Plein Air Big Bend

Boquillas Canyon 11x14 oil on panel

First morning paint day, Boquillas is on the eastern border of Big Bend National Park, TX and Mexico. Across the river from where I am painting on a bluff is Mexico. There were guys on horseback freely crossing the low water river to sell their walking sticks and trinkets. Their shop was a big flat rock beside our parking lot or flat rocks along the trails up the mountain. Each "booth" had a plastic jug to put your money in if you wanted to make a purchase. They came over to check on their wares and seranade us. A few watched as we painted.

What a wonderful place, Big Bend National Park. The terrain is so different each road we take. This is the second time I've been with the Outdoor Painter's Society to paint there in February. Yes, it is pretty cool in the mornings when we get out to paint but really warms up during the day. We see some color and not all grey. Different times of the day the atmosphere shows the mountains as navy blue, purple to pale blue. Sometimes we see the green of trees. The cotton woods were light green, cedars dark blue/green. Cane and grasses along the Rio Grande are a golden. Cactus are green, grey, bronze, gold, maroon, hot pink...yes hot pink!! Fewer cactus. The 1" of rain last year hurt even the cactus. Lots of huge piles with no life to them. Sage a grey green and Yucca trees in places. An interesting tree with red bark that looks like it is spray painted red is the Medrone ?sp? tree. The mountain rock colors vary from white, beige, gold, grey, orange, red, purple and a green color. So, never at a loss to find something to paint.

Twenty six artist painted there. Most of us were Texas artists and one was from Kansas. Met some new friends and painted with some long time friends. A very congenial group. Lots of laughs. It is a long drive from the Houston area but we got up early and arrived late afternoon. Every night the group meet for dinner and social time. Groups of us early birds met for breakfast and decided which suggested place to paint that day. Some went on their own and some liked to paint together as a group. Lunch time found us having a picnic in the park and driving to our next afternoon destination.

The Window 8x10 oil on panel

I painted this view the last trip to the Bend so wanted a different look and painted bold colors for this painting. This was a very cold morning paint. Wind blowing hard most of the day. We painted in a tent camp area that was below a hill that blocked the cold wind. The sun warmed us up some but I started out trying to paint with gloves on. I found one of our artist friends painting in her car with beach towels covering the dash and her lap. She got a beautiful painting done. Brave, crazy people we artists are!! 

 I took over 1200 photo's. Same spots looked different each time you drove past. Sun light or shadow on the mountains really changed things. I'll sort thru, make a DVD, print some off for future studio paintings.

Burro Mesa 6x8 oil on panel

The photo is a little blurred...sorry

Burro Mesa was an afternoon paint on that very windy cold day. The temp had risen to long shirt sleeve time.  Still very windy. Couldn't use the umbrella on my tripod. I painted beside the SUV to block the wind. We waited on a bb sized hail or sleet to subside from a cloud over us. Sun was shining so it melted immediately. Instead of painting the mountain everyone usually paints, I decided to paint the view over to Santa Elena Canyon.

I painted 6 paintings on this trip and came home happy with the results. Jim Rogers made a utube presentation of our trip if you would like to see some of the photo's and painters having a good time.

Outdoor Painters Society paints Big Bend National Park

www.youtube.com

Thanks for taking a look!

Cultural Arts District

Exciting things are happening here. Plans are in the works for downtown Rosenberg to establish Texas' 17th Cultural District, the Arts Center, and the restoration of the Cole Theater! Plays, concerts and an art gallery soon to come. Last night was a meet and greet for the Imperial Arts to present their plans at Another Time Soda Fountain. Over 100 people attended. There was lots of excitement over the proposals.

Last Saturday, Nancy Lee and I drove to the Port Neches/Groves area to take a workshop at TAM with Beaumont artist James Black again. It was fun and I got some hugs from friends I don't see often. This was a paint along (which I'm not fond of) from one photo. It is amazing how many different paintings turn out. No two are alike. To do a really good painting from a photo, I have to feel excited about the subject, have some connection to the place (if it is a landscape) and can put myself there. So I would much rather paint on location or from a photo I took. That is half the fun, composing the painting. You know we artist can move a tree, put a stream or road in  the painting if we want to do so... ah ha.. we artists do make magic happen.

I'll be in the studio painting again tomorrow. The "Young Spoonbill" painting is going to a new home!! I have photo's of pairs of spoonbills building their nests that are on my to do list. First though, I am excited to start a commission. I've had a request to paint another rooster painting simular to one of mine that won a best of show and was sold quickly. Just might get two on the easels. I've never painted exactly the same thing twice so these are bound to be different.

Thank you for taking time to look at my blog.

IN THE STUDIO
A computer class for artists is this Saturday 2/4. 
I'm looking forward to LaNell Arndt teaching another two day workshop starting Monday 2/6. 
James Black has agreed to teach a workshop this year.

I'm Back!!

Shadows 30x40

OK, so I'm not really reliable writing a blog and keeping a routine with it. I love to stay busy traveling and painting. Since I last posted, a whole year has passed. Please stick around so I can catch everyone up on my travels.

First, the new studio is operational. Chuck Rawle gave the first wonderful workshop in the studio. He taught landscape in oil. William "Bill" Kalwick taught an oil portrait workshop. Both of my daughters and a bearded neighbor friend were live models. LaNell Arndt taught a great landscape workshop and will do another one with us February 6-7. Everyone of the participants seemed comfy and enjoyed the workshops. Wednesday's we started a group paint and critique day. I am enjoying the space but really like someone painting with me. Feb 4th is a computer workshop for artist.

Have backpack will travel......

Young Spoonbill 24x24

Spring...Six of us painters rented a condo for a long weekend in Wimberly just to paint out. We found some nice paint spots. Bummer, all the good spots have no parking signs on the sides of the road. We managed to get a few paintings. A nice organic farm on the river let us use their parking area. We walked our gear down to the river to paint on the last day before we had to go home. Boy were we happy!

May - I went with three friends to Ruidoso, NM. We stayed in one of our companion's brothers comfy cabin.We found lots of nice places to paint and painted the area for a week. Had our camera's out and took lots of photo's. Cranked out 2-3 paintings a day. Was a wonderful getaway. So much fun!

Elaine Monnig, Judy Crowe and I drove to Boliver Peninsula. We painted the light house, picnicked and hunted for sharks teeth on the beach at Crystal Beach, then went to the rookery on High Island to see the spoonbills and herons nesting. On the way back home, we went to the nature park where my childhood home was on the bay in Baytown. Hoped to see where our house stood but the roads were closed. We ate seafood dinner in Baytown and headed back home. Again our SD cards were full. Back in the studio, I painted the young spoonbill from one of my photo's.

Plein Air Upper Penninsula, Lake Superior

July - I traveled with two friends by car to Michigan to visit fellow artist, Connie at her summer cabin on Lake Superior. We had never been up the central part of the USA so chose to drive and sight see. Nellie had volunteered taking her car but was rear ended the day before we were to leave and her car was totaled. She was ok. We had already packed backpacks with art supplies and other items in her trunk, they were ok after flying out to the pavement. Henrietta's hubby offered his Tahoe and quickly got it road ready for us. On the way out of Houston, a big bird flew over the concrete divider on the freeway and smacked into the driver mirror. (I was driving.) Slammed the mirror into the side of the Tahoe and cracked into pieces. Scared us to death! Then green stuff (antifreeze) started oozing from cracks in the mirror down the side of the car. I could see out of the top of the mirror so kept on going north. Prayed that was the end of the bad luck starting out on this trip and it WAS!! We were meeting up with 4 others that flew into Michigan. Connie must have cooked for a month and spoiled us with her great food. We painted around the lake, toured the UP, played Chicken Foot dominoes and laughed a whole lot. Lots of photos came back home with us.

Tetons Plein Air- Frog Pond

Late September found 8 of us lady plein air painters flying to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to paint fall colors for a couple weeks. We rented a house in Victor, Idaho for a week. Kathy and Elaine flew there a couple days early and scouted out a bunch of great places to paint. They had painted with Scott Christianson and knew of some good spots. The house was down the road from Scotts studio and home so we toured his studio and wow...his paintings are awsome up close. Studio was fabulous.

Friend Barbara flew up the end of the week and she, my daughter Ginger and I headed up Idaho to Yellowstone Park. Barbara and I spent a week there last summer and found that was not enough time to do and see everything. We stayed overnite outside the park as almost everything was closed in the park. During the day we took lots of photo's in the park, then drove to Cody, Wy for the night so Ginger could catch an early flight back home. On the way back in the East entrance to the park, we painted with cold wind and a few flakes of snow falling . Saw moose, elk, eagles, bison, bear, deer and other wildlife. Went back down to Jackson for the night. It started snowing that morning and by the time we were to take off in the plane, there was a blizzard. They sprayed the plane down with de-icer and off we went. High winds and down drafts were in Denver so diverted to Colorado Springs for a 2 hr wait on the tarmac in the plane. Whew, we made it!! I think I ended up with 12 paintings.

Somewhere during the year I managed to take a few workshops besides the ones in my studio. Enjoyed painting with Calvin Liang  and Qiang Huang.

This year, I promised myself I will post more often. Photos of my paintings will be added. Hope this long post didn't bore you. Please check back again and thank you for taking a look.