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.

A Beautiful Winter Day

The farm in Winter
8 x 10
oil on canvas

    Today was a beautiful day and much appreciated after this cold and dreary week. Ten of us headed back to Five Points to paint outdoors. I chose to go back to the old farm and hay field on Anderson Road. I went out a few hours earlier today and the light was a bit different.

Steve Miller painting with an audience at the cotton gin.

   Several of the group went back to the cotton gin to paint the gin, old store, and the sheep. The son of the owner took us to see inside the gin and the old cotton office and scale. A pair of barn owls live in the gin but vacated the building when it was invaded by artists. This site appeared in the movie Places in the Heart.

Barn on the Hill
8 x 10
oil on canvas

   After doing our first paintings five of us went to another farm on a hill on Anderson Road. The house was over 150 years old. I painted one of the barns on the hill.  It was interesting how different all five paintings turned out. We started painting around 10:30 and stayed until after 4:00. It was a beautiful day and all of us had a very good time.
    A day like this, spent out doors with friends,  is always a good day!

Some of our cars parked on Anderson Road

Paint Historic Waxahachie 2013

Memorial Day
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$100

    This week was one of my favorite events of the year and one of the last big events before the heat of summer sets in. Last Saturday, May 25th, I painted in Waxahachie with several of my friends including Kent Brewer, David Tripp, Chris Toplyn, and Nancy Bozeman. We all started out near the square. It was fairly cloudy. I painted the statue of the Confederate soldier on the courthouse square.

Ellis County Courthouse, Waxahachie, Texas

    The court house is amazing to look at but I've never attempted more than a bit or piece of it in any one painting. Kent painted a super painting of a street scene. When I saw It, I told him it would be the winner of the show, and it was by the way. We had lunch at Leons barbeque, a block from the square. It was very good and a huge sandwich.


Indian Blankets and Bales
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$150

    Then we went to go paint near the bike trail behind the cemetery. There was a large field of Indian blanket flowers with round bales of hay in it. We started painting and it was going very well. As we painted the clouds rolled in.

Indian Blankets and Round Bales
11 x 14
oil on canvas
$250

 

    The thunder started and then the rain. I moved under the trees and Kent put up his umbrella. It wasn't long before my trees were leaking water as much as if I was standing in the rain and my paint box was filling with water. So I moved to my car to wait out the rain.

 

Kent painting in the rain.

 

    The rain stopped so I got out to paint more. My canvas was soaked so I began a second painting. I got a second start and things were going well when the rain began again. I put up my umbrella and continued to paint until the thunder got too close. I went back to my car and Kent kept painting. When the rain stopped I painted a bit more and then called it a day and went home.

After the Rain
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$150

   On Sunday I went back down and painted on the square again where I ran into Kent and George De Chiaro.  I worked on my Confederate painting and then met Kent and George at the County Catfish restaurant in the old Rogers Hotel. Then George and I went to paint where Kent and I had painted. I finished the two I had started and did a third.

Oma's Jiffy Burger
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$95

    On Monday I painted at Oma's Jiffy Burger. I also finished the other painting from the field with hay bales. As I finished the painting the hay was being hauled off. After painting  I went and had dinner  with my friend Kent and his wife and son at a new Mexican food restaurant.

After the quick draw.

   On Thursday I came down and painted some paintings of the roosters at the feed store. It was a fairly hot day.  This was the day of the quick draw. In the evening the artists assembled at the College Street Pub. We had an hour and a half  to create a painting.

My Favorite Boots
8 X 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

    I was not inspired by the views so I pulled off my boots and placed them next to a building and painted in my socks. This was actually a fun painting to paint and one I will do again some time. After the time was up we set our easels up on the street with our paintings on them for a silent auction.

Rose Comb Rooster
8 x 10
oil on canvas
SOLD

    I was very pleased because my friend Olivette Hubler purchased mine. Other than artists buying paintings from other artists the sales were few indeed. At 8:00 after the sale was over we were hot, thirsty and hungry. Most of us went to the Pub for dinner and drinks. A band was playing inside so we had to sit outside on the patio under the ceiling fans. It wasn't too hot there. I had several iced teas and the fish and chips, which are a favorite of mine. I made it home  a bit after 10:00


Country Alarm Clock
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$95

   Friday, at the  I went down to the dinner and awards ceremony at the Chatauqua  Auditorium at Getzendaner Park. My friends did very well and I was so pleased for them. Kent, as I predicted won best of show, Ted Clemens won 1st, George De Chiaro won 2nd prize, Sheri Jones won 3rd. Olivette, Nancy, Debob, and David were some of the artists who won honorable mentions. There was a delicious barbeque dinner and a slide show of photos from previous years. It was a very nice evening.




Spring Chicken
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$95

   On Saturday morning I drove down early and stopped off at the Farmers Market. I bought a bag of plums and several baked goods from a group of  Mennonites who always have the best items, I left with a loaf of jalapeno cheese bread, a small loaf of pumpkin bread, peanut butter cookies, and pumpkin bread whoopee pies. I went back to the feed store and finished this rooster painting and painted two roses at the train depot across from the feed store. It was a nice morning I framed these and dropped them off . This made 11 paintings so far. I had lunch from Oma's .

Some of my paintings at the Chataqua.

   I hung around at the Chataqua. I sold one of my rooster paintings. In the evening I went to dinner with Kent and his family at the Catfish Plantation, the most haunted restaurant in America, according to cable tv. Several deaths occurred there in the past and according to the guest book several soap dishes falling off the bathroom sinks in the present time confirm the hauntings. Anyway the food was very good and the servers are terribly enthusiastic.
After dinner we returned to the Chataqua where they were showing Places in the Heart. This movie starring Sally Field and Danny Glover was filmed in Waxahachie and based on a true story there. The movie is full of scenes from town and local people. I really enjoyed it. The Chataqua is a neat place to see a movie, no air conditioning, but the doors raised up and ceiling fans and the Lions Club selling concessions.

The house where I painted on West Marvin

    Sunday morning I headed back down to Waxahachie. The Ginger Bread Tour was going on and I met Kent at one of the homes to paint in the garden, It was an amazing home. The man of the house had several antique Packard automobiles and the lady had beautiful gardens. The house was very interesting and full of art and antiques.

The tool shed in the garden.

    The gardens were very well taken care of . I decided to paint a sculpture of a chef pig in one of the herb gardens. It was a fun painting to do. This garden had many interesting things in it and many artists painted there including Sheri and Debob.

Me painting in the garden on West Marvin Street.

    After I finished my painting. I dropped it on the way back to my car and had to fix a few things after that. I went to the Chataqua and dropped it off. I hung around there for a while and then went and helped out at the Ellis County Art Associations booth in the park where children were invited to paint in Plein Air. This was a very  popular booth in the fair grounds.

 

The Garden Pig
8 x 10
oil on canvas
$95

 

   After 3:00 my friends all started showing up to pick up their paintings. It was great seeing everyone one last time at this event. It has been a super week, I painted 12 paintings.  I'm exhausted and it feels a bit like Christmas is over, but there will be  new events and activities to come.

Two Weeks of Bluebonnets

Blue Sky and Bluebonnets
oil on canvas

    Last Sunday, Kent Brewer and I went down to Ennis to look for bluebonnets to paint and to scout for a place to paint this weekend. We drove around quite a bit looking for a place. They are really thick along the roads and highways, but finding a place where you can safely pull over and get some distance from them was not so easy.

Kent painting on Liska Rd.

     We finally found a place along Liska Road. I reworked the painting from Glen Rose since the scene had the same elements of cedar trees and bluebonnets. Then started a second painting. I've still got to rework it before posting.

Me painting on Liska Rd

     It was a really pleasant place to paint. After we finished we continued looking for a place for our group to paint out, as nice as this place was there wasn't enough room for a large group. We found a Corp of Engineers Park on Lake Bardwell called Love Park. It had wildflowers, places to park, and clean restrooms. We decided this place would work well. So we headed to our houses. Later during the week I started calling, texting and emailing my friends to come paint there on Saturday.

Part of my gardens.

     The bluebonnets have been really pretty this year as are the flowers in my garden. I always am thinking that I'll have to paint my garden but I never get around to it. So I took more photos and today, Saturday, we all went down to Ennis to paint.

 

The view I chose to paint.

    It was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm with a pleasant breeze. I had a nice drive down, a little over an hour from my home, until I stopped for an iced tea and realized  that I'd left my wallet  with all my money, driver's license, and credit cards at home. Luckily I brought my lunch.

 

Some of my friends painting.

     We had a really good group today of about 20 including my friends Kent Brewer, Candy Clynch, T.K. Riddle, Olivette Hubler, Hai Chi Lee, David Trip, Chris Toplyn, Dan Spangler and his wife, Sheri Jones and her husband, Nancy Bozeman, Trish Wise, Tina Bohlman, and artists from the Trinity Arts Guild, Texas Artists Coalition, and the Ellis County Art Association.

Some more of my friends painting

 There were two large fields of bluebonnets that most of us painted near. Some of our group used watercolors, some used oils, some used pastels, and others used acrylics. Many of the artists finished more than one painting. We were there from around 9:00 to 4:30, so a full day.


David and Chris, two of our watercolorists.

 

 Sheri and her husband B.J. drove their antique truck down for the group to paint. Some really great paintings were created of the  truck surrounded by wildflowers and mesquite trees.



Sheri and her husband brought down his restored old truck for our group to paint.

 After we had had enough painting, many of us  went to dinner in Waxahachie at the Tuscan Slice. It was a super day, spending it outside with friends and then going to dinner together. Special thanks to my friends Kent and T.K.,  who loaned me money for dinner and for gas to make it home.


Kent and Olivette painting.