Flowering Quince or Japonica

Flowering Quince
8 x 10
oil on canvas

  One of the earliest plants to bloom here is what my grandmother (and therefore I) call japonica. Other people call it flowering quince. It is a beautiful red that stands out very bright against the greys of winter and the bright, light greens of winter grass.

The inspiration for my painting.

I went to paint in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens today with several of my friends  including Claudia Davis, Janis Weaver, Sara Ward, Candy Clynch, Hai Chi Lee and Dan Spangler. Some more of my friends and fellow artists  came walking through the garden to visit but they didn't paint today. I walked around for a while before deciding on some japonica bushes by a stream.

Hai chi and Dan painting.

 It was a beautiful day to be in the gardens today. There was a beautiful blue sky, and the temperature was in the 60s. In addition to the japonica, there were pansies, daffodils, forsythia, and Bradford pear trees blooming. It was the nicest place to paint. Doves were cooing, an owl was hooting, and the stream bubbled past.

Daffodils by the pond.

 As usual I did not finish my painting on location. There are a few things that I want to do after it dries a bit more, I want to darken the three small trees on the right side of the painting as well as add in some pieces of branches on the bushes. Then I will look and see what else it needs .

A flowering pear tree.

My goal was to be loose today. It isn't perhaps as loose as I would like but  I am satisfied with the start that I got on it.

A close up of the blossoms of the pear tree.

In addition to painting today I also sculpted . I have many works in progress but today I chose to work on my Limousin bull. I am pretty close to finished but I can always work some more on a piece.

A long row of turtles on a pipe in the semi drained pond.

I have had a great  week  with several sculpture sales and two shows starting next weekend, The Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery and Art Reach at Christ Chapel here in Fort Worth.

An urn full of pansies.

Two weekends of art.

Fall Roses
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$150

     I have to go back to last weekend to get caught up on my painting adventures. Last Saturday I painted in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens with a large group of my friends including Hai Chi Lee, Dan Spangler, Beatriz Welch, Cecilia Robertson, Blair Currin, George De Chiaro, Tom Kellie, and Leslie Talty.

The roses I painted.

     The garden is looking very nice after the  long dry summer we had. All of the blooming roses and other flowers make it look more like spring than fall.

Beatriz working on her second painting of the morning.

      My friend Beatriz has a wonderful painterly style and helped me work on loosening up when I painted my roses. She did two very nice rose paintings.

A hawk on a bat house in the gardens.

Cecilia in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

                                    

       We finished painting around one and then Beatriz, Tom, Cecilia, and I went to lunch at the Swiss Pastry Shop. Sunday I worked on sculpture.


       Friday night Beatriz ,who is a docent at the Kimble Art Museum, gave a group of us a tour of the Caravagio exhibit. Her tours are always incredible. As an artist herself she really is able to give talks that are especially interesting to artists. Caravagio's paintings are amazing. I especially liked his religious paintings of John the Baptist and Mary Magdaline and Martha.

Me with my paintings at Dutch Art.

     Then Saturday morning I went to an estate sale at the home/studio of the Gentling brothers. They were twin brothers and incredible artists. It was very intersting seeing their home and art collection. I bought five books from their huge library of art books and picture framing hardware. Then I drove to Dallas for an art show at the Dutch Art Gallery. This show featured works by The Artists of Texas Group. I have four paintings in the show. Several of my friends also have paintings in this show including Sheri Jones, Joyce Thomas, George De Chiaro  Linda Popple, Cece Turner, and Tina Bohlman. The show looked great and will hang through January.

Joyce Thomas and her paintings at Dutch Art.

Sheri Jones with some of her paintings.

The painting I started in Tandy Hills.
9 x 12
oil on panel

 Then on Sunday morning I went back to paint in the gardens. This morning Hai Chi, Cecilia, George and Dan joined me as well as Chris Toplyn, Claudia Davis, and Janice Weaver. It was a very overcast day. Claudia, Janice, Cecelia, Dan and I went to McKinley's for lunch. Then Cecelia and I went to Tandy Hills Park to paint some more. We stayed until almost sunset.  I didn't finish the one from the Botanical Gardens or the one from Tandy Hills but I'm posting the Tandy Hills painting anyway.

Fall foliage in Tandy Hills.

Cecilia heading to her car after a full day of painting.

Lilies and More Lilies



Botanical Gardens Lilies
11 x 14
oil on Ampersand panel
$200

I painted out twice this weekend, yesterday at the Arboretum in Dallas and today at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. I went to the Dallas Arboretum with my friends to paint on Saturday. I met Olivette Hubler, Sheri Jones, Hai Chi Lee, Chris Toplyn, and some of the Dallas artists that we never met up with;  it is a big place. Our group painted near a series of pools with water lilies. when we got there only one lily was open by the time we left. There were pink, pale yellow, white, and purple lilies blooming.

Arboretum Lilies
5 x 7o
il on canvas panel
$75

 I was really inspired by the brushwork of Olivette and the palete knife work of Sheri.I am trying to get a more impressionistic style with looser brushwork. It was very hot yesterday, 107, but we hung in there and painted from about 9:00 to 12:00 or so. Then Olivette, Hai Chi and I had lunch at the restaurant in the gardens. We ate outside but in the shade so it wasn't too bad, plus we had plenty of iced tea.

Chris and Hai Chi at the lily pond at the Arboretum.

 After painting at the Arboretum I was inspired to try painting some more water lilies so this morning at 10:30 I went to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It was 107 again today and I was in  full sun but I was able to paint for three hours. I did the painting at the top of this blog.

Lilies with green and purple pads.

The big lily pond at the Arboretum.

Olivette and Chris painting lilies.

Sheri painting lilies, I believe she finished three paintings.