More Watercolor Roosters ~ Iron Horse Inn ~ Art Journal Pages

Watercolor Rooster #2 with an Acrylic Background
9" x 11"
I have not tried this before - mixing acrylics and watercolors but my watercolor background became muddy so I just painted it with acrylics. I would have tried gouache but they were at home and I was at the Iron Horse Inn with my CBC sisters.

Watercolor Rooster #3
9"x11"

Art Journal page 75
It rained a lot so it was a great time to splatter, the Courthouse Square in Granbury has been described as one of the most complete examples of a late 19th century courthouse squares in Texas, the Iron Horse Inn was a great place for a long weekend spent painting and eating. You can find more recipes at Bed and Breakfast. Theresa at the Iron Horse has shared a wonderful recipe for her baked oatmeal that I will post soon on the Artists Food Network. We had a great lunch at the Merry Heart Tea Room on the square and a visit with a Tarleton alum at the Rio Grande Mercantile. For more Granbury information click here.

Art Journal Page 76
Don't we hate, hate computer problems and here I am pulling out my non-existent red hair. I thought my desk top computer had fried but after hauling the cpu to Fry's and troubleshooting with APC, I found out the battery back up had malfunctioned. Thanks APC.Com for sending me a replacement and I'm now up and running and thanks to a guru grandson who spent several hours out of a busy life attaching wires to batteries and finding where all the right plugs went. Here's my new travel laptop and then to try it out heading out to San Marcus on the Pickle Parkway after a stop at Heitmiller's Steak House in Elm Mott. A fun trip to Smitty's Market in Lockhart to eat Barbecue off a piece of paper. In the next post I'll include a slide show of some of the fun images from this favorite place for really good barbecue.


Art Journal Page 77
I went with a friend to the Austin Medical Center, a visit with Stan and Joyce and enjoyed seeing beautiful orchids filling their house and greenhouse. We visited Texas State University to see the Lonesome Dove exhibit on the first floor of the Alkek Library while the 7th floor was under construction. It just makes me see red when I think about what a big, big mistake Larry McMurtry made when he killed off Gus in Lonesome Dove. I was so bummed when he died. Lonesome Dove's duo, Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Woodrow F. Call, our loved Texas Rangers turned cattle drivers, can be seen again at the Wittliff Collection and it will help preserve our cultural heritage of the Southwest and this unforgetable series. I thought it so interesting to see Deet's pants in the exhibit. They were made from an old quilt with leather patches on the inside legs and knees. Thanks to Mr. Wittliff to making this collection available. If you love Lonesome Dove please check out this collection. There was also a wrapped fake body, minus a leg that was Gus..not my favorite part because there should have been a Lonesome Dove 1, and 2 and 3. On to Lincoln and lunch at the Elm Creek Cafe, to College Station and a Rehearsal dinner at the Ozona Grill and Bar. Texas Monthly had a December issue about the 40 best small town Texas cafes and the Elm Creek Cafe was included. Later I'll include a slide show of some of the sites and from the museum collection.

Roosters ~ Sister Chicks ~ Iron Horse Inn ~ Granbury, TX

Rooster #1 (there's more on the way)
9" x 11" Watercolor on 140 lb. paper

Six "sister chicks" of Canvas by Canvas have been on a weekend painting retreat at the Iron Horse Inn in Granbury. At one of the last paint outs at the Lake House I took lots of good "fowl" pictures and decided this was the time to experiment. It was a cold, rainy time but Cindy, Karen, Maryann, Barbara, Connie and I did not care what the weather was about once we got unloaded and set up in Theresa's and Paul's Artistic retreat studio. Theresa is Irish and it was fun to hear the owners talk about their travels and Theresa is also a fellow blogger. We enjoyed wonderful breakfasts and met a young couple, Dr. Jason Moore and his wife, Amanda, who are doctors. See their photo in the slide show below and chickens, and more chickens. We ate at Babe's Chicken on Friday evening and there were chickens in the rafters and we were supposed to be celebrating the two members' (who didn't come) birthdays. But that has never bothered us with a birthday celebration so we had our very own proxy birthday girl, Maryann to do the chicken dance and blow out the candle. We had great food at Babe's and a whole bunch of fun. Betty and Margie sorry you missed your birthday celebrations.

Art Journal Page 73
Not one of my better days with clear beverages and a tooth crown, and a "procedure", a trip to Strawn to eat at Mary's Cafe where she serves chicken fried steaks that hang off large white platters with lots of white gravy, the brick smoke stack at Thurber. I got a note from Fealing Lin saying that she's going to be having a workshop in Dallas soon. I painted with her in a Tuscany workshop with Ted Nuttall. You will enjoy looking at Fealing's and Ted's watercolors on their sites. I needed a new travel brush.

Art Journal Page 74
A blog joke about early bloggers, a joke about big arms and email checking, (I relate to both of them), Myrna mentioned the Precise Pen in a post and I also like that pen for a pen sketch before adding some watercolor and it gives some diluted lines and interesting color. I have the "smaller laptop" bug, and Granbury packing taking some journaling supplies and next post I'll show some slides from the Tony Saladino critique.
Myrna also wrote a nice tribute to artist Al Zerries.

Mouse over for the slide show captions.

LYLAS 3 ~ "Karen" ~ Gringo Revolution ~ Young at Heart ~ Young Heart Attack

LYLAS 3
SOLD
LYLAS 3 "Karen" Acrylic
9" x 12" Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 3/4" profile black (depth)
This is the third in the Lylas series. See this post to read how the paintings came to be.
I came in late last Wednesday from the SWS meeting and I TiVoed the news and it ran into Nightline and I'm so glad as I saw this "older group" "Young at Heart" who sing rock and roll hits and they have a documentary movie that opened in some cities that day. It showed them at rehearsal and singing at a prison and doing a show. The fellow shown in this video had a singing partner that had died a few weeks before so he does a solo and the leader said that was a big problem dealing with the death of fellow performers. About 70 have died that have participated. The show left a big message to find something you love doing in your later years. I have watched Fred Knittle singing Coldplay's "Fix You". I'd never heard of Coldplay before but I sure enjoy Fred's rendition and I've watched it several times since. For a real treat please watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u6k-99qcCE Look how many times this you tube clip has been viewed!! What an upper and they have others to watch such as "Staying Alive". I want to be sure and catch the movie.
Watch Coldplay sing their version if you can spare the time. I love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBEYyHGbwto&feature=related
Maryann, a Canvas by Canvas member, has a daughter Jenn who has a rock band "Young Heart Attack". I think it would be so cool if they could play together some time - the "Young Heart Attack" and the "Young at Heart". Jenn's group has just returned from an engagement in London and Spain.

My son, Eric (Harpoon), plays the harmonica in a band, Ray Diffee and the Gringo Revolution, and they won a battle of the bands (approximately 20 bands) contest over the weekend. Eric has a My Space with more about the band and slide shows. He is a self taught harmonica player and years ago worked as a P.I. and in lonely stretches of time would practice on the harmonica.
I have another son, Brad, who just had a 50th birthday and we celebrated with a cruise on the Granbury Riverboat. Brad got to spend a few days with me in Sam Miguel at the Mel Stabin workshop. It was a new experience being in a different city and traveling together and we're ready to have a repeat performance.
Here are some photos with Eric, my daughter, Dana, and Brad from the Birthday Cruise.


MY CHILDREN



THE BLUES BROTHERS

All kinds of music and all kinds of painting styles "But If you never try, you'll never know just what you're worth." Coldplay "Fix You"
Here is a great review of the movie: