Day Two, Graham Plein Air Watercolor Workshop & Side Trip

DAY  TWO
 PLEIN  AIR  WATERCOLOR  WORKSHOP

Graham, Texas

Bluebonnets and Lake Graham Shoreline

  

Here we are standing in the Bluebonnets

Left to right...

Sandra, Debi, Suzy, Beth, Joann, Rose, Louisa, Margie

The bluebonnets were beautiful along the roadside on the Lake Road.

This is the scene I chose for my first demo of the morning.

The second demo of the morning was a veiw of Bluebonnets

up close and as they recede into the distance.

We had a picnic lunch under a shade tree by the shore of

Lake Graham.  The only thing missing was a hammock

to take an afternoon nap with the cool breeze of the

lake blowing gently.  But, alas, we got back to painting.

My third demo of the day in the afternoon was a scene of a tree branch

reflecting in a pool of water on the lake shore.

There was a painting everywhere you looked on this

glorious day of painting.

Be sure and check on our Third Day of the

workshop.  The weather was cold, windy and rainy

so we painted in the nice warm Post Office Museum in town.

SIDE TRIP

Debi, one of the ladies in the paint group lived

on the other side of the lake and invited us to come

see the water flooding her pasture where the spillway is on

her property.  We also saw her herd of goats.

There was a baby goat just born the night before. 

The little baby goat was so cute and

very wobbly on its little legs.  Mama was very protective.

Ginger, Debi's dog wanted to be in a picture. See photos below.

Such a nice ending to a wonderful day!

This is a flooded pasture.  The spillway is under water

to the right of the road where it goes into the water and

picks up again on the other side.

When dry, this is a pasture area.

Less than a day old baby goat.

Toooo Cute!!!!

A Gathering of Goats at Lake Graham! 

Ginger says Bye, Bye for now,

Come back soon!

One Final note.  Beth, Debi and I ate at the Wildcatter Restaurant Wednesday

evening.  Great food, great scenery looking over the Brazos River valley

and great company. 

Watercolor Plein Air Workshop, Graham, Texas

GRAHAM, TEXAS

April 2010

Red and Linda Foster's Guest House

This cozy cottage is where I stayed

during a 2 1/2 day workshop for the

Graham Art Guild

Linda Foster decorated this

house built in the 1940s just

like it might have been in that time period.

The kitchen had red checked curtains and

red  accents.  Roosters and hens were

in the boarder and the motif of the

kitchen.  The old wooden washboard and

sink had been refurbished as had the

entire house and everything was

sparkling clean.

My stay was very comfortable and quiet.

The only noise came from the birds chirping

in the morning that woke me up.

Day One of the Workshop

Tuesday, April 20,2010

Our painting group met at the Post Office Museum.

We traveled just a few blocks off Main Street to

a pretty bed and breakfast with lots of subject matter

 to paint.  Here are the ladies in our group...

back row, Louisa, Susie, Rose, Sandra

front row, Debbie and Joann

Beth was in charge of the workshop and took very good

care of me during my stay. Monday evening, she provided her

homemade chicken soup for my dinner, delicious!

Tuesday, we all went to a tea room on the square for a salad lunch.

After getting set up with our paints and papers, I did a watercolor demo

of some purple flowers growing by a white picket fence in front of

the house.

Everyone  painted either on

paper or in sketch books their own subject.

I did another demo before we broke for lunch

of an iris.

After lunch we came back to the Victorian House

and painted in the backyard area.

I did this sponge tree and one other demo of a bench

with flowers and picket fence in background.  Sorry, didn't

get a photo of the painting. 

We finished our first day and all went home to

get rested up for Day Two!

This is Red and Linda Foster's House,

 next to the Guest House where I stayed.

A beautiful home with flower gardens full of

purple and yellow iris.

A friend, Cindy and her husband, Danny took me out for dinner to

Sanderson's Restaurant, a well known gathering place

in Graham owned by Joann Sanderson who happens to be

an artist and a member of the Art Guild.

Come back soon to see the bluebonnets we painted on the second day

of our plein air paint out in Graham, Texas.

"TEXAS LONGHORN" by Margie Whittington

See the progression of this painting in reverse order

Photo No. 1, Finished Painting

Photo No. 2, Second Phase of Painting

Photo No. 3, First Phase of Painting

"TEXAS LONGHORN"

24" X 30"

Acrylic on Wrapped Canvas

Finished Painting

See the progression of this painting below.

In this last pase of the painting process, I strengthened

the colors on the steer, paid attention to the details on the

steer's head and patterns on his hide.  Also, refined the

grassy area with some light grasses and darkened the

tree behind the steer.

In the second phase of the longhorn painting (see the first phase below)

I painted the dark grass area and the tree behind the steer.

Then I started painting and developing the steer, the face, horns

and the patterns on the steer's hide.  Ending with the painting above.

In the first phase of this painting, I drew the longhorn steer. After painting

the sky blue, I decided to put some texture in the sky and surrounding the

steer.  Then I painted a thin wash of quinacradome gold over the background.

I developed some of the dark patterns on the steer. The photo preceding this one shows

the second phase of the longhorn painting.