Red Houses

One of the many scenes from my morning walks in Austin.

Bales In Snow

It feels as if winter will just not go away. I don't mind much because I like cooler weather. This painting was inspired by photos of a friends ranch when we had our first or second round of snow. Hay bales are one of my favorite subjects. I'm attracted to their imperfect symmetry.

Rushing Pedernales

This one is from my archives. It started out as a block print on printmaking paper. I later added the gouache which ,in my opinion, took over the block print. This is a view of the Pedernales River here in central Texas.

Overpass

I drive by this scene every day on the way home from work. Traffic getting onto Mopac goes so slow that one can actually paint this while sitting in the car. Of course this was inspired by a photo that I took from my car. I rarely draw while driving. The bluebonnets were better than last years presentation. I thought the mixture of overpasses and bluebonnets gave this piece a nice edge.

When We Last Had Bluebonnets

While working the gallery this weekend I explored this image taken at McKinney Falls State Park a few years ago when we actually had rain. I started out with a watercolor and then ventured into my pastel studies. I coated a piece of museum board with Golden's Fine Pumice Gel Medium mixed with Pearl Ex sparkling copper pigment. I didn't use an underpainting as I wanted the copper specks to peek through. I worked with a variety of pastel brands. I may tone done my darks a bit. The painting almost has too much energy.

Garden Party 2

Another take on the flower garden on Town Lake here in Austin.

Pastel Johnson City Sunset

I'm still exploring this image. This is the pastel version. The initial underpainting was in watercolor. The next underpainting was pastel that I covered with alcohol twice to work some of the pastel into the surface. After that I had very little tooth to work with. I do like how the underpainting peeks through. Photo courtesy of Derrick Johnson my personal trainer.

Serene Sunset (fini)

I'm going to stop painting on this one NOW. Its done and I'm close to over working it. I posted the work in progress a few days ago.

Not a Tornado

This scene is off of Davis Lane in South Austin. I saw this and had to shoot a photo with my camera phone. I think this scene would translate well in multiple mediums.

Sunset Johnson City

I haven't posted much this week due to spring fever and just fatigue. I feel great but this time change makes it hard to do more than turn into a vegetable in front of the television after work. But I have been painting every night. That does make me happy.

Watching You Watching Me

Another longhorn from my time spent at Walnut Creek Preserve. This one was a beautiful color. Unlike one, this one stayed away from the painters and just watched up from a distance.

Highway Hay Bale

On my most recent trip up to Commerce, Texas I noticed the plentiful hay bales that were on Highway 34. Of course I had to pull over and get a couple of pictures. This was the first painting from those photos. I love hay bales. It looks like our livestock won't have to go hungry this summer. I played with the image in photoshop a little to bump up the contrast a bit.

Go Away I'm Busy

I'm still working with images from my visit to the Preserve at Walnut Creek. Beautiful land with a large herd of longhorns. They just watched us paint and photograph them until they got bored and went back to eating. Thank goodness I didn't think about snakes when I was setting up to paint. I was just excited to get out and paint. I did get nervous about snakes on my way back to the SUV after my painting session.

A Morning Snack

Another longhorn study from images captured at the Walnut Creek Preserve. This beauty actually crossed the dry creek and came over to watch us painting. He/she got pretty close to one of us. I of course was ready to abandon all painting gear if he/she got too close to me. I'm a country girl in a lot of ways but not so much when it comes to some farm animals and critters like snakes.

First painting from photos taken of the Longhorns at Walnut Creek Reserve.

Bend Waterfall (study)

This is a 9 by 12 inch study for a larger piece. The subject is a waterfall located in Bend,TX at the Colorado State Park. I remember when we were hiking down to it the park official mentioned that he had already seen a few rattlesnakes. I'm glad he did because this place was too beautiful, I did watch my step after the warning..

Bored and Tagged

On my way to a dinner party in Wimberly on some obscure road we spotted a few calves hanging out by the road. This teenager just had that look of utter boredom.