New Mexico
STOP THE CAR!!!!
Yeah, I guess I might say that from time to time as I travel as a passenger across the plains...God bless my friend Barbara who was driving this leg, and who was so agreeable to "obey" hahaha.
This was a precious scene we came upon, as the mounted cowboy turned his horse, grabbed the gate and drew it shut. Then he loaded his horse in a trailer and drove off. Behind them was a small group of hereford cattle that we guessed were either dropped off or rounded up.
This scene reminded me of the frequent "wranglings" at our farm, where some of our family members were cowboys and rodeo riders and did the practical cowboying of moving cattle from pasture to pasture....I miss those days!

Moonlight Wash_11 x 14_ Colorado, mountain, moonlight, fall

"Moonlight Wash"___11 x 14 oil on linen...available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM
After painting yesterday's moonlight scene, I went inside (it was COLD in the mountains!) and observed this scene out the window... By now, the moon was high, and full and there was a LOT Of light washing over the mountain. I could even see the cloud shadows moving across....I took mental notes (and a few scribbled ones on paper) and painted this the next day.
It's hard to photograph dark oil paintings...there tends to be a sheen on the surface where the sky ought to be dark....sorry about that! I will be teaching a NIGHT SKY workshop...and other topics, in beautiful Fredericksburg, TX, early next year...Feb 5 -7, 2010....it's a great time of year to get out of the "cold" if you live up north! Our February weather can be cold, too, but sometimes the flowers are already blooming....
Let me know if you want info! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Mountain Lights_11 x 14_moonlight, mountain, Colorado

"Mountain Lights"__11 x 14 oil on linen panel___available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

We had a full moon while we were in Colorado a few days ago....the moon was up when I painted this, but it was behind the clouds. There was plenty of light to paint by on our porch, so I stayed there a while and studied the clouds and the movement of shadows onthe mountain. I titled this not just for the moonlight, but also for our neighbor's porch lights (at lower left) and the beautiful pinpoints of starlight, too.

I did three moonlight painting, so I will post them for the next few days. I would LOVE to know which one you like best!

I am teaching my techniques for painting at night...please check my workshop schedule if you want to come try it!

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 DAY Sunday

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

Hint of Gold_6x8_fall, mountains, canyon

"Hint of Gold"___6 x 8 oil on linen panel__available at Act I Gallery in Taos, NM
They say Texas weather is unpredictable, but I think the mountains might top even Texas weather for that category. My buddies and I were at this location for just a few days and we had great fall color the first few days, then the winds came, and then rain and then one day it sleeted all day...Here was a moment of early morning sunshine...These aspen trees had most of their leaves blown off before we left. I am glad I painted them when I did....a special feature of this trip was a FULL MOUNTAIN MOON! Stay tuned and I will post those over the weekend!
I have some one day workshops coming up, if you want to have fun painting.
Next Saturday morning I will be in Calvert, TX for a short half say workshop. Believe it or not, we will cover a lot! Starting with a sunrise demo / paintour....please let me know if you are interested!
V.... vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Change in the Air_mountain, river, fall, winter trees

Fall in the Air__6 X 8 oil on linen panel__Available from Act I Gallery, Taos, NM
This was the first little study I did in the canyon last week. I "settled" for this version, as the clouds traded places with sunight off and on all morning. In this moment, the end of the canyon began to be filled with rain....before the day was over we had seen sun, rain, sleet and wind. By the time we left a few days later, the leaves on the cottonwoods were gone. PLEASE check in this week to see the rest of my paintings of fall in the mountains.

Nestled in Taos__12 x 16, adobe, church, southwestern

" Nestled in Taos"__12 x 16 oil on linen panel__available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM
click image to see details
HELLO AGAIN! I have been in the mountains with no email or phone....painting the change of seasons in the Rocky Mountains. PLEASE stay tuned for a few sweet little paintings from this COLORFUL trip!
It started last Saturday, as I spent the day in Taos, doing business with my gallery there, ct I. I stayed on and painted this on a PERFECT DAY to paint outside! This little church is across the street from Act I, so I was able to send people inside to see finished works (just in case I flubbed the demo)...
After the demo we drove north into Colorado, to stay at my in-laws summer home along the Conejos River. Fall was in full force, so getting three artists to go 70 miles was quite a task....stopping every few minutes or so to snap pictures tends to slow you down...we'd still be out there if it weren't for dead cameras (sorry B.) and more dead batteries than you can imagine, (right N.?)....Tomorrow I will post the first one from Colorado.

Fall Textures_fall color, sage, pines, cottonwood, miniature

Fall Textures__3 x 10 oil study on canvas____$100

Tomorrow I will be on the road, again...as Willie would say....off to Taos with a couple of painters and we plan to paint the town! The venture will take us into southern Colorado. We are hoping the leaves and color is still there. It might be hard to post there, so enjoy your "time off" from me!
THANKS for all the home remedies! :) Vitamin C, Zicam, Chicken Soup and lots of water saw me through the worst of it...which never was too bad. I finally took my son in to the doctor today. He has a sinus infection after the weekend flu...yes, we had the swine flu! yikes! It was not bad at all, thankfully...hopefully we will not get the other flu after this...
off to bed!...below is my busy October schedule!
OCTOBER SCHEDULE_________________________
Oct. 3___ A Saturday Demo in Taos at Act I Gallery
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 DAY Sunday
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

New Mexico Back Road__fall, mountains, building

New Mexico Back Road___6 x 8 oil on linen panel___$190 if you ask first!
Since I am headed for Taos and southern Colorado to do some painting in a few days, I thought I would brush up on painting fall colors. All artists take a lot of pictures, and my personal goal is to paint ALL of mine! :) So this was painted en "Plein Computer Monitor"...sort of like plein air...sort of :)
I am fighting off a cold, and it is gaining ground today...off to bed early!...below is my BUSY October schedule. Come to see me if you can!>


OCTOBER SCHEDULE_________________________
Oct. 3___ A Saturday Demo in Taos at Act I Gallery
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 DAY
Sunday 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

Aspen Stand__trees, New Mexico, Colorado, fall

"Aspen Stand" 12 x 4 oil study on linen panel____$190

In a few days I will leave for a "road trip" to Taos, NM. This trip will serve a few purposes, but mainly I will be painting there, and along the way....hoping for fall color, but from what I hear, WINTER is pretty close! This little study was from last year's photos, and I will be doing more this week...getting used to "seeing yellow". Saturday, I will be at Act I Gallery, painting a demo from 11 - 1. PLEASE COME BY and enjoy a visit!

October will be a busy month for me. See my schedule below and try to come join me at one of these events, if you are in the area!

OCTOBER SCHEDULE_________________________

Oct. 3___ A Saturday Demo in Taos at Act I Gallery
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 DAY
Sunday 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

Guadalupe Visitor_state 2

Guadalupe Visitor__state 2___30 x 40___ click image to see some detail____available
I posted the "paper towel block in" of this a couple days ago, and last night I posted the detail of the bird. I made a few adjustments to the bird (beak oil change), and some contrasts around the bird. ...The painting is "done", but I already see adjustments in "drama" that I will be working on for the next few weeks. If anything drastic happens, I will post it again...but I am already ready to move on to a new adventure tomorrow!
So, this is a giant cypress tree along the banks of the Guadalupe River, near Gruene, TX. It's a good thing I painted it when I did, because fall color will hit this tree pretty soon! These turn a beautiful orangey-rust color...Hey Chris...you ready???
The water is crystal clear, fed by cool springs...As I sketched and photographed, a group of "tubers" launched "off camera" on the right side. We all grew up as tubers in this part of Texas. It's the funnest thing you can do in the hot summertime. Schlitterbahn, the worlds greatest "toobing" water park, was created by tubers, for tubers, just a few miles from here. vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Guadalupe Visitor_detail_ egret, cypress trees, river

Guadalupe Visitor_detail___30 x 40 oil on linen....
I will post the finished BIG PAINTING tomorrow, unless I am not happy with it, yet :) If you look at My blog,
yesterday I posted the "block-in" phase for this large work....if you search back a couple weeks you will see various egret studies. The small paintings were "bird tryouts" to see which "pose" I liked....This gesture looked best to me, and today I painted Mr. Egret into the large work...honestly, I have spent YEARS painting small ones every day, and it's like breathing to me! But the large works ...well, they are WORK! My pal Robin Cheers prefers to complete a painting "alla prima", and I reckon I do, too...it annoys me to work all day and not be DONE...BUT...Big ones have more parts...I am getting to like it, too, when I can leave for a few days and come back to the big one and get into it, again! Sort of like a favorite vacation spot you keep returning to....just looking at this small part of the big painting, I already see what I need to work on tomorrow....that stuff in the background on the right is too light :) Are you a follower of this blog, yet? Click to follow and you will find out when I post. Easier still is joining my group. E-mail me to do that, and you will get the art in your e-mail box every day... vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Guadalupe Visitor_state 1

Guadalupe Visitor_state 1_30x40 _the paper towel "block-in"

For small canvases I paint with one brush, often scrubbing the big shapes to cover the white, then subdividing those to craft the painting....

But on the big ones I use a paper towel. I started this by accident (feb 2009) when I showed up for a demo one time and forgot all my brushes. People were there, and I needed to do a demo, so, I used wadded up paper towels....NOW, I use them to start every big painting...toning big areas with the paper towels...Also, it keeps me from "micro managing" the edges at the start of a painting....want to paint "loose"? use a paper towel instead of a brush....at least on the start....I am almost finished with this big canvas, but here is the first-state-paper-towel-version...If I don't hate it, I will post the completed version tomorrow. ..vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Mision School Bell_archway

Mission School Bell__8 x 6 oil on linen_Available at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

Well, this was one of those paintings I LOVED doing...so it, to me was a GREAT PAINTING (verb-wise)...as I got away from it for a few hours and then came back to shoot it and make this blog post, I can look at it more objectively as a "noun" painting...now, it's ordinary...to me... As I mentioned once before, there are TWO PAINTINGS every time you paint...one is a VERB, one is a NOUN....The two CAN NOT BE COMPARED! I am a very enthusiastic person, so almost ALL of my "verbs" are great paintings! (Because I LOVE THE PROCESS of painting and teaching painting!)...BUT..., I have to be real careful to sit on them a while before setting them free to the shows and galleries....often times I think a painting is good just because I had fun doing it! I think lots of artists do this. We have to step back from the verb and be very critical as to whether the "noun" painting is worthy to show...While photographing this I noticed that many of my paintings are better to photograph with the sun over my left shoulder, rather than right....for some reason the brush strokes don't catch the glare like they do when I shoot the other way....I will talk more on this tomorrow...if I remember

Mission Bells_8x6 oil on linen

Mission Bells___8 x 8 oil on linen___$190 while it's wet!
I cannot name this mission, because I made up part of it. The photo I painted it from was a nice one I took a few months ago in Arizona. I did not plan the composition well, so I added the doorway below and the doo-dads beside it. I NEEDED to , because there was flat, empty space that killed the composition...the lesson here, for you artists is that, unless you are illustrating the official Mission Book, or working on a conmmission for Mr. and Mrs. Mission, it's more important to create a good composition, than to be ACCURATE with the "likeness"... My favorite part is the light on the tower behind and through the lower bell archways...you probably can't tell that's what it is, but it's the reason I painted this one.

Isolated_thunderhead, landscape, storm, Texas sky

Isolated____6 x 8 oil on linen panel____$150 if you are first to ask for it :)
Driving in rush hour traffic a little while ago, there was a BEAUTIFUL "Isolated Thunderhead" in the distant east. I was giving my son a ride home from the auto repair shop, and asked him to shoot a picture of it for me..."Mom, you already have cloud pictures..." It turns out that I had left the camera at home, anyway (first time EVER!), which probably saved an argument. But when I got home, I decided to paint it from memory. It was remarkable to me, because the foreground jasmine (or whatever the yellow flowered bush is) was INTENSELY bright, while the cloud was in the shadow of other clouds, so it had no real contrasts...I am not sure I pulled it off, but it was fun painting from memory!
vvaughan8@yahoo.com