Getting caught up

Frog Princess
bronze

     One of my new sculptures from this winter is a horned toad with a tiara that I call Frog Princess. My horned toads continue to be some of my most popular sculptures as well as among my best selling pieces.





The Shed on the Hill
8 x 10
oil on canvas

    This winter was a mixed time of very cold days with snow and ice as well as some weekends of very nice painting weather. We continued to paint in the Five Points  area near Waxahachie as well as other areas close to there. I revisited some of the same locations and painted them again as well as venturing Into some newer areas like Maypearl.




Memories of Fort Worth
acrylic on guitar

   Some of my friends and I, who helped out the North Texas Alzheimer's Association last year by painting stars for them to auction off last year helped out this year by painting guitars. I was not horribly enthused about painting on a guitar and I struggled with what to paint. In the end I decided to paint a sort of collage of scenes and symbols of Fort Worth. Once I started however I really enjoyed this project. I hope it will raise a lot of money for a very worthy cause.



closeup

     Another event that I was involved in was called All Out Trinity. I was on a committee that helped to organize a days worth of outdoor activities along the Trinity River in Dallas. My part was to bring some local artists out to paint in plein air near the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge



Poster for All Out Trinity

     This was  not so easy to do as several other events were going on at the same time and the weather started out very unpromising. In fact, most of the time that I was there it was  so foggy that I could hardly see the bridge let alone the Dallas skyline, but I actually wound up enjoying the effect of the fog and the way it softened everything.


Foggy Morning in Dallas
8 x 10
oil on canvas

Botanic Gardens and Views West of Fort Worth

 

  Yesterday, Monday I painted in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. I finished the painting shown above and started another. T. K. Riddle, and Tosca and Allen Engish were in the gardens this morning too. The temperature was great starting out, but it was getting hot by the time we left.

   In the afternoon I drove out to Graham to the Old Post Office Museum to pick up some sculptures that I had in a show there as well as some paintings for my friends Sheri Jones and Blair Currin. I passed through some really beautiful country. There were several areas that I think will make great places to paint in the future. It really is pretty neat how varied this region is just a short drive to the west.

Today I went to life drawing at the Fort Worth Community Art Center in the morning. We had a great model. After drawing seven of us walked to the Kimble Art Museum for lunch. The Kimble is one of my favorite places to have lunch and after lunch I bought a few art  books in the gift shop at 80% off.

Art Reach at Christ Chapel

One of my sculptures in the show.

     Today was my second show of the weekend, Art Reach at Christ Chapel .  Christ Chapel has many great events during the year but Art Reach is one of my favorite events. All of the art is made by members of the church, and there are some really talented artists here who work in all different mediums. The show is held every winter and a lot of the artists have participated for many years. One of my favorite things is seeing how the artists' styles have developed or changed over the year. Another thing I enjoy is that I stay at church most of the day from about 8:45 to around 7:00 so I wind up seeing so many people I know, people who I don't often see at other times.

Some of the art work and the crowd at Art Reach

       I think the over all quality of art increases every year. Some of the artists whose work I enjoyed this year are Ron Cheek, Pat Waymon, Peter Robbins, Kim Robbins, Martha Spurlock, Michael Livesay -Wright, Darla Lyon, Electra Burford, and Linda Henry.
       My next show will be during Fort Worth's Spring Gallery Night, I believe it is on March 24th. I will have my sculptures At Artspace111. More on that later.

Grand Champion Limousin Bull

Two and a half hours work on a sculpture

 After Church today, which lasted longer because our annual parish meeting followed the service, I went back to the Stock Show to sculpt.  There is only one more week left of the show. I have sculpted several longhorns but I wanted to sculpt a different breed of cattle. I walked around the cattle barns for a bit and right away, one bull stood out. It was a large black limousin bulll. He was magnificent looking.

 I came in today with nothing but a blob of clay and a wire armature from a previous sculpture. It didn't take long before I realized that I did not have nearly enough clay. I decided that I would try to sculpt half of the bull  in profile so I could capture as much of the important information as I could.

Xyloid, the Grand Champion Limousin Bull

 The bull I sculpted is from the Magness Land and Cattle Company in Colorado. His nickname is Bob ( I think his registered name is Xyloid ) I found out that he was selected as the Grand Champion Bull. I guess I know my cattle, because this one actually stood out as being special without knowing beforehand that he had won anything. (My cousins did  raise and show hereford cattle and I had a pet angus cross calf that I raised when I was about seven or eight.)

 Bob was very docile as he was lead outside to wait to be loaded into  his trailer. I took a lot of photographs, so hopefully I will have enough reference material to finish sculpting him.

Me sculpting next to Bob and some of the other cattle from the Magness Land and Cattle Company.

 While he was tied up outside I pulled up a stool and sat down beside him to sculpt. I had a lot of people come up to talk to me as I sculpted, and I never mind that. It was a warm day and a pleasant way to spend several hours creating art. I've got a long way to go before I am finished, but I do feel I got a good start today and met some very nice people while I worked.

Me sculpting outside.

Fort Worth - Where The West Begins

My painting that was accepted into the Plein Air Southwestern Salon.

First I have some great news. I entered the Outdoor Painters Society's Plein Air Southwestern Salon Show and I had the above painting accepted into it. This painting is a view of the rose garden's fountain in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. This is a tough show to get into. This year the juror and judge is John Budicin. I cannot even express how honored I am to have a painting in the Salon. The show will be in April in  Dallas at the Southwest Gallery.

Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price

This morning I got up and did a bit of painting and then went to one of Fort Worth's great Western traditions, the annual Stock Show and Rodeo Parade. I think this is the largest all horse and horse drawn vehicle parade in the world. After almost two hours of horses, mules, donkeys, and burros, you start to wonder if any equines are left in Texas, the surrounding states and Mexico..

The Six Flags of Texas

It really is a very colorful and interesting event. The mayor,city council, and other state and local officials all participate as do many of our wealthiest and most prominent citizens. Our mounted Fort Worth Police officers and many of the surrounding sheriff's posses ride in the event.


One of the stage coaches.

  As I said there are no motorized vehicles but there are many stage coaches, wagons, carriages, and buggies.The big draft horses are some of my favorites. This year there were several large groups from Mexico. The women wore beautiful local costumes and rode sidesaddle, The men wore the traditional clothing of the vaquero including large sombreros.

TCU's marching band

 My university, TCU's marching band participated as did many local high school bands, Scottish pipers, and a band from Zacatecas, Mexico. They were all on foot, but the Texas Girls' Choir rode in wagons. (They rode along singing.)

U.S. cavalry

A Christian riding group.

Confederate Cavalry

 There are a wide variety of clubs and groups that ride in the event including churches and historical groups and reenactors. There are cowboys, vaqueros, U.S. Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, and Confederate Cavalry but I only saw one Indian and he was riding in a wagon.

Beverly riding in the parade.

 My very dear friend Beverly Fletcher rode in the parade with a group from the Benbrook riding stable. She used to ride a great deal and I believe she was a barrel racer. I think it is terrific that she is riding again.

Me sculpting in front of the mountain lions enclosure.

 After the parade I went to the Fort Worth Zoo to work on my mountain lion. The mountain llon, or panther, is one of the symbols of Fort Worth and one of Fort Worth's nicknames was Panther City. In the 1800's a panther was spotted in Fort Worth. Dallas, always the rival of Fort Worth, quickly printed in their city's newspaper that Fort Worth was such a sleepy place that a panther was  asleep in one of its streets. Fort Worth accepted this with good humor and the fire department adopted two panther cubs as their mascots. Today the fire department and I think the police department have it on their badges.

The male mountain lion.

The mountain lions were sleeping in the sun most of the time so they were not much help to me. I did spend a while talking to their keeper. I always enjoy learning new things and I learned so much from him about the mountain lions and other big cats in the zoo.

My mountain lion in clay.

I am not quite finished with my mountain lion sculpture but I think I am pretty close. I've about reached the point where I am ready to be done with it and take it to the foundry.

Back to the Fort Worth Stockyards

Bill Pickett Sculpture
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$100

Saturday my friends and I returned to the Fort Worth Stockyards to paint. We had  a great group. including Chase Almond, Olivette Hubler, Sabine Higgins, Steve Miller, Hai Chi Lee, Janice Weaver, Trish Davidson Wise, George De Chiara, Margie Whittington and her friend Connie (I don't remember Connie's last name.) The weather was great for being outdoors and some great art was created by my friends. I began two paintings and finished neither of them although I'm going ahead and posting one of them. The one I'm posting is a life sized, or larger, sculpture of the famous African American Cowboy, Bill Pickett. It needs some more work still but there are some things that I like about it anyway. I  went back today to work on it some more and instead I started a third painting. (As if I needed more paintings to work on.)

One of the cowboys and horses  that I may use as the model for my sculpture.

One of the things that we like about the Stockyards is that there is so much to paint. There are cowboys and cowgirls in authentic 1800s gear performing twice daily cattle drives at 11:30  and 4:00. During the cattle drive the street is cleared and the cattle are hearded down Exchange Street as tourists from around the world watch and take photos.

The very orderly cattle drive.

The longhorns know the routine and walk placidly down the middle of the street. There are some really great looking steers in the herd. I've sculpted and sketched them many times. However  after talking to the cowboys about their gear I'm kind of thinking I may try to sculpt a mounted cowboy. I've never sculpted a horse so this will probably be a long slow process.

View of Exchange Street

The architecture is really interesting in the Stockyards. Some of the most distinctive architecture in the city is found in this area. There are lots of great colors and shapes. It is a lot of fun seeing how different artists interpret it.

Fort Worth Livestock Exchange

One of the most beautiful buildings is the livestock exchange with its Spanish arches, red tile, and cupola. It has a nice green lawn with shade trees in front where everything from armadillo races to pony rides occur.

In addition to watching the cattle drive, visitors can sit on a longhorn for a photo.. And of course nothing says Texas more than a Cadilac with leather seats and longhorns on the front!

Christmas in Cowtown Donattion

Tandy Hills Snow
6 x 8
oil on panel

     This is a painting I did from a photo I took at the Tandy Hills Park (a little while ago.) After this summer of record heat it still brings back pleasant memories.
     It began to snow heavily as I drove to the park. the flakes were big and wet as I got out of my truck and began to walk around. In no time the snow began to accumulate. I was the only one around and I felt like I was miles from the city. It was beautiful.  Eventually I knew I had to leave before the roads iced over. So I headed home, built a blazing fire, and enjoyed an evening at home.
      So, when I was asked to donate to the Junior League's Christmas in Cowtown I thought this was an ideal painting. The event is in early October when it will probably still be in the 90s. Hopefully this painting will add to the Christmas spirit of the event.

Texas horned toad bronze sculpture, Horned Victory

Horned Victory
bronze on granite
9 x 4 x 3.5

     This is a new version of my Horned Pride sculpture. I individually sculpt each rose and  have it cast and attached to the horned toad sculpture. Thus, each new sculpture is a unique piece. I call this new sculpture Horned Victory. This sculpture commemorates TCU's 2011 Rose Bowl Victory. This sculpture is only available at The Varsity at 3515 Bluebonnet Circle, in Fort Worth.
     I have been doing quite a bit of sculpting this week in my studio. First I have been working on the roses for Horned Victory and second on the longhorn cow and calf that I  began over two years ago. I am very much looking forward to the completion of this sculpture. In fact I worked on it last night until after !!:00. It will be the first sculpture that has two figures on one base,

A Great New Store In Fort Worth

Horned Pride
Bronze on Granite
9 x 4 x 3.5
$800

Horned Pride Miniature
Bronze
6 x 3.5 x 2.5
$300

    A great store is opening here in Fort Worth called The Varsity, at 3515 Bluebonnet Circle. It will specialize in upper scale TCU merchandise and clothing. I'm going to have to get one of their TCU ties!
   They will carry my two bronze horned toad (horned frog) sculptures. I will also have horned frogs holding a rose in their mouths to commemorate TCU's Rose Bowl win last year. These should be ready in a few weeks.
   By the way this is my 100th post.

The Green Garden

The Green garden
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$175

I haven't posted a finished painting in a while and I have completed several. This is the newest one. I finished painting it last week when I went back to the botanical gardens with Cecilia Robertson. It turned into a hot day but the morning was grand. I loved this scene because of all the cool shady greens, the willow and the park bench. After painting I finished up two sculptures the, crucifix and the longhorn steer and took them to the foundry. I was glad to get them out of my sculpture studio and am very much looking forward to seeing them in bronze.

Another fine morning in the garden.

Summer Heat in the Garden
8 x 10
oil on linen panel
$150

I got up early this morning and went to go paint in the botanical gardens. It's supposed to be at least 102 today, so I wanted an early start. It was cool enough until about 10:00. Then the breeze ended and it got HOT. I liked this view with the darks in the background and the path leading in surrounded by flowers. It's nice to still have lots of flowers and green even in this heat, yesterday was 105.

Beyond the Garden Gates

Beyond the Garden Gate
8 x 10
oil on canvas panel
$150

     This is a painting that I began last Monday in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens before going down to the Texas coast. I t was a very nice morning for painting outdoors.   I was joined by some of my friends including Olivette Hubler, and Sheri Jones. Many of us chose this view because we were able to paint  in   the shade.  After we finished painting all of us but Sheri , (who had to return to work) went to lunch.             

Pastel Portrait

Pastel Portrait
life size
pastel on paper
not for sale

I don't use pastels and I don't do portraits, BUT this week I've been working on them and having a lot of fun.

Stop and Smell the Roses



Stop and Smell the Roses
8 x 10
oil on panel
$150

    I began this painting several weeks ago when I was painting in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens with a group of friends and fellow artists including Cecelia Robrtson, Cece Turner, Olivet Hubler, and Linda Reedy.
We got to the gardens early and enjoyed wonderful weather as we painted. The roses were especially thick and beautiful that week. We broke for lunch and ate at the Gardens Restaurant.The food was good but I have to say the service was slow. However, there was lots of interesting conversation related to art. After we painted some of my friends came back to my house for dessert.
   I'll still work  on this painting a bit more, but I was interested in capturing the big shapes and colors and minimizing or omiting the details.

Paint Historic Waxahachie

Round Bales
8 x 10
oil on canvas



View of the courthouse and  down town from the parking garage.

    This is another painting I did at the paintout. It looks like a stable, but it really is the old train station by the feedstore, thus the bales of hay. This has been a great paintout. There are so many things to paint and so many great artists to paint with. Olivette Hubler and I both painted this building, but from opposite ends,
she got a great painting.

Somervell County Courthouse

Somervell County Courthouse
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$100

This Saturday I participated in a paintout in Glen Rose. It was a very foggy morning on the drive down but it turned out to be a great day for painting. Many  of my friends participated including Sheri Jones, Maryann Brummer, Sabine Higgins, Janice Weaver, Debob Jacob, Steve Miller, Chase Almond, Vickie Guthrie, and many others. We painted in an area around the square and along the river. Debob won first place, Chase won second, and Steve won third. Sheri sold two paintings. Glen Rose has so many painting opportunities and I really look forward to returning to paint there in the future.

Old Marksman

Old Marksman
6 x 8
oil on panel
not for sale

This is a painting I did of Marksman my old yellow lab. He was a truly super dog. I had him for over 15 years. He was the sort of dog that got along with all people, dogs and other animals.He was great to hunt with, fish with, camp with, and go to the lake or gulf with. I know I'll never have another dog like him. He was a great and loyal friend who will always be missed.

Prairie Fest Morning

Prairie Fest Morning
8 x 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

This is the last of my Prairie fest psaintings. Yesterday we had a great outing at my friend Maryann's property in Granbury. We had artists from all over the area including Fort Worth, Weatherford, Aledo, Grand Prairie, and five who drove all the way over from Dallas. The weather was great and a lot of really nice paintings were produced.

Greens and Blues

Greens and Blues
8 x 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

This was my last painting of the day at Prairie Fest.  It was a fairly simple painting, just about the composition of some big shapes, and the colors green and blue. This was my only painting of the day with no wildflowers.