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.

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.

Outdoor Painters Society Paintout in Glen Rose



Fall in Glen Rose
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$150

       This weekend the Outdoor Painters Society held a paint out in Glen Rose on Friday and Saturday. I had to work on Friday but I drove down to Dina Gregory's for the barbecue dinner after work. Dina lives just out of Glen Rose in a little place called Eulogy. On the way down we had a pouring rain. It was almost hard to drive in all the rain. Dina has a beautiful log cabin type home in the country . She has huge porches on her house with great views, so many of us chose to eat outdoors and enjoy the rain and cooler temperatures. There were many people there that I didn't know but several that I did including, Sheri Jones, Sabine Higgins, Randy Saffle, David Schultz, Joyce Thomas, Debob Jacob, Tina Bohlman and others. I left quickly after we ate since I didn't want to try to find my way home in the dark in pouring rain.

Me, painting along the Paluxy River.

I drove back on Saturday morning with Cecilia Robertson to paint. We set up along the Paluxy River by the old stone mill, which is the oldest building  north of Waco in Texas. There was a bit of color along the river, as well as some water in it thanks to the rains. Several other artists painted here including Sheri, Sabine, Debob, Olivette Hubler, Carolyn  Cobb, and Christy Kidwell. I saw some great art being painted today.

Me painting along the Paluxy River.

Around lunch time many of the artists went to lunch at the Green Pickle. Cecilia, Debob, and I ate with David Schultz, Linda Schindler, and a lady I didn't know. There were several other tables of artists in the restaurant. I think we all got burgers, they were great. For dessert we all shared the last piece of coconut pie in the restaurant. It was really good, the waitress's "granny" had made it that morning. After lunch, Cecelia and I drove back to Fort Worth. Some of the others continued painting and others went home too. It was a really nice day.

Sabine Higgins packing up as Olivette Hubler paints.

Life gets in the way!



                                 A view of part of the rose garden and stonework in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.                      This part of the gardens was created as a WPA project.

The view I chose to paint today of the pond and willow.

A  photo of me painting.



Cecilia Robertson painting; she chose an unusual view, and did a great job of it.



Blair Currin, Cecilia Robertson, and Candy Clynch

A very tiny frog passing by my painting location.

Koi in the big pond.

   Today we had a smaller number of artists painting with us in the gardens than we've had over the last few weekends. Sometimes life does get in the way. Most of our friends were doing other activities. Some were working a day job, vacationing, or doing family activities. But for those of us who went out to paint in the gardens today it was a great experience. 
   There is actually a lot color in the gardens right now but most of us have been sticking to the tree line near the big pond below the rose garden. Near the pond in the shade of the trees the temperature was very pleasant  and we even had a great breeze. This was a treat as today we reached our 26th day of triple digit temperatures. We stayed until after 11, but none of us finished. I will go back tomorrow and try to finish it , then add the image to this post. After we left the shade and made it back to our cars we went to La Madeline for lunch. Another enjoyable day creating art with friends.

Another trip to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

The view I chose to paint today.

Cecilia Robertson, Tom Kellie, and I painting near the large pond.

Cecilia, Tom, and Leslie Talty painting.

The painting I began today on my patio, where I worked on it some more this evening.

My finches on the patio. I like to hear them sing as I paint.

My pet dove on the  patio.

Today was a great day for painting. I went to the Botanical Gardens to paint at about 7:15 and was joined by 12 friends, Allen Riddell, David Tripp, Chris Toplyn, Cecilia Robertson, Tom Kellie, Leslie Talty, Chase Almond, Candy Clynch, Blair Curren, Ted Clemens, Tosca Engish, and Hai Chi. The temperature was great, we had shade and a great breeze. Most of us painted until 11:00. Several finished their paintings but I didn't even get halfway on mine. After we finished many of us went out to eat lunch at the Swiss Pastry Shop. We had their famous Black Forest Cake for dessert.
I worked on my painting on my patio a bit more this evening. I really enjoy the light when I work outside. I have some finches and a dove that I keep on my patio and I really enjoy hearing them sing and coo as I work. The environment I work in is very important to me.

A Great Morning in the Botanical Gardens

This is the painting I began today.
8 x 10
oil on canvas

I didn't finish my painting yet but I decided to post it anyway since I had several others photos to post today.

A blue heron in one of the natural areas at the botanical gardens.

 Cecilia Robertson painting in the botanical gardens.

Me painting in the botanical gardens.

Me and Cecilia with the painting Cecilia did of me.

The portrait Cecilia did of me.

Today was a very enjoyable day even though the temperature was 101. I was in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens by 7:15. My friends and fellow artists, Allen Riddell  and Olivette Hubler, were already there. We were eventually joined by Leslie Talty, George De Chiaro, Cecilia Robertson, Tom Kellie, Margie Whittington, Tosca Engish,and  Chris Toplyn. We found shady areas and were able to stay cool enough until after 10:00. Some of our group used watercolors but most used oils. My friend Cecilia painted opposite of  Leslie, and me. She wound up doing a portrait of me. I think she was drawn to the complementary colors  of my shirt and cap as well as the way I sometimes paint holding my canvas. She gave me the painting at the end of our outing. I'm so proud to add my first "Robertson" to my art collection. I really love the painterly approach she took to it. After we finished painting seven of us went to brunch at the Swiss Pastry Shop. The food is always good there but today the air conditioning was even better. Then four of them came back over to my house for dessert and to see my studio and art collection. I had a couple of new sculptures that I'm working on as well as some new art books to show them.
A morning spent painting with friends is a great way to start the day.