The Texas Masters Show

Me working on my demo at The Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery
 

     This weekend was one of the ones  I most  look forward to every year. It was the start of the Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery in Fredericksburg. This year I did a sculpture demo during the opening reception.  It was really great meeting some of my collectors. I was truly impressed by them.
   
      Another thing that I thoroughly enjoyed was visiting with the other artists. Because I was doing my demo I didn't get to talk with all of the great artists there, but  some of my favorite artists that  I visited with were Gladys Roldan-de-Moras, Jill Carver, D. Larue Mahlke, Bob Guelich, Mary Buchholz, George Halmark, and Chuck Rawle.


       The next morning after the show I drove around to enjoy the scenery and wildlife of the Hill Country and then went back to the Insight Gallery to watch painting demos by Cheri Christensen and Mark Haworth. It was a very interesting demo and a nice way to wrap up the weekend at Fredericksburg. This turned out to be a profitable and enjoyable weekend.

Two of my bronzes in the show.

 

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Three of my bronzes in the show.

Two more of my bronzes in the show.

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.

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.,

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.

Belted Galloways

Belted Galloways
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$150, unframed

 I did a sketch  and took photos of these cattle from my trip down to Fredericksburg.  I painted it yesterday and after taking it to a critique group at my friend Cecelia's, I edited out a road and house from the background and I think it's a stronger painting because of that. I really think Belted Galloways  are such an interesting looking breed of cattle. You don't see them often but when you do they sure stand out.

The Texas Stampede Show

Me at the Insight Gallery's Texas Stampede Show

Friday night was the reception at the Insight Gallery, in Fredericksburg, for the Texas Stampede Show. The show was held in the galleries new building and it is a beautiful space, more like a museum than a gallery. There is  enough space to really step back and look at the art. In fact there are benches in between the walls so you can sit down and admire the work. There was a great turnout as well as many great artists in attendance.I sold a sculpture during the reception and one earlier in the week.
I met a really wonderful artist that I was unfamiliar with, Gladys Roldan-de-Moras. She took the photo of me above holding one of my sculptures. I would advise all of my friends to check her website. She had two paintings in the gallery and sold them both before the start of the show.My favorite painting of hers, was of her daughter and neice in traditional hispanic dresses picking roses. It was just amazing.

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.