Antler Bouquet - SOLD

No deer were harmed in the making of this painting.

I had these antlers, which were found on the property, in a bowl and decided to put them away for awhile. In the cabinet was the glass container with the rocks so I just stuck them in the container. A couple of weeks ago I remembered they were there and decided it would make an interesting painting. I really like it.

Stacked Bowls #4-SOLD

Here is the fourth Stacked Bowls series. I think I'll do some other paintings for awhile. Maybe I'll work on a larger canvas. Or just do something different altogether. That's the fun of painting!

Stacked Bowls #3 - SOLD

Here is the third in my series of stacked bowls. And I still have more bowls....

Margaret's Tomatoes

My daughter-in-law, Margaret, has the most beautiful vegetable garden ever. Their kitchen table was overflowing with tomatoes. Of course, I had to do a little painting for her before eating them. So, first comes the painting, then the tomato pie! YUMMY!!

Stacked Bowls #2

Here is the second painting in the stacked bowls series. I really love the color of these Mexican bowls. Of course they had to have peppers to go with them!

Bear Dog Ranch

This painting is from a photo I took while at the Bear Dog Ranch in Medina, Texas. I do very little plein aire but couldn't resist going to this ranch. I did 2 quick studies while there and took several photos. It will be in the New Braunfels "Texas" show for the month of July.

Stacked

I have a LOT of bowls. I'm thinking I should do a series of "stacked" bowls. Some of the bowls that are in this painting were purchased from a local Driftwood potter, Theresa Jones.

Apple and Tulips

Can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted anything! Here is the newest. I have entered it in the Art In Bloom show in New Braunfels which will be up through this month. Hopefully you will see more postings this year.

Little Creek 1

I just finished this one for a show in New Braunfels. I have a small run-off creek that connects to a slightly larger "wet weather" creek on the property and because of the recent rains it was running. I took several photos and want to paint more of them which is why I'm calling this Little Creek 1.

Sedona Cliff

This one I had a lot of fun with. It's from a photo I took while in Sedona. In looking through my tubes of paint, I had some earth tones I had never used so I decided since these cliffs had those colors in them, I would just use all of them. Not exactly a limited palette but I think it works and I certainly learned a lot about those colors.

Orange

I painted this little set up and didn't like it so I scraped it down. I liked the effect of the streaks so then went back and repainted the orange slices over the scraped color. Maybe I should title it Orange on a Rainy Day.

Persimmon

I am way behind in posting any paintings so here are a few recent ones. I love persimmons so had to buy one and paint it. I like the blue complement color with the orange fruit.

Pumpkin - SOLD

This pumpkin originally was gray. I kept it for a year. Eventually, it started to change color on its way to going bad. I chose it originally, not only for its color, but because a lot of the stem was still attached. After it started turning, I wanted to paint it again but from a different angle. So, looking down from the top, the play of shadows from the stem and the changing color - a bit of the gray still coming through -was what was exciting to me.

Barton Creek - SOLD

This is a painting of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas. The drought has taken its toll on our creeks and landscapes. I've lived in Driftwood for over 30 years and feel the differences that have been made in our area. This was a time when the creek was running strong.

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Leaf Meditation - SOLD

I love pottery. The clay and the colors come from the earth and is usually worked by someone's hands. This bowl holds a branch of oak leaves - if I visualize the hands molding the bowl, the hands are holding the leaves. Just seems a meditation to me.

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Escapee

I couldn't get these tomatoes to look just right so I took one off the stem to better arrange them. Then, it looked like that one was escaping. I really like the bright colors and the looseness of this painting.

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Rock Art - SOLD

My student saw a painting with hanging vegetables and wanted to do something similar, so I hung this rock. The fun thing about painting something that is hanging is the shadow play you get on the background.

Fall Apple - SOLD

Even though I've titled this one "Fall Apple", it really is a spring painting. In Texas the "live oak" trees shed their leaves when the new ones start coming out, so the ground is covered with these brown leaves. I was taken with this apple because of it's colors - it just looked like fall.

Green Plums

When I first saw these plums at the grocery store, I just had to buy some to paint. I really had a problem with the one in the foreground - it was so much more yellow than the others - I finally just ate it and replaced it with one of the other ones! This painting won "Best of Show" in the New Braunfels "Art for the Holidays" show in December.

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OBAR - SOLD

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OK. I know. There are some subjects that get done too many times and I guess I just had to do my share - One Bad Ass Rooster. I must admit, though, I do like him.....

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Blue Plum

Back to the small exercises. I bought this shiny brass bowl - it was more difficult than I anticipated. I love the dark plum, however, and plan to use more of them in a larger still life.

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Oregon Bluff

Here is the third painting from the Oregon photos.


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Secret Place

Here is one of the other paintings from the Oregon photos. This one I have given to my son.

Crashing Waves

My son and his significant other went to Oregon to visit her parents and they sent me the photos they took while there. I have painted from three of the photos. Yes, I know, we are only supposed to use photos as reference material and only those photos taken by us, but sometimes I just can't help myself. This painting I have given to an artist friend and teacher, Liz Maness.

Final Demo - "Red Apple and Copper"

Here is the final painting I did for the video. I have to admit I went back in and worked on the grapes some, my sister thought they were black olives!

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Yellow Apple Demos

Am still practicing for the video. I've got it down to less than an hour which is good and I wanted to add more to the setup.

Yellow Apples

An artist friend will be coming to videotape while I do a small painting. In the meantime, I thought I'd practice and time myself. The apple on the bottom took less than 30 minutes and the one on top took more time cause I had issues with the plate. 

Cactus Flower

A jeweler friend has this wonderful cactus in her yard. I just had to paint it!

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Juniper

I went to Sedona, AZ with some artist friends and took several photos. We didn't paint while we were there - there were just too may things to see and places to go. I love the big old junipers - they have so much character and grace.

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Ming Vase

The ming vase came from an architectural antique shop in Johnson City. Of course I had to have it for a painting, so here is the result. I didn't want it to be the focal point, so I chose a bowl in the same color family to peek out and pop with the much lighter color.

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Pomegranate

The pomegranate turned out larger than I wanted, but I think it works. I've been reading "An Artist Teaches" by David Leffel and one thing he stresses is not to paint the subject matter too large - to have more space in the painting. This is difficult for me but something I will work on.

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Nautilus

This painting did not turn out like I had it in my mind, but I like it anyway. My intent was to paint it a lot looser, but once I started on the middle of the nautilus and working out, loose just wasn't going to happen!

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Yellow Onions - SOLD

Just love these Texas sweet onions. I liked how they looked all in a line. This was a fun painting.

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Apple - SOLD

The Wimberley Valley Art League is having their November Show. The reception was last night. This was one of the little paintings that was sold that I had not posted. I was going for an abstract background, but the Virgo in me just had to have straight lines! Maybe this is why I'm not an abstract painter.

Dark Poppy - SOLD

Years ago a friend and I were making shadow boxes with various things in them. We would scour antique stores to find things and I bought several old books - just love the look of them. This one is a favorite.

Abiquiu Cliffs

I love the Abiquiu, New Mexico area. But then, there's not much in New Mexico that I don't like, especially the central and northern areas.

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Twins

These trees are just to the right of my drive as you come on to the property. There are a good variety of trees but I am concerned about the effect the drought is having. I sure hope it rains soon.

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Texas Olive Ranch Olives - SOLD

I helped label a batch of olives, olive oil, and vinegar to sell at the Farmer's Market in Austin, Texas. These wonderful, tasty items come from the Texas Olive Ranch in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Just had to do a little painting.

The Patron - SOLD

This was a fun painting. I have framed it using the same frame that is on the center painting. The woman in the painting was browsing in the New Braunfels gallery; the paintings depicted are from other sources.

Takin' It Easy - SOLD

This painting I did to enter in the New Braunsfels Art League May show. It won an Honorable Mention in the oil category. It was from a photo I took off the road that I live on in Driftwood. There are still a few large ranches on this road but that is, unfortunately, changing too fast!

Still Life with Oranges - SOLD

I am thrilled to report that the show in New Braunfels went well - I sold 7 paintings and had a lot of positive feedback and compliments. I am posting the first one that sold and have discovered that I have several more that I can post - have been delinquent in getting these online. I still cannot seem to paint on a daily basis but will try to be better about posting what I do paint!

Still Life with Red Pear - SOLD

I recently joined the New Braunfels Art League in New Braunfels, Texas and was selected to be artist-of-the-month for April. I hung the show on Monday. This painting is among 14 others. If you get a chance, the gallery is very nice and New Braunfels is a picturesque town off 35. The show will be posted on their website, www.newbraunfelsartleague.com and hopefully, their photo is better than mine!

Red Teapot

I did this painting outdoors during the same weekend of the last post (Wild Garlic). I really like doing still lifes outdoors because they look so fresh and light compared to studio paintings which have a tendency to look somewhat darker and dramatic. So, it just depends on what you want to achieve. The wild flowers in the pot were picked while I was there - this is one of my favorite paintings.

Wild Garlic

I participated in a workshop one year when the wild flowers were plentiful and these wild garlic plants caught my attention. I haven't seen them again there since. Glad I took the opportunity to paint them!

Collection of the Artist

Red Poppies

This is a favorite painting of mine. It was painted in 2001 when I was learning to be more "loose". I've kinda gotten back to painting "tight" again - need to find a happy medium!

Pam's Bottles - SOLD

Recently I went to Corpus Christi to visit with a friend who has this collection of bottles in her bathroom next to the mirror. You have to look closely, but the reflections start with the black line and go to the right. The framed picture was actually on the wall to the left of the bottles. This was a fun painting!

Onion and Limes

This is another painting that was lost in the fire and I would like to do another similar one. I purposely let this onion grow to do the painting and it was always a favorite.

Margaritaville

This is a painting I did after getting the margarita glass. I did the setup outside - it gives the painting a nice "sunny" look that you don't get with indoor work. At one time I had a lot of paintings and painting equipment stored in my garage which caught on fire. This is one of the paintings I lost. May do another one like it cause I think it's cool.

Goliad Door

When my parents were young, they use to travel to Goliad from Corpus Christi and this painting is from a black & white photograph that was taken on one of their trips. I love old doors and windows.