Texas Ranch Barn, an original acrylic painting by Jimmie Bartlett

'Texas Ranch Barn' is a commission painting I finished earlier this month on a 16 by 20 inch gallery wrap canvas. The buyer wanted it for his wife's birthday as she likes Indian Paintbrushes and Bluebonnet wildflowers which are in the foreground. He wanted a rusty vintage truck in the background. There are numerous barns in Texas with our state flag painted on them. The old tractor, cattle, and hay in the barn are nice embellishments. Also, there are no fences or trees to block the view of the wildflowers. The background trees and sky full of clouds push the scene forward nicely. Hope you like it! Prints are available.

God Bless You,

jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Bluebonnets have arrived in Texas

Bluebonnets are in fresh bloom in Texas.  We have seen several small patches springing up, along with the Indian Paintbrush and other wild flowers.  Springtime is such a good change after the long wet and cold winter all of the USA has had this year.  I took the picture (right) of one in our front yard that started blooming three days ago.

I usually paint a bluebonnet composition every year in anticipation of their arrival.  See my blog post about Bluebonnet Fields in Texas .  I hope you enjoy the bluebonnets or whatever the springtime bloom brings to your area where you live.   We will be taking road trips in early April when the bluebonnets blanket the Texas countryside.

God Bless You,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Texas Heartland, a painting in progress

I am real excited about the painting I started yesterday.  I call it Texas Heartland and will be evident when the painting is finished.  The work is in acrylics on a 11x14 inch stretched canvas.  I was given the goals for the painting and I get to design and paint what I love to paint most-- Texas barns and blue bonnet fields.

In the above, the first picture shows how the work starts, and continues into the second picture in developing the basic layout.  Notice the changes from the first to second picture.  Painters designing on the canvas continuously make changes throughout the work until it is refined and finished.  I rerouted the road a couple of times to find the best approach to the barn.  I call this stage of the painting the "block in", where basic layout and components are done and the entire painting has color on it. Also referred to as the under painting. The edges are painted with a dark brown to push the scene forward.  Now that a foundation is established, the filling and refinement starts.  Check back for the next stages to be posted.  Blue bonnets are coming.

God Bless You,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Blue Bonnet Field, Original Painting

Sold

I finished the Blue Bonnet Field today. The acrylic painting is on 11 x14 inch gallery wrapped canvas with edges painted.  I chose to use a country side scene with a single tree in the field of blue bonnets and wild flowers.  I used only the brush, paint, and imagination to compose and paint the scene at the easel. The back drop of hills and birds compliment the view by increasing the depth/distance.  A simple palette was used in this alla prima acrylic: white, raw umber, raw sienna, yellow ochre, permanent green, yellow light, cad red light, cerelan blue, light blue, cad blue, touch of pink, white, and a tid bit of purple.

I will be showing the painting at the Hallettsville Market Days this Saturaday.

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Texas Countryside, Oil Painting 16 x20

Texas Countryside is another freestyle oil painting of things I love about Texas.  Also, an inspiration from the similar smaller painting I posted earlier this month motivated me to paint the scene bigger.  The larger canvas enticed me to put more in the scene and a bit of what is going on in Texas now (oil wells in background).

I like painting on 16 x 20 inch canvases.  They are a nice presentation size and will fit in easily on your walls.  Carolyn, my wife, frames my paintings including the selection and mounting of the canvas.  I took the picture of this one in the studio hanging on the particle board wall which I planned to paint, but once the easel got set up, I never got around to it.  I would rather paint on canvas than walls.

I hope you like the painting.  If interested in purchasing this painting or my other artworks, please email me for availability and price.  I accept payment over the internet through PayPal, a secure method.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Texas High Sky, Acrylic Painting

Texas High Sky was the second painting I worked on at the Burr Trade Days (See the prior post) and finished it in the studio.  It is also a 14x11 inch acrylic painting on a canvas hardboard.  This is no place in particular in Texas, just a place I imagined I like to go to.  Hope you like it.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Blue Bonnets are Here! 03/03/2012

I went out to get mail and saw the blue bonnets starting to bloom in the yard.  Here are a couple of pictures I took to post for you.  Our bluebonnets are usually earlier than most of Texas as we are closer to the coast and it is warmer here.  I got one of a little bud just showing the purple.

I haven't posted for awhile as I have been ill but now recovering and painting several hours a day again.  I am working on a large fine art scene of a couple of flamingos and will post it soon.  I am in the stage past using the reference and tuning it up.  Next, comes the nit pickin' stage.  LOL

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Indian Paintbrush Acrylic Painting

I finished painting an Indian Paintbrush yesterday on a 20x16 inch gallery wrapped canvas with edges painted.  The work is in acrylics in which I worked most of the blending wet.  Acrylics have a great advantage with bright color and fast drying, but don't let it set long in your brushes.  This painting is a sequel to go with the Blue Bonnet I painted earlier this year.  There are many species of the paintbrush and sometimes referred to as prairie fire as the fields are brightly lit up with thousands of these beautiful flowers.  They also like to mingle with the other wildflowers for more beautiful landscapes than one can imagine.


Happy Thanksgiving to All,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

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Texas Hill Country Barn Oil Painting

Original SOLD, Available in print at www.thebartlettpair.com

This is a small Texas Barn we took pictures of several years ago while on vacation.  Since then, I have painted it several times on glass windows, and now the first time in oils on an 8x10 canvas.  It was painted wet on wet in one setting under a high sky day setting.  If I paint it again, it will be in a larger format with a few more components, but will take longer.

I painted these years ago on glass when we were doing the First Monday Canton Trade Days on windows that were single pane about 14x28 using the permacoat enamels.  Good stuff, but dried fast, so one had to blend and brush it on quickly.   I sold a lot of paintings on glass that I wish I had done on canvas as prints can't be made off the the paintings on glass.  And, that was one of the prime movers to paint in oils on canvas enstead.

We are still needing rain in Texas.  There are burn bans posted and we still have wildfires going.  Many homes have been lost and people displaced.  We are praying for rain and the folks that lost everything to the fires.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Bluebonnet Painting 20x16

I needed another original bluebonnet painting to take to shows and decided to take the study I had done on 16x12 and paint it in acrylics, rather than oils, on a larger 20x16 format and hopefully make some improvements as compared to the previous study.  My biggest obstacle turned out to be the summer heat.  My studio a/c running full blast could not stay ahead of it during the day.  So, I painted furiously in the early morning and late evening and even then, it seemed I spent more time keeping my acrylics wet enough to paint with, than actually painting.  The humidity was also low which made the paint dry quickly.  I am switching back to oils for the next couple of paintings.

I should be in the doghouse for not posting much last month.  Most of my efforts went to rebuilding my website, where you can use paypal to purchase originals and prints of my work, and painting on the Bluebonnet.  Please check out http://www.jimmiesart.com/ .  I will be posting more paintings and prints on it.

We have two indoor Arts/Crafts shows next month.  On August 13, we will be in the El Campo Civic Center and on August 20, in the KC Hallettsville Market Day.  I hope those of you in the area will visit our booth.  We got some rain today.  I pray for more.

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Blue Bonnet Bucket

 

SOLD

I painted this little scene of blue bonnets on an oval galvanized bucket I had bought to paint a couple of years ago.  Seems like all my ideas take years to fulfill.  Anyway, I painted it with acrylics in a crafty mode on sides and ends, and put a clear gloss seal on it.  We used to do a lot of crafty painted projects a few years back when we went to the Canton First Monday Market every month.  That was 'back in the day' when I painted everything on anything that stood still long enough.  LOL Did that for several years and loved it.  This one is 15 3/4 inches long across the top,  9 3/4 inches wide across the top, and 5 3/4 inches tall.  It is listed in my etsy shop. 

We were at the Bay City, TX Market Day last Saturday and had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and we got to see some friends and push some art.  Bay City has their Market Day on the third Saturday of the month starting in March.  Thanks for stopping by.

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Little House on the Creek, Original Acrylic on 8x10

This is another free thought and freehand painting.  I like to do these with a bit of folk art blend.  Peaceful and no barriers.  Just the paint, a little music and me.  This is on an 8x10 canvas and is mounted on one of our floater frames that is also made in our studio shop.  This photo of the framed painting turned out a bit brighter than actual.  Also, the colors seen on different monitors may vary a little from the actual painting.  I hope you enjoy the painting.

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie

Little Texas Barn

Original SOLD

This is my first acrylic painting for the year.  Little Texas Barn is a small format alla prima painting of an imaginary field of blue bonnets leading the view up to the barn and windmill.  This is a free hand piece brushed directly on the canvas. No photo or sketch used.  The canvas is a 8x6 inch on archievel hardboard mount.  I used the portrait layout to give the idea of distance for the landscape.

Email me if you want to purchase prints.
jimmie@jimmiesart.com
jimmiesart.com

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie

Texas Longhorn in Bluebonnet Field, Original Oil 12x18 Inch Canvas

 This is an original oil painting on a gallery stretched canvas.  I painted a portrait version of this longhorn a few months ago and was wondering what it would have looked like if I had done it in a landscape with bluebonnets.  Since the other painting sold, I figured that was enough incentive to paint him again in the landscape setting.  I used both palette knife and brush to do the painting. I enjoyed painting him.  I hope you like the way it came out.
Sold

Let us pray before we paint,

jimmie@jimmiesart.com

The Good Life

Here's the cattle having a Good Life in a field of bluebonnets. This was a fun little painting on a 12 x 16 inch canvas in oil.  I still have two paintings of horses to finish and hope to show you some progress on those soon.

Go Paint,
Jimmie

The Good Life

SOLD

If you are a cow, it doesn't get no better than this. I finished this painting today with the exception of clear glaze after it dries. This is the 12 x 16 oil I started a few months ago and stopped to work on other jobs. It was restarted early this week and a midway pic was posted if you want to check what I started off doing. Painting the bluebonnets is tedious, other than that this painting flowed well. Most of the background and trees were done with palette knife and the foreground was brushed in. I like the texture added with the knife as it makes the main objects stand out even more. What do you think. Knife or no knife or should it all be knife.! Hope you like it. Will start on a similar painting of a couple of young horses in the countryside tomorrow.

Go Paint,
Jimmie

For the folks that don't paint, but appreciate art, you don't have to Go Paint. Just keep visiting and feel free to post comments. Many thanks. Jimmie