The Road Not Taken

The Road not Taken
9 x 12
oil on canvas
$400

This is an unpaved service road/trail in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. I've never walked all of  it, but I like how it looks and have painted it a few times.  I just recently painted an 8 x 10 of it and decided to do a larger version of it in my newer, looser style. This one is a 9 x 12. I really am enjoying painting faster. I think I'll get a larger brush and try an even larger version in the near future.                               

Color at the End of Fall.

Warm Colors of Fall
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$300

Here is a painting that I began in early December, still fall, in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Then I decided to go back in and try loosening  up my brushwork. I think I like it better now. It sure has a different feel to it.
 I love the colors of fall and of course in Texas fall comes late, and sometimes hardly at all. There is something so special to me when the weather first starts to change. But tonight it is COLD and I'm sitting in front of the fire in my den with one of my dogs curled up beside me and I'm thinking I wouldn't mind some warmer weather.

Merry Christmas

Me and Scout (my chocolate lab) on my front porch

 I want to wish all of my art blog friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As this year comes to a close I can not help but think how blessed I am and wish that all my friends can feel as blessed. We are having some cool weather and I really appreciate it this time of year, of course after December 26th I am ready for spring weather again, and of course a lot of the time we get it here in Fort Worth,

My house lit up for the Holidays

 But despite the cool weather we have been having I have managed to go out and paint a bit and although it is getting quite late in the season there is still a lot of fall color out there waiting to be painted. The painting below is actually one I began around Thanksgiving as I was getting over Pneumonia. I'd seen this tree in the botanical gardens and it was so beautiful. I knew it wouldn't wait for me. So the first time I felt at all up to it I headed out and got an hour's painting in and a photo  so I could finish it later, which I did  last week.



Autumn Gold
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$175



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.

Pumpkin, Pear, and Apples

Autumn Harvest
8 x 10
oil on canvas
NFS

    I love the fall. To me there is something so special about the change of the seasons. Our mornings are cooler, in the 50s, although the days still warm up to the 80s and 90s. The leaves are just starting to change color and I've heard the geese flying south a few times already. Fall is also the end of baseball season and we are very hopeful that our Texas Rangers will play in the World Series this year. It's also the start of football season for TCU and of course the Dallas Cowboys as well as my nephews games. Fall is the begining of hunting season. I didn't go out this year but I enjoy working with my  dog and hearing about my friends trips out.

pumpkins on my porch

 Fall is also when the weather becomes more bearable for painting out. I love to paint the colors of fall, the foliage  and of course the pumpkins. I 've bought several for my porch in different shapes and colors. So if I have the time I'll have to paint some of them. Of course with work, sculpture, and everything else time is something I don't have a lot of.

my front porch

Another thing I like about fall is Halloween. A number of the houses on my street put up orange lights and have pumpkins or other decorations on their lawns or porches. I enjoy the lights as our days grow shorter and shorter.

Autumn Evening

    I  recently finished this painting. I began it last fall up the road from where my friend Claudia Davis lives. It was so nice to go back and work on a painting from cooler days. I think all of us are ready for fall weather here in Texas.Last night the lowest the temperature got was 86 and I think our high was 111.
    I drove down to Waxahachie on Monday to see a demo my friend Steve Miller was doing for the Ellis County Art Association. I usually enjoy the drive out to the surrounding towns. At one point on the road south I saw some foliage that looked like it was turning colors. For just a second I thought of fall  but then I realized that the trees were dieing. It is amazing how the grasses and foliage look so dead across this region. We truly need rain very badly.

The Road Home

The Road Home
8 x 10
oil on board

Worked on this one tonight. I started it in the fall when I went painting with my friend Blair Currin in Aledo. It was a beautiful day with some nice fall color and a pretty light blue sky. I finished up the trees and fixed the sky where something stuck to it while we were painting in plein aire. I also worked on two new paintings tonight that aren't ready to post yet. I hope to have at least one of them ready to post on Saturday.

Autumn Gold

Autumn Gold
8 x 10
oil on board

 Here is another painting that I just finished from last fall. This was from an outing with a large group of artists to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. I was very close to finished with it on site but had never done the last touches to it until this week. Now that we have warm weather predicted for this week, I'm planning on starting some new paintings.