Goliad Storm Brewing

Goliad Storm Brewing___8x10 oil on linen panel__$450

 

A few short weeks ago, just before my mom passed away, I went on a little painting jaunt with artist pal, Robin Cheers. The storms chased us away from Port Lavaca, and we stopped at Goliad on the way home...we started painting there, but before I finished, the storms got us again!...I finished it from memory and a picture....

Another painting of this "mission" is my entry in the American Women Artists National Show opening FRIDAY, November 1st (now!) in Fredericksburg at RS Hanna Gallery.  Click here to see the show painting, as it appeared in this month's Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine (at the bottom middle of page). Join me, and the best women artists for some wine and cheese and great art FRIDAY from 6-9 pm!

If you miss the opening, head over to Fredericksburg later on. The show hangs till November 24th.

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EVENTS

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NOW thru Nov. 24 -  AWA Show, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

Wednesday, November 20 - Chocolate....Charcoal....and CHEER

Vacquero Study

Vacquero Study __9x12 watercolor

 

Watercolor pencils are my latest toy for demonstrating drawing techniques to my special students! This one is helping me solve some problems with a studio piece I am working on in oils!

If you read the art magazines you'll see some of my work there this month. Both

Fine Art Connoisseur and Southwest Art Magazines used my works within the stories they did on the AWA Show opening this Friday.

Come meet me and other artists on November 1 at RS Hanna Gallery in

Fredericksburg, TX. You will love this wonderful gallery, and PROMISE ME that you will make a spoecial effort to meet Shannon Hanna, who has put together a fine show for the American Women Artists.

Under a Cowboy Sky

Under a Cowboy Sky___11 x 14 oil__SOLD

My Quick-Draw at the Light on the Land event

 

 

Ever heard of St. Jo, Texas?

My first time there was in August, when I had back-tracked to find highway 82 to go west and reconnect with 287 in Wichita Falls. I was headed from Ft. Worth to Colorado with my friend, and we were so busy talking that we missed our turn west and ended up in Oklahoma.... oops

But a few weeks before that, an artist friend Donna Howells-Sickles invited me to paint

in St. Jo at a brand new event called "Light on the Land"...she described her area of Texas as the north Texas Hill Country....so when Tina and I were making our way west on 82, and I noticed the beautiful scenery there near the Red River, we checked the map and, sure enough, St. Jo was just ahead!...

This weekend was the event, and the painting above was my quick-draw at last night's gala. 

Cow Study 3

Cow Study 3__6x9 oil on oil paper___$190

Hello from St. Jo. 

No not my new nickname, but a cool little town where the next great annual art event is taking place right now!

Because of all my recent sad stuff, I waited till the last minute to decide if I would come to paint and show here. Cowgirl artist Donna Howells-Sickles (sorry I can't plug in a link, but Look her up! You HAVE seen her work) has her gallery and studio here in St. Jo, and she and her GREAT FRIENDS are seeing to it that we artists get to see and paint some of the prettiest country in all of Texas!

Please come out and follow me around tomorrow, Saturday October 26. I know it's short notice, but if you can come, ask where I am and I will sketch something for you on the spot! I hope all my friends in the metroplex will come by! If not this weekend, the works will hang in the gallery on the square trough November. I'll start posting my best ones tomorrow or Sunday :)

Guitarrista

 Guitarrista__12 x 9 water soluble graphite__$290

 

Mariachi music is some of my very favorite. Growing up in south-central Texas, this music is in the background EVERYWHERE. My Ruben y Alfonso Ramos CD stays in the CD player in my downstairs bathroom...And, have you ever heard Linda Ronstadt's mariachi music? I get chills listening to her...she is the greatest! Even George Strait has a classic mariachi tune "El Rey"... Sing with me: "Yo se bien que estoy afuera, pero el dia que yo me muera, se que tendras que llorar...llorar y llorrar"...cry and cry... oops! Was I just singing? Sorry !

I had an amazing experience not long ago at San Jose Mission in San Antonio. There was a mariachi Mass going on inside, and after the service, all the musicians and a few dancing ladies in the congregation came out and played under the arches. That's what inspired this sketch....they ended with "Cielito Lindo"..."ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores"...SING, don't cry!

 

Cow Study 2

 

Cow Study 2__7x9 oil on oil paper__$190

 

As I kid I spent COUNTLESS hours sketching HORSES...(if you were once a little girl and were NOT obsessed with horses from age 5-12, I ask you, "REALLY?")

I sketched them from LIFE, from post cards, from my copies of Western Horseman Magazine and from my Walter Foster "How to Draw Horses" book!.I can draw horses from any angle and UPSIDEDOWN!...but cows???

Though I lived on a farm for 30 years with cows on the porch most of the time, I don't feel comfortable drawing them from memory. So, I go sketch them a lot!

Robin Cheers and I recently went cow tipping and sat on the hood of my truck for an afternoon of sketching!

Here is my tip to you artists...lay down the camera and pick up the sketchbook!

I blame my cow deficiencies on the camera!

Young Artist

G....All About the Blue__10 x 8 Watercolor Pencil__$150

He is the COOLEST kid in art class! Every teacher enjoys a student that contributes... "contributes" can mean a lot of things! In this case, it's all good, because this guy, G.B. makes 2nd period art a fun class. He is not too proud to ask a tough question or to model for the art teacher! AND, he was more than willing to pose with the artwork...though I couldn't get him to smile, and that's my favorite part about G....!

 I was teaching about highlights and shadows on mid-toned paper, and G volunteered to be my subject. My sketch is "all about the blue" light coming through our windows and creating the blue highlights on his face.

When this one sells, I promised my model that he gets half for his college fund, so, I hope someone will buy it for G....!

 

 

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Below is a fun tee shirt that is only available for a couple more days!

Tee Shirt A Day is offering this one till Wednesday.

Read why this is PERSONAL for me!

ORDER a shirt from

http://www.shirtaday.com/shirt/missing-elderly/2118

Yellow Horse Study

Yellow Horse Study__watercolor__available

 

I am catching my breath after a month of sadness.

THANK YOU, my friends for your continuing "hello, how are you" notes.

One thing I realized through losing my mom and then a brother-in-law, and then ONE MORE setback, is that it HELPS to spend some of the grief-time doing something that is enjoyable. For me that meant long visits with those closest to my heart. Yet, USUALLY I was not the one reaching out...You who came alongside KNOW WHO YOU ARE, and I WILL NEVER FORGET...

 

Doing artwork has also helped get me back to "life".

I gathered my works from the last month, and had to chuckle over what variety can spill out of a grieving, creative mind! From sensitive watercolors to irreverent tee shirt art!

The sketch above is a nice outcome from teaching a class...an upside-down watercolor demo like what I used to do for mom.

 

It has been YEARS since I designed a tee shirt! The shirt below is an idea I had after recently taking my usual walk in the neighborhood, getting LOST, somehow, then making the mistake of sharing my confusion with a dear old pal who still makes fun of me for it!

Ah, what are friends for, if not to cry with you, laugh with you and laugh AT you!

 

 

To Order this fun shirt click here or contact

 http://wwwshirtaday.com/shirt./missing-elderly/2118