"Metals Abstract 1"

I decided to experiment with mixing metals with acrylics. I used some copper leaf on the canvas and followed with acrylics. This is another one of my tiny pieces - 4x4.

"Horse of a Different Color"

I got to thinking about Cowboys the other day which reminded me of horses . . . so I decided to paint a horse. Even though I used to raise Quarter Horses, I've always like the sculpted shape of Arabian heads. This was also a color mixing experiment. I used only the 3 primary colors plus brown and white to paint this. It was a challenge mixing the colors, but fun all the same.

"Strove, Italy"

Every year we drive to the quaint town of Strove. There's a wonderful restaurant there which we can never remember the name, so we call it "yellow chairs" restaurant. Everyone knows where we're going. This is a building we pass on the way to the restaurant. We arrived when the shadows were good, so I decided to paint it. Please remember that there are 4 of us exhibiting right now at the Daily Grind Coffee House in Round Rock. It's in the strip center next door to Bank of America at Great Oaks & 620. Please stop by if you can.

"Big Brother Watching"

Here are 2 varieties of apples. I forgot the name of the one on the left but it tasted better than the 2 on the right. Yes, I ate my set up again when I finished painting it.

"Kathy's Ranch"

I made a mistake on my previous post. The melon is called "Golden Kiss" and it turns out to be grown in the USA. It's smaller than a regular cantaloupe, and looks a little different, but the flavor is great. The above is a little 6 x 8 plein air painting done at Kathy's beautiful ranch in Spicewood. Our painting group spent the day there Tuesday and toured the entire place. I managed to paint this pasture scene in the morning, so I had the rest of the day to play on the ranch. Fun day - thanks again Kathy!!

"Sunkiss Melon"

This is a new type of melon I found in the store the other day. It's kind of late in the season for melon, so it must be shipped in from some exotic place. Decided to paint and eat it. I will let you know if it's any good.

"Blueberry Surprise"

Still thinking about food, but got carried away with this one. It's still part of my mini-series, but reflects a different mood swing.

"Bosc-a-nova"

I think I've been watching too much "Dancing with the Stars". For some reason these two pears looked like they were ready to start a dance together.

"Veggie Bowl"

This was a painting I started in Italy and finished this weekend. I had it all blocked in, but had not gone back to put on the final coat of paint. I painted this on our second rain day before we used the ingredients to make dinner later that night.

"Triple Peppers"

I think I'm through with the peppers for awhile. These will be cooked soon and will be gone. Think I'll start another abstract series. I have one of my friends in town from the Italy trip and we have been in my studio for the past 2 days painting. Needless to say we are having a wonderful time.

"Triple Gold"

This Saturday my traveling buddies will be gathering at the lake to have a Italy reunion. We will all bring a favorite Italian dish, great wines, deserts, share our photos and just reminisce about great times. These peppers are going to be part of the dish I'll bring. One of my favorites; Italian Sausage & Peppers over penne pasta.

"Kissing Pears"

I've been doing a lot of grocery shopping lately and have decided to start painting some of my purchases. With the current prices, they may now be considered valuable items. I had to paint the red pears first because they are extremely ripe and need to be eaten immediately.

"Big White Pumpkin"

I actually painted this a long time ago, but because of what day it is . . . you know . . .

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

"Morning Stretch"

Well here's something different! I was attempting to work with design in this painting. It went through many variations and I ended up with this version. Not sure if I'm happy with it, but thought I'd share my attempt anyway. Feedback is always welcome (I think).

"Monteriggioni Church"

This is a partial view of the large church located in the walled town of Monteriggioni, Italy. This is such a quaint little town completely surrounded by high rock walls with lookout posts at the very top. The entire town is located on the top of a hill so they had great views of any enemies approaching. Now it's full of restaurants, gelato stores, art, gift shops and actual residences. We definitely enjoyed our time spent here.

"Man in the Hat"

Not for Sale. I took a one and a half day workshop a couple weeks ago with Joe Fettings. Anyone who has taken his workshop will recognize this guy. The students all painted the same image with the same basic color combinations. We were learning how to lay down layers of watercolors and blend. Even though we all painted the same subject, at the end of the day, we all had different individual paintings. Each person's "style" came through on every version. Fun class, but very exhausting. It's tough bending an old mind in new directions.

"Fruit & Veggies"

This is another watercolor sketch I did one day when we had a big rain storm at the Villa. This particular day we were planning to eat the eggplant and use the cucumber in the salad for dinner. I decided to paint this before they were gone. I had to slap hands twice to save the bananas before I completed my painting.

"Villa Next Door - II"

Last year we stayed at the villa behind the one we stayed in this year.
Last year I set up an easel one day and painted the "The Villa Next Door"
and that's the villa we ended up staying at this year. This painting is
a plein air painted from our front porch view looking in the same
direction as last year, but seeing yet another villa next door. I wonder
if this is a form of painting destiny. Think maybe this will be the
next one we actually stay in next year???

9 x 12 Oil on Canvas


This is the community pool at the villa compound. Everyone staying
here has access to this olympic size pool. There's a cabana and bathroom
off to one side and is also surrounding gardens and stunning views.
You can swim some serious laps in this pool.

"Villa Gardens"

This is a watercolor sketch of the villa patio next door. I was looking for a shady spot to sit and decided to do a quick sketch of this view. I tried to do at least one quick study of something every day.

Preparing for the Sunset

This is just one of the nightly sunsets we watched from
the rock wall.


Below is preparation for watching the sunset. Wine at hand,
snacks at the ready - just watching and waiting. We came
in for dinner after the sun completely disappeared behind
the distant hills.

Left to Right: Diane Peters, Courtney Brown, Carol McCollum, Rae Andrews, Eileen Pestorius

"Italian Hay Bales"

This is a painting I started in Italy and finished at home. These hay bales were just down the road at the bottom of the hill from our villa. We decided they needed to be painted and several of us painted our version of this scene. It was fun comparing our different interpretations.

Traveling Partner

This is my traveling buddy, Rae Andrews, who's a super artist and best friend. We've had many road trips together, but this was our biggest one to date. This was taken at one of the many great restaurants we tried along the way. As usual, we are toasting another wonderful day in Italy!

"Castillina Storefront"

This is a watercolor postcard I sketched while sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping wine one day. The town was Castillina in Chianti and whenever our group got separated, we'd always stop outside a cafe and sip wine. Eventually, we'd all find each other and continue sipping.

Monteroso - Cinque Terre

This is the town of Monteroso, where we stayed while visiting Cinque Terre. We got off the train and walked to our hotel, dragging our suitcases behind us. We loved this town with it's many great restaurants, old town, hiking and beautiful water. We ate dinner at one of the sidewalk restaurants and immediately thereafter, jumped in the ocean for a refreshing end to the evening.

"Sunflower II"

This little watercolor was done from one of my photos taken in Italy. We missed the huge fields of blooming sunflowers, but I snapped a photo of this big one in a local gelato shop. I enjoyed looking at the sunflower while eating yet another Pistachio gelato.

Villa View

This is a piece of the view off the front porch of our Italian villa. This is the scene we woke up to every morning. Later I will post some of the spectacular sunsets we watched every night looking out in this same direction.

"Garden Flowers"

Well, I'm finally back from Italy and what a trip it was!!! Three glorious weeks in Tuscany with a side trip to the Italian Rivera (Cinque Terre). I pretty well shot the month of September with travel, but it was all worth it. This little water color sketch was done one day from a couple of flowers I picked from the garden at our Villa in Tuscany. I will try to show a few of the photos along with my painting dabbles as I begin posting again. I did miss everyone, hope a few of you missed me too!

Travel Buddies

These are my traveling buddies. From Left to Right: Rae Andrews, Me, Eileen Pestorius, Courtney Brown, and Carol McCollum. Taking the photo is Diane Peters. I'll sneak in another photo of Diane in a later post. We are all fellow artists who regularly paint together at home and if we're really lucky, get to travel abroad once a year. We toasted many many glasses of great Chianti wine together in appreciation of each and every day, sunset, meal, painting, gelato and anything else we deemed worthy.

"Cochran House" - Study

We braved the 100+ degree heat the other day and went downtown to plein air paint this old mansion. It's one of Austin's treasures and a great place for events. They are also very "artist friendly" here. The curator was gracious enough to come out and bring us cold water while we were withering on the vine.

"Italian Architecture"

Last year I snapped a photo of this building in Italy. I can't remember what town this was, but I liked the way it looked. Since it's only a couple of weeks before I leave again for Chianti country, I'm trying to get my head back into the country. Ciao!