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.

Painting in Waxahachie

Illinois Central Gulf Caboose
painting in progress

   This weekend I had a paintout down at Waxahachie. Of course it would be cold and raining. The paintout was at the old train depot which has been restored and looks great. Tina Bohlman organized the event and did a great job as always. Despite the rain we had areas to paint, but the result was we were under the awnings at the depot, so we had to paint what we could see, thus there were lots of caboose paintings.

Kent with a cup of coffee and my painting.

   I painted on the side of the depot next to my friend and Waxahachie  resident Kent Brewer. Steve Miller another friend of mine painted a bit further down, and Tina and some other artists painted in their vehicles. There were a lot of people at the depot to see the new caboose and the restored station, as well as attend a model train show.

Kent painting next to my easel.

   I enjoyed the day despite the weather. A lot of us walked up the hill in the rain to the Dove's Nest for lunch, (nobody wanted to lose their parking spot). If you go to Waxahachie that is one of the places you need to eat at. The food is great and so are the desserts. After lunch I came back and painted some more. My painting is not finished yet, and it is not my subject matter, but I enjoyed doing it.

The Caboose

Two Weekends of Plein Air

A Winters Afternoon
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$250

   I have had two very nice weekends of plein air painting. Today I went to church and then lunch with my parents before going to paint with my friends Sheri Jones and Joyce Thomas. We painted near Lake Benbrook.     
                                  

Putting the final touches on my painting.

                                     
    It was cold, windy, and rainy yesterday. But today, the wind and rain were gone and the sun was out. It was a beautiful day to be out and a great place to paint. We were not the only ones out enjoying the day. As we painted,  we were passed by joggers, walkers and a multitude of bicyclists.

Joyce and Sheri working on their paintings.

                                     

View along the creek where we painted.

Winter woods
oil on canvas
8 x 10
$250

   Last Saturday it was cold, it didn't get out of the 30s. But it wasn't windy and mostly it was sunny, so ten of us went down to Granbury to paint at Campfire's Camp El Tesoro. The camp is open one weekend a month during the winter and this was the weekend, so despite the cold some of us  went.

Me painting, with Sheri in the background.

   El Tesoro is a beautiful place,  the Brazos River flows through it as does Fall Creek. If the weather had been nicer we would have had over 20 artists but most cancelled and I have to admit I came very close to cancelling as well, but I was glad that I didn't, once I had a look around and began painting.

Dan and Robbie painting the river.

  The group consisted of myself, Tina Bohlman, Debbie Box, Sabine Higgins, Sheri Jones, Robbie Clemmer, Maryann Brummer, and her nephew Austin, Claudia Davis, and Dan Spangler. We spread out along the creek. There are so many great spots to paint.

Our group dressed for the cold and painting too.

   The creek was such a tempting subject with its falls and that is what I started with. But, my painting just wasn't working out so I wiped it down and started over painting the view across the creek, leaving the water out of it altogether. I was drawn to the back lit trees and the pale green fields beyond them.

One of the falls along the creek.

   I was much more pleased with this painting. By this time several of our group had left. I thought about starting a second painting but decided that I had had quite enough of the cold. So instead Robbie and I went to a Mexican restaurant in town. Painting was great but enchiladas, chips and salsa in a warm restaurant were even better.

The white cliffs along Fall Creek.

Plein Air North Texas Show at DFW

   I went out to see our show again today at DFW, I trully enjoy seeing the great variety of paintings in different media, subject matter, and style hanging together. I took some more photos to share .

One of my spring plein airs in the show.

A colorful Texas landscape by Sheri Jones.

A striking painting by Linda Popple.

A Colorado plein air by Cecy Turner.

One of Blair Currin's Texas landscapes.

A beautiful water color by Tina Bohlman from Palo Duro Canyon.

A large Texas landscape by Olivette Hubler.

A great floral by Margie Whittington.

A very Texas landscape by Cecilia Robertson.

Outdoor Painters Society Grapevine Paintout

Onions
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$300

Today was the Outdoor Painters Society's annual paintout in Grapevine, Texas. Grapevine is located just north of Fort Worth so it draws a good crowd of members from Fort worth and Dallas as well as the surrounding cities and towns. Of course it just figures that it would get cold again today, our coldest day this week in fact. But luckily Randy Saffle, our member from Grapevine thought of everything.

Me painting my still life.

 Randy and his wife set up four still lifes as well as arranging to have two models to paint. They were so organized that they set up the still lifes the day before and photographed them so that this morning they were able to quickly set up the still lifes before everyone arrived. Of course several artists braved the cold and wind to paint out. But many of us took advantage of Randy's hard work and planning and started the morning indoors.

My easel set up beside Ann Hardy.

   

 About twenty of us set up indoors. I painted a group of onions and silver pitcher next to my wonderful friend Ann Hardy. It is always fun getting together to paint with friends and besides Randy and Ann many of mine were there today including Sheri Jones, Olivette Hubler, Sabine Higgins, Tina Bohlman, Steve Miller, Ted Clemens, Leslie Talty and probably many others that I never saw because we were scattered across the town.

My easel and Olivette with hers in front of the train station.

After our first paintings were completed indoors, many of us moved outdoors to paint. It was still cold and breezy but right outside our doors were several great places to paint. Olivette and I both painted the old train station. I haven't posted mine yet because I need to do some more work on it.

Olivette painting the old truck in front of the blacksmiths shop.

 Olivette moved down the parking lot and painted an old truck in front of the blacksmith shop. There is so much to paint here and if it was warmer I would have stayed to paint more but I was just to cold so after warming up by the blacksmiths forge I headed back home.

A great old truck that Randy had for us to paint.

Plein Air North Texas

 Today I helped install an art show at DFW Airport featuring almost 80 paintings by  20 artists from all across North Texas, including Fort Worth, Dallas, Granbury, Keller, Aledo, Mansfield,  Weatherford, Waxahachie, and Colleyville. These artists are Darnell Jones, Beatriz Welch, Cecilia Robertson, Blair Currin, Tina Bohlman, Olivette Hubler, Cecy Turner, Sheri Jones, Margie Whittington, Sabine Higgins, Jan Bateman, Claudia Davis, Leslie Talty, Maryann Brummer, Sara Ward, Carol Ivey, Linda Reedy, Linda Popple, Ann Hardy, and myself. The majority of us are members of the Outdoor Painters Society. I have known all of these artists for many years and have had the pleasure of painting with them across North Texas at informal paint outs at areas like the Fort Worth Stock Yards, Dallas Arboretum, Lake Granbury, the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, and back roads across the entire area and plein air events like Prairie Fest, Paint Historic Waxahachie, and the Outdoor Painters Society's paint outs. All work is for sale and may be purchased by contacting the artist.

I want to give special thanks to my friend Guy Bruggeman who spent his day off hanging the show. He is the curator of DFW's art collection. The show will hang until March 2nd. It is located in the car rental facility at the south entrance to the airport on the second floor. I will be going back several times to look at the work when I have time to really study it. It is a pleasure seeing every one's work hanging together and seeing how different artists interpret the same region.

Paintings by Sara Ward and Beatriz Welch

One of my paintings and two of Olivette Hubler's paintings.

Paintings by Sara Ward and Cecy Turner

Paintings by Sabine Higgins and Maryann Brummer

Paintings by Linda Reedy and Sheri Jones.

Painting by Darnell Jones

Paintings by me and Claudia Davis.

Painting by Ann Hardy.

One of my paintings.

One of my paintings.

Paintings by Claudia Davis and Jan Bateman.