Plein Aire Painting Workshop in Calvert I

Plein Aire Painting Photos

Calvert, Texas

February, 2009

I wanted to add these pictures as a slide show, but, since I still have not been able to get the Slide Show feature to work, since last October, I am just going to add a few pictures from the workshop in Calvert, a few at a time.

Here is the story from Friday February 20-Sunday February 22.

Top Photo- After watching my grandson get an award at his school, Barbara and I packed my things in her car and traveled to Calvert. Our presenter, the artist V....Vaughan, was scheduled to arrive that night, after she watched her son play baseball. We settled in and got our painting things ready to go out before sunrise on Saturday morning. Barbara cooked supper, as shown in the top picture.

Second Photo- One of the staples that we always had on our menu when we were growing up. Goulash! Our goulash consists of ground meat, onions, and canned tomatoes with a little salt and pepper, with a little water added for juice. Sometimes, we add in things like corn, bell pepper, macaroni, and even biscuits on top. This is basically the same way that we made spaghetti sauce, too. This picture shows a pan with the goulash, before a can of tomatoes was added. Sure was good!

Third Photo- On Saturday morning, we went out in the dark, to the same place where we had painted in October, but a little different view. This was just north of Calvert on Sunnyside Road. In this picture, V.... was setting up her equipment for her demonstration of painting the sunrise.

Fourth Photo- V.... paints the sunrise while Barbara and Toni watch. Sonny was watching the sky, and V.... painting.

Bottom Photo- Barbara brought kolaches from Zamykal Gourtmet Kolache shop in Calvert for participants to enjoy while V.... painted. Always delicious!

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If anyone at the workshop finished their painting started in Calvert, and you would like to share it on my blog, just send it along and I'll be glad to add it. I know that they all looked good!

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Also, V.... assigned homework, so be sure to be working on that!

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We are talking about the next workshop taking place next October in Calvert. And, in between that time, V... will be conducting workshops in other places. Look at her website and her blog for schedules. http://www.v-vaughan.com and http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com

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If you are interested in drawing, painting, etc. in the Brazos Valley area, I hope that you will consider joining the group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrazosValley_Sketchers. For convenience, I added a Join button at the top of my sidebar. The next thing coming up is the 22nd World Wide Sketch Crawl Saturday April 11, 2009. There is a similar group, Brazos Valley Sketchers, on Facebook.

I hope that we can get these things started all over the Brazos Valley, in each community. If you would like to be a contact person, or start a group, or if you would like to join us in Bryan or Calvert, let me know. I registered for Bryan/College Station/Calvert/the Brazos Valley area on the Forum at http://www.sketchcrawl.com. There are other cities and countries listed there including Houston and Georgetown. I know they have a group in Austin, too.

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I'm thinking that we need to do another rain dance! We need rain. It looks like some might be coming, later in the week. We should be prepared for drought as it happens in our area, along with other years of plentiful rainfall. The worst I remember was in the 1950s. That wasn't all that far removed from the time of the Dust Bowl. A really terrible time.

I'm amazed at people talking about snowfall and ice, since it has been so warm, and, of course, dry, here. Supposedly, it will get a bit colder with this next front. The important thing, though, is going to be moisture.

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Texas Country Reporter Trio

Texas Country Reporter Trio

Saturday February 21, 2009

Calvert, Texas

Pictured left to right, Texas State Artist Finalist, Virginia Vaughan of Round Rock; Jody Powers, owner of Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches in Calvert; and Sonny Moss, owner of Mud Creek Pottery in Calvert.

All three are alumni of the television program, "Texas Country Reporter". They are shown in Mud Creek Pottery on Main Street in Calvert last Saturday.

Moss was featured on the program in 1997. Vaughan was shown going back to paint, one last day, on her family farm after it had been sold, last spring. And Powers was shown in her shop on the weekend of February 21 and 22. The programs can be seen in reruns, and DVDs can be purchased through the "Texas Country Reporter" website.

Vaughan was in Calvert to conduct a Plein Aire Painting Workshop on Saturday.

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Take a look at Kerrie Kerns' blog, Plein Texas, http://pleintexas.blogspot.com/ to read more about the Plein Aire Painting Workshop in Calvert last weekend. She has some pictures that I didn't get.

Glad you got to come, Kerrie! And thanks for sharing your pictures and experiences.

We're planning on doing another one in October.

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I'll add my pictures separately. Meanwhile, they can be seen at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrazosValley_Sketchers .

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I was shocked to hear that Wendy Richard died. She was the pretty girl with the Cockney accent on "Are You Being Served. She was also Pauline Fowler on "EastEnders" for over 21 years. In her younger photos, she looked like one of the Mod girls or the James Bond girls. I appreciated the more recent photos that showed her with her beloved Cairn Terriers. It was nice to see clips of tributes to her and one that showed her getting married before her death from cancer. I thought that we would miss her on "EastEnders" when she quit the program. And I hoped that she would go on to do some more interesting projects. I had not heard that she was ill. I guess I will watch "EastEnders", knowing that "Pauline" is really gone, although we haven't reached the part where she left the show through Houston PBS.

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Zamykal Kolaches on Texas Country Reporter Feb. 21 & 22

Photos From Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches

Calvert, Texas

Set your tv this weekend to watch "Texas Country Reporter". You will have a treat as you get to watch Jody Powers and her shop, Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches in Calvert, Texas. Look at your tv guide or the Texas Country Reporter website for your station and time. For us, it comes on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Main Street business was named for Powers' grandmother, who also passed down her recipe for the delicious traditional kolache.

Powers is a lively lady with many interests, including history and designing and making Victorian clothing. You might find her out on Main Street, waving to cars passing through on Highway 6, urging them to stop and try her wares. Or she might be waiting on new customers and giving them the background of her shop and merchandise, with her very best accent. She might be dressed as a Victorian lady tutoring people on the correct use of a fan or even giving a dance lesson. Her day starts very early in order to have fresh kolaches ready for customers each morning.

If you are in Calvert, stop by and see Jody and enjoy a kolache at one of the tables in the shop or out on the sidewalk.

In the photos above you can see Jody, with her "girls", dressed in some of the Victorian dresses that she designed and made. In photo number 2, Jody dances on Main Street, hoping to attract customers to stop and have a kolache or two. Photo number 3, shows Jody waiting on a customer, while giving her spiel about kolaches and her shop. Photo number 4 shows a lady with an apron, resting at one of the sidewalk tables in front of Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches. The fifth photograph shows an assortment of Zamykal kolaches. These are just a few of the sweet treats that you will find inside the kolache shop in Calvert. Look at her website for a complete list, with a picture of each.

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Speaking of Calvert and "Texas Country Reporter", Virginia Vaughan will be in Calvert over the weekend to paint and conduct a plein aire painting workshop. Sunrise to moon rise on Saturday Februay 21, and into Sunday February 22.

Vaughan was on "Texas Country Reporter" last spring as she returned to the old famiy farm to paint for one more day. She has become known for her series of 365 paintings of her family farm, wich she calls "Last Year On The Farm". The series and her field notes were included in her book called "Last Year On The Farm: A Time of Change". The collection of paintings have toured in various places around the country.

And, recently, as I have mentioned previously on this blog, Vaughan has been honored for being a Finalist for the upcoming 2009-2010 Texas State Artist.

Come paint with us, if you are in the area!

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Thanks to Esther and Flossie for sharing their memories about Conitz Dry Goods Store. And for the comments from several other readers. It's good to know that others are reading my blog and enjoying my pictures.

Also, I would like to remind everyone that, if you want to look at my information about vision loss and Macular Degeneration, look in the previous posts at titles that are prefaced with the word "Vision". You can find links to sites that have all sorts of information by looking under EYE SITES in my sidebar.

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