THURMAN FARM & A MANOR IN MANOR

Usually, when I head out to paint, I pick a direction and aim my truck that way. On Saturday, I decided to go east on 6th Street, where it becomes a two way road, but then ended up headed north when nothing caught my eye.  I soon (well, maybe not soon) found myself north of Parmer Lane near Pflugerville, where I saw this barn and set up to paint on the side of the road. As I was finishing this 9x12, I was approached by the guy whose family used to own the property, and who now leases it. He couldn't remember what the current owner calls the place, but it used to be the Thurman Farm.

Thurman Farm 9x12"

Painting the Thurman Farm

On Sunday, I headed east again, and ended up in Manor (to those of you not from these parts, it's pronounced "May-ner" and not "manner"). I found this old building, which looks like it may have been a general store at one time.

2012-05-20 manor, tx

Painting a manor in Manor

A WATERFALL IN CEDAR PARK

I met Bruce Tinnin, one of my business partners at Powerhouse Animation, to paint in the park behind a YMCA in Cedar Park. There are trails, cliffs and this waterfall. We had a good bit of rain in the last week, so the water was flowing when I did this study. I can see why Bruce keeps going back to this park to paint, and it's not just that it's near his home.

Brushy Creek Waterfall 12x9"

SOME SKETCHBOOK PAGES

I recently bought a set of watercolor pencils, and have been playing around with them and some water brush pens, which have a reservoir of water built in. Having seen James Gurney's watercolor pencil sketches, like this one I know it's possible to do good sketches with these things, but I'm not sure I like the pencils yet. The ink washes are done with a Pentel Tradio pen and the water brushes.