Spring Break 2013

This is the painting that I did out at the Fort Worth Nature Center, in progress.
 

This week was spring break. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and I had many opportunities to work on sculpture and plein air painting, as well as some yard and gardening work. Eight of us went to the Fort Worth Nature Center to paint on Wednesday. We had a beautiful day of it.

This is the view I chose to paint.
 

    I chose to paint part of a trail as it wound up a hill. I'm not finished, and I used a lot of artistic licence and editing, but I am enjoying it. I thought the composition was interesting. Some people did two paintings, one before lunch and one after. But, I came back after we took a break for lunch and continued working on the same painting. 

Some of the marsh grasses and ducks near the causeway to the island.

  There are still many ducks, pelicans, and other waterfowl residing in the wetlands at the nature center. Most of our group chose to paint  the water and grasses or shoreline.

Some of our group already left, but here I am with Janice, Trish, TK, and Olivette ready to have lunch.

    On Thursday some of our friends went to Weatherford to paint at Chandor Garden. We had a glorious day of it. The garden was looking very nice as a lot of work and painting has gone on during the winter. We ordered lunch (chicken salad sandwiches, iced tea, chips, and brownies) delivered from Yesterday's Sandwich Shop.



The scene I started painting.

   I chose to paint the stream, bridge, and fountain. It is a beautiful location to look at as well as to listen to the bubbling of the water.


The flower bed across the back of my yard.

   Spring is in full swing. Every morning I go out and see new plants in bloom and hear more birds singing. I love the colors of fall best, but the promise of spring is my favorite time of year.  I spent a great deal of time working in my gardens. I also worked in the vegetable garden planting asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, and raspberry plants. I already have peas and potatoes planted. 

Some of my daffodils in bloom.

Plein Air Weekend

Blue Adobe
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$200

 I had a very fun weekend of painting outdoors last weekend. First on Saturday I went down to Glen Rose to participate in the Paint the Glen paint out. Glen Rose is one of my favorite small towns in Texas. Several of my friends and fellow painters participatedincluding Sheri Jones, Olivette Hubler, Dan Spangler, and Joyce Thomas. the judge was my good friend Debob Jacob. Olivette won first place.

Me painting in Glen Rose

There are lots of  great places to paint including the river, the town square, the old mill,  and the historic old buildings and houses. I t looks like I am in an alley but I am actually painting a small garden on the edge of the town square. It was a nice place to paint, and I had shade most of the time .

Sunlit Fountain
8x10
oil on canvas
sold

 On Sunday I painted in one of the gardens in Historic Fort Worth's Hidden Garden's tour. Four of my friends painted in the other four gardens including Beatriz Welch, Kent Brewer, Carol Ivey, and T.K. Riddel. I was in a very beautiful garden of a large home built in 1918 in Ryan Place. It was a very peaceful and shady  garden, but it was hard to find a good focal point because I couldn't paint anywhere where I would be blocking foot traffic. It was good practice painting all the greens.

Green Corner
8x10
oil on canvas
sold

Plein Air, French Impressionists, Jaguars, and Horses

Me painting in plein air at Tandy Hills, in east Fort Worth.

    I have had a lot of things going on. Spring continues to be beautiful. The bluebonnets are gone but the Indian Blankets are out in full force now, so plenty of painting opportunities. I have been out painting whenever I get the chance. The temperatures have been great and it hasn't been terribly windy, which I am grateful for. Some of my favorite places have been the Botanical Gardens and Tandy Hills Park.

The beautiful hills and wildflowers at Tandy Hills.

    In addition to painting in Plein Air I have been really enjoying the Impressionist exhibit at the Kimble Art Museum. This exhibit has over 70 paintings. There is a large group of Renoirs as well as paintings by the other great  French Impressionists and artists from other countries including Belgium, Italy, and the USA. My friend Beatriz Welch gave us a tour of it recently, and it was a wonderful experience.

My Arabian Horse Sculpture.

Arabian horse at my friend Sabine's.

  I finally finished my Arabian  Horse sculpture. The final step was going down to the farm where my friend Sabine lives to get her critique. She has two horses, but not Arabians, however there are several very nice ones on the ranch so we had plenty to look at. It was really valuable having an expert look at it for me. I am learning a lot about horses but still have a lot to learn.  I made a few changes and then took it to the foundry. It should be ready in a few weeks.

Me sculpting a jaguar in the Fort Worth Zoo.

    I have been going out to the Fort Worth Zoo which has been a challenge because the nice weather has really been bringing out the crowds. I started a smaller jaguar in the winter and decided  that I was really enjoying it and wanted to make a larger version. This one is going fairly fast. I still have a long way to go but I'm looking  forward to finishing it and having it cast.

My jaguar sculpture as a work in progress.

   People are always so nice and encouraging when I'm out sculpting. They always say things like " That looks really good" or " I could never do that." What is embarrasing is that they say that even when I'm just stating out and it looks like something a five year old would make. Oh well, I know that they mean well, and that's what counts.

Two Weekends of Plein Air

A Winters Afternoon
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$250

   I have had two very nice weekends of plein air painting. Today I went to church and then lunch with my parents before going to paint with my friends Sheri Jones and Joyce Thomas. We painted near Lake Benbrook.     
                                  

Putting the final touches on my painting.

                                     
    It was cold, windy, and rainy yesterday. But today, the wind and rain were gone and the sun was out. It was a beautiful day to be out and a great place to paint. We were not the only ones out enjoying the day. As we painted,  we were passed by joggers, walkers and a multitude of bicyclists.

Joyce and Sheri working on their paintings.

                                     

View along the creek where we painted.

Winter woods
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$250

   Last Saturday it was cold, it didn't get out of the 30s. But it wasn't windy and mostly it was sunny, so ten of us went down to Granbury to paint at Campfire's Camp El Tesoro. The camp is open one weekend a month during the winter and this was the weekend, so despite the cold some of us  went.

Me painting, with Sheri in the background.

   El Tesoro is a beautiful place,  the Brazos River flows through it as does Fall Creek. If the weather had been nicer we would have had over 20 artists but most cancelled and I have to admit I came very close to cancelling as well, but I was glad that I didn't, once I had a look around and began painting.

Dan and Robbie painting the river.

  The group consisted of myself, Tina Bohlman, Debbie Box, Sabine Higgins, Sheri Jones, Robbie Clemmer, Maryann Brummer, and her nephew Austin, Claudia Davis, and Dan Spangler. We spread out along the creek. There are so many great spots to paint.

Our group dressed for the cold and painting too.

   The creek was such a tempting subject with its falls and that is what I started with. But, my painting just wasn't working out so I wiped it down and started over painting the view across the creek, leaving the water out of it altogether. I was drawn to the back lit trees and the pale green fields beyond them.

One of the falls along the creek.

   I was much more pleased with this painting. By this time several of our group had left. I thought about starting a second painting but decided that I had had quite enough of the cold. So instead Robbie and I went to a Mexican restaurant in town. Painting was great but enchiladas, chips and salsa in a warm restaurant were even better.

The white cliffs along Fall Creek.

Plein Air North Texas Show at DFW

   I went out to see our show again today at DFW, I trully enjoy seeing the great variety of paintings in different media, subject matter, and style hanging together. I took some more photos to share .

One of my spring plein airs in the show.

A colorful Texas landscape by Sheri Jones.

A striking painting by Linda Popple.

A Colorado plein air by Cecy Turner.

One of Blair Currin's Texas landscapes.

A beautiful water color by Tina Bohlman from Palo Duro Canyon.

A large Texas landscape by Olivette Hubler.

A great floral by Margie Whittington.

A very Texas landscape by Cecilia Robertson.

Plein Air North Texas

 Today I helped install an art show at DFW Airport featuring almost 80 paintings by  20 artists from all across North Texas, including Fort Worth, Dallas, Granbury, Keller, Aledo, Mansfield,  Weatherford, Waxahachie, and Colleyville. These artists are Darnell Jones, Beatriz Welch, Cecilia Robertson, Blair Currin, Tina Bohlman, Olivette Hubler, Cecy Turner, Sheri Jones, Margie Whittington, Sabine Higgins, Jan Bateman, Claudia Davis, Leslie Talty, Maryann Brummer, Sara Ward, Carol Ivey, Linda Reedy, Linda Popple, Ann Hardy, and myself. The majority of us are members of the Outdoor Painters Society. I have known all of these artists for many years and have had the pleasure of painting with them across North Texas at informal paint outs at areas like the Fort Worth Stock Yards, Dallas Arboretum, Lake Granbury, the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, and back roads across the entire area and plein air events like Prairie Fest, Paint Historic Waxahachie, and the Outdoor Painters Society's paint outs. All work is for sale and may be purchased by contacting the artist.

I want to give special thanks to my friend Guy Bruggeman who spent his day off hanging the show. He is the curator of DFW's art collection. The show will hang until March 2nd. It is located in the car rental facility at the south entrance to the airport on the second floor. I will be going back several times to look at the work when I have time to really study it. It is a pleasure seeing every one's work hanging together and seeing how different artists interpret the same region.

Paintings by Sara Ward and Beatriz Welch

One of my paintings and two of Olivette Hubler's paintings.

Paintings by Sara Ward and Cecy Turner

Paintings by Sabine Higgins and Maryann Brummer

Paintings by Linda Reedy and Sheri Jones.

Painting by Darnell Jones

Paintings by me and Claudia Davis.

Painting by Ann Hardy.

One of my paintings.

One of my paintings.

Paintings by Claudia Davis and Jan Bateman.