Painting Weekend in Calvert

It was a "picture perfect" weekend in Calvert, just as Bob French, the weatherman on KBTX tv, predicted. An Art Fest was scheduled along Main Street on Saturday. V....Vaughan, Round Rock artist, planned to do a half day plein aire painting workshop in the morning. In the afternoon, she would be painting the Victorian Tea on the grounds of the Gibson-Hensarling home. During the Victorian Gala that evening, in The Foundry building on Main street, Austin artist, Robin Cheers, would paint that event. Both paintings were to be auctioned off during the Gala, to benefit the Historical Society.

The artists , plus another artist, Nancy Holder, arrived to stay with us at Thelma's house in Calvert. Barbara planned to be "the innkeeper", and had a meal of soup and baked bread rolls
ready for our supper. V.... brought a homemade cherry pie to share with us, complete with a flag design in the top crust.

My daughter and grandson arrived while we were eating. Ashton showed them the thing we had seen on tv about brooms balancing because of the alignment of the planets. Sure enough, it worked and they were all fascinated. We left that broom standing all weekend, and it was still balanced when we left on Sunday. My photo was blurry, as were many of my pictures. But, you can see Robin and the broom, above. Nancy was sure we had attached strings or some other trick. But, it really worked! We tried it with an egg and that stood on end, too.

On her way back home, Barbara said she stopped to eat at Franks in Schulenburg. She told them about the phenomena, and they tried it. She said they had brooms standing all over the restaurant!

After supper Friday evening, we were treated to hot chocolate at the Cocoamodo. (Thanks Virginia and Robin!) The owner turned out to be a lively, entertaining man, with a great accent, who joined us for a cup of hot chocolate. He told us a lot about chocolate and his adventures. And we got to sample some of the delicious chocolates that he sells in his shop, each lovingly made in the chocolate factory on Main Street. I picked "milk and honey" and it was really good!

I was intrigued by some old Calvert photos on the wall of the restaurant. I was amazed to learn that those photos had belonged to Miriam Oscar, who died a few years ago. She left photos to the city and these were some of those pictures. I didn't recognize anyone, though.

We planned to be out watching V.... paint the sunrise on Sunnyside Road, very early Saturday morning. Barbara had a variety of kolaches for us, from Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches on Main Street to enjoy in the early morning.

It turned out to be a really crisp, clear morning on Sunnyside Road. V.... painted a small painting of the scene that was part of my great-grandfather's land, years ago. We delighted in the sounds and feel of the countryside, punctuated with sounds and antics of some birds and cattle.

By 8 a.m., we went back to town and settled in to Mud Creek Pottery where potter, Sonny Moss, had doughnuts and coffee waiting.

We set up equipment and Robin agreed to pose for us. I elected to use my little travel set of watercolors, since we were going to work small. Less to have to get out and put away, I thought.

Others used oils and Robin did some sketching.

One of the resident cats, Sherbet, had a good time, chasing the reflections of Robin's ring and a laser light.

In our painting, we looked for darks, first, rather than line and details. I got in my lights and darks, which led to some form. And, later that night, I added ink lines to more define my figure.

We enjoyed huge baked potatoes for lunch at the sandwich shop on Main Street. They also have an ice cream shop, which looked really good.

Before our food arrived, we sketched and had some lively discussion about art. It turned out that V....was painting me! She said she was studying light and shadow and skin tones, a warm up for the painting she was going to do in the afternoon.

While V.... painted at the Tea, Barbara, Nancy, and I set up our equipment on Main street, on the sidewalk in front of where the drugstore used to be, and painted. Nancy chose to paint the little garden area behind us, while Barbara painted the street and what used to be Ford's Grocery. I decided to use my watercolors again in a small sketchbook, to paint the corner of Cocoamodo and an old movie theatre. (Not the Eloia, but the one where there used to be only a box office and a lot of gingerbread trim. Only the front was left of the building, as far back as I can remember.) My picture became very colorful, and I finished it with ink that night.

Supper was at the Wooden Spoon where I thought I must be going off my diet. I pampered my self with some chicken fried steak, but, I guess my diet is working and I just ate a little.

Barbara and I watched tv and sketched at home while we waited on V.... and Robin.

I would have liked to have seen both the artists paint, but Barbara didn't want to dress up, and I couldn't find decent shoes that fit me and would go with a dress. Later, we felt that we should have gone!

But, thankfully, both V.... and Robin have posted pictures of their paintings on their blogs.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We had kolaches at Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches, then went for a ride west of town, looking for possible painting locations. I took some photos and Barbara would ask why I was taking certain photos. I told her that something used to be there. I thought that, I could do one of my memory works, and use the photo for inspiration or to show me what the land and trees were like, although buildings might be changed now.

That wound up our painting weekend, as everyone went on their separate ways home.

Both V... and Robin did some spectacular paintings for the auction. You can see their work on their blogs. Just google V....Vaughan and Robin Cheers.

I hope that they enjoyed the weekend as much as we enjoyed having them in Calvert. They are very nice, fun, and talented ladies.

For those who missed the workshop, I don't know when they might come back, for sure. But we are thinking about doing this again. Hopefully, more people will be able to come next time. So, if you are interested, be sure and let the artists know, and let me know, too. Leave a spot on your calendar! I'll let everyone know as soon as something is set.

Thanks for coming, Robin and V...., and Nancy too! And thanks for being "the innkeeper", Barbara! And thanks to Robin and V.... for that great, sweet treat!

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Friday was also homecoming at CHS. (Calvert High School). We drove by the football game and saw that the Trojans were beating West Columbia Charter school by over 50 points. Barbara said that she got to see the Homecoming Parade in downtown Calvert, early in the afternoon, before she picked me up.

Congratulations to the Trojans for their homecoming victory!

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Get well wishes go out to Barbara, as she has surgery and recovers. Hope you get over this quickly, with no pain!

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Gassin' Up

Gassin' Up (detail)
Image size 11" x 15"
Paper size 12" x 16"
watercolor
"Gassin' Up" is a work that has been in progress for a while. I worked on it some more last night. It's a self portrait, actually. This is one of those paintings where it takes two people to do it. One to paint the picture, the other to hit them in the head and make them stop! Trouble is, I keep stopping, put it aside, look at it for a long while, think of a different thing to do, work on it some more, then look at it for a long while.

My sister stopped at a fillling station in Hearne to get gas late one afternoon, headed south after a trip to Calvert. I was riding with her. While she went in to pay for the gas, I was looking at the backs of the old buildings across the alley. I thought those would be interesting to paint, and it would be good to record them while they are still standing. Those buildings have changed so much since I was a little girl, and used to ride with relatives to this town down the highway from my home town. Some buildings are gone and just the concrete slab is left. All my life, the buildings have been a sedate brick color, with maybe some green or white, maybe a touch of black, trim. Now, bright colors have been used, and colors that don't always exactly match, in my view. That kind of grates on my senses. But, then, the buildings aren't mine. I know that those colors are used to attract attention as cars whiz by on the highway, in hopes that travellers will stop, visit, and shop or eat in small towns. I think they would be much more appealing as they used to be, with dignity and charm.

As I looked at the backs of the buildings, I could see the back of an old cafe where there once were outside stairs that led to rooms and offices . Some windows had been covered with wood. My aunt talked about going there to eat when she worked in that town during World War II. And I remember it as being a nice place, with white tablecloths and heavy silverwear, and a black and white tile floor. But, it was closed for a long time.
I can't remember what was in the building where only a slab is left. I do recall offices, and rooms for rent upstairs in buildings and cafes that catered to travellers and people who worked for the railroad, right across the highway . This was a busy little town with a lot of different businesses downtown.

I didn't have a camera with me, so I used a cell phone to take a picture across the alley. My sister got back in the car and we were on our way. Later, when I looked at the picture, I realized that I had a picture, not only of the alley, but also I had taken a picture of myself in the side mirror! That was a surprise.
When I decided to draw the alley, I thought that it would be different to put the mirror with the face in it to help fill the bottom of the composition.
And, as I started painting, I decided that I would give myself purple hair. I like Cobalt Violet, to start with, so I used that color. (I always thought it would be fun to do my hair different colors! After all, Mrs. Slocumbe on "Are You Being Served" changed her hair color for every program, and, shouldn't the art teacher be colorful! But, when I was told that I would need to remove the color to get the shade I wanted, I decided that would take too much maintainance and be too expensive. When it turns white, maybe I could try it. But that is never going to happen. It may turn gray, but no one in my family has ever had white hair-not even at age 96!) At one point, when they were popular, I wore some wigs, and I tried a red rinse on my hair, but it hardly showed.
Anyway, I gave myself Cobalt Violet hair in the painting, added sunset colors to the backs of the buildings, and shadows where the buildings are recessed. The parking area of the filling station was asphalt, so it is black. I left the parking lot a pale blue, and tried to decide if I wanted to darken it, or if I want to keep it all light.
I finally thought, "Just do something to it and see what happens! Finish it and go on to something else! " So, yesterday, I just let some light blues and purples flow into some water, and I added a figure walking in the alley. I had been thinking of someone going home for supper at the end of the day, with a sack of groceries .
It was a bit too dark in the late afternoon to check colors or to paint, so I propped the painting up and looked at it some more. I've turned it upside down, sideways, looked at it in a mirror-all the tricks I can think of to check my painting. I even asked my "critics" (family), whose response is often, "Do whatever you want to".

With a transparent watercolor technique, you start light and build layers of color to darken. So, I can still add more layers of color to darken the paved area. I'm thinking of going as dark as Indigo Blue. But, with watercolors, which are a staining medium, some of those colors are not going to come off or lighten again, once they are down. My next idea to check on whether or not I want to use dark colors in that area, leaving the buildings and sky light, is to cut out a sheet of dark construction paper and lay it over the parking area. That might give me some idea of what I want to do next.

Another problem that arose is that, when I went back to my picture on the phone to check it, my picture, and a few others, have disappeared. So, I don't have my reference photo anymore.
I have tried and tried to figure out how to get photos from a phone, of things I want to draw or paint later, to the computer, without having to buy something else. So far, the people who I have asked, don't know either. I hope I don't lose the rest of my pictures!
At least I do have this painting. I may have to do the whole thing over and just change it all.
In the scan, there appears to be a lot of yellow. In the actual painting, there are more peach and orange tones, instead of such strong yellow. I'm not getting good camera images, so I'm scanning things in sections.

See below to look at a little bit more of the painting.

The Brazos Valley Art League (See their link.) is having a show coming up. I'm trying to think of what I might enter. I don't think that "Gassin' Up" is something that I might enter, but I'm thinking, and trying to finish up some things.

I added a new link under my Interesting Sites section. This one is for Zamykal Kolaches in Calvert. Some good eating there from one of the old buildings! There are also some updates on the Hammond House link and the Calvert website. Calvert is getting ready to have their Victorian Gala with a tea, booths downtonw, etc. Take a look at the website to find out more. The owner of Zamykal's Kolaches was on tv, talking about the event. There are pictures online from last year's Gala. Sounded like fun, and a chance to dress up in Victorian clothes.




Gassin' Up (detail)