Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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. 

Sunday, April 25, 2010

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.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

"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.


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