COMPLETED- Little church E. of Seguin, Tx.

Ok, this is the completed painting that was started on-location a couple of weeks ago. Do you know the area?

PLEIN AIR PAINTING

An artist friend of mine and I have been talking about going plein air painting (that's painting outside on the site) since last Fall. Well, Monday we did it. We arrived at the chosen spot about 9:am and painted until 1:30, went to lunch, then got to our 2nd site at about 2:45 and painted until a little after 6:pm. I had attempted plein air painting twice before but couldn't stand the heat or the bugs and hung it up after about an hour. This time it was fun! Probably had something to do with having a buddy to talk to while painting. Somehow you don't notice the bugs or the heat nearly as much as when you're out painting alone. My blond haired "California girl", friend faired pretty well, but I ended up rather crispy (b in a few places. Note to self" Take sun block and a hat next time!!! It was a great day and I came home so inspired with painting outdoors that the next day I talked my mom into driving up the road a little way from our house, where there's 2 huge, beautiful, oak trees with a field of gold flowers behind them, and the two of us painted. It was great! Painting outside straight from nature is supposed to help you make better color choices and help you learn to paint better and I think that's true. My first painting Monday morning turned out looking like a pastel - without my realizing what I'd done. I stepped back and took a look at my friend's artwork and it looked like it came straight out of the field that we were painting - her colors were so true. Of course I had to sit back down and start adjusting my colors to the reality of what we were looking at, but the difference of what I had thought I'd painted and what I really did was pretty amazing. That was a lesson in painting from life right there. Posted today is the 2nd painting from Monday (that's right, I'm not showing the first one) with a little over 3 hours into it. It still needs to be finished up- more details such as the leaves on the trees in front of the church, etc., but this is what it looks like at this point.

A PORTRAIT IN HISTORY

About a month ago a gentleman commissioned a portrait from me. He had black and white photos of his parents and wanted them painted in color, using his own skin tones and the variations in the black and white photos as the basis and wanted his father wearing his military hat- which he was not wearing in the photo. The gentleman also wanted to show that his family came from Mexico, but had moved to the U.S. and that a direct decendant of his had fought at the Alamo and wanted the date on the flag waving over the Alamo. It was tricky getting all of that onto the painting without having too much. All the portraits that I've painted up until now have been in acrylic paints. This was my first oil portrait and I have to say that the wait time between the layers of oil paint just about drove me crazy. Ok, so, here are the black and white photos and also the finished painting - that was delivered last week. What do you think?

SPRING AND DEATH

Spring has sprung here in beautiful Texas once again! It's warm breeze is blowing outside, the sap is flowing, and flowers are bursting up everywhere, but this week has been a sad one. A young friend of my grandson passed away from a freak accident and his death has affected our entire community as though sandpaper has been scratched across our hearts. My grandson, and many other kids, can't believe that their friend is really gone. They are shocked that such a tragic accident could even happen to someone they know and we adults are reminded once again how fragile life is. Please pray for the family of this young boy.

MEMORIAL DAY THOUGHTS

Hope everyone out there had a good, safe, Memorial Day and weekend! Ours was nice too. We took time to stop and think about what Memorial day means to us personally. My 24 year old nephew in in the Army and is doing his 3rd tour over seas right now. He's due to come home in a couple of weeks and we're all looking forward to seeing him again and praying that all goes well. His dad, my brother, was also an Army guy and did his time in Panama. One of my cousins is a lifer in the Army and just left Fort Hood for his 6th tour over seas. His dad was a lifer as well and retired from the Army. My dad spent a couple of tours in the Air Force - and we're still hearing his stories from it like it was yesterday. :) Mom's dad and all 4 of her brothers were in the Army or Air Force and all did their part for our country and our people. One of her brothers lost his life in the line of duty, as have many other military people over the years. He is still remembered and missed 52 years later. Let's remember the lives lost and do the best we can for the living.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION

April 25th was our town's Earth Day celebration and my job for the past few months was to head up the Art Leagues' kite committee. My team was terrific! We had a kids kite making booth and gave away 42 free, recycled, kites to the kids who came and decorated them (with recycled paints). Some of our league members painted kites to sell there as well for a fundraiser for our group. Pictured are my team members and photos from our booths. To see the fabric kites that I painted for the fundraiser click on "KITES" at www.TerrieLeytonGallery.com

DRAWINGS FROM THE GREEK AND ROMAN ERA

March was a very good month for me. There was lots of sketching at the San Antonio Museum Of Art and lots of work completed in my studio. Also some of us artists from the Seguin Oakwood Art League have decorated several downtown windows with our art and it will remain on display untill the 26th of April. My mom and I have a window next door to Chiro Java, across from the court house, on Austin st. in Seguin. Two more artist's works are located behind Chiro Java on Nolte st. and four more artists have their work on either side of Picket Frames on N. Austin St.
Russell Lopez was the instructor at the San Antonio Museum Of Art for all of March and he was terrific! He is very well schooled and shares his knowledge generously. He's working on a workshop for this weekend in Seguin and will be showing us how to grind and mix paint from chunks of pigment, explaining and showing us why it's better quality than store bought tubes and cheaper as well. We'll also be learning to work with the old Master's "dead" pallet colors and learn how the various paint pigments react with each other, among many other things. Anyone interested in joining Russell's workshop can contact me here and I'll get back with you.
Posted today are some of last month's drawings from SAMA's sculptures. Hope to see you back here soon!