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One day,  last summer, on our painting trip to the South of France, the Painters set up easels on the bank of the Lot River. While they painted  the river, I turned around to see a little Frenchman coming towards us and the first thing I thought was, "Oh Dear, our cars are blocking his house", which was true. However; instead of being irritated with us he seemed delighted that we were painting his view. Quick as a wink, Nancy did a sketch and gave it to him. I took his picture and a picture of his charming house and we all shook hands. Then he went back into his house and came out with a painting I think his father had done and we all stood around nodding a smiling even though he spoke no English and our French was challenged.  Isn't it wonderful how Art can unify people? We were able to communicate through the shared appreciation of the beauty of his place. This little painting is from my photo of his house. I wish I could give it to him but alas, don't know his name or address. Still, it's a fond memory of mutual understanding amongst the troubles of our world.

Dock of the Bay

The Painting Class went to Kemah the last week of January for our Annual Painting Trip and Sleepover at Olivia's wonderful house at the Bay. This year we met at Texas Corinthian Yacht Club for a perfect warm winter day of laughing and painting with a picnic lunch.  As the sun grew orange and slowly sank I perched myself on the dock looking down the shore at the properties beyond. It's hard not to be attracted the dramatic diagonal the shoreline creates. Also, the soft sounds of lapping waves and seagulls calling made for a delightful afternoon! Hard to imagine it was January but that is just the blessings you can get on the Gulf Coast in the Winter. I suppose I should have posted roses for Valentine's but ran out of time to paint some. Oh well... Happy Valentine's Day, anyway everyone!

This Plein Air painting just got in the prestigious OPS Southwest Salon Show and will be featured in the April/May issue of PleinAir Magazine! Yipeee! I have been submitting to this show for 3 years so success did not come overnight. However; besides persistence, it also it proves to me that it is a good idea to get up early. I was staying at our good friends ranch near Ingram last September and slipped out of the house just before the sun came up. The glancing sun over the fields of native grass picked up wonderful colors of yellow, orange, red and pink and the gravel road shadows were shades of purple and cool grey. I feel blessed to have had the chance to captured this quiet moment in our beautiful Texas Hill Country. This is the first painting I did of that morning, but have plans to paint others from the photos. Never the less, there is no way the photo can duplicate the color you can see while out there... which is why it is so important to do plein air sketches!