TAKING FLIGHT

6x9 oil on canvas

Taking Flight is a companion to Tolerance. On my summer break I tried a little exercise of limiting my painting time on smaller canvases. This is one of those paintings where I layed down the brushes when I reached 45 minutes to an hour, a very difficult thing to do for someone who likes to fuss over details. I think the color seen here, at least on my monitor, is closer to the true painting than what is seen in Tolerance.

I've tried a variety of palettes and my favorite is the grey disposable palette, I like that I can write directly on the paper with a sharpie. For a while I saved those palettes because there were important notes I liked to reference. Well, that soon became a pile of papers that was difficult to flip through and I eventually trashed it all, including my notes. I just happened to have an extra moleskine and realized that would be the most perfect place to include color studies and my notes. So two fruitful things this summer, limiting individual painting time and recording my color studies and notes in a more organized manner. What did you learn this summer while painting?

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!

COW BIRD

9x12 oil on canvas