Granbury Barn

Granbury Barn, 9 x 12 in.

sold

This is another preview piece from the Davis Gallery show. I used a plein air piece I did while on a Plein Air Austin trip to Granbury as reference, but took some liberty to add interest to the foreground and trees.

-julie davis

Quick Study

Destined for Change, 12 x 12

This piece didn't get the attention it deserved--but here it is.  I wanted to take a smaller piece larger again, but today was hectic........a fantastic day, (my 40th birthday) but I didn't have the time I needed to finish this the way I wanted, so the bottom third  you see actually has been wiped down.  Thus, the "Destined for Change" title.  I was trying to squeeze too many things into one day, but...I painted, and had a great day on top of it.  Happy Independence Day, tomorrow, all!

-julie davis

95 and Sunny

95 and Sunny, 6 x 8

sold

This one just struck me as hot. Perhaps it's the 105 degree heat we're suffering through in Austin right now, because it wasn't 95 when I took the photo I used for this painting. I'm playing around with different compositions of the same subject--I like this one as well as the 6 x 6 I did a few days back. Maybe it's the subject matter--anything along these lines appeals to me!

-julie davis

Road to the Ranch

Road to the Ranch

sold

This was the view looking down the road that ran next to the little Granbury barn I painted yesterday.  It led back to the main highway, but when I see the image now, I like to imagine it leading to any Texas ranch.

-julie davis

Weathered Barn

Weathered Barn, 6 x 6

Can't seem to get a handle on my summer schedule, but, then, that's the beauty of summer, right? No schedule? The heat is overwhelming, so I'm painting from various photos I have, this one from the Granbury trip. A barn off of a main highway into Granbury....liked the looks of it but we were there the wrong time of day--no shade, few shadows, and too hot without the shade.

-julie davis

May Morning

May Morning, 6 x 6

sold

This is the last of my Granbury pieces.  Laurel and I found a shady spot under a tree next to a church parking lot that overlooked a field with a barn (enough prepositional phrases??).  It was Sunday morning, and we got there and finished painting before church started.  This little barn was is such a peaceful setting, with some sleepy cows that meandered over after breakfast (but too late for me).  

-julie davis

Summer Oaks

Summer Oaks, 6 x 6

My early painting of some beautiful pine trees from Saturday never did get finished......the light changes so quickly at 7 & 8 am that I didn't keep up that morning, so I'll use it as a study later, but am posting one from later that day.  We had the hardest time finding a shady spot to paint for this one, and I didn't get very clever with the composition here (there were some highly mobile cows that wandered in and out of this painting, finally to be left out entirely).  I used a smaller board because of my morning experience of not finishing, thus the 6 x 6.  

-julie davis

A View of the Lake

A View of the Lake, 10 x 8

sold

I kidded with Laurel that we were like storm-chasers on our trip, but we were really more like sun-chasers. We'd jump in the car as the sun came up, paint, eat breakfast, find a new spot, paint again, eat lunch, jump back in the car for another unknown destination before the sun went down, crashing at night only to get up as the sun rose in the morning. Laurel spotted this little building peeking through the trees on an inlet of Lake Granbury for one last painting of our first day. We'd considered several other nearby spots, but she has a knack for sniffing out the sweetest one, and this one had everything we were looking for. We finished as the light changed, and headed back to dinner with the group.

-julie davis

Freshly Cut Hay

Freshly Cut Hay, 8 x 10

sold

I haven't posted in several days for lack of time, not lack of painting. I was fortunate enough to get to go to Granbury, Texas this weekend with Plein Air Austin for an entire weekend of painting -- I can't even quantify how fantastic an experience it was. I tagged along with Laurel Daniel, and we were up early and late painting as much as we could of the Granbury countryside. This was a spot on our way to Granbury between Briggs and Lampasas, where the hay was so freshly cut it caught our eyes immediately, and we had to pull over and paint. I'll post the other paintings I did in order over the next several days--a few I'm going to submit to a Plein Air Austin show this summer here in town.

-julie davis