Goliad Storm Brewing

Goliad Storm Brewing___8x10 oil on linen panel__$450

 

A few short weeks ago, just before my mom passed away, I went on a little painting jaunt with artist pal, Robin Cheers. The storms chased us away from Port Lavaca, and we stopped at Goliad on the way home...we started painting there, but before I finished, the storms got us again!...I finished it from memory and a picture....

Another painting of this "mission" is my entry in the American Women Artists National Show opening FRIDAY, November 1st (now!) in Fredericksburg at RS Hanna Gallery.  Click here to see the show painting, as it appeared in this month's Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine (at the bottom middle of page). Join me, and the best women artists for some wine and cheese and great art FRIDAY from 6-9 pm!

If you miss the opening, head over to Fredericksburg later on. The show hangs till November 24th.

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EVENTS

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NOW thru Nov. 24 -  AWA Show, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

Wednesday, November 20 - Chocolate....Charcoal....and CHEER

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.

Under a Cowboy Sky

Under a Cowboy Sky___11 x 14 oil__SOLD

My Quick-Draw at the Light on the Land event

 

 

Ever heard of St. Jo, Texas?

My first time there was in August, when I had back-tracked to find highway 82 to go west and reconnect with 287 in Wichita Falls. I was headed from Ft. Worth to Colorado with my friend, and we were so busy talking that we missed our turn west and ended up in Oklahoma.... oops

But a few weeks before that, an artist friend Donna Howells-Sickles invited me to paint

in St. Jo at a brand new event called "Light on the Land"...she described her area of Texas as the north Texas Hill Country....so when Tina and I were making our way west on 82, and I noticed the beautiful scenery there near the Red River, we checked the map and, sure enough, St. Jo was just ahead!...

This weekend was the event, and the painting above was my quick-draw at last night's gala. 

Cow Study 3

Cow Study 3__6x9 oil on oil paper___$190

Hello from St. Jo. 

No not my new nickname, but a cool little town where the next great annual art event is taking place right now!

Because of all my recent sad stuff, I waited till the last minute to decide if I would come to paint and show here. Cowgirl artist Donna Howells-Sickles (sorry I can't plug in a link, but Look her up! You HAVE seen her work) has her gallery and studio here in St. Jo, and she and her GREAT FRIENDS are seeing to it that we artists get to see and paint some of the prettiest country in all of Texas!

Please come out and follow me around tomorrow, Saturday October 26. I know it's short notice, but if you can come, ask where I am and I will sketch something for you on the spot! I hope all my friends in the metroplex will come by! If not this weekend, the works will hang in the gallery on the square trough November. I'll start posting my best ones tomorrow or Sunday :)

Guitarrista

 Guitarrista__12 x 9 water soluble graphite__$290

 

Mariachi music is some of my very favorite. Growing up in south-central Texas, this music is in the background EVERYWHERE. My Ruben y Alfonso Ramos CD stays in the CD player in my downstairs bathroom...And, have you ever heard Linda Ronstadt's mariachi music? I get chills listening to her...she is the greatest! Even George Strait has a classic mariachi tune "El Rey"... Sing with me: "Yo se bien que estoy afuera, pero el dia que yo me muera, se que tendras que llorar...llorar y llorrar"...cry and cry... oops! Was I just singing? Sorry !

I had an amazing experience not long ago at San Jose Mission in San Antonio. There was a mariachi Mass going on inside, and after the service, all the musicians and a few dancing ladies in the congregation came out and played under the arches. That's what inspired this sketch....they ended with "Cielito Lindo"..."ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores"...SING, don't cry!

 

Cow Study 2

 

Cow Study 2__7x9 oil on oil paper__$190

 

As I kid I spent COUNTLESS hours sketching HORSES...(if you were once a little girl and were NOT obsessed with horses from age 5-12, I ask you, "REALLY?")

I sketched them from LIFE, from post cards, from my copies of Western Horseman Magazine and from my Walter Foster "How to Draw Horses" book!.I can draw horses from any angle and UPSIDEDOWN!...but cows???

Though I lived on a farm for 30 years with cows on the porch most of the time, I don't feel comfortable drawing them from memory. So, I go sketch them a lot!

Robin Cheers and I recently went cow tipping and sat on the hood of my truck for an afternoon of sketching!

Here is my tip to you artists...lay down the camera and pick up the sketchbook!

I blame my cow deficiencies on the camera!

Young Artist

G....All About the Blue__10 x 8 Watercolor Pencil__$150

He is the COOLEST kid in art class! Every teacher enjoys a student that contributes... "contributes" can mean a lot of things! In this case, it's all good, because this guy, G.B. makes 2nd period art a fun class. He is not too proud to ask a tough question or to model for the art teacher! AND, he was more than willing to pose with the artwork...though I couldn't get him to smile, and that's my favorite part about G....!

 I was teaching about highlights and shadows on mid-toned paper, and G volunteered to be my subject. My sketch is "all about the blue" light coming through our windows and creating the blue highlights on his face.

When this one sells, I promised my model that he gets half for his college fund, so, I hope someone will buy it for G....!

 

 

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Below is a fun tee shirt that is only available for a couple more days!

Tee Shirt A Day is offering this one till Wednesday.

Read why this is PERSONAL for me!

ORDER a shirt from

http://www.shirtaday.com/shirt/missing-elderly/2118

Yellow Horse Study

Yellow Horse Study__watercolor__available

 

I am catching my breath after a month of sadness.

THANK YOU, my friends for your continuing "hello, how are you" notes.

One thing I realized through losing my mom and then a brother-in-law, and then ONE MORE setback, is that it HELPS to spend some of the grief-time doing something that is enjoyable. For me that meant long visits with those closest to my heart. Yet, USUALLY I was not the one reaching out...You who came alongside KNOW WHO YOU ARE, and I WILL NEVER FORGET...

 

Doing artwork has also helped get me back to "life".

I gathered my works from the last month, and had to chuckle over what variety can spill out of a grieving, creative mind! From sensitive watercolors to irreverent tee shirt art!

The sketch above is a nice outcome from teaching a class...an upside-down watercolor demo like what I used to do for mom.

 

It has been YEARS since I designed a tee shirt! The shirt below is an idea I had after recently taking my usual walk in the neighborhood, getting LOST, somehow, then making the mistake of sharing my confusion with a dear old pal who still makes fun of me for it!

Ah, what are friends for, if not to cry with you, laugh with you and laugh AT you!

 

 

To Order this fun shirt click here or contact

 http://wwwshirtaday.com/shirt./missing-elderly/2118

Happy Holly

Happy Holly___11x14 oil on linen__a commission for Act I Gallery

A few days ago I posted a happy dog sketch. It was the last drawing I did for my mom...one I sketched upside down so she could watch it happen while laying in bed....Mom passed away on Sept 12....

Well that happy dog sketch was from a photo of this dog, Holly.

Holly's family sent me some pics to paint from...I usually play around with several views, combining them for an original view. I showed them "mom's sketch" and asked if I could keep it (for sentimental reasons), and then painted this as their final commission. I thought of my mom, all the while I worked on Holly...remembering how much my mom loved me to paint animals, and loved to watch me work...I will miss that!

Bird- Dove Sketch in Blue

Little Blue Dove

#13 in the Birdseed Project

 

My mom's funeral was yesterday.

Special  "thank yous" go out to the amazing friends who came....and to my beautiful great niece and nephew who spoke, and their mom, my niece, Tracie, who put together a slide show tribute that made us all laugh, and then stopped the Priest while he spoke. Tracie stopped Father Pedro (pronounced with the proper Spanish "short e"), and corrected him when he kept pronouncing the family name that way! Our name sounds like PEEEE-dro, but is spelled like Father "Pedro"'s name!....I have never been to a funeral where someone said "NOPE, NO, UH, uh, STOP!" while the priest talked! She said, "sorry, Father Pedro, but our name is pronounced PEEE-dro!"

I then added that , just for today, he would be known as Father "PEEE-dro".

My mom would have loved the loud, irreverent laughter at her funeral!!

At the graveside, my sister, Mary had arranged for a symbolic release of doves.

BIRDS! Beautiful and white, symbolizing my mother's release from the bonds of this physical life, and accompanied by three other doves, suggesting God, The Father, Son, and Spirit. They flew off and away to their home! (We learned it was to Cedar Park, Texas, not really heaven, but close!)

ALL OF LIFE is sweet and symbolic...

I am thankful.

 

 

 

2nd from right, I am joined by 4 of my 6 siblings... 

 

 

My sister, Mary is at my right

 

 

The 4 white doves circled us for a few minutes and headed for heaven...aka Cedar Park :)

 

THANK YOU, Ashton Vaughan, for the photos!

 

***** 

Please read yesterday's post for a story about my mom,

 

The Birdseed Project will continue... and now I have the final chapter for the book that will come out in Spring...

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations (instead of flowers!) can be made here, but please designate Birdseed Project on the envelope

Make check payable to Threefold Cord Ministries and mail it to

them at P.O. Box 540591, Omaha, NE 68154.

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Happy Dog For Mom

Happy Dog ...My last drawing for mom

 

I drew this at mom's bedside. Holding the photo and pad upside down so she could see it right side up...She LOVED when I drew upside down for her! She would just marvel! And for a short moment I could "pretend" to have some sort of edge over her!...We laughed and smiled at each other a LOT. She always wanted me to "draw more animals!", so how fitting that the last art I ever drew for her is a HAPPY, laughing dog!

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On Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, The Lord came for mom!

He also said YES to three BIG prayers I had been pestering Him with for about 6 years:

1. That she would be READY to go, and not in pain.

2. That she would be in her own comfortable room, and NOT in a hospital.

3. That I would be WITH HER when she left us.

I shouldn't be amazed that God can do such wonders, but I am humbled that He made this so personal to me....T H A N K  Y O U   SWEET L O R D

 

Below is a short excerpt from the tribute (Obituary) I wrote for the funeral announcement.

The Birdseed Project will continue... and now I have the final chapter for the book that will come out in Spring...

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations (instead of flowers!) can be made here, but please designate Birdseed Project on the envelope

 

 Make check payable to Threefold Cord Ministries and mail it to

Threefold Cord Ministries, P.O. Box 540591, Omaha, NE 68154.

 

*******

My Mom (Doreen Westaway Pedro) had enduring ears to hear sorrows, but knew when to tell you to “snap out of it”. And if her discipline was hard, she quickly restored and mended the wounds…usually with a comment to make you laugh through the tears.

 

Mom insisted on FUN. Laughter, or else!…she had more fun than any of us ... Wherever she went, people NOTICED her, because a spark of laughter would rush in with her, and she would look you in the eye, so you knew you were included in the fun. People felt special around “mom”, so they liked her a lot. 

Mom circa 1942...                      ... and 2007 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beautiful Place

A Beautiful Place___6x12 oil on canvas panel___Commission

This is a companion piece to yesterday's post. This is the farm where yesterday's couple celebrated their wedding!

Of course I jumped on the opportunity to paint another farm....I will always be on the lookout for another farm, and hope to have one of my own some day!

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Spent the weekend on the Texas Coast with artist Robin Cheers.

The south Texas skies have been amazing...if you like heat and solid humidity, this is the place to be right now! we dodged rain but got a lot of painting done. Tomorrow I will start to post some studies...till then, go look at Robin's!

 

First Stroll

First Stroll__10 x 8 oil on linen___A commission for Up Against the Wall Gallery, Tennessee

I usually paint whatever I feel like painting, but occasionally I get asked to do something "on purpose". This couple was married at the family farm place in the beautiful hills of Tennessee. The reception was there, too, and they sent a lovely photo of their first stroll across the footpath. I just shipped it to them today, with a second painting of the farm for their parents...I will post that one tomorrow.

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?

Backseat Driver

Backseat Driver__8x10 oil study on panel__$450

This week I have been working from some reference obtained along my farm journeys. I remember this cattle drive alongside the road we traveled out west. We slowed down so I could paint as we passed. The drive-by painting I did then was of the COWS! It was snapped up by the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska.

This one is available!

Chef - Chicken Prep

Chef at Chicken Prep___8x10 graphite wash sketch

A few weeks ago I took a seminar at the Art Institute here in Austin. During our break, I wandered over to the Culinary Art Department, and watched some students preparing ...an assignment, I guess! Since I had some sketching things with me, I doodled up a few graphite works that I could "wash" later....here is one chef candidate practicing his chicken technique....I wonder if he had any homework!



Angus Canyon

Angus Canyon___6 x 8 oil study

Here was a real quicky in the canyon just before I left last week..

HERE IS WHERE WE WILL PAINT during next summer's workshop in COLORADO!

Read a little bit about it and stay tuned!

.I am already back into the school swing, teaching a couple of High School classes at Hyde Park High School in Austin...Get ready, kids!

55 - Great Blue

 

Great Blue__7.5x11 watercolor pencil study

#55 in the Birdseed Project

 

I had a sweet visit with some family tonight and then ART making broke out!!!

Our cousin Kirsten and her beautiful family just moved to town and invited me over to see their new home! That makes the kids my first cousins once removed!

Few things are more fun than hanging out with 3 youngsters, loaded with colors and paper! WOOHOO!!!....We painted some trees, and bull dozers and then I had to try my hand at a bird! This one is #55 in my birdseed project!

I think I will OFFICIALLY DOT my little "cuzz-es". The younger two are now "I...." and "N"....Below, posing with the painting is

"lower case v...." !

Thanks "K" and "E"!!

Conejos Pop

Conejos Pop__6 x 8 oil study

This was a great summer for poppies at the family place in Colorado. On the Conejos River, in fact!

The guys in our family began calling it the "Cojones River" this year, after a certain incident which I will share tomorrow...

The poppies blaze for about 3-4 weeks and some years are better than others...The first few that "popped" open this year were beaten to a pulp by a HUGE hail storm. The hail also took out all the rhubarb that my father in law nurtures. Though there were JUST enough good stalks underneath to make a rhubarb pie!....my favorite!

The second batch of poppies were spectacular...

The Old Bridge

The Old Bridge___6x8 oil study__available at Firedworks, Alamosa, CO

LOTS OF EXCUSES why I have not posted in the longest time EVER since starting the blog!....mainly "life stuff", and travel...and school starting....and travel again!

I went back to Colorado to deliver paintings to galleries in Alamosa and Act I, in Taos, NM (click the link to see my "little dipper" on the home page :)

While there, I HAD TO paint some more. Here is a view of the old bridge near our cabin. THIS IS WHERE I will take our workshop group for a day of painting, next August!

I have big plans for this workshop and will post location works for the next few days...it is my FAVORITE place to paint.

email me  for a little e-brochure with pics!