"Ball Moss on Red"

This is an acrylic painting that I started as a demo for the New Braunfels Art League meeting a few months ago.

I've put a little more work into it and finished the sides of the panel (about 10" x 10" and about 2" deep)  I'd like to do a few more pieces like this as a series.  

I wish I could get the photo to show the deep cherry red of the background but it just doesn't seem to translate very well. Why is it so hard to get the reds and oranges to show up right in photos?

I'll have to keep trying.

The Holiday is over!

It's been a long time (over a month!!!!) since I've posted anything on my blog and my friends have been quite merciless in pointing this out to me. 

I'll take the heat!

I had a wonderful holiday season visiting my son Kabe in Tulsa and my old friends in New Mexico.  While visiting the Sandia Mountains where I used to live, I marveled at the fact that I never went out and painted the fantastic scenery there.  I wasn't doing landscapes then (but then, I wasn't doing much else either!)

I took lots of photos while I was there so be watching for them to show up as paintings in the future.

Now that things are settling down and I'm getting things settled in at my new studio, I'm anxious to start painting there. My plan is to get into more shows and do more painting than ever before. I have some new ideas rattling around in my head and I can't wait to see what falls out when I pick up my brushes again.

Thanks for patiently waiting for something new to appear here...  

I hope that it will be worth the wait!

For now, I'll post a painting that I did as a commission.  The painting was made into a print but the original is mine and available if you like it....

What's new?

I'm so excited!

Over the past few days, things have really taken shape. Along with two of my artist friends, Kay and John Reinke, I found a new studio space. It's a quaint little space with "Charles Dickens" storefront appeal and a small courtyard to the side of it. I can't wait to fix it up and move in!

It's located in downtown New Braunfels, TX not far from the center of town. 725-B W. San Antonio Street to be exact.

We plan to do open studio shows in the front gallery and I'll post the information here when we have something scheduled.


Here is another one of my paintings that I'll be hanging up there...

"Dogwood"

Acrylic on Cradled Wood Panel
Img size: 8" x 12"
Available

I'm so excited!

Thursday and it's raining again!

We've had 10 days without rain recently and it's been too hot to paint outdoors. I've been wanting to hone my plein air skills but it's really unbearably hot and humid so I've had to resort to painting indoors.

I did the landscape in an earlier post from a photograph that I took earlier this year in New Mexico at a state park called "City of Rocks".

So! Until Fall arrives and the weather becomes more pleasant, I'll be painting indoors. This is not a bad thing, don't misunderstand me. I've been painting with a portrait group for the last 7 weeks and I've thouroughly enjoyed it. I'd like to do a lot more of those if I can find people to sit for them.

For now, though, I'll continue to paint things "from the land". I love painting things that we see every day. I picked up this branch from someone's back yard. Most of the tree was cloaked with lichens and ball moss and this branch had fallen during a stormy night. I'm sure that people are not happy to see their Live Oak trees covered with these parasitic plants but they make a wonderful painting!

I hope you enjoy this painting which was awarded first place in a show of contemporary art at the New Braunfels Art League in July.

"Fallen"

Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas
(can be hung without a frame)
30" x 20"