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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Drawing A Dream House

Baking Cookies On A Rainy Day

8.5" x 11"

pencil

Plane geometry is the only math that ever made much sense to me and didn't give me a splitting headache. I looked at the angles as corners of a house that I might design, and I could see something there. When it got to the letters and rules, though, that gave me a headache again.

I would start out to do an assignment, and , soon, I was turning my angle into a kitchen or a house.

I always liked to draw houses and would design the dream house that I would like to have someday.

Pappy actually did design her dream house and got to live in it. A 1950s ranch style house near the park. All the ladies in the family always wanted new things and saved up to get things they wanted.

Cashiering at her husband's store, Pappy was able to save up a lot of money. She would sit at the cash register, on her ladderback chair with the cushion on it, and put change into the cigar box under the counter. They kept the extra change in a cigar box for when it was needed, with more in the safe. Only Pappy had two cigar boxes under her cash register. Extra change went into one box, but the other box was reserved for all the quarters. Pappy kept all of those for her new house fund. Almost every quarter that came to the cash register went into Pappy's cigar box.

A few times, Uncle Tom wondered why there were no quarters in the cash register, and he asked everyone, except Pappy, if they took any quarters out of the register. He would look in the compartments of the cash drawer, move coins about, and have a puzzled look on his face. Wisely, Pappy would sometimes add two or three quarters to the quarter section, just to satisfy Tom.

Sometimes Pappy would give me a nickle or a dime for an ice cream cone or popcorn at the Eloia movie theatre, or a Coke at Taliaferro's drug store, but quarters were reserved for her box. If I needed a quarter for the picture show, I had to either do a dance and sing on the counters, and hope that customers would give me a nickel, or I would have to go around to each of the relatives and plead, in my sweetest voice, for a nickel (hoping for a dime or a quarter!) It didn't come from the cash registers, but from someone's pocket-unless Grandpa would go to his register in the dry goods store and give me a nickel from there. Occasionally, someone would be generous and give me a quarter for the picture show, popcorn, and a drink or ice cream at the drugstore after the show, but usually I had to gather the coins a nickel at a time.

For years, she dreamed of moving from the frame house where she had lived across the street from her sick mother, Augusta. She wanted pretty new things, in a beautiful new home. Built just for her. She had a way with her husband and could get him to do most anything she said, with a little coaxing. She didn't have children to buy things for, but did do things for nieces and nephews. Her husband, Tom, didn't pay a lot of attention to the store. His main interest was his land, cattle, and other enterprises. I don't think he liked being cooped up inside, too much.

So Tom would sit around the store for a while, and soon was off, down the street, or to one of his places in the country, checking on work or workers, looking for possibilities.

Pappy stayed at home most of the time, but on busy days or when someone was sick, she would come to cashier.

Secretly, Pappy was drawing plans for her dream house. She begged Tom to build it for her. But he wasn't interested. He liked his old place.

Their store and the dry goods store in front burned one cold night, and Tom decided that he would not rebuild his part of the building. His safe was pulled out of the rubble and put into the new dry goods store. He also had a rocking chair where he could sit and do business between his visits to the country.

They had bought lots near the park, as did Pappy's sister, just a block apart. Pappy still asked for her house and worked on the plans .

She started visiting an architect and a contractor and, before long, her dream house was started.

Tom insisted that he wasn't paying for a new house, and he was not moving. Work on the house went on.

Pappy spent most of her time at the site of the new house and made sure that everything was done to her satisfaction. When time came to pay for the house, Tom still refused. Pappy was not to be denied. She pulled out her quarters and paid for the house herself. Tom never did miss the quarters, or know where she got all that money!

In fact, he didn't really want to move from the old house to the new, but, when she started moving, he went along.

The architects and contractors told her that she should have been an architect.

The house had a 10 foot steel and concrete reinforced foundation, and the garage had an 8 foot steel and concrete reinforced foundation. She designed for cross ventilation, since this was before people had air conditioning in their homes. The only thing she said that she should have done differently was to design lower kitchen counters, since she was short.

The house was built to last.

I never completed plans for my dream house. I sketched out a few thoughts and read a lot of house plan magazines. Sometimes, I gave that as a sketching assignment for my students-draw your dream house.

It also came in handy for the writing assignment that helps you to remember things-Mapping. In that activity, you simply start with a big piece of paper and something to draw with-marker, crayon, pencil, etc. Think of a place that you remember and try to remember a room in that place. Draw a floorplan of that room.

Pretty soon, you will start remembering details and can draw a floor plan of the entire home or building. Besides physical features, memories will start to flow.

In the above sketch, I showed someone putting a pan of cookies in a built in oven. This was part of an image I had for a dream home. A built in oven at the end of counters in an open kitchen. The counters would be in a u-shape and lined with glass bricks to let light flow across the counters. Opposite the built in oven, there would be a large island or work table, stove top, sink. Haven't worked out the rest of it yet. Sliding glass doors would open out onto a patio. Not sure if that would be a sitting area or dining area, though.

I've had that kitchen image in mind for years, so I thought I would put it on paper.

I'll have to be content with my fairly big kitchen in my mobile home, though.

I don't draw dream houses anymore. I do draw memories, though. Especially things that I don't have a photograph of .

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Watch the tv program "Texas Country Reporter" in February. You can look them up on the internet to find a station near you. Locally, we get them on KCEN and KMAY.

Jody from Zamykal Gourmet Kolache Shop in Calvert sent word that she has been recorded and the program will air sometime in February.

That should be a fun segment to watch. We'll all be drooling for a kolache!

When I find out the date, I'll pass that on to you.

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I hope that you will sign up for V....Vaughan's Workshop in Calvert, if you haven't done so already. Plan to come and bring a friend with you. If you aren't local, there are rooms available at the Pin Oak and the Bird Nest, B&Bs in Calvert. Pass this on to anyone who might be interested.

You can read a nice article about V.... at http://www.countrylifestyle.net/node/227 . This was in "Country Life Style".

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If you are interested in things like Sketch Crawl here, drawing and painting in the Brazos Valley area, you might like to join in the Yahoo Group that I started-Brazos Valley Sketchers. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrazosValley_Sketchers .

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