Still Building the Ranch House

Had a good day with the ranch house I am working on. Established some boundaries for shrubs and background forest where the yard and trees meet. Also got the backgrounds for most of the yard foliage blocked in. Used greens and umbers and did some work on the yard. These efforts helped to set the house farther back for more depth. I hope to move out on the foliage and put in flowers by the weekend and also get the palm top started. Putting in the shadows on the roof and under the porch eaves is planned for last. Until then, the scene will look rather stark. Just some thoughts re. the work.

Go Paint,
Jimmie

The Appaloosa On Matagorda Beach

I put a giclee of this painting on stretcher bars yesterday and thought it would make a good post. This is one of my favorites. I worked on the original (16 x 20 acrylic) for several months last year. I would paint on it over and over again. I wanted the image to capture the spirit I saw in him on Matagorda beach. Eager to run, proud and strong. A magnificant animal. I have a couple of horse paintings in the works now and hope to have them ready for fall shows.

Go Paint,

Jimmie

Painting a Ranch House

The pic on the upper left is of a home I am painting which is in progress on the upper right. The yard is well manicured and full of flowers. I am past the halfway point and thought it would make and interesting post to follow. The straight lines, many of which are parallel to each other, made the body of the home a bit tedious to paint. And mixing color to match closely took a little time. The face of the house looks a bit drab as the shadows haven't been put in yet. The face of the house faces west and we took pics in the mid day and evening to see which would be best. Mid day didn't work as the entire house was in deep shadow, but the evening setting sun brightened the front porch area just right. This is on a 18 x 24 canvas and in oils. The palm tree in front of the house will add depth to the painting and the plan is to add more flowers. The trees are very tall and are just blocked in at this point. I will put in the cross rails on the porch tomorow.

Go Paint,

Jimmie

Blue Bonnet Painting Finished

Here's the finished bonnet painting. These are fun to paint. Hope you like it. I haven't put the glaze on it yet. I might want to poke a brush stroke here and there on it??.. What do you think? When is a painting finished? This question has always plagued painters.

I am still working on the commission of a landscape featuring a lovely home with a beautiful yard. I plan to post some pics of it also.

Go paint,
Jimmie

The Matagorda Shrimp Boats

The painting at upper right is called "Matagorda Boats". One of my favorites. Done in acrylics on 24 x 36 inch canvas in 2006.

Jimmie

El Presidio La Bahia

Goliad area. I took a warehouse full of pictures and plan to paint more of these scenes. The El Presidio is the fort where Colonel Fanin and his men were held by Santa Anna's army and then massacred during the Texas War for Independence from Mexico. There is a lot of information on the historical aspect on the Internet if you want more information. In this painting, I chose to paint the main complex of the fort so it would include several objects of interest: belfry and chapel, the canon, and lookout post. The palm growing behind the lookout post added nice greenery to the view. The sky was very clear but the pics had a faint hint of blue to capitalize upon and with a little accentuation made a nice background for the fort. I bent the colors of the walls and the chapel some. I hope you like it.
This was a fun painting on a 14 x 18 canvas. The visit to the historical landmarks in was so helpful in completing this series of paintings for the

Sequel Painting

This is a sequel painting to the Espiritu Santo in the first posting. Finished it yesterday. I call it "The Mission Canon."
You can see this canon in the first painting if you squint. This one is on a 12 x 16 inch stretched canvas and also done in oils. The bright midday sunlight blended the building and sky together in the background, but resulted in nice highlights and cast shadows in the foreground. I am glad I only had to paint the tile and not actually lay them. Been there...

Go paint,

Jimmie

New Blog, New Painting, First Posting

Hello to all that click on my blog to see what I am doing and hopefully exchange helpful and interesting conversation about art. I paint daily and will post some pics of starters, in progress, and finished work. Feel free to post comments and questions. There is a lot to do to get this blog up to speed and I will be learning as I go. Any blogging tips or help you wish to share is appreciated.

I have a webite http://www.jimmiesart.com/, you can visit to see more of my artwork and more info about me. I will get to the artist profile and rest of the blog features as time permits, but first let's get some paintings posted to have something to talk about.

I finished the oil painting on the left last month. It is the "Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga" located in Goliad, Texas.

My wife and I visited the missions in Goliad and took lots of pictures to work from. The scene is in the summer, very hot, with a high sky. This painting is on a 16 x 20 stretched canvas. I used both palette knife and brushwork on this painting since the building has plaster type work on the walls. The knife was used to block in the sky and building and I brushed in the areas of fine detail.