Blog

This painting was done in a park on one side of Lake Bradford near Ennig Texas.  In the Texas landscape there are always trees that have seen the worst that nature can dish out.  They are frequently broken and twisted with greenery popping out wherever it can find a live branch.  I find this most interesting to paint. 

Once again on to Sugar Ridge Ranch.  Quiet is an understatement as you turn off the busy road on the ennis Annual Bluebonnet Trail.  It is nice to be away from the crowds and to watch the Bavarian Horses which are some of the largest of the horse species or the longhaired Irish sheep that lazily chomp on the green grasses. There are eight Swan ponds on the property all of which are patrolled by a wing flappin,g water sprinting, mate protecting male.  They are so beautiful!

Sometimes Texas get described as flat, but in most places there are rolling hills which come like waves one after another.  Especially nice for painting the wildflowers that wind their way upwards only to be capped by lacy Mesquite trees.  The flowers are possible because of the rains that come to the area in the Spring.  As we painted it got darker and darker.  At 5:30 pm it was beginning to get downright dark!

Rain came in buckets that evening.

 Cedar Hill State Park is one of my favorite places to paint.  When we had out Casita we spent many weekends there in the Spring in order to capture the beauty of Texas Bluebonnets.  

Joe Pool lake is the centerpiece of this park which was originally called Penn Farm.  All of the buildings are still there and add much to the paintability of this area.

The weather was fantastic this past Thursday when we drove to Ennis Texas.  They have organized trails that you can drive through to see the fields of bluebonnets!  We ended up painting off the beaten track on Sugar Creek Ranch.  There was already a resident at the location we hose - a beautiful male swan. Unfortunately he lost his mate and was moved to this location because he was a nuisance at the other pond where there were protected nests.  I felt really sorry for his as he strutted his stuff.  Swans mate for live and they were unsuccessful in interested him in another swan.  

This was one of the kind of places where you can turn 360 and find another subject to paint.  Which is exactly what we did.  Sometimes things just do not come easily and you cab see by the huge wad of paper towels in my hands that this one was getting the best of me!  How to paint the vibrant colors that were on the hills as they moved far away was my waterloo.  Then there were these trees that were almost as vibrant as the flowers.  Mr Swan, lonely as he may  have been, had arrived in a place with a beautiful view.

Mid March had wildflowers in abundance.  I traveled to Columbus Texas which is on the eastern edge of the Hill Country.  It feels like Louisiana there with all of the huge live oaks and lush vegetation.  There has been no lack of rain their this winter and the flowers are putting on a show!

The first place we painted was on the Wilson Ranch.  It is a historic homestead with family ties going back to the early 1800"s.  The Matriarch of the family is still living on the property but TXDOT has plans to "straighten out the Highway" and will soon have to vacate her lovely home.  Relatives have continuous property in every direction, so she will not have to go far.  I've painted views through windows and door many times but have never quite thought about why i found them so attractive.  Leah  gave me a poem byJane Kenyon that put into words why I find them so intriguing.

"Let Evening Come"

Let the light of late afternoon

shine through chinks in the barn, moving

up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing

as a woman takes up her needles

and her yarn, Let Evening come.

Let dew collect on the how abandoned 

in long grass. Let the stars appear

and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.

Let the wind die down. Let the shed

go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop 

in the oats, to air in the lung

let evening come

Let it come, as it will, and don't

be afraid, God does not leave us

comfortless, so let evening come.