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.