AZALEAS IN THE PARK

11x14 oil on canvas

This month our theme for Some Texas Artists Like to Paint is flowers. Oh, dear it is official, I am not a flower painter. I attempted a few this week, all wipe outs and one so bad, I just threw it in the trash. As I wailed and threw fits, my sweet husband very confidently suggested, "just paint like Nancy Medina". As you know it doesn't quite work like that, but I do like that a few posts down on our little blog she refers to a glass of wine, now that I can do.

Ann Rogers encouraged me to post this painting for the flower theme. She and I went out last spring together and painted one day in the Turtle Creek area of Dallas. Each Spring the azaleas put on a show and just scream paint me, so we did!

TRINITY RIVER & HENRY FINKELSTEIN

PRAIRIE POND sold

16X20 oil on canvas
PRAIRIE PATH

10x20 oil on canvas

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a plein air workshop with Henry Finkelstein, an abstract expressionist from New York. I attended 2 of the 5 days and painted at the Trinity River Audubon Center. TRAC, just South of downtown Dallas, once an illegal dumping ground and reclaimed by the city, is now a wonderful educational facility for families and students.

In addition to my 2 paintings, I've included an exterior photo of the TRAC facility and a party photo we had on our last evening with Henry.

RILEY

10x14 oil on canvas nfs

I love this story, so I hope you will bear with me because I'm a little long winded.

A couple of years ago I was in a plein air painting workshop offered through SMU, I met some great artists who all around are just terrific people. Our last class was a weekend trip to a lakehouse owned by one of the SMU artists, and now another great friend. It was a fantastic weekend and 2 of my all time favorite landscapes came out of that last class. Since it was about a 2 hour drive to the lakehouse, my husband and I decided to make a weekend out of it and we stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast. After painting all day Saturday, we had a party at the lakehouse where we enjoyed a great evening and all the spouses finally got to meet. One of my new friends from the class was a gentleman named Ron and he brought his wife, JoEl for the weekend trip. They just happened to be staying at the B&B with us, but at the time we didn't know that they were across the hall from us. So, we're all hanging out, drinking wine, eating great food and someone asks JoEl where they live in the Dallas area. I was listening to the conversation and was surprised to learn that they live in the neighborhood right next to ours and the way the 2 neighborhoods nest together, we're almost backyard neighbors! The next thing I knew the 4 of us were involved in a very long conversation, busy learning more about each other.

The next morning we had breakfast together in the B&B dining room downstairs and as we enjoyed the "it's a small world" conversation, we learned that in the last 25+ years our paths had crossed many, many times, but it took the last class of a 6 week semester class at SMU and a 2 hour drive outside of town for us to finally get to know each other. Since then we have become the best of friends, we've dined together, traded recipes and parenting tips, and Ron and I have painted together many times. It's such a small world after all, and there's just plain good folks in this world!

So, what in the world does this painting of Riley have to do with that long-winded story? My husband, Jay contacted Ron about purchasing a painting for me as a surprise. Well, when Jay tried to purchase the painting, Ron would not have any of his money and insisted Jay had to take the landscape as a "gift". So, of course my ding-bat, but adorable and darling husband, accepted the gift and I was mortified...but happy, too. You can see my beautiful Ron Sullivan landscape here and the rest of Ron's outstanding website here.

So, my "gift" to Ron and JoEl is this painting of their cat, Riley!

PLEIN AIR IN NE TEXAS

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Scroggins, TX at a friend's lakehouse at Cypress Springs Lake, more than likely this is probably our last plein air painting for the summer, at least here in Texas...it's hot! I painted 3 small landscapes, the last one was my first time to try painting with a palette knife. I think I'd like to try it again, it was fun. 

My husband does not paint, but managed to find plenty to do fishing, shooting pictures, fetching ice and beverages, and so on... We missed Jay for a very long time and just assumed he was out taking pictures or something. My friend, Paula found him happily snoozing away in the hammock. 

I normally paint with my pochade box and a tripod, but I had just received my "new" french easel a couple of days before and thought I'd try it out. I really wanted an older french easel and found this one on Ebay. The seller could not find any markings or anything on it, but had been told it was purchased in the early 60's. After I scrubbed it and put linseed oil over it, this beautiful patina appeared and then I found the name of the artist carved into the box. I have learned that she was an actress and is now a full time artist in NY (beautiful paintings). My husband would like for me to contact her to let her know where her french easel has ended up and to learn more about her and her outstanding paintings. 

I hope you are all having a great summer, thank you for looking and commenting! Take care.

MY WEEKEND WITH HENRY FINKELSTEIN

6x12 oil on canvas
16x20 oil on panel
8X16 oil on panel

Another great weekend to talk about, but I will keep this short because I have so many photos to post...I spent a long weekend studying with Henry Finkelstein, an abstract expressionist from New York (3rd from left on back row in group shot). Our plein air painting days consisted of 30-35 mph winds, very gray days, rainstorms, and the occasional burst of sunshine. Our days began painting in the morning, breaking for lunch with a critique, and then back to painting into early evening. Before we sent Henry back to New York, we celebrated with a wonderful party last night. Artists are just the best people, I have made so many new friends, here in blogworld, and through workshops. We had so much fun painting together and plan on painting again very soon. I love seeing photos of artists at work and hope you enjoy seeing these amazing artists and their incredible paintings. Please keep in mind these landscapes were pretty quick, but hopefully I have some good studies that I might develop into larger works soon. 

THE BEST WEEKEND

For those of you who know me, you know that I am crazy about cows and when I meet another cow person, I'm in heaven. My husband and I were the weekend guests of the most gracious host I think I have ever known. Not only was John happy to share his lake house in Corsicana with us, but he shared his cattle, as well.

John has a very impressive selection of longhorn, a variety of colors, hide patterns, and different types of horns. Just two weeks ago, one of his Longhorns gave birth to identical twins...the 3rd set of Longhorn twins he has had on his ranch...as I understand, this is quite rare. In addition to a variety of cattle, he also has horses and two donkeys. This was my very first time to see donkeys up close and pet them, what sweet beautiful animals. 

It rained almost the entire time we were there, but did let up a little in the afternoon for some plein air painting. Here we were guests in splendid cow heaven, enjoying ourselves immensely, and John surprised me by commissioning me to paint one of his longhorns...a weekend (for me) doesn't get better than that! :-) 

Some things to note in the photos: this longhorn is called a tiger striped longhorn, back view of the lakehouse on Richland Chambers Lake, and me and my husband...check out my polka-dot rainboots...absolutely the best $25 I've ever spent!

HACKBERRY CREEK

This is the plein air I did last weekend at Hackberry Creek near Turtle Creek in Dallas. Because this area is so beautiful and bursting with Spring everything, I had great difficulty in selecting a scene to paint. If I were to be honest, I would admit I can never decide what to paint. Thank goodness for my plein air buddy, Paula Mele, who finally said, paint this! A couple of posts down is a photo reference to this painting.

We were unable to paint today because Winter decided to visit North Texas at the end of March, hopefully we can revisit Hackberry Creek next weekend. So instead of a little plein air painting, I was able to deliver a painting for an exhibition, paint a pet portrait commission, and bake a chocolate chip cheesecake for my daughter's 19th birthday, another busy weekend. Tomorrow will be a non-painting day, we will celebrate Taylor's birthday in Tyler. 

A VERY BUSY WEEKEND

In addition to painting up a storm during Spring Break, I ended my Spring Break week with a plein air outing on Saturday morning. The 2nd photo is a shot of Rex Morgan amongst the red bud trees in a beautiful area of Dallas called Turtle Creek. 

Sunday was a very busy day, as well. We visited the Dallas Arboretum (3rd photo), which is on White Rock Lake and I got to meet Nancy Medina and see her awesome paintings in person. In addition to meeting Nancy, she introduced me to her blogging/painter friend, Judy Mackey, who just happens to be a long ago high school friend of our very own, Sheila Tajima. I love the way this blog community works...who would have thought the internet, the DSFDF blog, and a whole bunch of great artists and people could connect through a   laptop... WOW! 

Nancy and Judy are planning on painting with us this Saturday at the same Turtle Creek location. If any of you are in the Dallas area and would like to join us for some plein air painting, please e-mail me and I'll forward the info to you. 

BISCUIT

8x10 oil on canvas sold
This was one of my first commissions of 2009. Biscuit is a petite little Chinese Crested with golden locks; she certainly knows she has great hair.  Although beautiful and elegant, she's all dog, one of her favorite activities is chasing squirrels. My very dear plein air painting buddies, Dave & Paula (Mele) Weatherbie, are the proud parents of Biscuit.  

In addition to an accomplished plein air painter, Paula is also a graphic designer. One of her most recent accomplishments was the design and production of a new edition of a book on the artist, Clark Hulings. You can see examples of his superb paintings here. 

TA, MY OTHER GRANDMOTHER

12x24 oil on canvas nfs

This was my grandmother, everyone called her Ta which is a nickname for, Letia (pronounced with a strong french accent Lee-Ta). She was a hard worker, loving, but firm...a no nonsense kind of person. I remember the "drop-in" company and how she loved visiting with her rural neighbors. Visiting with her friends and family on a daily basis took on significant importance in her later years. When I think of my summer visits, several things come to mind,  feeding the cows and chickens, picking eggs, and in the late afternoons, before I knew about plein air painting, taking my sketchbook out to draw and paint in the pastures.

ZIBILICH RESIDENCE

11x14 oil on canvas

This landscape is from our July '08 plein air paint-out.

MORNING AT LAKE MARTIN

9x12 oil on canvas

From a plein air excursion to Southwest Louisiana last summer at Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge. Lake Martin is the home of one of the most beautiful rookeries with an abundant amount of wildlife. While we were painting, we had to heed the "alligator nesting" signs and ignore their loud noises. Painting there was an incredible experience watching egrets and herons wade through the swamp and nest in the nearby trees.

REFLECTIONS OF MT.VERNON

10x20 oil on canvas

Originally painted plein air in Mt.Vernon, TX. Thanks Rex, we had a wonderful weekend painting on your beautiful property and with such fun, not to mention, accomplished artists!