"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!