Prairiefest 2013

Prairie Fest 2013
Oil on Canvas
8 x 10
$100

Last weekend a group of us went to paint at Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park in East Fort Worth. The weather was super, with very little wind, which is a treat at Tandy Hills. This park has plants that are now very rare in this part of Texas including wild foxgloves. ( My friend Sheri Jones painted them.) Other friends there were T.K. Riddle, Olivette Hubler, Hai Chi Lee, Linnea McKinnie, and David Tripp.

Wild Foxglove

Cool Morning in Chandor Gardens

Foo Dog
oil on canvas
 8 x 10
$100



   Yesterday several of my friends and I went back to Weatherford to paint in the Chandor Gardens. The artists who came to paint were Olivette Hubler, T. K. Riddle, Tosca Engish, and Sars Ward. The Gardens do not open until 9:00 so we were not able to get an early start to the day.
 


The front door of Douglas Chandor's house.

The temperature reached over 100 but in the lush gardens we were never hot. The trees and water really make a tremendous difference. I decided to finish a painting I had already started of one of two foo dogs guarding the path to a beautiful fountain. I had shade and a breeze.

Path to the fountain.

 T. K. went and picked up lunch for us, most of us had chicken salad sandwiches and iced teas. We ate at a table on one of the patios and again we had shade and a wonderful cool breeze. Eventually after eating we went back to painting.


One of the most beautiful fountains in the gardens.

 The gardens were busier than usual with many families having their photos taken. This is such a beautiful and amazing place. It is no wonder it is so popular for weddings and other events.

One of the many interesting spots in the garden.

 I finished my painting and got ready to leave. It was almost one o'clock and I had not been hot at all. Then I went to the parking lot to put my stuff in the car. It was HOT there.



Parker County Court House in Weatherford

 I took a photo of the Parker county court house. It is a really beautiful building. Most mornings I pass by there are prisoners in orange and white stripes tending the grounds. I've never seen a guard, someone must be inside in the air conditioning watching them.


Some of my peppers

 When I came home I looked at my poor gardens for inspiration. I water everyday. My plants are alive but most of them don't look great. My citrus are doing really well, I'm still getting lots of okra, some peppers and a few tomatoes. But, many of the other plants are struggling. We could really use some rain. Even a small rain greens things up a great deal more than watering with sprinklers

Mini oranges

Some of my cacti and succulents.

Art Every Day

The Garden Child
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$175

 I have not posted in a while, but I have been really busy creating art. I have a lot of paintings in progress but I'm posting one I finished on Saturday. I am also working on several sculptures, working on entering shows, and generally staying really busy.

Olivette and I painting at Chandor Gardens in Weatherford.

Today for example a group of us went out to Chandor Gardens in Weatherford  to paint. It really was not too hot, and it always seems about 10 degrees cooler or less in these gardens. We had a good group turn out to paint, Olivette Hubler, Steve Miller, Allen and Tosca Engish, Dan Spangler, Moira McCarthy, and Linnea (I don't remember her last name.) It was a great day for painting. We also had a great lunch catered by a local restaurant called the Wild Mushroom. It was served in the  room that served as the studio of Douglas Chandor. I sculpted later in the day.

One of Dennis's great landscapes.

Yesterday I went to the Art with Artists critique group. This is a super group that I go to in the summer. They meet once a month at one of the member's homes and have breakfast and then they bring their art to critique and share what they have been working on. This month the group met at Blair and Janelle Curren's home in Aledo.

Four of John's great still lifes

Not all the members were there this time. Those present were, Blair and his wife, a friend of theirs, John Cook, Dennis Farris, Beatriz Welsh, Darnell Jones, Nancy Boren and me. Blair and Janell fixed a great breakfast including fresh Parker County Peaches.

John getting ready to share a larger painting.

There was a lot of really great art to look at. One of the things that makes it so great is that they all have very different styles but they are all very talented. John Cook brought the most paintings, two large partings and four small ones. Nancy brought five, Dennis  brought three, I brought two paintings and a sculpture, and everyone else shared one painting. One of the topics was information on painting from old art books. Nancy told about one from England, that talked about how when an artist goes out to paint they should find a "rustic" to carry their materials when painting outdoors. Blair had a great old book  from his grandfather from the 1920s. It said that  to create a great painting took two artist, one to paint it, and one to "kill him" before he over painted it. This was the author's way of talking about the universal  problem of overworking a painting.

Blair and Janell's patio, it reminds me of a view in New Mexico.

Blair and Janelle live out in the country. We saw several hummingbirds on the patio and a roadrunner in the front yard. There is a great view off the back patio. You feel like you are far away from everything. In fact they had a lot of photos of a mother fox that raised a family of six foxes under their deck. Seeing wildlife up close is one of the treats  of living in the country. At my mom and dad's they have some foxes too, as well as deer, armadillos and cottontail rabbits.

Scout on my patio where I did some of my sculpting and painting.

   
Sunday I worked at home on my sculptures and paintings on my patio, accompanied by my studio assistant Scout. My friend Tosca had told me about an old British mystery called Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers. It is about a  group of plein air painters, one of whom gets murdered,  on a painting trip in Scotland. I had  ordered this from Ebay and started reading it today. I'm also reading a book on the art of Maynard Dixon.  Lastly I did quite a bit of yard work.

Me painting the picture I posted at the top of this blog.

Saturday several of my friends went to paint in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.We had a good group show up for painting and later lunch. My friends with us today were Olivette Hubler, T. K. Riddle, Tosca Engish, Candy Clynch, Margie Whittington and her husband, who has started painting more, Hai Chi Lee, Dan Spangler, Moira McCarthy and Linnea.

T.K. painting behind where I was set up.

Tosca painting on a park bench in the gardens.

Candy painting a floral painting

A grazing bison at the Fort Worth Nature Center.

 I'm working on several bison paintings for some shows this fall so earlier in the week I took some more photos at the fort Worth nature Center when I went painting there with my friend Kent Brewer from Waxahachie.

Bison in the shade at the nature center.

The Bronze Lady
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$200

 Thanks to my friend T. K. Riddle, our group has a new and very interesting place to paint. We went to Chandor Gardens in T. K'.s town of Weatherford, just west of Fort Worth.These gardens were at the home of a well known portrait artist Douglas Chandor. He painted the wealthy including several U.S. presidents, Eleanor Roosevelt, and a coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth that hangs in the British embassy in Washington D.C. He and his wife lived half the time in New York and the other half of the time in Texas. While in Texas he spent a great deal of time designing and planting the gardens of his estate.

This was the view that inspired my painting.

Chandor was inspired by British and Asian gardens. The grounds have a bowling green, ornamental trees and flowers, pools with koi, one with a stone Chinese junk, a large waterfall, streams, bridges,  arbors, European boxwoods, cacti, fountains, ornamental stonework, etc... Chandor designed his gardens to be like outdoor rooms so that wherever you are there are interesting and beautiful views. These gardens are now maintained and owned by the town of Weatherford.

Arbors and flowers at the garden.

I had never been to these gardens, and in fact I knew very little about them. When I arrived it was almost overwhelming. There were so many views that were inspiring I had a hard time deciding what to paint. As many of you know I love working in my own gardens and was inspired to paint and plant.

An entrance to the house over an oriental bridge over a stream.

In the end my love of sculpture dictated my choice of a subject, a fountain with a beautiful sculpture of a lady. I loved all the greens of the background along with the blue greens of the sculptures patina. Also the temperatures were in the 100s and I had shade where I painted, that helped me make my choice too.

Another view of the house and grounds.

In addition to T. K. being there, Olivette Hubler, Joyce Thomas, and Leslie Talty were there painting. We ordered lunch and had it delivered, most of us had chicken salad sandwiches, chips, iced teas, and homemade cookies, from a place called Yesterdays. The food was great, and it was a beautiful place to eat.

Another view of the gardens.

After lunch we painted several more hours. Olivette, T. K., and I enjoyed painting there so much that we all joined the garden so we can paint there any time. The lady who ran the gift shop invited us to show and sell our work in the gift shop which I am sure we will do.
 It was a very nice day.


An interesting character statue in the garden.

Koi in one of the ponds,

The Chinese junk statue.

A beautiful blue green pool with the Chinese junk.

T.K. painting the ferns.

Olivette painting near the house, the north windows of Chandor's studio are behind her.

Hot Morning in the Garden

Hot Summer Morning
$150
oil on canvas panel
8 x 10

  I went to paint in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens this morning. It started out hot and it only got hotter. Of course the fact that I set up in a place that was in full sun after about 45 minutes did not help.

T. K. and Olivette painting.

  I met with my friends T. K. Riddle, Olivette Hubler, and Dan Spangler . The three of them all set up in the shade. The gardens are looking pretty good. We were in the perennial garden. There were plenty of blooms, butterflies, and lots of really colorful dragon flies.

Me painting, while I still had shade.

  I had to leave early, I forgot to leave money for my cleaning lady. They kept painting while I ran home to pay her. Then I met them for lunch afterwards, at the Swiss Pastry Shop, where we often eat after painting
. A special thanks to T. K. who sent me some of these photos.

Olivette and Dan looking at his painting.

Painting in Prison

Old  Outbuilding
8 x 10
oil on canvas panel
$50

Today I went down to paint in Waxahachie with my friends Kent Brewer, who lives there, and Olivette Hubler who lives in Dallas. We decided to go paint at the old Ellis County Prison Work Farm. In the old days, the prisoners were taken out to the farm to work and I believe they were housed there. Today the old buildings are in ruins. I know there is a big new jail in town where the prisoners have television, air conditioning, and basketball courts. I think working on the farm would probably be more of a deterrent for repeat offenders.

The building I painted from the cell.

After looking around I decided to set up in one of the cells looking out at one of the outbuildings. I don't know how long the buildings have been abandoned, most have only the foundations left. I think I would not have felt very comfortable being there, if I had been there by myself. It had the look of a place that horror movies could have been filmed in.

Me painting in the cell.

The good thing about painting where I was, was that I was in the shade, the thick walls had kept it fairly cool and the insects other than a few flies were not too bad.

Me painting in the cell, I thought it interesting that the windows were so large.

 Both Kent and Olivette painted outside views of the prison. Both created interesting paintings of the abandoned buildings.

Kent painting the prison.

More from Paint Historic Waxahachie

Past and Present
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$75

 The above painting is the one I started on Friday, the first day of the paintout with T. K. Riddle and Olivette Hubler. I finished it on the square on Sunday. Some of my other friends were also painting around the square including Allen Riddell, Chris Galvan, Debob Jacob, and Olivette Hubler. I liked the way the Confederate soldier seems to be looking at the United States flag.

The Rios Barber Shop
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$75

 This is the painting I did alongside my friend Kent Brewer. All of the unusual angles made this difficult to sketch for me. Eventually it was painted and I was fairly happy with it. I showed it to Kent and right away he saw that the shadow on the sign as well as the yellow building were too light in value. Once he pointed it out it was obvious, he was exactly right. I darkened them as seen in the painting above and it was a definite improvement, and I like it much better now. One of the best things one can do as an artist is have someone you respect look at your work and give you an honest critique.

Round Bales
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$200
 
      This was my sixth painting of the paintout. I liked that it had very limited colors. I used a bigger brush than I usually do and I found that I painted much faster. I finished this one in about an hour. It was really  hot so that was a good thing.

Paint Historic Waxahachie

Waxahachie Gold
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$200

This weekend was the start of a week that I look forward to all year., The Paint Historic Waxahachie Paint Out. It began last Friday and I went down after work to sign in and get started painting. I met T. K. Riddle and Olivette Hubler on the square painting. They finished two paintings and then  headed home.. I didn't finish mine but was at a stopping point so I quit and went to Oma's Jiffy Burger with my friend Kent Brewer who had been painting down near the feed store. ( One of the greatest things about this paintout is getting to hang out and paint with some really terrific artists.) I had always heard about Oma's and I have to say it was pretty good and the coconut cream pie was great.

Sunflowers outside town

Saturday morning I got up early and drove down for the quick draw event. This is where you have two hours to produce a painting. I saw  so many of  my friends there including Kent, Olivette, Sheri Jones, Allen Riddell, Steve Miller, Debob Jacob, Ted Clemens,Tina Bohlman, Betty King, Mary Rabien, and many others. We met at the Farmers Market and spread out in a several block area to paint. We started at 8:00 and had to turn them in at 10:00. I painted the statue of the Confederate soldier in front of the court house. A lot of great paintings were produced and I purchased three to add to my collection. I bought oil paintings from Ted and Olivette and a watercolor from Tina.

Me painting in the field where I painted with my friends Olivette, Debob, and Kent.

 Many of us went to Oma's for lunch and were joined by my friend and fellow artist Maryanne Brummer and her nephew Austin. Then Olivette, Debob and I drove out to a field of sunflowers that Debob had found. It was a really great place to paint. The temperature was not too hot and we had a great breeze. Kent drove out and joined us. Everyone  produced great paintings there. I painted two sunflower paintings and have to admit that I am pretty pleased with them. After painting we  had dinner at the Tuscan Slice, a great pizza restaurant. It was probably one of the best pizzas I ever had.

Waxahachie Gold #2
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$200

    Today, Sunday, I went back down to Waxahachie around 1:00 to paint. I met Olivette and we both turned in some paintings we had finished and framed, then we went to the square to paint. I saw Allen there and Chris Galvan, another Artist friend. We all painted around the square. They did new paintings and I finished mine from the first day. Then I went over a block and painted the Rios Barber Shop. Kent painted it too. It is always very cool seeing how different artists paint the same thing, and with 30+ artists painting in a fairly small area there are a lot of paintings of the same subjects. Another great thing about painting with others is being able to get instant input and critiques on ones art. It really makes a difference.When we finished painting Kent gave me a sketch that he drew last year of me painting in front of one of the houses on The Gingerbread Home Tour. So, I have another great  piece of art to add to my collection.
     The paintout will continue this week and end with a sale of the art next weekend.