"Don't Mess With Texas"

Good morning and happy Friday y'all!.............................

  I found this small, 8X10 canvas sulking in a corner of my studio and decided to slap some paint onto it. I'm not used to painting on small canvasses, I gravitate towards large canvasses and BIG brushes but it was sitting there, all lonely so I'll go for it.

  I, of course, toned it just like I always do and then I sketched an initial drawing onto it. This will be a landscape painting. I have not painted a landscape in years, no kidding. I have nothing against painting landscapes, they are just not my usual subject. I'm more apt to paint portraits, animals, still life objects and the occasional strange, who-knows-what. Here is how it looks so far.............

  Morning light in my studio is not great so it may be hard to see. but it is a Texas landscape. There is an old abandoned barn and a couple trees, all set in a field of Texas Bluebonnets. I'ts such a small canvas, it doesn't even fit snugly on my small table easel seen here. I could just throw it on my lap and paint it. I do happen to have a couple of canvasses that are even tinier than this that I have NO idea what to do with, like this one..............................

  It might make a cute refrigerator magnet.

  One thing I must say that I admire about Texas is that the people have a deep rooted respect for the states history and heritage. I was not born here, I have only lived here for the past four and half years. I'm Los Angeles, born and raised except for a small stint in Illinois when I was a kidlet. So, I was amazed to learn that old things, buildings and such, don't get torn down here because they are old, they are protected and cherished and maintained. In LA, they tear everything down and put in more freeways and mega malls. All that history dies away. I'ts sad really. Even in this very small town I live in, if you go downtown, the buildings are old and beautiful. You can almost see and feel a sense of what life was like a hundred years ago. I hope it will always stay this way but knowing Texans, it will.

  So my Friday begins.............Paintings await............My daily sketch awaits. So I'm off. Have a great weekend!