Cool Morning in Chandor Gardens

Foo Dog
oil on canvas
 8 x 10
$100



   Yesterday several of my friends and I went back to Weatherford to paint in the Chandor Gardens. The artists who came to paint were Olivette Hubler, T. K. Riddle, Tosca Engish, and Sars Ward. The Gardens do not open until 9:00 so we were not able to get an early start to the day.
 


The front door of Douglas Chandor's house.

The temperature reached over 100 but in the lush gardens we were never hot. The trees and water really make a tremendous difference. I decided to finish a painting I had already started of one of two foo dogs guarding the path to a beautiful fountain. I had shade and a breeze.

Path to the fountain.

 T. K. went and picked up lunch for us, most of us had chicken salad sandwiches and iced teas. We ate at a table on one of the patios and again we had shade and a wonderful cool breeze. Eventually after eating we went back to painting.


One of the most beautiful fountains in the gardens.

 The gardens were busier than usual with many families having their photos taken. This is such a beautiful and amazing place. It is no wonder it is so popular for weddings and other events.

One of the many interesting spots in the garden.

 I finished my painting and got ready to leave. It was almost one o'clock and I had not been hot at all. Then I went to the parking lot to put my stuff in the car. It was HOT there.



Parker County Court House in Weatherford

 I took a photo of the Parker county court house. It is a really beautiful building. Most mornings I pass by there are prisoners in orange and white stripes tending the grounds. I've never seen a guard, someone must be inside in the air conditioning watching them.


Some of my peppers

 When I came home I looked at my poor gardens for inspiration. I water everyday. My plants are alive but most of them don't look great. My citrus are doing really well, I'm still getting lots of okra, some peppers and a few tomatoes. But, many of the other plants are struggling. We could really use some rain. Even a small rain greens things up a great deal more than watering with sprinklers

Mini oranges

Some of my cacti and succulents.

Flowering Quince or Japonica

Flowering Quince
8 x 10
oil on canvas

  One of the earliest plants to bloom here is what my grandmother (and therefore I) call japonica. Other people call it flowering quince. It is a beautiful red that stands out very bright against the greys of winter and the bright, light greens of winter grass.

The inspiration for my painting.

I went to paint in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens today with several of my friends  including Claudia Davis, Janis Weaver, Sara Ward, Candy Clynch, Hai Chi Lee and Dan Spangler. Some more of my friends and fellow artists  came walking through the garden to visit but they didn't paint today. I walked around for a while before deciding on some japonica bushes by a stream.

Hai chi and Dan painting.

 It was a beautiful day to be in the gardens today. There was a beautiful blue sky, and the temperature was in the 60s. In addition to the japonica, there were pansies, daffodils, forsythia, and Bradford pear trees blooming. It was the nicest place to paint. Doves were cooing, an owl was hooting, and the stream bubbled past.

Daffodils by the pond.

 As usual I did not finish my painting on location. There are a few things that I want to do after it dries a bit more, I want to darken the three small trees on the right side of the painting as well as add in some pieces of branches on the bushes. Then I will look and see what else it needs .

A flowering pear tree.

My goal was to be loose today. It isn't perhaps as loose as I would like but  I am satisfied with the start that I got on it.

A close up of the blossoms of the pear tree.

In addition to painting today I also sculpted . I have many works in progress but today I chose to work on my Limousin bull. I am pretty close to finished but I can always work some more on a piece.

A long row of turtles on a pipe in the semi drained pond.

I have had a great  week  with several sculpture sales and two shows starting next weekend, The Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery and Art Reach at Christ Chapel here in Fort Worth.

An urn full of pansies.