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.

Five for the Small Works Show at the FWCAC

Garden House
8 x 10
oil on panel

Last Tuesday I wasn't feeling very well. I found out I have walking pneumonia. I'm slowly (very slowly)  starting to feel better. One of the worse things though is that I haven't felt like creating any art at all. I don't have a lot of good things to say about daytime television either!

Camping at Lake Granbury
8 x 10
oil on panel

 However, even though I have been missing out on this great fall weather and color, I haven't been totally idle. I did get these five 8 x 10s in the Small Works Show at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. This is a fun show featuring all kinds of art, 9 x 12 or smaller and unframed. It is a great place to add to your art collection or buy Christmas presents.

Bad Hair Day
8 x 10
oil on panel

The stipulation of this show is that the work not be framed and must fit in a 9 x 12 mailing envelope.So the paintings I selected had to be on flat panels. Many of my friends put paintings in this show as well. Over the years I've purchased several paintings there myself. I'm looking forward to seeing the show once it is hung and maybe adding to my art collection.

The Road Home
8 x 10
oil on panel

Two For My Tea
8 x 10
oil on panel

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.

Two Shows in the Near Future

 I have two shows coming up. The first begins this Saturday Nov.5th from 11:00 til 4:00 at the Dutch Art Gallery, in Dallas. I have four paintings in this show of work by artists in the Artists of Texas group. I haven't seen the show hung yet but I saw a lot of very nice art when I dropped off my four paintings, pictured below.

 My second show is the Small Works Show at the Insight Gallery in Fredericksburg. The opening is on Dec. 2nd from 6:00 til 8:00 P.M.  I have three bronzes in this show. The catalog for the show may be seen on the Insight Gallery's websight. The three sculptures below are in that show.,

New longhorn sculpture

Mother and Child
12 x 9.5 x 8
bronze on granite
$2700

This is my newest sculpture, a longhorn cow with a calf. I haven't settled on my title yet.  I just got it back from the foundry this week. This is my first sculpture with multiple figures on one  base.  I  worked on it from life at the Fort Worth Stockyards and from photos I took of the longhorns at the Fort Worth Stock Show. I spent over two years working on it before deciding that I was pleased  with it and ready to cast. I work on a piece, set it aside, and then come back to it over and over to try and keep looking at it with fresh eyes. I make lots of changes as I work. One of the things I've found is that once I change one thing I wind up having to change many other things so that the sculpture continues to work as an entire piece. I'm always so excited to see each piece as it is completed and equally eager to show them to family and friends to get their opinions.

Pumpkin, Pear, and Apples

Autumn Harvest
8 x 10
oil on canvas
NFS

    I love the fall. To me there is something so special about the change of the seasons. Our mornings are cooler, in the 50s, although the days still warm up to the 80s and 90s. The leaves are just starting to change color and I've heard the geese flying south a few times already. Fall is also the end of baseball season and we are very hopeful that our Texas Rangers will play in the World Series this year. It's also the start of football season for TCU and of course the Dallas Cowboys as well as my nephews games. Fall is the begining of hunting season. I didn't go out this year but I enjoy working with my  dog and hearing about my friends trips out.

pumpkins on my porch

 Fall is also when the weather becomes more bearable for painting out. I love to paint the colors of fall, the foliage  and of course the pumpkins. I 've bought several for my porch in different shapes and colors. So if I have the time I'll have to paint some of them. Of course with work, sculpture, and everything else time is something I don't have a lot of.

my front porch

Another thing I like about fall is Halloween. A number of the houses on my street put up orange lights and have pumpkins or other decorations on their lawns or porches. I enjoy the lights as our days grow shorter and shorter.

Texas Hill Country

When Blue Skies Turn Gray
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$150

   I went down to the Texas Hill Country this weekend to take a sculpture down to the Insight Gallery for their Christmas show and to attend the opening of the two man show of Scott Christianson and Quang Ho. There is so much to see in this region and in addition to the activities in the gallery I intended to do a couple of paintings or studies but it began to rain almost as soon as I started and the rain was very persistent. But considering that we need it so badly I'm not going to complain at all. The one I started was of a field with some Angus cattle in it under cloudy skies. I worked on it until the rain became too much for me.

A small herd of bison.

One of the things I love about this area  is all of the wildlife. There are thousands of deer in the area as well as bison, longhorns, sheep, goats and exotic animals like zebra, black buck antelopes, camels, and other animals from around the world. These of course provide so much inspiration for wildlife and animal artists.


I found a bit of fall color but not much. Like the rest of the state most of the plants that were green and are not any more have changed color because they are dieing from the drought not because of cooler temperatures.

Fredericksburg house.

Another Fredericksburg House

Fredericksburg is such a great little town. It was founded long ago by German settlers. One of the interesting features of it is the architecture of the houses. Some of them are Sunday houses. These were small houses built by the farmers of the area  for their families to use on the weekends when they came into town for church. These are mostly built of stone and native timber and they were built to last.

An old barn at the Sauer Beckerman Living History Farm

Sheep on the farm

An old wagon at the farm.

So much of our state's history has been lovingly preserved in this area, much to the appreciation of artists from across Texas. There are old farm houses, barns, farm animals, wind mills, wagons, and views of great natural beauty everywhere one looks. As usual I came back with lots of reference photos. I have a lot to tell about events at the gallery but I will save that for another post.