Texas Masters show Demo, Painting at the Fort Worth Nature Center, and Jill Carver's Workshop

      First my big news, Friday, March 1st, I will be doing a sculpture demo  at the Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery from 6:00 to 8:00. They always have a really top notch opening to the show with Texas foods and drinks and some of the best artists from the state will be there. I was so thrilled when they asked me to do the demo. Other artists who have done demos recently there are Scott Christianson, Quang Ho, and Jill Carver.



View from the boardwalk at the Fort Worth Nature Center

   Today I went with six of my hardiest friends to paint at the Fort Worth Nature Center. I say that because the temperature was about 40 when we started. If it had been warmer we would have had about 15 artists instead of just seven of us.


Me Painting on the end of the boardwalk at the Fort Worth Nature Center.
 

    When we got there we decided to go and paint out on the boardwalk. This was probably the worst place for us to set up as it was really cold being there above the water, exposed to the wind and in the shade. However we liked the color of the grasses and the water. There was also an abundance of ducks and other waterfowl in the area..



Steve Miller, Dan Spangler, Olivette Hubler, and Linnea McKinney painting at the end of the boardwalk.

   Despite the cold it was a great place to paint. After we got to a stopping point some of us left and the rest of us went to lunch and then back to paint. By this time it really had warmed up to a very nice temperature. We were glad that we had returned. The nature center is such an amazing place. Several of us said that we felt like we were  on a vacation just being there surrounded by the beautiful scenery.

The second  study  I worked on today.

We went to a different location to paint in the afternoon. I chose to paint a study of some cedar and prickly pear cacti, a very Texas scene. I took a workshop last week at Acton Texas with Jill Carver. We worked on values mostly but also on painting looser. I was pleased with the looseness on this one but am still working on the values.

The paint was wet and shiny, so my study looks lighter here than it really is.

    The Jill Carver workshop was really super. She is an extraordinary teacher.  The workshop was at Campfire USA's El Tesoro campground in Acton, Texas. It was three days, Tuesday through Thursday. I love Jill's work and without doubt this was three of my most productive days with regard to education.

Jill brought several paintings showing her work . I bought this one she painted at Port Aransas, one of my favorite places.

      The subject of the workshop was composition (using Notan - creating a black and white  painting to simplify and check the composition before beginning the actual painting) and value by limiting the painting to three or four values. This was a very different way of approaching painting and all of us felt like beginners. .


Some of our group at Maryann's in Acton.

      This was a very intensive class. I think all of us were exhausted at the end of each day, but still we had time for fun. There were 15 of us in the class and I knew, and had painted with all but one of them. The first evening after class we met at my friend Maryann's property for a bonfire and cookout.We had  hot dogs and wine and a lot of other great things.



A view at camp El Tesoro

The last day of class was one of the best, the weather was incredibly nice. Warm, sunny and no wind. We painted along the stream bed with the limestone cliffs, winter grasses, and cedar trees. Then Jill bought us pizza for lunch and she did one last demo that afternoon.  I would recommend her as a teacher to anyone. She talks about everything from the creative process to safety issues regarding artist's materials. I will absolutely take another class from her when I  have the opportunity again.


Jill doing a demo at camp El Tesoro

Sculpture on a rainy day.

My Indian sculpture (in clay) on my patio.

It was Father's Day today. I went out to lunch with my parents, sister, brother in law and four nephews. Then came home to work in my garden and on my art. It has been a nice day today. Pleasant temperature and light rain. Good weather for sculpting outdoors provided the mosquitoes don't eat you up.

My sculpture of a Plains Indian on my patio.

I did a bit of work on my second Indian sculpture. This Indian is a Plains Indian wearing a buffalo robe and with a feather in his hair. I have not spent a lot of time on this one but I am enjoying it. I am working on this one more from old photographs and imagination, not from a model and so it has been more challenging ut also more freeing in some ways..

My two doves

When the mosquitoes are not so bad my patio is one of my favorite places to paint or sculpt. I have two doves and several finches that coo and sing non stop. I enjoy them a lot. I also have several lemon and orange trees on the patio and lots of other blooming things. Altogether, it makes a great place to work, with wonderful northern light for painting.

Some of my oranges, these are miniatures.

Concho, (Indian Bust) - in progress

Concho, work in progress
Side View

The Model in Profile

 Today I worked on trying to make my sculpture look somewhat more like the model, Connie. I focused on the profile today. I was fairly satisfied with how this part of the sculpture is going. Of course the difference in his hair makes a huge difference. It is more of a challenge working from photographic reference than from life, and a lot less fun.

Concho, work in progress
Frontal View

The Model facing forward

The front view still looks very different from the model, To be honest I have not decided how closely I want the sculpture to look like Connie. I wanted it to look a little older and like he has had a harder life than the model and to an extent I think I achieved that (the eyes look a bit older and the nose a bit wider), but now I am also feeling a desire to face the challenge of  trying to make it resemble the model more. I will have to decide pretty soon which way I'm going to do it.

A full weekend

               
                                     

My new sculpture
13 x  8 x 7

                                     
 I finally am back to creating art, working on both sculptures and paintings. One of the sculptures is the longhorn shown above. It is a much larger version of a small longhorn sculpture I did a few years ago. I'm also working on a small horned frog sculpture and a few landscape paintings.
I  went to the radiologist on Friday and got an all clear on my pneumonia and then left to go down to Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country.

A group of blackbuck antelopes.

 As I have said before I love the Texas Hill Country and go every chance I get. This time it was for the opening of the small works show at The Insight Gallery. I have three or four pieces in this show. I was kind of torn because I also had an opening right here in Fort Worth at a brand new gallery, The Gallery in the Alley with my friend Georgia Clarke. This is a two man show and I have a lot of art in it and so would have loved to have been there for it, but I'd already set my mind and heart on Fredericksburg.

The old German cemetery 

 I love the German influence of the region. The language and accent is heard across the town. This weekend there was a Christmas parade and the annual German Christmas Market with ice skating, German foods and gifts.

Deer on a ranch

 The other thing I like about this part of the state is the wildlife. In addition to our native animals like deer and coyotes, there are animals from around the world living here. The most common are deer and antelope from Europe, Africa and Asia. They were originally imported to the large ranches of the region but over time many escaped and have managed to thrive in this area.

Part of the Insight Gallery

 The town was packed as were the galleries, due to all the weekend activities. The Insight was looking great and had large steady crowds all night. They  served egg nog and all sorts of Christmas treats. As always everything was perfect!

Art in the Insight, the smaller bronze sculpture is mine.

 The Insight is in one of the restored stone buildings on Main Street. The building is amazing and really showcases the art well.

One of the floats

 The parade began after 6:00 and consisted of lots of vehicles and floats decorated with Christmas lights, marching bands, representatives of the military, horses, llamas with Christmas lights, and of course Santa Clause. The weather was dreary with light rain but it didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd.

Part of the parade

 The rain lasted through the night and all the next day as I drove back to Fort Worth on Saturday. I did a bit more sculpture on Sunday and it is still raining but after our drought we really need all the rain we can get.

Mallard Hen sculpture



Mallard Hen

8.5 x 5.5 x 8.5

bronze on wood
$900

This was the model that I created to show the developers of Watters Creek for my large scale installation of a mother duck with ten ducklings. This one is sized to fit on a table or shelf. The one at Watters Creek in Allen, Texas is large enough for children to sit on. The entire process from start to finish took over a year to complete.

two of my pet Canada geese

 I spent a lot of time watching and sketching my flock of ducks and geese not only to get the anatomy, but to also capture the character, personality, and gesture for the family of ducks I created.  I had just taken a Sandy Scott workshop on avian anatomy  the summer before at the Prix de West in Oklahoma City. The class was very useful. I believe the combination of study and working from life led to the success of this group of sculptures.

















Work in Progress

longhorn cow and calf
work in progress in clay

I started work on this piece almost two years ago and started working on it again last night as my demo at the opening of my show at the Southwestern Adventist University. The light was not really that great for working on art but I think I'm pretty close if I put in some quality time working on it. I'm still working on simplifying the plants around the feet of the cattle. I try to have the most details around the faces of the animal and get looser the further away. This is basically the same principal as painting and having the sharpest edges around the center of interest.

Don't Mess With Texas

Don't Mess With Texas
9  x 4.5 x 5.5
bronze on wood
$900

This is my newest longhorn sculpture, and one of the pieces that will be in my art show with my great friend Sheri Jones at the Southwestern Adventist University next week. I finally made it to her solo show at Granbury last week. It was a great show. She sold many of her paintings. She really is a master of color. I haven't posted  a painting since Monday. I've started three this week, but I've been out of town and also working on my taxes so I haven't had the time to do as much painting as I would like. Hopefully once I take care of my taxes I'll have more time.

Kifaru, black rhino



Kifaru
15 x 5 x 7.5
bronze on granite
edition of 30

 I went to Dallas today to pick this sculpture up from the Beretta Gallery, for my show with Sheri Jones at the Southwestern Adventist University, only to find that it had just sold. That was a very great surprise. I will have another cast but not in time for the show at the University.
The title of this sculpture, Kifaru, is Swahili for black rhino. It was considered one of the Big 5, along with the elephant, cape buffalo, lion, and leopard. Compared to the white rhinoceros they are more aggressive. They are no longer hunted but still fall victim to poachers. I took a lot of photos and sketches of rhinos at different zoos for this sculpture. Our zoo here in Fort Worth has a great collection of rhinos having, black, white, and Indian rhinoceroses. Sadly all rhinos are endangered but at our zoo and at Fossil Rim Wildlife Park, near Glen Rose, they have been successful in breeding and raising rhinos. I think they are really a great animal to depict. What I like about them is that they look so prehistoric.

True Texan

True Texan
7 x 5 x 5.5
bronze on granite
$650

This is another of the sculptures that I have at the Insight Gallery. The first few were on wood, but now I always have them mounted on granite. I sculpted this one down in the Fort Worth Stock Yards. The longhorns there have got to be the most plump longhorns in all of Texas. So, I slimmed him down quite a bit to make him look like he has been living out on the open range.

Horned Frog Sculpture, Horned Pride

Horned Pride
9 x 4 x 3.5 ( not including the base)
Bronze on Granite
Edition of 100
$800

This is one of the sculptures that I will have in my shows. It's also one of my newest pieces. I'd started it several years ago. I was inspired to create it for several reasons. First, because the horned toad or"horned frog" is the mascot of TCU where I graduated in 1988, second, it is the state reptile of Texas, and finally when I was a kid I had one as a pet but sadly they are very rare today. It just seemed like this was the time to finish it, and sure enough TCU went undefeated and went on to win the Rosebowl.

Texas Stampede Invitational Show and Sale

Native Texan



Gone Fishing

Here are the two sculptures that I am going to put in the Insight Gallery's Texas Stampede show. I was going to mail them today, but thanks to our snow and sleet that is probably not going to happen. The show's reception is on March 4th in Fredericksburg in the gallery's new location, just down the block from the old location.

                                                                                                                         



New Horned Toad Sculpture

Horned Pride, Miniature
bronze
$300

Just picked up my newest sculpture from the foundry. This one is a smaller version of my horned toad sculpture, Horned Pride, and sells for $300. A great gift for the TCU fan.