Two new Challenges

Here are a couple images from recent outings. The first one is a little 6 x 8 painting of some trees. I tried something different with this one. Instead of my usual wash in, I started by painting the whole background very dark and building up to the light. I lifted my main trees out of the background with a little turp and a stiff brush. It actually took form very fast, coming in at about thirty minutes and it definitely gave the final piece a different feel.

The second painting is a restored 1880's farm house. This painting gave me a challenge in that the home is a very unusual chalky green color. This house is owned by the city of Grapevine and they took donations to help restore this home and the surrounding property. I heard everyone was kind of down when they found out what color this had to be to restore it back to it's original form. Not sure if I actually pulled it off.

Waxahachie Paint Out Merit Award

Here are the four Plein air paintings I had on display & sale in the Paint Historic Waxahachie, Tx. 4th Annual Paint Out. This was a ten-day event with over 50 artists participating. The event judge was Bruce Peil. I'm happy to report that I received one of the seven awards given out and was very proud to be mentioned along side other winners like Ted Clemens, Tina Bohlman, Ann Hardy, Chase Almond & Olivette Hubler.

This was no easy task considering the 250+ paintings entered into judging. I was lucky enough to receive a similar award at last years event.

I will post better photos of my entries as soon as possible.

This was one of my entries. I wanted to attempt more flowers in hopes that I could expand my audience. As you can see in my photo I was set up a little further away than I would have preferred. The home owner wasn't home so I didn't venture closer than the sidewalk. This may have worked to my advantage by forcing me to not over detail my painting. It's hard to over detail something you can't see.

"In Bloom" 9"x 12"

My view

( My apologies for the low resolution camera phone pictures. I was not able to pick up my paintings after the show. I wish I didn't have anything left to pick up. )

Train Depot 9 x 12

Here is another of my paintings from the OPS Grapevine paint out. This was my early morning effort. I thought I had something good going on, but I found myself a little distracted surrounded by all my friends and fellow artists. After visiting a while I realized not only had the light changed, but so did my view. I think every car in Grapevine was suddenly parked in front of me! I had been looking forward to painting the little green cart at the base of the train, but it was no longer in site so I finished it up from memory. This painting still brings me a smile because it reminds me of that very fun day.

I'll have to revisit this spot again and give it another try.