August 27, 2007
I’m thinking about bluebonnets again.... I was going through my photos this week deciding on my next painting. My spring trip to the Fredericksburg Texas area to see the wildflowers and bluebonnets gave me quite a batch of photos. The Hill Country is so beautiful, and you can never tire of it.
This was painted in June from that trip. I call it Big Oak and Bluebonnets, it is 12 x 9, oil on canvas panel. I like doing a small painting before tackling a large one, and I plan to do a large painting from this same reference photo for my next painting. Big Oak and Bluebonnets is available for sale on my website for $325 at this link: http://data.fineartstudioonline.com/dataviewer.asp?keyvalue=1584&subkeyvalue=127185&page=WorksDetail I painted several bluebonnet paintings in June, and they are now sufficiently dry enough to put on my website and in my Etsy store at http://www.jeanhood.etsy.com/ I sell my small paintings and studies in my Etsy store at a price range of $30 - $100.
Flora and Fauna Report
The Sycamore trees in our area are some of our taller trees. Their white bark is a beautiful distinguishing factor. It peels off in patches, giving a mottled appearance to its trunk and branches. It likes moist soils, so is normally found close to creeks and rivers in the Texas Hill Country area. The Sycamore has a maple like leaf that can be quite large. These leaves are the ones I wait for in August to break the landscape of summer. I watch the Sycamores every year, and at the beginning of August the leaves start their changing process, and the greens give way to golds.
Since Oak trees are also at our rivers and creeks, you often see these two trees together. The blue green of the Oak makes the yellow/gold/ lime greens of the Sycamore all the more obvious. This photo is one of my favorite Sycamores to watch. It is on Pinto Creek on Highway 90. I’ll be doing some paintings of Sycamore trees this fall. I’ve painted them on location on the Pedernales River, and at Rio Frio. The colors and shapes make beautiful fall colors to paint.

The baby chicks are growing! It is hard to get a good photo with the wire, and they refuse to pose for me. I hope you can see the changes in them. The largest chick is the one from our hatch. Remember how tiny it was on July 21?
http://jeanleverthood.blogspot.com/2007/07/july-21-2007.html
Now they are in the chicken yard with The Big Chickens. They are in a segregated area of the enclosure, still too small to be with TBC. I’ll do another update photo soon.



Until next time!