Rear Window

"Rear Window" (pastel, 6x8 inches) $425

I was headed back to the RS Hannah Gallery on Thursday to check out the view from the upstairs balcony, which someone said had really good views of Main Street. I stopped to chat with Debra Joy Groesser and admire the painting she was doing of a house behind the gallery, when I got distracted by the light on this window on a neighboring gallery and decided I had to paint it.

This was my final of four paintings I did in the AIS Member Paintout last weekend. The American Impressionist Society has their 4th Annual Impressions Small Works Showcase this year at the RS Hannah Gallery in Fredericksburg Texas. For two days preceding the opening reception, members could paint out around Fredericksburg and put one painting in the "Wet Wall" Competition. This is the one I chose to enter.

The Small Works Showcase itself is a truly amazing show. Every time I browsed the show I was newly stunned that I was actually included! (My painting "Golden" is in the show.)

"Golden" (pastel, 12x9 inches, $1350)

You can see the entire show online here, but to see the paintings in person has no comparison!

Meanwhile, here are some progress pics of Rear Window:

Shannon Hannah at the gallery wanted to keep this little painting a while longer (the Wet Wall Competition was only for the weekend) because she was eager to show it to the owners of that building. So this little "Rear Window" might be available at the RS Hannah Gallery 'til the end of the Small Works Showcase on April 4, when I go back to pick up "Golden"... Or maybe not!

New work at the Gallery at Brookwood

"T is for Tiger" (pastel, 12x12 inches) $550

The rest of my current inventory from the year has been delivered to the Gallery at Brookwood for the winter. These are most of what I have there now. Hope you can take a visit, their gift shop and gallery are a sublime shopping experience!

Not only that, but all art sales help support the citizens of Brookwood.

"Twin Fawns II" (pastel, 18x18 inches) $975

"Shadowfire" (pastel, 24x24 inches) $2300

"Cow Lick" (pastel, 18x24 inches) $1730

"Twilight Road" (pastel, 9x12 inches) $475

"Smith" (pastel, 10x10 inches) $475

"Peggy" (pastel, 12x6 inches) $390

"Banded Archerfish" (pastel, 4x6 inches) $250

"Butterball" (pastel, 6x4 inches) $250

Later this month I'll be enjoying my first international workshop, in Montreal, Canada! I'll try to make some new posts while I'm there.

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New work at The Gallery at Round Top

"Chic Chick" (pastel, 6x4 inches) $250 Now available at The Gallery at Round Top.

In an effort to push me to paint more and fill up new inventory, I've delivered all my current inventory to the galleries I'm in ...

"Chic Chic" (above) is one of my current favorites, and I've been using it as my Facebook Page profile pic!

Here are some of the other works that are now available at The Gallery at Round Top, in Round Top Texas:

"Daddy!" (pastel, 18x24 inches) $1730

"Daddy's Girl" (pastel, 36x36 inches) $5180

"Midnight" (pastel, 6x4 inches) $250

"Mondo" (pastel, 10x8 inches) $400

"Ruairidh" (pronounced "Roor-rid" meaning Red-Haired King, pastel, 24x12 inches) $985

"Frog #18" (pastel, 5x5 inches) $250

"Frog #19" (pastel, 5x5 inches) $250

"Moora" (pastel, 6x6 inches) $265

You're Invited! - Boerne Parade of Artists

Join us in Boerne Texas this weekend, April 13 & 14 for the 23rd Annual Boerne Parade of Artists. Enjoy an ARTful weekend! Click the image for a larger view, and save the map to print for your convenience.
Looking forward to seeing you there!

Rita
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Land Studies 3 and 4 (Summer Twilight and Winter Morning) - now at The Carriage House Gallery

"Land Study 3" (pastel, 3x3 inches)

"Land Study 4" (pastel, 3x3 inches)

I had originally done six little studies in a workshop with Marla Baggetta - super fun! From our own photos we picked one scene but painted it several times with variations in colors, values, etc. These are the two I did while thinking of extremes in value scales. My "dark" scheme made me think of nighttime, so I added some fireflies. My "light" scheme I think of as a misty winter morning.

So, my personal subtitles for these are "Summer Twilight" and "Winter Morning"! They make a great pair, and are now available at The Carriage House Gallery in Boerne, Texas! Come and see them at our reception this Saturday, January 12, 2019, 4-8pm.

The Carriage House Gallery
110 Rosewood Ave., Boerne, TX

Both are classically framed, 8x10 with 8-ply museum matting!

Daddy's Girl - My Centerpiece at the Carriage House Gallery, Boerne TX

"Daddy's Girl" (pastel, 36x36 inches) $5180

You and your guests are invited to a reception
on Saturday, January 12, 2019 from 4-8pm
 

I'm honored to be one of the newest artist partners at The Carriage House Gallery of Artists in Boerne, Texas. Along with our other new artist, photographer Dixie Lee, we are celebrating our new additions with a reception. I hope you can come!

I have several feet of wall space in the gallery and will be working there and demonstrating a few days each quarter, including January 10th, 11th and 18th. Come by and say hi and browse and shop the excellent and diverse art!

The Carriage House Gallery is the longest running open gallery in Boerne, and was voted Best of the Best Art Gallery in Boerne the last two years in a row!

The other multi-talented Artist Partners include: Angie Carney, Elizabeth Castle, Linda Chalberg, Donald Darst, Bonnie Mann, Becky Rogers, Doug Roper, Dena Szymarek and Nancy Yarbrough.

Hope to see you on the Second Saturday, January 12th!
Click here for more info!

The Carriage House Gallery
110 Rosewood Ave., Boerne, TX

Please share! :)

Black Coat - a pivotal piece

"Black Coat"  (pastel, 32x32 inches)  $5100

I recently discovered that this, one of my favorite paintings, that has made the circuit of galleries and shows over the years and has yet to find the right buyer, has never been blogged or Facebooked by me! I don't know how that happened. Possibly because I painted it in 2009, two years before my sudden increase in social media marketing.

Secretly, I'm pleased this one has never sold, because if ever there was a work that deserves to be in a retrospective exhibit of my work twenty years from now, this one is it! Aside from being the first daringly different composition in my then fledgling cow series, it's also the first painting that I used various colors of pastel primers to create somewhat of an 'underpainting' for the pastel -- something I do now with all of my work as a much more developed technique, and it all began with this one.

The base coat was the Art Spectrum pastel primer in terra cotta, which I had been using as my favorite surface under all my work for a couple of years. But when faced with such a very white calf, and such a very black calf, my innate 'lazyness' kick-started my brain into finding a way to avoid building up those extreme values with only the pastel...

So after drawing the basic outlines, I brushed on the black and the white primers (also Art Spectrum brand) over the areas that would be primarily the brightest white and darkest black in the painting.

 When I discovered how well this simplified my pastel application in the painting process, I was hooked for good!!

As an aside, the composition of my most recent large cow painting, "Castor and Pollux" from October 2015, was rather largely influenced by my enjoyment of Black Coat, even after all these years. (...It's my preferred opinion that Black Coat was ahead of it's time...)

Thanks for reading! Please share!

Got Milk? (revised)

"Got Milk?"  (pastel, 12x24 inches)  $975

Available at the Lee-Bunch Studio Gallery in Del Rio TX, through mid January, 2015.

Invited as the Featured Artist for the Del Rio First Friday Art Walk, I had a great weekend taking a load of paintings to the gallery owned by Pam Bunch, a wonderful lady and an excellent artist, especially with watercolors! She graciously hosted me in her home for two nights, and organized a beautiful reception Friday evening.

During the day on Friday, I made some long-over-due revisions to one of my favorite paintings from last year, "Got Milk?" The horrid bright green grasses in the background had always bugged me, so I wiped off that part and made up a new background with some depth, and I used several colors I already saw in the painting to improve the color harmony.

(Here's the old version:)

A couple shots of my 'corner' of the gallery, right as one walks in!

The December first friday in Del Rio is also the Christmas Parade, which goes right past the gallery windows -- a prime spectator spot!

Later, the two young Misses, Miss Del Rio Texas and Miss Del Rio Texas Teen stopped by the reception with their families to see the artwork! (I took advantage of the photo op!)