J. Frederick Art

Floral Fun

2012-02-03T17:15:00.002-06:00


"Geranium Vase" 6x6 oil on canvas board

"Just Add Water" 6x6 oil on canvas board

This week I found myself painting a lot of subjects but enjoying the florals most. Geraniums, sunflowers and orchids. I also painted one of our favorite restaurants, Julio's, in Hyde Park.

"Sunflower Trio" 6x6 oil on board

"Julio's" 8x10 oil on canvas board

I also did a small landscape from one of our Colorado trips and a new pastel of Mount Sopris which is currently on display on the second floor of the Georgetown Library in the Austin Pastel Society group show there. The artist's reception for the show will be this Sunday, February 5th from 2 to 4 pm.


"Reflective Moment" 6x6 oil on board

"Sopris" 8x10 pastel on Wallis paper mounted on gatorboard

Most of these paintings are available from Daily Paintworks. Click here for info.

Daily Painting Continued...

2012-01-27T13:01:00.003-06:00

Well so far so good! I have managed to post something new every day this year ( I know, I know, the year is still young). Today I painted a new pastel of Mount Sopris to put in the Austin Pastel Society Georgetown Library show which we are hanging tomorrow. Talk about last minute. I knew I needed a third painting for the show and since we did not have to submit images, I went ahead and decided on a subject and waited till the day before the show to actually create the piece. Thank goodness that when I went to work this morning on a piece of reddish Windberg paper mounted on some Gatorboard it came out and I was very happy with it. I posted it as my Daily Painting for tomorrow, but if it sells the buyer will need to agree to allow it to hang in the library until the end of February.


"Sopris" 8x10 pastel on Windberg paper

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Austin (today is too for that matter), so I joined some of my plein air painting friends at Austin Java coffee shop on Barton Springs Road to paint. I sat outside with Johnnie and we both painted competing coffee shop Flipnotics, across the street. Their bright green building with neon orange trim made for an interesting challenge. Johnnies turned out rather better than mine, but most (if not all) of hers do.

"Flipnotics" 8x10 oil on canvas panel/board

The day before yesterday I painted a third small painting in a series pulled from photos taken on a painting trip I took with my mother-in-law in 2007 to Portugal with painter Charles Gruppe. I had a fabulous time on the trip and painted 7 or 8 paintings in various beautiful locations. I have an incredible mother-in-law. Not many people I know, would gladly choose their mother-in-law as a travel partner, but I did. She never once said a word in complaint and I honestly had no idea she did not enjoy the trip as much as I did, until I read her travel journal last year. Her paintings frustrated her and she did not enjoy the food choices available in Portugal. (She's a strict vegetarian and they don't go in much for vegetarian fare in Portugal). Anyway the photos we brought home with us have served me well as painting fodder. Here are the three I painted this week from the photos.

"Schlepping My Art Gear" 6x6 oil on gessoed masonite

This was a photo my mother-in-law took of me schlepping my stuff up a steep, narrow street in Obidos, a beautiful, ancient, walled city in Portugal. It was charming with all the old whitewashed walls and either blue or yellow trim. There were flowering shrubs and window boxes everywhere.


"Sintra Center" 6x8 oil on gessoed masonite

The photo of the center of Sintra was one I did originally on site on a 9x12 canvas. That painting sold in Portugal so I did not get to bring it home with me. So I did it over as a 6x8


"Boat Siesta" 6x6 oil on gessoed masonite

"Seated Man" 6x6 oil on gessoed masonite

The painting of the boats I did originally in pastel and sold it to my old boss at the newspaper. I redid it in pastel for a CTPS show. I still have that second pastel version. This is the first time I tried it in oil. I liked the pastel version better.

This week's DPW Challenge Painting was the seated figure. They provided a photo to use if we chose, or we could use our own photo. I opted to use theirs. This is my interpretation of their photo. I changed the man's hat to red instead of black so it would stand out better and I simplified the background.

All paintings available through Daily Paintworks.

Visit my gallery at www.jfrederickart.com

Tangerine Tango is the "Hot" color for 2012

2012-01-22T15:29:00.000-06:00

"Tangerine Tango Poppy" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Poppy 2" 6x6 oil on masonite

No one is trying to call it the new black, but according to the fashionistas "Tangerine Tango" a brilliant red/orange is the "in" color this year. Last week's DPW challenge, challenged us to paint a painting around that color. I did two paintings of poppies using my closest approximation of that color (after all who's seen a tube of "tangerine tango"). This was fun to play with and a lovely color.

"Grand Canyon" 5x7 pastel on Ampersand board

I also painted a small pastel view of the Grand Canyon - kinda ironic, a tiny painting of the Grand Canyon, isn't it? That I used for my challenge painting at the Central Texas Pastel Society meeting. This month's challenge was to paint one of the National Parks hence the Grand Canyon.

While working on my dog series, I decided to try to paint a dog that belonged to one of my clients. I'm afraid I didn't do a great job of him. I don't think the owners would recognize him, but he does look like a cute dog, so I kept him and didn't wipe him out and start over. I named him "Buzzy" but that's not really who it is.

"Buzzy" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Austin Skyline" 6x6 oil on masonite

An old photo I had taken of the Austin skyline years ago, attracted me. So I did a quick oil sketch of it. Anyone familiar with the skyline will notice several of the newer buildings missing, but it was such a lovely shot I couldn't help painting it.

As usual most paintings are available through www.DailyPaintworks.com

How Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

2012-01-18T15:32:00.001-06:00

"Holly" 6x6 pastel (not for sale)

I am so enjoying my retirement. Every day I get to do my favorite thing, which is paint! Some days I have more time than others but so far this year I've managed to complete at least one small painting a day and that makes me really happy. I realized that while I'm having so much fun, I've neglected my blog, so it's time for me to bring you up to date with the work I've been doing. Here goes in no particular order:

"Concentration" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Beach Brollies" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Water Garden" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Bull Creek" 8x8 oil on masonite

"Winter Stowage" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Snowfield, Take 3" 8x10 pastel

"Alley Parking" 10x8 pastel

"Fruit Bowl 2" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Garden of the Gods" 6x6 oil on masonite


"Fruit Bowl" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Basic Breakfast" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Snowfield 2" 6x6 oil on masonite

"Emily" 10x8 oil on canvas panel

"Snowfield" 6x6 oil on masonite

Most of these are available for purchase through Daily Paintworks.
Click here to get more information.

2011-12-31T11:32:00.000-06:00

I find it inconceivable that it has been over a month since my last post. It's not that I haven't been painting just that I have neglected to post to my blog. December is always busy but that's not my excuse. My first priority has been posting paintings to the Daily Paintworks. After doing that my intent is to post to the blog but that often falls to the way side. Good intentions etc...

Anyway we are in Colorado for the holidays and I have been busy either painting outdoors when the weather permitted or indoors looking out the picture windows at my mother-in-law's cabin near Glenwood Springs. More to come, but this is what I've done so far on this trip.

"Snowy View" 6x6 oil on masonite SOLD

"Mountain Snows" 6x6 oil on masonite
DPW auction click here

"Snowy Peaks" 6x6 oil on masonite
DPW auction click here

"Western Light" 6x6 oil on masonite
DPW auction click here

"Glimpse of 'Sunlight'" 6x8 oil on canvas panel
DPW auction click here

In the Mood...

2011-11-26T18:18:00.001-06:00

I really got in the mood to paint after my success with "Standing Guard". Since there was still time to spare and I really didn't want to venture out into the Black Friday madness I just kept going. My next painting was a potential contender for this year's Christmas Card "Christmas Cardinal". By the time I finished that and cleaned up it was time for dinner.

"Christmas Cardinal" 6"x6" oil on masonite available thru DPW click here for more info

Today after sitting down to write our annual Christmas newsletter (yes, we are those kind of people - we like to let folks know what we've been up to and some actually want to know), I sat decided to try a still life using a brass vase and some sunflower-ish flowers I had on hand. It was another fun one to paint. I seem to be enjoying the process more and more on each painting. I wonder why?

"Sunny Posy" 6" x 6" oil on masonite will be available thru DPW tomorrow.

Visible Improvement

2011-11-25T12:37:00.001-06:00

Sometimes you just paint along and it's hard to tell if you're really getting anywhere. Anyway today I picked out an old photo to paint from and realized it is one I had attempted "en plein air" during a workshop a few years ago at a friend's hill country ranch. The painting I ended up with the first time did not work. I never even finished it since the start of it was so dismal. With lots of practice behind me and a better feel for what I wanted to do, I tried the same scene again this time from a photo in the studio. This time the painting I ended up with was one I was proud of and very happy with. Putting the two paintings side by side is the best illustration of how far I've come as a painter in the last few years. It's good to see that you are making progress.

"Standing Guard" 6"x6" oil on board $35 available through my gallery on Daily Paintworks click here

On Wednesday I had fun with a photo I took downtown on 6th Street while out painting with Plein Air Austin. The photo showed some historic buildings on 6th Street (our entertainment/clubs district) and the skyscrapers including the Frost Bank Tower behind them. The buildings were challenging, but I really enjoyed trying to render them in paint.

"Sixth Street" 6"x6" oil on board available through DPW auction click here for details

On Saturday I went to a mini workshop with Susan Carlin at the Windberg Art Center. It was put on by Central Texas Pastel Society. Susan did a demo in the morning during our regular CTPS meeting and those who chose to pay a nominal fee could stay to do the workshop in the afternoon. The idea was to paint a simple still life with just one fruit or veggie as a subject. I found that the hardest part was to try to represent the fabric we used to drape our still life boxes. I managed to do two pieces, my pomegranate and the persimmon I borrowed from a friend. I was pleased with both pieces and found the workshop very helpful.

"Pomegranate" 8"x8" pastel on Wallis paper/board available through DPW auction click here for details

"Persimmon" 6" x8" pastel on Wallis paper/board available through DPW auction click here for details

Come See Me At E.A.S.T. on Sunday at Stop #71

2011-11-18T22:22:00.001-06:00

I'm so pleased to have confirmed a booth space this Sunday at the East Austin Studio Tour. It's at the Clay River Studio EAST stop #71 at 906 Koerner Lane just off Bolm near Airport Blvd. It's just behind Big Medium. I will be there from 11 to 6 on Sunday November 20th showing my work and selling my new 2012 Art Calendars. Come visit with me and I can show you what I've been up to over the past few months.

Today I met with friends and we painted at Bull Creek again, only this time we painted the other side of Loop 360. There was a lovely little pool of water below a cliff of big bolders. The fall leaf colors were lovely. It was a cloudy overcast day, I'm sure it would have been even more lovely in brighter light. I called the painting "Peaceful Reflections" however the three little girls there on a rock hunt were shrieking and making it anything but peaceful for much of the time we were there.

"Peaceful Reflections" 8"x 8" oil on board. Listed for auction at DPW. Click here for details

On Tuesday I hosted a paint out for Plein Air Williamson (County). Naturally it was the day we finally got some rain. No sooner than I arrived it started to rain. Only two other intrepid painters showed up and one got called away on an emergency so the two of us remaining set up under the railway bridge to shelter from the rain and made the best of it. It was really nice to finally see a little rain around here. Kinda wish there had been more of it.

"Rainy Day at the Park" 8" x 8" oil on board. Listed for auction at DPW. Click here for details.

Another Arty Week

2011-11-13T20:57:00.001-06:00

"Abstraction I" 6" x 6" oil on board check out the Daily Paintworks Auction here

Somehow another week has sped by. This week I attended Life Drawing, two plein air paint out sessions, showed and sold my work in a holiday market, and spent two afternoons looking at art at the annual E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour). What a wonderful art filled week. I was inspired by some of the art I saw this weekend to try my hand at an abstract painting. The result is "Abstraction 1". I had so much fun playing with it that I may make a series of "Abstractions". Next weekend E.A.S.T. continues and I am considering taking over the space our friend Nancy Germond occupied this weekend and try to sell my art. Judging from the prices in most of the studios, my art would be very underpriced, but that might be a good thing. Christmas is coming and it should be a good time to market my work. Since I am attending a workshop next Saturday, I would only be able to display on Sunday, but since the landlord of the space is agreeable to renting me space for just the one afternoon (at a great price) I think it might be worth a try to see what happens.

"Texas Grazing" 8" x 8" oil on board check out the Daily Paintworks Auction here

"Texas Grazing" was painted at the Michaelis Ranch in 30 mile an hour winds. I won't guarantee that there is not quite a bit of Texas dirt embedded into the paint. The wind was relentless all morning. My friend Susan and I had set up a table to display our paintings at the Holiday Market that Mrs. Michaelis is putting together each Saturday running up to Christmas. She kindly offered us the opportunity to sell our work as well as the opportunity to paint at her beautiful ranch. The table only blew over once, but some of the paintings (fortunately all dry ones) blew off the table several times. Oh the joys of painting en plein air.

"Fall Colors from the Creek Bed" 8" x 10" oil on board check out the Daily Paintworks Auction here

Painting together with a few friends in the dry creek bed of Bull Creek on Friday. The fall colors improve every week. It is perfect weather to paint in Central Texas this time of year. Cool in the morning but warming up to t-shirt weather by about 11 am.

"Distant Barn" 6" x 6" oil on board check out the Daily Paintworks Auction here
When I painted this one, I was simply painting it straight out of my head. There was no reference photo. I had started to paint a horse and failed miserably, so I wiped it out and started over just trying to create a pleasing scene from memories of driving through the US. This is what came out.

New Paintings and News

2011-11-06T21:02:00.002-06:00

As my friend Susan S. mentioned yesterday I have been rather remiss in keeping up with my blog. So let me catch you all up on my news and what I've been painting lately.

The Round Rock Art Space Show closed last weekend and I was very pleased to find that 3 of my "wet" paintings sold in the silent auction.

Today I painted with Plein Air Austin at Westlake Beach before their annual picnic. It was mostly dark and cloudy with a little intermittent rain - something we need so badly that no one complained at all. The trees were resplendent in their fall colors and the grounds were just lovely. This is my painting from this afternoon.

"Westlake Beach Marina" 8" x 8" oil on board $45.00

On Friday I painted with a few friends from Laurel Daniel's class at Bull Creek.

"Dry Creek" 8" x 8" oil on board $45.00 (or bid in the DPW Auction)

On Wednesday I tried the Daily Paintworks Challenge "Paint Your Pumpkin" using the example they offered and adding my cat Coco.

"Leave it alone, Coco" 6" x 6" oil on board $35.00

On October 29th I painted with a group of Plein Air Austin painters in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Austin. I chose to paint the Avenue B Grocery. It's a wonderful old store that is in the middle of a residential block. It's been in constant operation as a grocery store for over 102 years and has been in the current owner's family the entire time. They serve the best sandwiches in town and are very reasonably priced. We sat outside at the picnic benches and had lunch there after we finished our paintings.

"Avenue B Grocery" 10" x 8" oil on board $50.00 (or bid in the DPW Auction)

October 28th I tried the Daily Paintworks 10 minute paintings challenge. The objective was to paint a simple still life multiple times with a strict 10 minute per painting time limit. I used one board and divided it into four parts. I then painted my pear from various angles using a kitchen timer to measure my time. By the third one I found I could finish in less than 10 minutes.

"10 Minute Challenges" 6" x 6" oil on board $25.00

October 27 I painted another cat portrait in pastel. This one is a portrait of my mother's cat, Josephine. This will likely be one of her Christmas presents this year.

"Josephine" 6" x 6" pastel on Wallis paper. Not for Sale.

October 25th another plein air excursion, this time with Plein Air Williamson (county). Oddly all the members who attended were also members of Plein Air Austin. We met to paint at the Hill Country Water Gardens nursery. It was a beautiful day and the lilies were stunning. I couldn't resist trying the main lily pond again. This time I tried to capture the Koi in the pond as well as the lilies.

"Koi Pond" 8" x 8" oil on board $45.00

On October 20th I met Plein Air Austin friends for an impromptu paint out at Barton Springs Pool. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for it's weekly cleaning (it's always closed on Thursdays, but we didn't realize that until we arrived to paint). Faced with that problem we did what all good plein air painters do, we improvised. We walked down to the spillway below the pool and painted there instead.

"Hints of Fall" 8" x 8" oil on board $45.00

October 19th found me attempting another Daily Paintworks Challenge painting. This one was extra challenging for me as portraits, particularly children, are very difficult for me. The challenge was to create a simplified painting out of a very complex photo. I decided to focus in on just the head of the little girl rather than the entire scene.

"Cute Challenge" 6" x 6" oil on board $25.00 (or bid in the DPW Auction)

October 18 found me scrambling for a subject. I painted several that I wiped off in frustration. Finally late at night I got this one finished and posted. In fact I was so late I missed that day's paintings and it posted for the following day - I couldn't believe it was past midnight already.

"Barely Hanging On" 5" x 7" oil on board $35.00 (or bid in the DPW auction)

October 16 was a small landscape from a photo taken on our last Colorado camping trip.

"Highland Meadow" 6" x 6" oil on board $35 (or bid in the DPW Auction)

October 15 and I painted a close up of a Poppy I took when staying with my in-laws in Evergreen Colorado also from our last trip there in July. This painting sold at the Jonestown Street Festival where I shared a booth with my jewelry making friend Denise Donnelly.

"Sunny Poppy" 7" x 5" oil on board SOLD!

Daily Paintings

2011-10-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

This week's daily paintings include:

Sunflower 2, 6x6, oil on board, available here

Composition Challenge, oil on board, available here

An Apple A Day, 6x6, oil on board, available here

Harvest Trio, 8x8, oil on board, available here

The composition challenge was done from part of a very complex photograph which was posted on Daily Paintworks as the weekly challenge. The objective was to choose part of the photo and create a pleasing composition from it. The Apple A Day painting came from me playing around with the paint. I bought some Yellow Oxide, a color I had not tried before, based on information in Qiang Huang's blog. He mentioned what lovely transparent grays a mixture of yellow oxide and ultramarine blue would make. The Harvest Trio painting came from my finding one of my dwarf pomegranates knocked off my new dwarf pomegranate bush. I hated to waste it but it wasn't ripe enough to eat so what else but paint it. The acorn squash and apple were from my kitchen and will soon be eaten.

Cat Project Done!

2011-10-14T07:33:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned before I began a project of painting three cats in pastel as a gift for a former manager and good friend of mine who recently retired from the newspaper we both worked at for many years. I had wracked my brain for a good idea for a retirement gift and realized that perhaps the best one I could give would be a piece of art, but I wanted to give something very personal that I hoped she would love. Having done a successful portrait of my cat for the Central Texas Pastel Society Annual Show, and knowing her love of cats, I decided a cat portrait would be ideal. She has three beautiful cats and after playing with several options I realized a single painting with all 3 cats would be very problematic. So I decided to do three individual small portraits. I posted the first one about a month ago and was pleased with it's resemblance to the photo I was working from. I've since completed the other two. One looks a little off kilter, but it's his ear that is unusual and not an error on the part of the artist. It occurs to me that perhaps pet portraits could be a profitable revenue source for me although I've only done cats so far. Both my mother and brother have asked me to paint their cats after seeing the work I'd done on my cat and Karen's cats, so I guess there are people who would like pet portraits.

Mmm... something to think about. Anyway this project is done. All I need do is frame them and deliver them. I'm still trying to decide if there's a way to frame them under Museum Glass without it costing a fortune. These are small paintings and I plan to put them in 6x6 frames with only a spacer between them and the glass. Anyone know of a cheap source of 6" x 6" Museum Glass? Perhaps scrap from a frame shop. I'll have to check around.

Harriett, 6x6, pastel on Wallis paper glued to masonite

Eddie, 6x6, pastel on Wallis paper glued to masonite

Grace, 6x6, pastel on Wallis paper glued to masonite

Round Rock Chalk Walk 2011

2011-10-14T07:08:00.000-05:00

Time flies so fast when you're having fun. It seems like only yesterday when I last posted my daily paintings but that is not so. A week has passed and I have a whole stack of paintings to add. I participated in the paint out associated with the Round Rock Chalk Walk Art Festival last weekend. For two solid days I painted in downtown Round Rock while the chalk artists painted on the street. Friday was fairly slow as the event was just getting underway. Only a few chalk artists came to start their work and none of the vendors were set up yet. Saturday was a whirlwind of artists, vendors, tourists, kids, dogs and entertainers. It was cloudy and gray much of both days, and the weather finally brought us a good downpour of rain, fortunately just after the judges completed their judging of the chalk art on the street. It was a wonderful event. As we finished each painting there was a "wet" area for us to display our work inside the Art Space Gallery. Our wet paintings were put up for silent auction and I was excited to get the first bid. The art was also judged when the chalk art was judged and first, second and third prizes were awarded. My friends Liz Zornes, Beryl Kerwick and Susan Anderson (in that order) won. I managed to put 5 small paintings into the "wet" painting show to complement the 5 framed pieces already in the ongoing plein air show in the same gallery.

RR Chalk Walk 1, 6x6, oil on board, silent auction at Round Rock Art Space Gallery

RR Chalk Walk 2, 6x6, oil on board, silent auction at Round Rock Art Space Gallery

RR Chalk Walk 3, 6x6, oil on board, silent auction at Round Rock Art Space Gallery

RR Chalk Walk 4, 6x6, oil on board, silent auction at Round Rock Art Space Gallery

RR Chalk Walk 5, 6x6, oil on board, silent auction at Round Rock Art Space Gallery

2011-10-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

Today I attempted a self portrait. It was just as successful as all my previous self portraits so after several hours of work, I threw in the towel and I wiped off the board so as not to waste it. Oh well, some day I feel sure I will manage one I can live with until then I'll keep trying.

Most recent daily paintings include:

"Wild Spring" A very typical Texas spring time scene with bluebonnets in the fields and the cacti (at least I think it's a type of cactus or agave) blooming. I took this photo near Marble Falls several years ago while on a trip to see the art collection of Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Owens. They were gracious enough to invite our pastel society to come for a private tour of the home they built in Horseshoe Bay to accommodate their incredible collection of art. They also owned the Riverbend Art Gallery in Marble Falls which we toured later that same day. 6"x 6" oil on board. Bid on this painting here

"Wish You Were Here" We helped out with the Mamma Jamma Ride against breast cancer on Saturday. The ride started and ended at the Reunion Ranch. They had a beautiful little beach set up by a small pond. The beach had very bright colorful umbrellas and adirondack chairs. I loved the yellow chairs and the red umbrella, but wanted to see them on a real beach with an ocean in the background rather than dried out Texas countryside, so I moved them to an imaginary beach. 6"x6" oil on board. Bid on this painting here

"Post Rush Hour" This was from a photo I took through the windshield at 5th and Lamar near Whole Foods in Austin. The sun was setting in the West and we were heading south. I can't remember why but the number of cars on the road tells me it was definitely after rush hour. 6"x 6" oil on board $35.00 click here to buy

"Fist City" this one was a real departure for me. I did it to meet the "Hand" challenge on Daily Paintworks. I did find it very challenging. Looking through the other challenge paintings I was very discouraged by seeing one painting that the artist did with her non-dominant hand. I had enough trouble doing it with my dominant hand - I can't imagine trying it with my left hand. 6" x6" oil on board. $25.00 click here to buy

"Sunflower" I did this one because I bought my mother a bunch of sunflowers and other flowers to celebrate her 65th anniversary and what would have been my dad's 103rd birthday (smart man, he married on his birthday so he'd never be caught forgetting an anniversary). The bouquet decorated the table for lunch. After lunch my 90 year old mother said flowers were too much trouble to care for and she didn't want them. I reminded her they were cut flowers and all she needed to do was throw them away when they got old. She didn't care, she refused to take them home with her. So I got a beautiful bouquet for me - even though that was never my intention. My feelings were bruised a bit, but I like the flowers and would never have bought them for myself. 6" x 6" oil on board click here to bid.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

2011-09-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

This week I got paintings delivered to three group art shows I will be participating in with one more to come. I have two paintings at the Northwest Hills Gallery (7050 E. Village Center Drive, Austin) show now through October 28, five paintings in the Round Rock Artspace Plein Air show (231 E. Main St., Round Rock) through October 22, three in the Georgetown Hospital Gallery of Healing (2000 Scenic Drive, Georgetown) through October 22 and will have three paintings at the Corridor of Art (700 Lavaca, Austin) through November 20. Lots of shows, and lots of schedules to get straight. Each show has an entry deadline, delivery deadline, most have artist receptions, and then of course pick up deadlines for those pieces that don't sell. It's worth it though to get the art out and seen.

This week's daily paintings include a black and white value study done to meet the value study challenge at Daily Paintworks. com.

Value Study Lily 6"x6" oil on board $25.00

Peaceful Farm 6"x6" oil on board up for auction on DailyPaintworks.com

Nightfall in the Forest 6" x 6" oil on board $35.00

Sheltering Trees 6"x 6" oil on board $35.00

Saturday and Sunday

2011-09-25T10:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I put together a painting of a Longhorn. The photo for this painting was taken a couple of years ago at a PAA workshop on a private ranch. This steer was pretty curious about what these weird people were doing with their easels and brushes.

"Longhorn Fielder" 6" x 6" Oil on board. Up for auction at www.dailypaintworks.com

This morning I took the DPW weekly challenge and painted the fall colors using a photo from last year since fall is still far from arriving in Central Texas. I loved the brilliant colors of this leaf collection on the rock. Believe it or not, I did not arrange these leaves, they are exactly as they fell (or at least my rendition of how they fell). It did make me start feeling like fall even with the temperatures still in the high 90s to low 100s.

"Fall Banquet" 6" x 6" Oil on board $35.00

Catching up for the week

2011-09-24T13:38:00.000-05:00

It's been busy with Plein Air painting excursions, life drawing and gathering and framing pieces for 4 upcoming group shows that I've been accepted into. I have, however kept my daily painting commitment, with at least one piece to post each day. Friday's piece was a pastel cat which is not for sale. "Grace" belongs to a friend of mine and she is the first of a three piece group that I am painting as a retirement gift. I have to get cracking on the other two.

"Grace" 6" x6" pastel on Wallis paper mounted on board NFS

On Thursday I painted with a group from Plein Air Austin at the New Sweden Church. It's a beautiful location to paint and a very challenging church building to render. I was fascinated by the huge tree shadow on what should be the front lawn. Unfortunately the drought has rendered it a dry dead wasteland between the church and the road, but the shadows were wonderful.

"New Sweden Church with Tree Shadows" 8" x 10" oil on board $65.00

Wednesday was the day that I finally painted a scene I had photographed in Santa Fe just after sunset. The sky was glowing and the light reflected in a few windows and on the windows of the cars parked along the street.

"Nightfall in the City" 6"x 6" oil on board $35.00

Tuesday was a wildlife photo I took of a squirrel availing himself of the facilities of our birdbath. With everything so dry, I was very happy to see he was able to get his fill of water from the bath. While he was at it he gave me the idea for this painting.

"Not Just For The Birds" 6" x 6" oil on board $35.00

Monday was another redo of an earlier painting in another medium. This time I tried "West Texas Wayside" in and 8"x 10" size in pastel punching up the colors a bit.

"West Texas Wayside 2" 8" x 10" pastel on Wallis paper mounted on foam core $65.00

So that was my week's worth of painting. I need to get busy and get my Saturday painting created and ready to upload. Maybe another cat in my 3 cat series... but first I need to varnish the paintings I need to deliver next week.

Monday Posting

2011-09-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

Still managing to keep a painting a day, although the first one I did yesterday ended up wiped off. Guess that happens. I had attempted a view of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, but for some reason, even though I've painted it several times before, this one just did not work. A couple of hours in, I decided it was never going to work so off it came. What replaced it on the board was something totally different. In fact a departure from my normal subjects - I painted a single water lily floating in a dark pond. This photo was taken at the Zilker Botanical Gardens some time ago. I had always meant to paint it, but somehow never got the nerve up. I'm glad I finally did it - I thought it turned out well and I liked it.

"Lily" 6" x 6" Oil on board $35.00

Saturday's painting was another Colorado scene from one of our many trips to cooler climes. This one was a fairly cloudy day but the sun came out and illuminated it for a brief moment.

"Sunlit Peaks" 6"x 6" Oil on board $35.00

Off the Wagon?

2011-09-16T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well you might think that I failed to get my daily painting done yesterday since I didn't post anything today, but it's not that I didn't do it. I did, but I offered a charity auction several paintings to choose from and they picked the new one I had just finished and intended to post for yesterday's Daily Painting. There didn't seem to be much reason to post a painting I no longer had, so I didn't, but that does not mean that I have let go of my commitment to paint every day.

Yesterday's painting which did not make it to DPW is this one:

"Darkfall" 6"x 6" oil on board donated to charity

Today's painting is from a photo taken through the windshield of the car as we re-entered Texas on a very dreary, grey day from New Mexico on our way back from a Colorado trip.

"Welcome to Texas" 6" x6" oil on board $35.00

This Week's Art

2011-09-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

I'm madly getting ready to submit art to 4 shows all deadlining this week. I think I'm ready just sorting out which pieces to use and getting them framed up. While doing all this I have also managed to keep up with my daily paintings and attend some life drawing sessions. I feel that I am getting so much out of both painting every day and studying life drawing that I don't mind the hectic pace. I never imagined retirement would be so busy - I seem to be even busier now that I no longer have to go to the office. How did I ever find time to work a job? Anyway here are the latest daily paintings.

"Waiting for Sunday" 6"x 6" Oil on board $35

"Old Work Horse" 6" x 6" Oil on board $35

"Pots, Pots, Pots" 6" x 6" Oil on board $35

"Blazing Skies 2" 8" x 10" Pastel $55

Fall Lake

2011-09-10T06:14:00.000-05:00

My daily painting for Friday was from a photo I took at a paintout at Long Lake (formerly Decker) early in the morning last year. Things were still green even though it was late fall and pretty cold that morning as I recall. I was the only one there early enough for the sunrise, but it was not a spectacular one although I've seen some gorgeous ones there (usually when working a race and unable to snap photos). Now that I think about it, I need to get back out there and get some more sunrise photos over the lake. It's so beautiful there, or at least it was. With this drought nothing looks as good as it did last year.

"Fall Lake" 6"x 6" oil on gessoed board $35

Busy Day

2011-09-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day. I painted "Blazing Skies" first thing this morning before going out to the Hill Country Water Gardens for a paint out with Plein Air Austin. This afternoon was spent on the business side of art. Writing up a sales contract and figuring out a safe method to ship my sold paintings.
I am also working to get paintings framed and ready for four upcoming shows I hope to participate in, The Austin Pastel Society's North Hills Gallery Show, the Plein Air Austin Corridor of Art Show, The Central Texas Pastel Society's Georgetown Hospital Show and the Round Rock Chalk Walk Show.

"Blazing Skies" oil on board 6" x 6" $35

September 7, 2011

2011-09-07T20:19:00.000-05:00

Today's painting is a sunset from a photo I took out of the car while driving to dinner one night. It was such a spectacular sunset it made the sky look like it was on fire. Right now much of Central Texas really is on fire. It's so sad. Pray for rain and for the safety of everyone in the fire's path.

"Texas Afire" oil on board 6" x 6" $35

Keeping Up at Least So Far...

2011-09-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

I'm proud of myself. I have managed to get at least one painting done each day since I signed up for Daily Paintworks. They may not all be masterpieces but they're not bad and I am learning something from each and every one of them. The more I do the better I will get. I firmly believe that. I am reading something educational about art every day as well as making a painting so my understanding is growing too.
Here are my latest pair.

The pig was done yesterday to meet the Daily Paintworks Challenge Painting of the Week "Draw your Piggy". This was the only piggy in the house. It was a tiny plastic toy pig that I picked up somewhere and intended to give to Aralyn Hughes (you may know her as the "Austin's pig lady"). Somehow I forgot about it until yesterday. It had been crushed in my art bag with a bunch of other stuff. I had to glue the legs and one ear back on before I could use it as a model. It is less than an inch long so when I say tiny, it's really tiny. Believe it or not this actually does look like it. "Hog Heaven" 6x6 oil on board $35

Today's painting is from a photo I took at the Star Hill Ranch off of Hamilton's Pool Road last month. I thought of it since the fires are burning out that way now. I hope this area is still safe but I remember thinking at the time how dry all the vegetation was and that it really is a tinderbox waiting for an errant spark to kindle it. I plan to donate the proceeds from sale of this painting to the Red Cross to help the victims of the fires in Central Texas. So many are suffering and so much of our homes in the beautiful hill country and piney woods are being lost to fire. "Tinderbox" 6x6 oil on board $35

Two More...

2011-09-04T22:20:00.000-05:00

Little did I realize how challenging it really is to try to come up with a new painting every single day no matter what else is going on. So far it's one week and I have managed it but I can see now I'm really going to have to be more organized in order to really make it work. Here are the latest paintings. The pots were Saturday's painting and I just completed my "Whispering Glade" a couple of minutes ago.

"Driving Myself Potty" oil on board 6" x 6" $35

"Whispering Glade" oil on board 6" x 6" $35

Struggling with Greens

2011-09-02T12:39:00.000-05:00

"Cool Pool" Oil on board 6x6 - DPW Auction

My Wednesday painting of "Stormy Mountain" and my Thursday painting "Cool Pool" both challenged me with far too many greens. I realized that both these paintings are predominantly green which is something I need to avoid. I remember Charles Gruppe telling me that he did mostly seascapes because "green doesn't sell". Looking at the row of my first week's daily paintings I see that the mostly green ones are the ones that are the least appealing to me. If they don't appeal to me why would they appeal to anyone else. Point taken. I will strive to use less green. Today's landscape "Still Connected" still uses a wide expanse of green, but in this one I have woven in other colors to break up the green. I hope it's a step in the right direction. See what you think.

"Still Connected" Oil on board 6x6 - $35
(yes, this is similar to the pastel I did in the workshop - same reference photo)

Stormy Mountain

2011-09-01T10:43:00.001-05:00

My daily painting for yesterday was from a photo taken on a bike ride with family on a new bike trail near Carbondale Colorado. It was a beautiful day but when I stopped to take this photo it looked like a storm was rolling in. It never made it to us, but looked ominous. I'm beginning to get the hang of this every day thing. In addition to Stormy Mountain, I also attended a life drawing session and did two pastel nudes. One I consider successful, the other not so much. So it goes...

Deadlines

2011-08-31T07:10:00.002-05:00

The one problem I can foresee with my new daily painting venture is what to do when I really don't have time to paint. Yesterday I devoted almost the whole day to running errands for my mother. When we finally got home I realized that I needed a daily painting. I didn't want to fail to do one at least daily on the second day of my membership, so to work I went. I made the mistake of asking my husband what he thought and he made his usual comment about perspective (I should know better than ask him). Anyway I reworked the painting, photographed it and then realized the colors were off. Reworked again and messed up the window, reworked again etc. Finally too tired to continue I photographed it and turned it in. You guessed it - I think it looks overworked. Well lesson learned. Next time I won't ask. I believe the original version was the best. I should have left it alone. Sometimes the most important thing is knowing when to stop. "Canyon Road Entrance" oil on board, 6" x6".

Daily Paintings

2011-08-31T07:06:00.000-05:00

My first official daily painting done on August 29 was meant to be a challenge painting. The challenge was to create the painting with all rectangular strokes. It was a very challenging challenge. I had never tried to do anything like that before but I found it great fun and although not every single stroke turned out rectangular the vast majority did and I discovered a much looser style that I hope to use more often. The comments I received from the posting on Daily Paintworks were all so kind and encouraging. It made me very happy that with my decision to join. Painting is "West Texas Wayside" 6"x6" oil on board.

Daily Paintings

2011-08-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

Every one tells me that in order to make major improvement in my skills as an artist the most important thing I can do is paint more. I just read the same thing in a book I'm reading, so maybe they're all on to something. Many artists I know have already committed to painting at least one painting a day and have found great benefit from doing so. I have made up my mind to join them and paint at least one a day for at least the next 3 months as a test. After that I will re-evaluate and see where I am. There is a wonderful website for daily painters which works as an E-bay for only paintings. It seems to get good traffic and many of their artists have made a number of sales. The price to join is very reasonable and if I join I will feel even more incentive to paint daily and continue to improve. So here I go. Today was spent running around doing errands, not much time to paint, but I did knock out this little still life of 3 cherries. It's not perfect but it's a start. Once again I used up a piece of clay board I had on hand. I really don't like the way it soaks up the paint and leaves the surface looking a bit chalky. I plan on making my own boards since I can't find my favorite boards at Jerry's anymore and I will be going through a lot of them. I got a new battery for my saw and stocked up on masonite and gesso. Hopefully I will prefer this painting surface to the clay board. Wish me luck on my new endeavor!

Another Challenging Effort

2011-08-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and this morning I struggled to make a painting of the front of the building I worked in for over 30 years. I wanted to make it as a retirement gift for one of my favorite managers whose last day was today (Yikes! I had thought I had until the end of the month but found out Tuesday that was not the case). Nothing like deadline pressure. As I was noodling away at it I got a call that she was actually leaving early today so I needed to get down there to give it to her before she left. Mad dash to pick up a frame. Slap it in the frame and mad dash downtown to present a barely finished still very wet painting. Not my best work but considering the difficulties of the architecture (perspective not being my forte), not too bad. This is my third retirement picture of the building. Think I'll try to find an easier angle next time. This was torture.
"Statesman Sunrise" 9" x 12 oil on canvas NFS.

More Challenges

2011-08-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

I was noodling around on the Daily Paintworks website and found that they have weekly challenge paintings. I can use all the challenges I can get when it comes to painting so I checked out this week's topic. It was superstition. Lots of folks had painted their black cats in various situations, but I decided to try to get my cat to pose with a broken fortune cookie. Mission accomplished. After several minutes of having her ignore it completely, she finally started playing with it and licking it. I took a few photos and then painted this very quick oil sketch on clayboard. I was pretty pleased with the outcome although my husband immediately pointed out that the cat was fatter than that, but when I showed him the photo he had to admit that from that angle I nailed her. I call this one "That's How the Cookie Crumbles". 6"x6" oil on clayboard panel.

Workshop Products

2011-08-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to take the Dinah Worman workshop recently offered through Central Texas Pastel Society. I have found that workshops of all varieties are a wealth of inspiration and no matter the artistic or teaching style of the instructor much can be gleaned from their presentations.

Dinah gave a demonstration and talk each day followed with lots of time for us to use the concepts she outlined in our own works. She prefers to work fairly quickly and stops before she begins to overwork her paintings. This is something I have struggled with. I always seem to miss the perfect stopping point only to overwork some passages that would have been fine left alone.

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Since I was able to knock out four paintings (all on 8x10 surfaces) in the two day workshop I felt that I was beginning to get the concept that less is more sometimes. The four paintings all turned out better than I had hoped however the last one is not really finished. The cacti in the foreground need work but since it was the last one I was tired and unable to resolve them properly.

2011-08-03T18:39:00.006-05:00

Retirement Painting Opportunity

Now that I have finally retired from my day job, I am finding a lot more time to paint. I have been so busy painting and traveling that I haven't posted recently so this post is to allow me to catch up. I have attended as many PAA paint outs as possible and also painted with my friend Susan Anderson who I met through Laurel Daniel's Plein Air Class at Laguna Gloria. Here are a selection of paintings done in the past couple of months. I also just returned from Colorado where I managed to paint four more 8x10 plein air studies. In addition to all this I also knocked out a new pastel studio painting of my cat CK which I titled "Who Me?" because he always has that innocent of anything look on his face. Let me know what you think of this selection of recent work.

This is the series from Colorado. The first three from camping at

Chapman Lake Dam and the last one from my mother-in-law's deck.

These two from separate visits to New Sweden Church out East of Austin near Manor.

Cypress Creek in Wimberley, a view at Green Gate Farm, and the view from the gardens at the French Legation.

Elisabet Ney Museum, and two from separate visits to Boggy Creek Farm

a view of the barn at Commons Ford Ranch and my cat CK in pastel.

I have also done quite a bit of watercolor sketching and created dozens of abstract artist trading cards. I attended the first of hopefully many artist trading card swaps at Jerry's Artarama last month and was able to trade many cards and add to my collection. I'm really enjoying creating and collecting these wonderful miniature original works of art. If you're not familiar with them check them out. They can be made in any medium. The only rule is that they must be on heavy paper or card stock and must be 2.5" by 3.5" (like a baseball card). There are online groups that trade them and both Jerry's and Asel's offer bulletin board space in their stores for you to trade them. You simply bring one in and pick a new one you would like to have in return.

Challenges for the Upcoming Show

2011-04-04T19:41:00.005-05:00

CTPS is holding a show in May based on our monthly challenge paintings. This gives us even more reason to allow ourselves to rise to the challenge at each meeting. The idea is that the club gives us a list of challenging topics to paint. Each month members bring their example of how they met the challenge to show the other members. I have been pretty lax this year in participating, but I did have a painting for "Bright City Lights" (La Tour d'Eiffel at night, I only wish I could remember where I put it - it's completely vanished), "Oh, the Places We've Been" (Colorado), Reflections of Myself (way too embarrassing to exhibit), and "Abstracting the Landscape" (Red Roof Retreat). I finally did one of "The Other Wildflowers of Texas" (Cactus Flower). Now it's time to get cracking on the next challenge topic - Stormy Weather.

Day Two of the Paint Together

2011-01-23T21:13:00.000-06:00

Another great day of painting. This morning Kathy McCarter helped me address a number of issues with my second painting yesterday, helping me improve it greatly. Then I was lucky enough to have Dalhart Windberg come by my easel and offer his suggestions as well. My painting ended up much improved thanks to both of them. Check out my Frederick/McCarter/Windberg.

In the afternoon I started a new one this one from a photo I took between Redstone and Carbondale in Colorado.

CTPS Paint In

2011-01-22T18:13:00.000-06:00

What great fun we had today. 19 or so of us got together at the Windberg Art Center for a full day of painting together. This was just like a workshop only there wasn't a teacher. The best thing about it was that everyone was so generous with their time and help it was like having 18 teachers, actually 20 teachers because Dalhart and Michael Windberg both helped critique and make suggestions too! What a wonderful day! I pretty much completed two paintings both from photos I took in Colorado in late August and/or early September last year. I'm delighted with both of them. They probably need a little more work but over all a good day's work. Tomorrow we do it all over again. This is a wonderful way for us to get work done, visit with and learn from each other. The great set ups at WAC make it so easy, you just need to bring your paper and pastels. Actually you don't even need to bring that since the Windbergs make some wonderful pastel paper and their on site art supply store sells pastels.

2011 Calendar

2011-01-04T18:24:00.000-06:00

My 2011 Calendar using 12 of my favorite 2010 paintings is now out. This is a simple, fun project which helps promote my work. It's not about making money, it's about getting my work out there. Last year I sold one of the originals from having it on the calendar. Here's a copy of the back cover showing the paintings featured this year. If you're interested in a calendar they're $15 each, which is about what it costs me to print them. Just e-mail me and I can arrange to get you one. Of course, if you're interested in one of the originals, that's even better. The Agave and the Donkey are already spoken for, the others are available.

I've been remiss

2010-10-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

Whatever my excuse, I've been remiss in keeping up my blog. My intent was to keep a running record of my paintings and that I've failed to do. This post is an attempt to begin to catch up a bit. I only managed two paintings while in Colorado this year, but that's because the trip was all about re-finishing the exterior of my mother-in-law's log cabin and not about relaxing and painting. We did an amazing amount of work on the cabin which is now ready to weather the winter in much better shape than it was last year. The first painting I did up there was the other side of Redstone. Patty and I drove out that way to escape the noise and fumes from the new stain being put on the logs. We stopped at a lovely spot along the road next to a river and I set up and painted this view of Chair Mountain. It didn't look much like a chair to me, but that's what it is called.
The other painting from Colorado was the view on the western side of the house looking towards the farm on the next piece of property. It's a lovely peaceful view with the light shining off the top of the silos. I called it "Nestled Farm" because it looks nestled in the valley with the hills surrounding it.

I went with some of the Plein Air Austin painters to participate in the Round Rock Chalk Walk Festival a couple of weekends ago. We had been invited to come as the festival was all about art of many kinds. While there we were encouraged to hang a few pieces in the new art center gallery. They had a whole wall set up with PAA paintings very nicely displayed. I set up on the main street near the gallery and painted an old building and the water tower across the street from me. I called this one "Downtown". It was painted in Round Rock but could pass for almost any small Texas town.

Channeling Georgia?

2010-06-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

I set out this morning to do something I never do. Create a large pastel abstract. I had no idea what I would do when I started out. I just grabbed a large sheet of pastel paper, my largest pastels and started playing with it. My color scheme was somewhat limited by the large pastels I had on hand, but I did supplement a bit with some regular sized pastels. I was surprised by what came out of it. A very colorful somewhat Georgia O'Keefe-ish painting. This was a major departure for me. I usually know exactly what I'm going to paint when I start, and I never use a whole large sheet of paper on one painting - I simply don't paint large. It was strange after the first few marks were down everything just flowed. I new exactly where to go with it even if I didn't know what "it" was. Just another exercise in stretching my horizons - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I must learn to do it more often. Sometimes when I try something new it just lands in the trash bin, but this one I may hang onto to remind myself to try something new from time to time.

Portrait on Demand

2010-06-13T17:32:00.000-05:00

Friday a friend at worked asked if I thought it might be possible to do a portrait of her for her upcoming 50th birthday in 2 weeks. Yikes! I haven't done a portrait in quite some time. She had seen the small oil portrait I had done for a mutual friend of her recently departed father, painted using the funeral program photo as my reference since I had not met the gentleman in life. It turned out fairly successful and his daughter was very pleased with it. Presented with a very small photo on the birthday party invitation, I thought I'd take a stab at it in pastel since my pastel work tends to take less time and lately has been more successful. (I know I haven't posted anything in almost a year, but that doesn't mean I've been totally idle - I've been plugging away in pastel and oils - even taking a wonderful 3-day plein air workshop last weekend with Chuck Rawle and assorted PAA members). This morning I got up, guzzled some coffee and printed out the photo small and then enlarged to about the size I thought I should paint it. After a couple of false starts I decided on a piece of dark blue Canson paper. Several hours in, I was beginning to like it. I took a break for lunch and laundry and then got back to it for a couple more hours. Now I was really thinking I'd nailed it fairly well. I went off to visit Mom for a while. Back at the easel I decided to check a few measurements - oops! I was way off on a couple. Time to adjust and rework. Now I really am beginning to like it. Even Steve (my toughest critic) seems to think I got it. What do you think?

CTPS Challenge Painting

2009-09-20T17:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a piece I knocked out quickly so as to have something fresh for the CTPS challenge painting at the meeting yesterday. I didn't expect to make the meeting but we ended up getting back from our trip a day earlier than originally planned so I was able to go. Since I woke up early and then started fretting that I didn't have a painting for the challenge, I popped out of bed and made one. This one was from one of my vacation photos. The challenge was to draw water. The photo of this creek at the bottom of the trail to Hanging Lake had both still water illuminated by bright sun and also rushing water bubbling over rocks making it even more of a challenge. My husband says this is one of the best ones I've done so far, so perhaps I need to get up in the dead of night and throw pieces together really fast (only kidding). The challenge painting concept is a really good one. Each month the group sets a challenge for the next meeting. Every one who wants to play tries to create a pastel painting to address that topic. It's a wonderful way to stretch yourself doing things you might not otherwise undertake. At the meeting we each show our piece and discuss it and accept advice on how it could be improved. Next month is an abstract or non-objective piece. That is a huge challenge for almost all of us. It's easy to look at abstracts and say how easy they are to make, try making one and you'll see that it takes far more skill than it looks like to come up with a piece you'd be willing to hang on your wall.

My First Award

2009-09-20T17:26:00.000-05:00

Exciting news! While I was away on vacation a pastel painting I had entered in The Austin Pastel Society's North West Gallery Show actually won a Merit Award!!! Wouldn't you know the one show opening I couldn't attend would be the one in which I got an award. The idea for "Twilight's Last Gleaming" came from a photo I shot through the window of the car as we were leaving the Central Texas Pastel Society show at the Cultural Arts Center in Temple. There was an incredibly beautiful sunset that night which I really wanted to try to capture. Now I'm really pumped and eager to keep painting and improving.

Refreshed from vacation!

2009-09-20T17:17:00.000-05:00

Just back from a 2 week vacation with several new paintings to show off. Colorado was beautiful and so was Santa Fe. I took in the American Impressionist Exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art and was lucky enough to fall into one of their free artist demos. Lee Rommell was demonstrating oil painting en plein air (actually the demo was outside but she was using a photo for reference so, it wasn't really a plein air demo although it was billed that way). Labor Day weekend in Santa Fe also meant we got to enjoy a huge art fair which covered the entire central square. Talk about perfect timing! Newly inspired from a day and two nights in Santa Fe we traveled on to Glenwood Springs where I pulled out my own plein air kit and completed the four 8x10 paintings you see here. I also did a couple of watercolor post cards which I mailed off and didn't keep copies. If you got one you know what they looked like.

Deep Eddy

2009-07-11T16:55:00.001-05:00

A Plein Air Austin paint out this morning led to this 8x10 study of Deep Eddy Pool in Austin. What a wonderful cool oasis in the 100° F + heat we've been suffering through. Nothing better than painting till you get too hot and then jumping into a very cool pool. Lovely day, wish I could paint there more often. Maybe next year...

2009-03-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

My paintings from the Desmond O'Hagan workshop, Sesimbra Boats and Bonn Flower Market.

I attended a wonderful workshop with Desmond O'Hagan last weekend. It was incredible to watch Desmond work so deftly with pastel to create fascinating art with such rapid efficiency. His work was absolutely beautiful. I wished I could have had the spare cash to purchase one of his demo paintings, they were so totally worth the price. Not that my work is any reflection on his but I do feel I was able to improve my technique and come out of the workshop with several pieces I was pleased with. Both of the paintings above are pastel on Canson paper.

2009-03-01T18:50:00.000-06:00

Another painting done this weekend is "Lauren's View from Her Kitchen Window". It's a small one but it really captures the incredible view from our friend's kitchen window on Bainbridge Island. Wish I could look at that every evening - heck I might even cook if I had that to look at.

2009-03-01T18:39:00.000-06:00

"Sky Play" Pastel on Canson paper
I took a wonderful pastel workshop on creating skies from Denise Mahlke yesterday. I learned a lot and think it shows. I've got a seat for a 3 day workshop with Desmond O'Hagan coming up next weekend, so I should have more to post after that. Got a great deal on some extra large Art Spectrum pastels. I really enjoyed using them this weekend.

2009-02-06T22:01:00.001-06:00

This is my first posting so I would like to start with a pastel painting which I was very pleased with. It was completed in a mini workshop last July. The painting is a view of Lake Pueblo in Colorado. We were there in May of 2007 for my niece's high school graduation. We spent a beautiful day on the water playing with my brother-in-law's catamaran. This painting came out of one of many photos taken that day. The image area is 8.5" by 10.5" and it is matted and framed in a hand made 12"x 16" cherry frame by Ray's Woodworking. It is available for sale at $ 125.00. Please let me know if you are interested. This and other pieces can be seen and purchased at www.jfrederickart.etsy.com

Please let me know what you think. I'm looking for constructive criticism. Thank you for taking the time to look. More to come soon.