Italy Cluster

Italy Cluster was done en plein air, in Italy, on a gorgeous sunny day in the hills of Tuscany. Don't ask me to name the town we were at this day, I did not keep track, they all (and we went to a different place everyday almost) started to run together for me.

It was a painting trip to Italy a year ago, with a group of very special artists, we had a villa for two weeks in Tuscany. It was an amazing vacation, painting everyday, great vino, great food, and the ladies were all such fun.

If anyone has painted en plein air before, they will know one has to be quick, it's a race to get that light all the time.

In my case, it was a race to find shade, get a very quick sketch down and try not to sit in an ant nest :)

So having said that, this is a pastel SKETCH (worked on for around an hour) on a rust colored paper (Art Spectrum) and as color is my thing, it allowed be to be quite bold with a fairly unrealistic palette.

Plein air painting is not a huge 'MUST DO' for me, I like my creature comforts too much I guess, but it is great experience, and makes you think and assess the natural light in a very different way to working from a photograph.

Austin Country Club

What a simply lovely day three of my very dearest art buddies and myself had last week. We all did some plein air painting for a couple of hours then had lunch .

The Austin Country Club is a beautiful club, with a lot of reference for the artist's eye.

I am not that interested in landscapes anymore, having gotten onto a figurative and animal track of late, but this was nice escape, even though I had a fight with the sprinkler system :(

Thanks Janine for suggesting and arranging this outing, great fun.
with

Alaska Gold

These beautiful horses are in the town of Ketchikan Alaska. I knew the title of this painting before I painted this one, the gold of the horses and the fact that Alaska gold is everywhere (tourist trinkets gold that is).

I did this one on velour paper in pastels, and it took an amazing amount of very exact drawing, even for me, who is a drawing fanatic.

I had to do a larger scale of my photo (which I gridded) then transfer it to the paper, and on velour this is very tricky.

Anyway, I finished it, even with this darn tennis elbow, which is very sore again after this painting :(

Incidentally, that is why I have been AWOL, I just had to rest this elbow.
Forgive me. I hope I can get back to producing more paintings very soon.

My Baby

Okay I know this is'nt art, but to me she is a work of art.

This is my macaw Baby, whom some of you already know. I have had her for 19 years now since she was 4 months old.

When I was washing up the other morning Baby wanted to 'bob for dishes', and here is a a shot or two of the grand event which has become a morning ritual of great pleasure for her, not so much for me, but oh well.

Just wanted to share.

Round Rock Art Space for CAS

This is another show currently on at the Round Rock Art Space.
The show is for the Capitol Art Society.
I have two horse paintings in the show.
I hope you will try and stop by to see it, there are some wonderful pieces in the show.

Main street Round Rock.

A winner!

Well it seems my Serenata painting got a merit award from Eve Larson (judge), thanks Eve. There was some great art hanging in this show, if you get a chance swing by and look. :)
Nth Hills Gallery

7050 Village Center DriveAustin, 78731

Hi everyone, as I can't figure out how to do this any other way for now, here is a link (to cut/copy or paste) to your browser and you can see the latest online show set up through Western Art Collector. It's an online showcase of several artists' works.

http://www.galleryshowsonline.com/show/dutchpulse1110

I also have work showing at the Dutch Gallery in Dallas (the Artists of Texas), and this link features some of the artists involved as well as myself.

Please explore it, for me, it's a new concept and I want to get feedback.
Thanks everyone
Rae