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.

To Be Continued

Winter Path
8 x 10
Oil on Canvas

 Here are two works in progress. The first is a painting that I began in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens in plein air. It looked like one of my regular paintings. Then my friend Beatriz encouraged me to really loosen it up. I like the result a lot although it looks nothing like my regular work. I'll do a bit more with it but probably not much.

Black Bear
Clay

The second wip, (work in progress) is my plein air black  bear sculpture. I've been working on her at the Fort Worth Zoo. I read a book about Rodin recently. He often had his models pace or walk around his studio as he sketched or sculpted them. If it was good enough for Rodin it is good enough for me and the bear. Of course he had the advantage of being able to ask his models to stop or hold a pose so I am using some of my photographic reference material as I refine the sculpture. It has been a fun process and I look forward to casting it in bronze.

Jaguar Sculpture

Me working on my sculpture of a jaguar in the Fort Worth Zoo.

 Last Sunday I went to go sculpt in the Fort Worth Zoo with my friend John Davis. He worked on the mountain lion and I started a jaguar sculpture. The weather was a bit cool but I like that because the animals tend to be up and more active and there are not that many people there.

The female jaguar.

 The zoo has two jaguars a male and female. Only one is out at a time, as the female is still too young to breed. (My photos are of the female,) I think she is around three years years old. Their enclosure is in the Texas exhibit. We no longer have jaguars in the wild in Texas but at one time they lived in south Texas

Another photo of the female jaguar.

I have really learned a lot about the anatomy of jaguars and mountain lions. Mountain lions have small heads, long, thick tails and powerful hind quarters. Jaguars have larger heads, shorter tails, and longer bodies. 

My sculpture in clay, of the male jaguar.

I went back briefly to the zoo again yesterday and today the male was out today and I'm really basing my sculpture on him. Of course I have lots of work to do, especially on the legs and feet before I am ready to have it cast in bronze, but I am having a lot of fun working on it.

Starting two new sculptures.

American Black Bear in Clay

  I'm loving my Christmas Vacation. Wednesday I met my friend Dan Spangler at the Fort Worth Zoo. He sketched  and I began a small sculpture of a mountain lion. It is not finished but I felt like I got a good start on it. Our weather has been great so the zoo was packed but the crowds were not a problem.  On Thursday I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and started a small  8 x 10 painting. Anne from the David Dike Gallery in Dallas met me there while I was working on it to pick up five of my sculptures for the gallery. They have done very well selling my bronzes. In fact David is placing an add in the 360 West magazine with one of my longhorn bronzes in it. After I was done painting I went to the Kimble Museum to see the Caravaggio exhibit one last time. The museum was packed too but unlike the zoo it was hard to enjoy because of the crowds.

Today was another beautiful day. I went back to the zoo and began a small sculpture of an American black bear. When I got there the bears were pacing the enclosure but naturally once I started working on it the bears lay down and went to sleep. Neither of these two sculptures is finished, they are sort of like sketches in clay, but I think I have two pieces that I can develop later into finished sculptures. I'll go back again this weekend and either work some more on these or start something new.

I wish all my friends a very Happy New Year full of lots of wonderful art experiences and opportunities.

A Wonderful Holiday

Me on Christmas Eve wearing the paper crown from my Christmas cracker.

 Christmas has come and it has been great.  We had Christmas Eve dinner and I spent the night at my sister and brother inlaw's home. Dinner was delicious. We had many wonderful things to choose from. After dinner I went to evening mass at All Saints Episcopal. The service was beautiful. My favorite part is at  the end when the lights are dimmed, except for the candles, and everyone sings Silent Night.

 The entrance to my sister's home.

 After church I came back to my sister's home and I played video games with my nephews. The youngest two put food out for the reindeer on the porch and then we gathered in the den where they took turns reading The Night Before Christmas, another family tradition.

The dining room before dinner.

 We played more video games, and finally before going to bed they put milk and cookies out for Santa.
 In the morning. when we went downstairs Santa had been there. There were presents for everyone even the dogs. Everyone was very pleased with their presents including the dogs.

Bandit in the den by the tree.

 After opening presents and having breakfast I went home to my house for a bit and then went to my parents home in the country where my family gathered for an early Christmas dinner. We played games and had lots of wonderful things to eat. It was a very pleasant evening.

My Dad and Mom with two of the dogs.

 Eventually my sister's family left and then I left to go home. But, when I got home the evening was still not too late so I decided to drive around and see the Christmas lights before ending my day.

Luther Lake

 One of my favorite places to see the lights is on the small neighborhood lake, Luther Lake, where we have gone to look at lights since I was a child. The reflections always look so pretty on the lake.

TCU Christmas lights.

 This year in addition to the snowmen, Santas and reindeerquite a few houses had purple horned frogs.

This house always has the nicest lights.

 The lights were very nice this year. It was a relaxing way to end the day, driving around looking at the lights  and listening to Christmas music.

A photo of a lion I took at the zoo.

 One of my greatest presents I received this year was one I bought for myself, a membership to our zoo. I will use it to go out and sketch, sculpt and paint. The weather today was cool and damp but I decided to go to the zoo anyway and sketch. The animals were fairly active and I got some great photos as well as some very rapid animal drawings. That is not much in the way of art but it is all I have been able to do in the last few days.

Some sketches I did at the zoo today.

Christmas Blessings

Texas Spring
9 x 12
oil on panel
$250

   At this time of year I like to think of all my blessings, and they are so numerous. Of course here I write about art, and even my art blessings are greater than I can count,.but I am going to write about a few.
   Today I went on a tour with ten of my painting friends of the Caravaggio exhibit at the Kimble Art Museum. This was my second tour of this exhibit given by my friend Beatriz Welch. She truly is a gifted teacher in the way she shares her knowledge. It was a wonderful and inspiring tour. Afterwards we had lunch at the restaurant there, which is always a great treat.
   Something else that I need to write about are the Christmas cards I have received. Many of my painter friends have their paintings made into cards. Receiving these cards is  one of the things that I truly look forward to each year. This year I got an amazing card. My friend Sheri Jones actually sent out original acrylic paintings on paper. I appreciate Sheri's art and am so honored to have received her card which is in itself such a wonderful gift.
   Another blessing I had began a few months back. I was contacted by the editor of a local very upscale magazine called Indulge. She wanted images of my sculptures for their holiday gift guide. She included my large longhorn bronze sculpture, Native Texan, and the small horned toad bronze sculpture, Horned Pride (miniature). The magazine came out a two weeks ago, and almost immediately the sales started coming in.
   Finally my greatest blessings are having time to paint and sculpt and most importantly all the great friends I have met through art.
   The painting  I posted today is one that I began as a plein air painting in the spring of 2009 and just completed this week. It had yellow and red wildflowers in it but I got out my reference photos and covered them with bluebonnets. I really like the new painting much better.

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