Paint the Town Red

Paint the Town Red is a couple of years old, and am sure is on the blog somewhere, but I thought since I was doing the old vehicles, I would go ahead and repost this. I started this at the Arts festival and people were walking around talking and asking questions, and I had such a hard time with it.  I didn't think I would ever pull it together! It is 18x24, same size as the Woodie and the VW.  This one has been licensed, and hopefully will be selling soon.

I am teaching a torn paper collage workshop March 28-29th here in Plains, Tx. If you are interested let me know. suzy_pal2000@hughes.net

Old Home Place-Day 1

This is a new year, and I can't believe that they go by faster and faster each year! I hope to paint a lot this year, and hopefully have more workshops and classes. I will be teaching the 3rd Fridays of each month here in Plains if anybody is close enough and interested in coming. It will be mainly watercolor. I plan on having a torn paper collage workshop in the spring and summer.  Probably March and June. Please contact me if you are interested.

I committed to a 30 day challenge with Leslie Saeta and 359 other artists. The deal is we paint a painting every day for 30 days. I am trying oils (water based) so I am hoping that mine will all be oil. I haven't done any oil painting since the late 80's so it is hard for me to switch!
However, if I get behind, I may have to do some watercolors. Each painting will be 6x6 on gessobord, and will be for sale unframed.  They will be listed in my page  'Available work' and can be purchased through pay pal really easy if you are interested.

Thank you for your continued encouragement, and checking out my new work, so for 30 days you may get tired of the blog going out, but I will post each one.
Here is the first one.  It is painted from a borrowed photo, which I just don't do.  A friend gave me a copy of this about 4 years ago, and I am finally painting it. different than the photo but the house and pick-up is the same. 

Old Home Place

6x6 gessobord

Available

 

 

 

Heading Home-iPad Drawings

I have been working on learning to draw on the iPad.

 It is fun, but frustrating, and hard. 

 A pencil or pen is much easier!

 

 

 

 

1947 Hudson

I was ask by a friend to do her husband's old 1947 Hudson Pick up for his Birthday. I never heard of Hudson pick ups! She sent some photos, and I searched online to see what they looked like. I am looking forward to seeing it after he is through restoring it. This is the way it looks now, or the way it was when he got it.  I wasn't sure how to do it, so I decided to negative paint the images in the background, and decided for future reference added the year. I know it will be beautiful when it is finished.

Contemporary Fine Arts International Challenge

 "Til Rust Do Us Part", has been awarded Third Place in the CFAI.co August Art Challenge, "Hot August Nights". You have won a week of promotion on our social media sites for the fourth week of September,  and space in Visual Language magazine for the winners.

This Week's Sketches and Collages

I have been busy this week, with some sketches, and a couple of collages. The first one is done with a sketch and wash pencil. It is a 1947 Hudson Pick up.
The 2nd one is 'Ol Blue' and it was Kens Pick up for years.  He named it and it stuck. It is parked with all our equipment, and is grown up in weeds. It has a lot of memories for us.  Especially the kids. I sketched it with a fine tip Sharpie.
 The 3rd one is from a photo I took in Seattle on our way to the 'Locks'. It is pencil.
Cotton Collage is just a 5x7, I did for fun. The Wyoming Boot Collage was because I needed  something for the silent auction for my workshop in Wyoming so I collaged it onto a Wyoming map.  The last one is an old station wagon jeep called 'Prairie Rose'. Sketched with my Lamy fountain pen.  I took the photo in Fredericksburg in 2002. I have two more that I am saving back. Will post them soon.

Some Sketches

 

I have been a little behind keeping up with my blog and posting some sketches, or paintings.

This is just a few that I have done in the past couple weeks.

 

 

 

Chevy

Longhorn in Portales, NM

Rusty Truck

Little Red Chevy

Rusty Green

Another old truck sketch tonight. I took this a couple years ago at Ceta Canyon, close to Canyon, TX.
It is another 4"x10" on those left over pieces of paper.  I ran out of room on the top, but the photo was cropped and I liked it anyway!

Best Friends

Today we went to Lovington, NM and on the way home, we drove around looking for photo ops, and found these old pickups! They could be Best Friends! They look like they have seen a lot of miles in their day.
Ken is so good about stopping, turning around, backing up, etc. for me to get a good picture! They are sketched with my Lamy Safar fountain pen, with the Lexington Gray Noodlers Ink on pale mint green Bockingford paper.  I  bought the paper to make some sketchbooks, and really like it. This is 4"x10".
Left over pieces from the sketchbook pages.

Christopher Cross Christmas Album with my Art Work!

I am so excited! This has been in the making for over 3 years! I can't believe it is finally done!
Three years ago, Christoper Cross' agent called me, and told me that they were looking online for something for his Christmas album, and they found my work and he loved my red pick up! Well....I am not big into names, so I really didn't know who he was, and I called Keri (my daughter) and told her, and she was throwing fits, told me who he was and what he sang, and that I needed to ask her if that was who he was!  So, the next time we talked I ask 'nonchalantly' if he sang 'Sailing' and she said yes he was! He also wanted me to paint the mailbox that is on the back page.  He owns both paintings.
 I was so excited I told everybody, then a year later, she writes and says the company who does his albums didn't want to  use it, and I was disappointed ,but know things change, so I just forgot about it, other than being embarrassed that I announced it!
In July of this year, she called me one morning and said 'Guess What?' Christopher IS going to use your art we picked. I ask her if she was making it up! I didn't tell very many people, since I was still skeptical!
 So Monday she tells me it is available on Amazon, and sent me the photos of the cover!! I am 'supposed' to get an autographed copy from him! I better!
Of course i got online and ordered one, to keep from waiting on mine! It just got here about 4:00, and now I am really on cloud nine! It is beautiful! They used my snow for the front cover, the pick up 'Coming Home'
is on the inside of the cover. The mail box is on the back side and inside!
I hope you can go pick you up a copy! OR order one from Amazon! I haven't listened to it yet, but I do have some of his Christmas songs, and they are beautiful.
I am so blessed that he found my work...blessed God allows me to create, and blessed because I have friends who believed in my art, and set me up a website a long time ago!

Full Moon

This Old truck was at Tokio,TX several years ago. It is gone now. This was supposed to have been a light colored painting but it just wasn't working.  It had a mind of its own...so I let it be what it wanted, which is a night scene, with a full moon! I have read that a painting will tell you what it needs or wants, and this one did for sure! My idea was out the window!
11x14 with frame and mat-available

Dream Truck

This was a fun old truck to paint.  It is 11x14 with a mat and frame.  The original photo was just a plain drab gray pickup! I had to jazz it up!
It is available.  $50.00

The Roswell Daily Record

 I entered the juried art show in Roswell, NM.
The Roswell Fine Arts League (RFAL)
They accepted three of my paintings.  Two Watercolors, and one of my collages.  The newspaper called and interviewed me about the old truck that I painted.  There were 2 other interviews in the paper from other artists



Last year at our art show, our rancher neighbor and friend came in to see the show, and I ask him if I could go out to his ranch and take photos of his horses and cows.  Of course he said yes, and I went out that afternoon, and when I drove up,
 this old  truck greeted me! I loved it, and took more pictures of it than I did of the cows!  I just love the old vehicles, and the way they look! They have such character. The opening reception is August 16th in Roswell, NM.

 

Brownfield Texas Art Show

My old truck that I named, 'The Red Door' won a 1st place in the Brownfield art show this past week. I also sold a collage of a zebra...' Just be Yourself'
Its always a nice 3 day show. There were a lot of entries this year. The Best in Show definitely deserved to win. It was a beautiful graphite/charcoal.

Sketches

Set up in a workshop
Done on both pages

Old Truck

Cotton

I still love to sketch. Sketchbooks are still one of my very favorites,
and try to keep my sketchbook near. I have a small case that has a place for my sketch book, and pencils, and pens along with a small watercolor palette.
I normally draw with a pencil then go over it with ink.
Some say you should draw with the pen, but still prefer my trusty pencil! (and eraser) Most of the time, I go back and put color on them.
I just went to the high school last week, and talked with the art class about sketch books. They just started theirs. It was fun to see what they were doing, plus I saw some of their work, and
they were all doing great.
I just got a couple of new fountain pens to draw with, NOW to just use them!

Tokio Cross Roads

Tokio Cross Roads

This old truck was buried up in weeds, in Tokio TX. Tokio is an old 'little bitty' town that is now just a ghost town.  All the buildings are falling down. There are so many memories from Tokio! I never lived there, but I hear so much about it, since so many of Plains people used to live there. Some dear friends met there at the Baptist Church, and married, over 40 years ago! It was a wonderful little town in its' day. My Granddad used to tell me stories about he and my Grandmother riding their horses to Tokio for 'play parties.'

If you ever travel on US 82 between Plains and Brownfield TX you will go thru this special place.

I have painted all the buildings, and they have fallen down since then! I will post them next.

By the way, this truck disappeared after I painted it!

I could have had a V8

This is the old truck, from the last post.  The lighting was just perfect on the front.  I use a lot of Kosher Salt to get the rusty texture. I would love to know where 'all' this old relic has been! They all have a story to tell...

Haul'n Hay

In July, I went out to our neighbors ranch, to take photos of his horse, saddles, etc, and when I drove up there was this wonderful OLD green truck!. Of course I had to photo it, inside and out. The photo of the inside really excited me so I painted it in with watercolor.  It has many many layers of paint to get the dark door.
I had such fun painting it.
(The photo is a little darker than real life, and the steering wheel shows up on the left better than it does in here)

Lubbock Arts Festival

The Lubbock Arts Festival was this past week end, and I was asked to demo the Torn Paper Collage
each afternoon. It was 6 hours each day, for 3 days, and it was one of the hardest things I have done in a long time!  It was fun, and I met a lot of people but was very hard to stand there for so long, and try to turn paper into a painting. When I finish the Old red truck, I will post it.
 I wish I were smiling in this photo! It was taken on Sunday, after working Friday and Saturday, so maybe the tired was showing! It was taken by  Denis Quant.  He was walking around, taking photos, and sent me what he took. Thanks Denis!
I sold the River Walk Scene, and one small watercolor.

Ol Red

'Ol Red'
12x12
Torn Paper Collage

This old pick up has been painted more than once! I have it in gouache, and in watercolor. I am still trying to decide if I want to do a big collage of a vehicle, so I am experimenting on smaller ones. It was like the others, just a lot of fun to do. In the original photo, it is blue and rusted, but I wanted to try the red. I may get crazier...and do another one in the blues. I am doing a demo tomorrow in Hobbs NM, for the art asc. there, so it helped me decide on the colors for that too.
This is availabe, unframed, but ready to hang.