"Lake Travis Sunset"

Well the big holiday is over, so I thought I'd post something calm and soothing. This is a plein air I did a couple of months ago over at a friend's house. It was painted very quickly as the sun set very fast. In the summertime we have a longer time to paint the sunset. In the winter the sun seems to drop like a rock.

"Self Portrait II" Abstract

I think this time of year is what caused the creative spark for this painting. I think it's a pretty good representation of how I see myself in the month of December.

"The Tree"

This was painted from a sketch I did on a private ranch near Fredericksburg. It was suppose to be a plein air painting day, but it was so cold my oil paints were too thick. So instead, I sketched quickly and headed for the warm car (whimpy painter). I later did this acrylic in "Van Gogh" style with heavy paint and some palette knife work.

"Poppies"

I am trying to stay in "red mode" because of the time of year, but I don't think these guys really bloom until spring. Oh well. Thank you to all who have ordered the greeting cards. I still have some stock left, so it's not too late to get in an order.

"Poinsettia"

I was trying to "get in the spirit" of things and paint something seasonal. Since I'm in the middle of a remodeling project, and was too busy to go shopping . . . I found an old fake plant in the closet, chopped off a bloom and painted it! Now I feel compelled to buy a real plant and paint it.

"Sunflowers" - Still Life

I'd like to tell you these are French sunflowers, painted on my trip, but I can't tell a fib. They're direct from HEB in Round Rock, but they do look just like the ones I saw in the fields in France!!

"Sweetie Pie"

Not to be outdone and demanding equal time . . . meet Sweetie Pie, our mutually adopted cat. She found us just a couple of weeks after we lost our precious Yorkie and we found her love helped heal a couple of broken hearts. Now she's the lady of the house and lives a wonderful life. In the morning when she's all feisty she comes running into the entry way, hits the long rug and flips herself in and out. One morning I got a photo of her resting before tearing thru the living room.

"Which Way?"

This is another painting using the tools learned in Vie's workshop. The object was abstract movement with an overlay painting. After completing the background I thought I saw a fish - I pursued it from there and came up with this painting.

"Pearl" SOLD

Meet Pearl, the sweetest little Papillon I've ever met. Her owners were walking her down the street a couple of weeks ago when we crossed paths. She immediately came right over to me and started with big kisses and dancing on her hind legs. It was love at first sight! I took her picture, came home and painted her.

"Palmetto Morning"

This painting is the 2nd of 3 paintings using the techniques learned from the Vie Dunn-Harr workshop. It starts with an underpainting of colors which is quickly followed by an overpainting. At the beginning of this painting (and most of the way thru it) I had no idea what I was going to paint. It's sort of an inspirational/intuitive process that's very uncomfortable while doing it, but can yield some good results if you can just go with the flow. Hope you like it!

"Ethereal Pear" - SOLD

This was fun. I played with abstracting a typical still life for a totally different look. I have had so many people say encouraging things to me about my abstracts that I will pursue them more often. I generally have much more fun painting them anyway! Thank you Tom. I'm sure this painting has found a great new home.

Greeting Cards - Time to Order

I've been selling packages of greeting cards - 8 cards with envelopes - for $10.00. The first ones were a variety pack of 8 different paintings from my blog. I am now taking orders for ANY painting(s) you want to select off my blog. Each order must be at least 4 of the same image; i.e., you can select 2 different images for a package of 8, or 1 image and have all 8 of the same image. Just select the title of the painting(s) and email me at: vicki@bnoconstruction.com. Please get your orders in asap as this time of the year seems to go haywire for me!! If you are out of town, I will have to add minimum postage (cheapest way possible) to mail them to you. Thanks!!

"Blue Vase" Still Life

A new "bigger" still life (11 x 14) created from the influence of Qiang Hiang's workshop. I had never painted this type of painting before and it was fun to do. It's certainly easier to round up some items in the house than traipsing all over outside looking for the right scene to paint! I was especially happy with the apple. The original looks like you could grab it and take a bite. Enjoy.

"Orange Vase Still Life"

Please excuse the glare on this photo. I promise this painting doesn't glow in the dark! I just took a weekend workshop with an exceptional artist and instructor, Qiang Huang. He's a member of our plein air group, but doesn't have much time to join us lately. He specializes in still life work and I thought I'd give it a shot. I really enjoyed his class and would highly recommend it to any of my art buddies.

"First Morning" SOLD

Thank you East Texas Paws!! I painted this little guy this afternoon. He was born this past spring and found in my next door neighbor's yard. We snuck up on him and took his picture. He was perfectly happy and not at all frightened. Somehow, when you see him at this stage he's cute, but you forget that next year he will devour all my yard plants!

"Wildflower Center"

This is a plein air study done at the Lady Bird Wildlife Center. Our group went there to paint a couple weeks ago and I thought I'd share my little work. If you haven't been there, they have a great gift shop and many great trails. I also learned that this is the month to plant your bluebonnet seeds. It may seem early, but it's time to prepare for next spring.

"Autumn Leaves"

Autumn is almost here - yea! This work is a watercolor and gouache mix. One of these days I'm going to visit Colorado at the right time of year to see the Aspens turn golden. Until then, this is my made up version of the fall I've never seen.

"Walled City Residence"

The little town of Monteriggioni is a walled city perched on a high hill with towers all around. The town was definitely built for war and seeing the enemy coming. It's very small and pretty treacherous getting a car up the hill and into the city, however, there are many residences there. I don't know if some or all of them are the shop owners. The public is not allowed to drive in - they must WALK up the hill, but somehow the residents get their little cars up the giant hill and down the very narrow streets. It's so small that it was hard to find a vantage point to paint. This painting was done from a park no larger than a back yard.

"Castillina Church Tower"

Castillina in Chianti has their famous church tower. This was the last on site painting I did before leaving this wonderful land behind. We set up our easels off the side of the road and painted this scene. In between brush strokes and many ankle bites we met people from Austria, Germany and Canada who stopped by to visit and take a peek. Most were serious bike riders and all were enamoured with the whole "en plein air" painting technique. We met so many friendly people and they all just loved painters!!!

"Chianti Italy"

This is a piece of one of our views from the Villa. This was done from the vantage point of our back patio, looking down and then the terrain went up in the distance. Nice trick trying to capture it on canvas. Wonder who lives and farms here.

"The Villa Next Door" - SOLD

This was the villa directly next door to us. Not to drop names or anything, but this is where some very famous people vacation. This is a little plein air done in the morning before leaving for the day. I love the architecture and especially the working shutters. They are all solid wood which open and lock up for privacy/security. Every morning I loved being the first one up and throwing open the shutters to see the new beautiful day.

"Villa Malpensa" Abstract - SOLD

Thank you Jan & Richard for purchasing my painting and giving it a good home. May you enjoy it! This is a abstract I did of the place I stayed in Milan right before coming home. It's a big old grand hotel. I was playing around this weekend and did an abstract from a photo on their business card. I arrived there after 8:00 PM but had wanted to get there much earlier to enjoy the place. It was pretty expensive, so I felt like I pretty much missed my visit there. My painting shows the end of the day slipping away feeling I had.

Photo - Rear View of our Villa

This is the back corner of our villa showing just a piece of one of the gardens and distant views.

"Grapes from the Arbor"

I forgot to post this yesterday. This is another watercolor study of the fresh picked grapes from our patio arbor. They were placed on a strawberry patterned table cloth and I had to throw in some of those fresh cut flowers from the garden. After painting, I ate all the grapes!

"Garden Flowers"

More fresh cut flowers from our Villa gardens. I couldn't get over the endless supply of wonderful blooming plants that were so lovingly tended by our gardeners. Wish I could have brought them home with me! I was so motivated to paint everything in my path while there, that just quiet times on the patio were spent doing little watercolor studies. No, these are not my best works, but they are important moments I wanted to record in paint.

"Bougie on the Arbor"

This is a pen/ink watercolor postcard I did for my Italy journal. I was sitting on the patio and the color of the blooming bougainvillaea growing up the grape arbor support caught my eye. Scribble scribble, wash wash - postcard!

Photo of view from our villa

This is one of the views from our villa in Chianti country. You could see for hundreds of miles. Many crops had just been tilled under, but all the green is grapevines. I wanted to upload several photos at one time, but can't seem to figure out how to do it. Will post other photos later.

"Lilliano Door"

The little town of Lilliano was very close to our villa. There was a large winery there and one day we stopped by and painted on their property. They were harvesting grapes while 3 painters stood on their property painting various scenes - no one said a word or seemed to think it unusual. We just waived to the guy hauling the grapes and enjoyed our afternoon.

"Radda Church Tower"

Every town has a big church and usually a tower. Some are more magnificent than others. This painting was done in the field in the town of Radda in Chianti. We stopped when we had a vantage point and pulled out our paints and went after it. It's a small town close to where we stayed. We went there several times for market days, shopping and wine. This was not one of my favorite paintings, but I received positive feedback from my fellow painters, so I decided to share it with you. My first paintings were done in watercolor because they are so fast and travel friendly. Later during the trip I got out my oils and did a complete set up to paint. Will post them soon.

"Morning Roses"

Well I'm back from 2 glorious weeks in Italy. We had fabulous gardens at our villa and picked fresh flowers for our rooms every day. These little roses were picked the first day we arrived and while we drank our coffee outside I painted a quick watercolor postcard. This was a quickie painted while still in my jammies before our day really started. This trip was so wonderful, that I've decided to post a couple of my photos taken at the villa. Stay tuned!

"Texas Hill Country"

This will be my last post before leaving for Italy. I chose this painting because it's cheerful and bright and in total contract to what's been occurring. It's been such a depressing weekend watching our beloved Galveston being ravaged by Ike. As most of you know, that is where David and I go most often for our R&R. It will be many years before this town will be healed and rebuilt. So very sad.

"French Goat Walker"

Available - Only 10 more days and it's off to Italy. I'm still reminiscing about France! This little man walked his goats on the property behind the house we stayed in France. Each goat had on a collar and a cow (goat) bell. They made soooo much noise as they came through the hills. A few hours later they came back through and went home. We loved watching this little parade.

"French Country Home"

This is the first pastel painting I ever did. Don't know why I forgot to post it before, but thought I'd still share it. I'm leaving for Italy in 2 weeks and I guess my head is actively recalling the memories from last years' France trip. This is a little stone house we passed quite often and I wanted to go inside so bad. I wondered if it was as lovely inside as outside. I loved the ivy growing on the walls and the wonderful view they had of the river down below and hills in the distance. If I could have a little French villa, this would be the one!

"Golden Pachyderm"

I'm reading the most amazing book right now about India. Even though there are no elephants in the book, I was inspired to paint this fellow. Don't know where this stuff comes from!

"Canyon Ranch - Spring"

This is my version of a classic Texas spring day at Canyon Ranch. A couple of years ago when we actually had rain, the hill country was beautiful. This painting was done from one of my photos that year. Thank you Carol Marine for nominating me for the "Arte y Pico" blog painting award. I have had some new visitors!!

"Colorado Barn"

Oops - I accidently deleted this, so I'm reposting. This is a painting of an old abandoned barn we passed every day on our last trip to Colorado.

"Friends" - SOLD

Who are these handsome gentlemen?? This is so much fun trying to capture the right parts and pieces and still recognize the person. This is another acrylic. I like this medium for this type of painting because it dries so fast and I don't have to wait to keep going!! Fun, fun, fun. THANKS STEVE FOR YOUR CONTINUED ENCOURAGEMENT & SUPPORT FOR MY ART WORK!!

"Self Portrait #1"

Not for Sale. Who is this pale faced woman?? I had so much fun doing this! It's my "Warhol" version of myself. It was amazing how much could be left out and still read with identity. It was so much fun, I'm going to paint my husband in similar style.

"Evening Dogwood"

On this painting I experimented with some deeper. darler colors trying to get an "evening" effect. I also played with the brushstrokes, using almost all vertical strokes on the background as a counter to the horizontal branches. Your comments are welcome!!

"Odyssey" - SOLD

Don't ask me why - can't tell ya. . .another mood painting. It's a 16x16 acrylic. I don't do much acrylic. This is one of the few and I thought I'd share it.

"French Gate"

This one's hot off the old easel - finished it today. It's from another photo taken on the last France trip where, once again, I'm fascinated with gates & doors leading to ???? This could easily be right here in Austin. We do have similar rock and plants, but it's really from a small town in Provence.

"French Food"

Mmmm. The time is drawing near and soon it will be time for this year's Italy painting trip! To help get in the mood, I painted one of the wonderful lunches we had at last year's France trip. Always fresh, nicely presented and sooo good. I'm definitely "in the mood".

"Platte River"

We stayed right next to the Platte River and could always hear it running. The water was moving pretty swiftly and it was like being at the ocean with the sound. We all cracked our windows at night so we could hear the running water. Very relaxing and soothing. This was a spot where we entered the area where our cabin was located. My photo, once again, is showing some glare. The actual painting does not look this fuzzy.

"Garden of the Gods"

What an incredible sight! Gigantic red rock formations just jutting out of the earth! I've never seen anything like it. This was one of the highlights of our recent trip to Colorado. We painted in the morning until it got too hot and then dined at a wonderful Country Club nearby overlooking Pikes Peak. What a fabulous day!!

"Cabin Back Yard"

We're back from our quick Colorado trip. Colorado is truly God's country - so unbelievably beautiful. Needless to say, we all had a great time and I got 3 paintings done. This is a small piece of the back yard view from the cabin we stayed at. Every morning I had my coffee at the picnic table on the back porch and looked at this. The first morning I had to paint it. Enjoy!

"Cabo Sunset"

I did this pastel today at a pastel class with my friend and super artist Rae Andrews. Haven't messed with my pastels for awhile and enjoyed the change. This was done from a photo of one of the many colorful sunsets we watched in Cabo San Lucas several years ago.

Summer Leaves"

This one looks better in person. It's watercolor, ink and collage and was difficult to get a true rendering in the photo. This piece is currently on display at The Home Spa, 1411 W. 6th Street, Austin, TX.

"Ajijic Fireplace"

While visiting Ajijic Jalisco Mexico we met many Ex-Pats who lived in extremely colorful homes. I was so taken with the bold unusual color combinations, I bought a book showcasing the interior homes in the area. This is just one of the many colorful interiors. Credit goes to photographer and author Alison Pickering for her work I painted. If I lived there I would paint my house in bold & beautiful colors too, but somehow I don't think I could get away with it in Round Rock.

What's Plein Air Painting??

This is a photo my artist friend Rae took of my set up while we were recently plein air painting at the Wimberely Lavender Farm. This is a typical set up - small easel and canvas plunked down where we are going to try to capture our painting. As I've said before, this is much more difficult to do than studio painting, but well worth the effort in the long run. The painting I did that day is 5 paintings down on my blog.

"Bull Creek II"

This is another plein air painting of Bull Creek done last week. I stood up on some rocks under a tree to keep out of the direct sun. This was painted in 3 hours and then it was too hot to stay any longer. I keep thinking if I'm close to water it will be cooler. . .but it's not!

"Lone Drifter" - SOLD

This painting is from a photo taken from the Ajijic Jalisco trip. There were many little fishing boats around and this one, all by itself, caught my eye.