Apples, peaches, pears, plums...

North Texas Blue
11 x 14
oil on canvas

    Spring is a busy time in the  gardener  and the outdoor painter. There is never enough time to do everything. But I have always remembered the words of a preacher that I saw on television. He said that we always have time for what we put first. I try to follow this and group my priorities where they should be . One of the things I always give time to in the spring is painting the bluebonnets. The smell alone is worth going out to a big field to experience. But the pleasure of being outdoors painting with friends in great weather (or even not) is the best part of it. This spring we have painted in the Corp of Engineers Parks around Benbrook Lake on weekends and after work.

Scout in front of one of the rose bushes.

     The other demand of my time, this time of year, is my yard and garden.  We had a hard winter and some of my shrubbery is still looking very grim, but the roses have been incredible. I have so many colors and different sizes and they have all put on a show. The peonies were really nice also.

Roses and peonies in the background.

    Every spring my garden tempts me to get out and paint in it but the pull of the country and the wild flowers always wins out. I do take plenty of photos for later use.


A bloom on one of my yellow roses.

    We had some VERY late freezes and frosts this year. They took there toll on the plums. But, the apples, peaches, and pears are covered with fruit as are the grapes and raspberries. The trick will be to keep the squirrels and birds away later in the spring.

Apples on one of my two apple trees.

     I don't think of apples as doing really well around here but my great grandmother had a tree that produced large crops of green apples. So with that in mind two years ago I purchased two trees and they have grown well. This year they have lots of apples on them.



Belle Of Georgia Peaches

     The peach trees, I have two, are Belle of Georgias. They are covered with peaches this year. This is a white peach and one of the varieties my grandmother grew. They are covered with peaches.

One of the pears on my tree.

 

      I have one pear tree. It was planted two years ago and has several pears on it. There are three plum trees but they have  no plums left on them.


Part of my vegetable garden - tomatoes, peppers, beans , squash, pumpkins, and raspberries

   Besides the fruit trees, I have vegetables and herbs planted in a couple of different places. It takes a lot of watering and weeding to keep it all going.

Bluebonnet Time

Spring in North Texas
oil on canvas
8 x 10

 As a painter this is one of my favorite times of the year. Many of our wildflowers, including the bluebonnets are at their peak. Plus, the temperature is very nice to be out painting and the mosquitos and chiggers don't seem to be out yet. Like all great times in life, you are aware that it won't last, so the only thing to do is appreciate it while we can. So today after work my friend Sheri Jones and I met to paint near Benbrook. ( Sheri is a real trooper, she is up painting an hour before most people are awake in the morning and today after working all day she was out painting in clothes that looked like she was headed for church; and not a speck of paint on her.) Besides bluebonnets there are so many other wildflowers in bloom. There are also prickly pear, yucca, and mesquite and oak trees with fresh foliage. There is so much to appreciate and enjoy. Hopefully we will have more great days like this before the heat sets in,

Wildflowers and Cacti

Happy Easter!

Texas Blues
8 x 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

     Today was Easter and a very beautiful day. I woke up early and went out to Dutch Branch Park to paint the bluebonnets. I didn't see any turkeys this morning but I did see lots of deer, ducks, buzzards, and song birds. The bluebonnets are Getting prettier every day and the other flowers are coming along too. I finished this painting and worked on two others. I didn't paint long but I enjoyed it.



Bluebonnets (and light bluebonnets)

      I worked in my yard and then went over to my sister's for Easter lunch with our family. We had a very good dinner, played some games and watched some sports. Then I came back home and did a bit more in my garden before the rains started.

Caught up as of today!

Mustang Spirit
bronze on granite

    March 7th was the Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery in Fredericksburg. As always it is a tremendous honor to be part of the show. This show features some of the very finest representational artists working in Texas. This year my newest sculpture in the show is a running mustang called Mustang Pride.
     One of the most enjoyable things about this time of the year has been the Sorolla exhibit at the Meadows museum in Dallas. This has to be my favorite show of any artist''s work I have seen. It really gives a complete view of the artist, his process, and his work. By the time the show ended this weekend I had seen it six times. Each time I went it was with  different groups of friends and each time I saw different things and in different ways. Some of the pieces were from private collections and so there was a certain feeling of sadness in thinking that I would never see some of them again.



Bison in Spring
8 x 10
oil on canvas

    I had two big events on March 29th. The first was a paintout with ten of my friends at the Fort Worth Nature Center .I painted one of the bison. These paintings will be auctioned off at a dinner and fundraiser on April 26th at the Nature Center. The show may be viewed online on their website.



Spring in Texas
8 x 10
oil on canvas

      The second event of the day was the Fort Worth Art Dealers Association's Spring Gallery Night.I had paintings and sculptures at a place called Portfolio on Camp Bowie. My friend Margaret did a sculpture demo and I did a painting Demo. I did a painting of bluebonnets and cattle. This one was started from photos and finished in plein air.



Dutch Branch Park

       The last two weeks I have discovered a new place to paint, Dutch Branch Park at Benbrook Lake only a couple of minutes from my house .It is a beautiful place with wildlife, hiking trails, horse trails, and nice views. ( I used to take my Labradors here to practice their retrieving in the lake.) Last Saturday a group of seven of us went out around sunrise and painted there. I started two paintings there and also worked on my painting from Gallery Night. I had to leave early to take some sculptures to David Dike Fine Art to replace several that had recently  sold there. Then I went back to the Meadows Museum to see Sorolla for one last time with some more friends. I ran into several other fellow artists there. I think almost every artist I know who saw it went more than once.
      Today I met my friend Linnea back at Dutch Branch Park to paint again. It was a beautiful day, not nearly as windy as last Saturday. We saw a flock of six wild turkeys and several deer. I worked on my two paintings from last Saturday, started a new one, and finished the one from Gallery Night. I would have liked to have painted longer but my nephews had baseball games today. In the evening I worked on several sculptures and watched a movie on Theo and Vincent Van Gogh.

Thanks to the Chapman Family

Blue Sky and Bluebonnets
11 x 14
oil on canvas
$250

 

 

First let me share a plein air painting from a few weeks ago that I reworked a bit in the studio this afternoon. I worked on the values overall, and did a bit more to the bluebonnets. I believe it is a stronger painting now.

Chuck wagons and cowboy cooks.

 Today is one of the days that will live in my memory forever. The Chapman brothers open up their Squaw Creek Ranch, just west of Fort Worth, once a year in the spring for their cattle branding. This is an incredible taste of Texas history, Texas hospitality, and Texas cuisine.

One of two cooking areas.

 Last year about 400 people from the area came and I'm sure at least that many were there this year. From early in the morning the cooks are busy preparing breakfast for everyone who shows up. Breakfast included, cowboy biscuits, coffee, sausage, bacon, and gravy. (Best biscuits ever!)

One of the two chuck wagons.

 Everything is cooked just like it would have been cooked on the old ranches and cattle drives of the past.

The cowboys from the Chapman ranch as well as those from the surrounding ranches and counties show up to ride in the cattle drive and to lend a hand with the branding.

The cattle drive on Bear Creek Road.

 The cattle are driven in groups from the surrounding pastures and taken to the branding pens. It was  amazing watching the drive and must have been really incredible to ride in as well. I am so thankful that families like the Chapmans are preserving a way of life that was once the norm and is now almost gone.

The cattle and cowboys on Bear Creek Road.

 After the cattle drive the cows and calves are driven into pens where a few mounted cowboys work to separate the cows from the calves. I've been to cutting horse events many times but this was much more interesting seeing it done on a ranch.

Cowboys working on a calf.

Today on most ranches the cattle would be driven into chutes where they could be given their shots, etc.... But here it was done as it has historically been done in Texas. The calves were roped, put down on the ground, branded, tagged, and given shots.

Cowboys at work.

Many of my artist friends were here taking photos for reference material including Sabine Higgins,T. K. Riddle, Olivette Hubler, Janice Weaver, B. J. and Sheri Jones, Georgia Clarke, Linnea Mckinnie and her husband , and Leslie Talty and her husband. My friend Alonso Zamago and his wife also came out. Between us I believe we took thousands of photos.

Mr. John Chapman

 Many families with children were there. It was just an incredible opportunity for everyone to witness first hand our Texas heritage. Two of the things that I would say surprised me were how much it smoked when the cattle were branded, and how little the branding seemed to phase them. Many of them bawled when they were roped and thrown down, and some when they were given their shots, but I didn't notice any when they were branded.

Cowboys branding a calf.

 I guess I also was surprised at how hard the work actually was just to get the calf down. One mounted cowboy would rope the calf around the neck and another around the hind legs. Then other cowboys on foot would try to grab its legs to bring it down. This usually took three or more cowboys. Then the rope was taken off the neck and while the calf was held down other cowboys and cowgirls did their work tagging, branding, banding and injecting. Then the calves were sent back to their mamas. Several cowboys were knocked down, dragged, and kicked.

Cowboy with a lasso.

After the first group of calves were finished it was time for lunch. The Chapmans provided an all you can eat fajita dinner for everyone present. They were the best fajitas I have ever had. The meat was so tender it was just incredible. I can not imagine the cost of feeding so many people, and I don't know of any where else in the state where you can just show up and be fed a delicious home cooked (pasture cooked) all you can eat breakfast and lunch.

One of the cowboys working on foot.

After lunch more cattle were driven over and the whole process continued, The only difference was these were larger calves and the work seemed more difficult. It was more entertaining to me than going to a rodeo because these cowboys were doing real work that had to be done, not doing it for a competition, like cutting or calf roping in a rodeo.

Two cowboys roping a calf.

 We stayed from about 8:00 to after 12:00 and all of us had a wonderful time. Beautiful scenery of pale green spring foliage with bright blue skies and perfect weather. In fact every thing conspired to make this a perfect day for all of us. Thank you to the Chapmans for creating great memories and teaching us all about our ranching heritage. Your hospitality and generosity are truly appreciated.


Roxie and Johnie



Art in April

Some of my art at Chandor Gardens

    Spring is here and a very busy time it is for me. Last weekend I participated in the Spring Fling at Chandor Gardens. it is a smallish event but growing and in a beautiful setting. I painted a few paintings while I was there and had a very enjoyable two days.


Little Range Rover
8 x 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

 

 Several of my artist friends participated including Sheri Jones, Jill Randal, Dan Spangler and Olivette Hubler. My friend Tosca bought the armadillo painting above that I recently finished. The garden is always beautiful but it was filled with song on Sunday.( The song of mating toads.) The fountains were full of courting toads.


One of the fountains full of toads in Chandor Gardens.

 I placed an add in the April edition of Western Art Collector and it really paid off this time. I sold one sculpture last week and three this week so my thanks go out to the good people at Western Art collector.


Glen Rose Goats

 Today, Saturday,  a group of us went down to Glen Rose to paint bluebonnets. It was a beautiful morning. We were going to meet at the back entrance of Fossil Rim, the wildlife park. I got down early to look for a place to paint. The area around Glen Rose is a very hilly region and famous for its dinosaur tracks, hence the name Fossil Rim.


A friendly donkey near Glen Rose

The area abounds in wildlife as well as farm animals of all kinds. I saw lots goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, longhorns and other cattle. Everything is green and lush and there were many fields of livestock that would have made beautiful paintings.


Texas Bluebonnets - in the lupine family.

The one thing that was somewhat lacking were the bluebonnets. However a short distance from the back gate I did find a nice patch of bluebonnets. They were not as thick as usual but beggars can't be choosers.


View from the Overlook.

I went back to Fossil Rim and the overlook to wait for our group. In the photo above from the balcony of the Overlook restaurant you can just make  out part of a herd of giraffes. Fossil Rim is most famous for its conservation of endangered animals especially rhinos, but I didn't see any where I was.


Olivette, Maryann and Sheri painting bluebonnets.

 Our group today consisted of Sheri Jones, Olivette Hubler,Maryann Brummer and Candy Clynch. We parked along the Side of the road and painted the bluebonnets I found. It was a beautiful spot and a beautiful day. We all enjoyed it very much. I painted bluebonnets and cedar trees with a trail going through them. I had to meet my family for a movie so I had to leave before I was really finished. I'm posting it now but I'll do a bit more on it still..


Texas Spring
9 x 12
oil on canvas

Looking ahead,  I'll be painting at Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills in East Fort Worth on April 27th. On Saturday May 11th I'll be doing a sculpture demo at Dutch Art in Dallas where Sheri Jones will be doing a painting demo. The next week I'll be painting at one of the homes in my neighborhood, Ridglea Hills, during the Historic Society's Hidden Gardens Tour. The gardens will be large, one to three acres in size. Finally at the end of the month I'll be painting in paintout in Waxahachie.

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.