Saturday, August 20, 2011

A great day of art.

Garden House
8 x 10
oil on board
$125
 This was my first week back at work. It has been a great week. Today I went to a workshop on pastel portraits taught by Vilas Tanape. My good friends John Davis and Beverly Fletcher were also in the class. John is a sculptor and painter also and Beverly is a painter as well. It was a wonderful gift to learn, and have reinforced, some important skills while drawing a portrait from life. Vilas is an amazing artist and a really great teacher as well. I'm not posting my drawings though because you might not believe me when I say what a great teacher he is. You will just have to trust that I learned a lot as I think everyone did in the class.
Two of my finches on the patio
 After the workshop I came home and worked a bit more on a painting that I had started in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. As usual I worked on my patio. It was terribly hot again, but I guess we are getting acclimatized to days over 100. The house in the painting is actually some kind of a children's playhouse.

Part of my herb and flower garden.
I have managed to keep my yard and gardens green despite the soon to be record number of days over 100 degrees and our severe drought. However my water bills have been very high.
My chocolate lab, Scout, with her duck toy.
 After I finished with art for the day. I played with my dog Scout and let her practice retrieving her ducks. This is her favorite thing to do. She is a really sweet dog and a great hunter. Sometime I'm going to have to do a painting of her. I have quite a long list of things I need to paint.
Scout retrieving her duck.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful painting...love the lush greens and bit of floral color.
    Your dog looks to be very sweet. I love dogs, but especially, retrievers!

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  2. I've had several breeds of hunting dogs including Labrador Retrievers, Brittany Spaniels and English Setters, but I would have to say labs are the smartest, most eager to please and the easiest to train. They are all around great dogs.

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  3. I think when you paint on location often, it is hard to paint inside. Nice trees and beautiful landscape.

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  4. Beautifully painted, Doug!! Your greens are always so perfect! I look forward to your portrait of Scout! They are such gentle dogs..he's a beauty.

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  5. Nice landscape and great photos of your animals and gardens. I don't know how anyone South of New Jersey can live with the stifling heat.
    I die when it's in the high eighties low nineties and if it's humid I crank up the ac and stay in the studio.

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