Pintura Fresca

I love that I live in the Texas Hill Country, and even more so, that I am in Boerne, and one only has to drive a short distance to have a decent place to paint. My favorite place by far is the Cibolo Nature Center. It's always quiet and peaceful, and gives me a great place to go paint. Mornings are especially nice, because even in the summer, one can find a cool, shady place.

I went out to one of my favorite spots, where two branches of the Cibolo Creek converge. There is a steady stream of water over the rocks, and the banks are lined with some very old, very tall cypress trees. Few people make it out there, but occasionally, a wandering couple will come by and spend a moment watching or talking to me. I can spend a few hours out there, and create some pretty nice art.

I just completed this in the studio this morning - the paint is still fresh and wet. I'll have it framed as soon as it's ready.

"Twin Sentinels on the Cibolo" Oil on Canvas Panel, 8" x 10"

Winter days

I can think of nowhere better to live than where I am in the Texas Hill country, and I can think of no better place to spend a winter either. While the Springtime yields the bursts of colors from the many wildflowers, and summer gives us the cobalt blue skies...and Autumn brings forth the reds, yellows, and purples of the many trees, Winter is truly filled with something new each day.
A typical winter week in Texas can have below-freezing weather on Monday with gray overcast skies, and by Wednesday it can be sunny and 70 degrees. And with each day, colors change, moods shift, and the sky is always a different canvas. As an artist who paints, I always have new opportunities, even with the same scene, on different days. I tried to capture a cold, overcast day in this painting. The field full of winter grass was contrasted by the always-green live oaks and the backdrop of the naked cypress trees along the Cibolo creek that runs along the bluffs of the hills in the background.
I waited for some cloudy days to compose this work. a couple of drawings, followed by a watercolor sketch, helped me capture the cool grass being blown by a north wind, and the winter treeline along the creek. The day I was doing the watercolor, I saw a herd of whitetail deer moving along the trees, including a very nice 10-point buck. I was maybe 225-250 yards from the treeline, and the wind would have been blowing my smell away from them. They never acted like I was even there.
So, I will post the watercolor and the completed painting  - well, I think it's complete, although I haven't signed it yet. Since I have today off, I might make some more tweaks to it - or maybe not. Nevertheless, today's a good day to start a new painting, so I'll go exploring to see what kind of trouble I can get into.

Study for "Winter Field along the Cibolo" watercolor on paper, 9" x 12"

"Winter Field along the Cibolo" oil on panel, 18" x 24" $860, unframed