Palette Knife Alamo--oil, 8x10"

Painted entirely with 3 different size palette (painting) knives, it was a fun exercise in a technique I have never used before. The paint is so thick in places it will take a while to dry. Next time I'll try quick-drying acrylics.

Maples Hall (study)- 1890 Kaufman Bank Building--oil, 8x6"

I keep saying I am going to quit doing architecture this small, it's hard to get those architectural details at this size. I need to learn to use small brushes in wet paint! But my intention was to do a color study for a larger painting done from a photo. Painting from life gives you more accurate color and other subtleties. The late afternoon sun was hitting the building, and making the colors bright yet saturated was a challenge.

Daydreaming--pastel, 14x12"

First Place Award - Portrait/Figure in the Austin Pastel
Society's Annual Juried Membership Exhibition.

Also won a Merit Award in the Pastel Society of the Southwest's National Juried Exhibition.

Clementines with the Blues--oil, 10x8"

Started as a demonstration for students, finished later on my own time.

February Morning--pastel, 11x14"

One of three paintings exhibited in the Austin Pastel Society Juried Membership Show.

SOLD

Step 7

Changed the background. Tweaked the background. Adjusted the background. Frustrated with trying to get it to look right. Ready to finish the face, it almost is, need to revisit the red color of the shirt to see if it looks right.

Step 6

Work on the face and background.

Step 5

Adjusting colors, keeping light and dark separate, some work on the face and hair.

Step 4

I've covered nearly all of the canvas, now comes the hard part. Refining and modeling light and dark, deciding whether colors are on the cool or warm side, too light, too dark, correcting contours, determining flesh mixtures in light and shade, etc.

Step 3

More color.

Casting Long Shadows--oil, 8.5x11"

Location: just outside of Athens, Texas, started onsite last October.

Step 2

Beginning to add color.

Step 1--oil, 40x20"

I will be posting the progress of this painting of my daughter. Here I've drawn the outline on a canvas toned with Vermilion, and the darker areas are painted in with Burnt Sienna. This full length painting is the largest one I've done in a while.

Yvonne--charcoal, 14x11"

NFS

A quickly done charcoal study from life.

After Sargent--oil, 10x8"

I copied this head done by John Singer Sargent from a book. It was done as a demonstration of transferring a photo to a canvas using the graph method.

Alamo Christmas--color pencil, 6x10"

Tree by the River--oil, 8x10"

Blanco River scene again. This one was done as a demonstration while I was at the Rain Bird Gallery.

Colorful Canopy--pastel, 6x8"

I liked the way the tree framed the water and its reflections. I tried to capture the colorful greens of the leaves and grass.

This small painting was done on Canson pastel paper.

SOLD

First Painting at TAFA--oil, 16x12"

My first painting assignment at the Texas Academy of Figurative Arts in Fort Worth, Ron Cheek, Director. This represents two three-hour sessions. I had time to paint in lights and darks in the whole figure, but it is fairly rough , no refinement.

This is the approach for beginning figure painting instruction, where a very limited palette is used, in this case only black, white, and raw umber,

Old Blanco County Courthouse (Study) oil, 8x10"

Hopefully I'll get around to doing a larger and more detailed version of this 1886 courthouse in Blanco, Texas, which is no longer used for its original purpose. The county seat moved to Johnson City in 1890 and this building is now a museum. My parents lived in Blanco for many years, and to me this has always seemed a very peaceful and beautiful little community on the Blanco River in the Texas hill country.

The history of the building can be found at http://www.historicblanco.org/history.htm