Morning Light 24×30 oil on gallery wrapped canvas $700
Painted during the late summer when the hay grass had turned a Naples Yellow, this landscape is currently on my guest room wall. I walked in there today, noticed it, and said to myself, “I had forgotten about that one!”
I don’t know how I forgot about it, except that it was painted at a time when I was in between shows. It wasn’t dry enough for “From the Ground Up.” And then, life got busy, so I just put it out for sale on my website today!
I love the finished painting as much as I loved the morning light when it hit that yellow hayfield one summer morning. It was one of those mornings that grabbed my attention and said, “Paint me!” I probably had a coffee cup in my hand, walked out on the porch to breathe, before the Texas heat took over by 10:00 a.m., and used my cell phone to record the scene, for reference in a painting.
The painting, Morning Light, is in my guest room, for now. But, if it gets your attention and you are interested, be my guest! The paintings on my walls are often changed. (And I wonder if my husband notices.)
It’s Bluebonnet Season in Texas! And that means plein air painters are traveling the back roads, looking for the perfect scene to paint their annual bluebonnet painting! I haven’t found a field of bluebonnets in a good location yet. But the close up studies have been really fun. And from that, painting the larger 20×20 reminded me of painting hydrangeas in Georgia! (Some of my GA friends may recognize the same style.)
Those of us in Central Texas are glad to see the bluebonnets blooming! It’s another sign that spring is here – new life, longer days, sunshine and brighter colors!
If you’ve got the winter blues, maybe a bluebonnet painting would take care of that:
8×10 6×8 8×10 on paper 8×10 on paper9×12 on canvas
…or a walk through the bluebonnets…that’s a sure cure for the blues, too! Happy Spring!
When we began preparing for a move to Waco, Texas a few years ago, my husband and I knew we wanted to live in the country, on the same side of the county as our son’s family, and wanted more than one acre of land. Our house hunt led us fifteen miles away from Waco, to more land than we needed, six miles from our son, and a Mart address.
Mart, with a population of about 2000, gives many subjects and opportunities for paintings. (You may have noticed I’ve been using the hashtag, #artfrommarttx, on my Instagram account.) I took a photo for this painting while parked at the Dollar General. Like so many rural places in Texas, the grain elevators dominate the skyline of the town.
Welcome to Mart, TX! 9×12 oil sold
Read’s Grocery, on the main street, is a convenient six miles for me when I need a quick trip to the grocery. During the days of quarantine, they remained open with stocked shelves and sanitizing protocols, for which I am grateful.
Pizza Pro is on the right side, with delicious baked spaghetti and, of course, take out pizza! They even sell empty pizza boxes to artists who need wet canvas carriers!
The friendly staff of the U.S. Post Office of Mart has been such a help to me in shipping paintings and filling orders for prints. They always have time to help me figure out the best way to do things. And our rural carrier, who brings packages to the door, has become a first name friend. Gotta love the small town life!
Farm to Market 9×12 oil
I was puzzled by the names of some Texas roads being FM2957 or FM939. I’ve always had trouble remembering numbers. Words like “Lake Felton Parkway” or “County Line Road” come to my mind easier. I learned that FM stands for Farm to Market and was an avenue for that in the beginning of their construction. This painting, Farm to Market, is the view I see as I enter the Mart City Limits from the County Line Road (or FM 939). And those hay bales have been there with the For Sale sign since about summer before last.
Home on the Range 10×20 oil
So, yes, we moved to Waco. But, we have a Mart address, and we are really closer to Hallsburg and Elk. If you decide to visit, it might be best to call for directions. The porch rockers are ready for you. But I’m probably around back, painting art from Mart!
Maybe it’s because there were always trees in Georgia to buffer storms and hide the angry clouds. Maybe it’s because I have never lived in a house with a metal roof before this one, and couldn’t hear the pounding of rain. Maybe it’s because there is so much BIG sky in Texas! Whatever the reason, I have seen and heard a variety of powerful storms during this year and a half of getting settled into life in Central Texas.
We had a storm, a few weeks back, that caused aqua, purple and green clouds to twist and churn across the area. I happened to be traveling from one side of Waco to the other. As the clouds chased me in the rearview mirror and circled my car to whip around on my right side, I raced toward blue sky as fast as the 75 speed limit allowed. All was well. I arrived at a safe location. And later, as I rode back home, I was relieved to find that the storm had passed, the sun was shining, and there was only a trail of hail that had been left behind on the sides of the road.
As I worked on this big painting from my own photo, I struggled. I painted and repainted. The clouds seemed to shift shapes on the canvas as much as they do in real life. I would come back the next day and see something else to fix.
We all come through so many storms, some larger than others. Often, they don’t pass as quickly as a summer thunderstorm. Often, they are problems we struggle with for years. Often, they are so heavy that we have to stop and rest. Often, we have to release them to One with more power than we have to pull us through the pain.
Can you remember the biggest storm in your life? Even if you have come through it, it may be helpful to think back and be amazed at the light, the joy, the relief that broke through when you reached the other side. There is hope. While we are still in the storm, we keep traveling toward the light sky… and pray for breakthroughs to happen!
Though it’s getting too hot on August 1 to paint outside in Central Texas, I was out early today to catch the soft lavender hues being awakened by the morning sun. It was good to be painting in this place once more, after being away a few weeks. The wind was gentle, the colors were softened and beginning to fade from the summer heat. And yet, another wildflower was making its debut on the hillside, sprinkling a bluish lavender that reminded me of bluebonnet season. I’m calling it a “wild petunia” until someone corrects me.
What kind of flower is this?
So, I observed and painted, enjoyed the gentle breeze, and listened to birds and cows, until about 9:00 a.m. when the sun began burning the back of my legs and arms. It was a signal even stronger than the chime of my cell phone, telling me it was time to move indoors. But for the moment, I had been “Graced by Wild Petunias” and the beauty of another day.
What a difference a season of time makes!! I painted Lonely Tree in the first few months of moving to the Ranch. The stark lack of foilage and evidence of wind, whipping its branches in the winter, caused me to name it “lonely tree”. (Yeah, yeah, there might have been some subliminal identification with it on my part at the time, after moving four states westward.)
The Gathering 10×20 Oil
But now, six months later, I look at the same tree and see that it has new growth, has sprouted numerous new leaves, and gathered bushes and various wildflowers underneath to share its shade. I think I will call this one “The Gathering.” It is a comfortable place to be. What a difference a season of time makes!
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3
This question has been foremost in my mind as I am getting settled in as a painter in Bluebonnet Country of Texas. Friends in Georgia have been waiting anxiously to see. Never mind that I left a trail of camellias and magnolias behind. The question now is, “But, can you paint a bluebonnet?”
I half-expected it to be the litmus test for joining any Texas art organization. I imagined every art gallery here would be filled with fields of bluebonnets and cowboy paintings. Or maybe the task would be included on the numerous hoops one must jump through to obtain a Texas Driver’s License! So today, I focused on a closeup view of the flower.
With that southern impressionistic, expressive, “blurry looseness” that I’ve been working on for several years, I wanted to stylize this bluebonnet as one of mine. What ‘cha think? There is always room for development, but for now, I’m checking this one off.
Now, if I could just find a way to attach the sweet fragrance that comes with them…aah!
