Crosbyton, Texas Panhandle

Sunset in Crosbyton, TX____6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America: The Great Plains__exhibit 2011

Over 1300 miles this past weekend....we drove a circuit on the Texas Plains Trail. If you like the open road and great LLLLOONNNGGGGG Vistas, you would love this route. Every mile of it was an example of the theme of my project "Passing...the Great Plains": desolate farm houses, empty small towns, huge industrial farms, great feed lots. Much of it was unfenced!

The painting above was a REAL quick study as the sun's last light illuminated one of the thunderhead clouds south of Crosbyton. We had planned to stay in that town, but the one hotel there seemed a little bit suspect, so we drove the 30 miles or so to Lubbock, through clouds of mosquitos which sounded and splashed like rain on the windshield! There has been a LOT of rain in our usually arid Texas panhandle. The farmers seemed happy!

I will talk more about this trip (and the one I will take on Thursday!) in the upcoming days...all in all I painted a pile of canvases, some of which need an "oil change"...(that is, adjusting certain elements of the oil painting!)...My pick-up truck also needs an oil change after the trip...here is what my grill looked like after the mosquito showers!

My New Ford Truck conquered clouds of mosquitos!

Passing West of Ft. Sumner_Great Plains, grassland, sky

Passing West of Ft. Sumner, NM__6x8 oil on linen panel__reserved for 2011 exhibit

I just completed my second "official" trip through the Great Plains...Passing America. Returning through the southwestern Great Plains, we drove with a strong tail wind as a snowstorm chased us out of the southern Rockies where we spent a few days. This painting shows the high clouds and big sky above the horizon.

2010 looms, and here is what I will be up to, in brief:
Passing America: the Great Plains...I am preparing 150 new works for exhibit in the fall of 2011. This extensive project will take me through the Great American Plains a number of times. I will blog along the way and will also present some opportunities for folks to join me and follow the progress. You can start following the early stages NOW at http://www.vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/
I also will do my usual 3 or 4 shows, a few workshops, and pay visits to the great galleries that represent me.
MAINLY, though, I will stay near the home front as much as possible.
It is a little bit too soon to mention this, but I have a new web site in the works. I cannot wait to "open the doors" to let you see it! My target date is January 4, the same day I will draw for the free painting! Remember to sign up! ...and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

The Law West of Ft. Sumner___Billy the Kid is buried in Ft. Sumner. He might not have gotten away with murder if he'd been around today! I had my camera ready and was really enthralled with the linear perspective in this view of the plains...note the telephone poles demonstrating the apparent distance as they get smaller and closer together...and the road gets thinner as it gets higher on the page toward the horizon. Just as I snapped, I noticed the police action...We picked a spot on the straight road ahead and measured how far away it was...17 miles! The air is so clear there that it looked like just a few miles. When I pass through huge distances on the plains, I feel very small...

...about 20 miles later, on the south horizon there was an occasional mesa. I zoomed in on this unusal cloud. It makes a great photo, but would be weird to paint.

Passing America: Windy Plow_John Deere Tractor, plains, farm,

 "Passing America: Windy Plow"__6 x 8 Drive-by painting for Passing America:the Great Plains

Interstate 40 brought us through Amarillo, and east of there we took state Hwy 207. I want to do these "drive-by" paintings on scenic roads if I can and avoid the Interstate if possible...I like interstates because they are smoother for painting in the car, and because the views are familiar to most folks, but I like the idea of taking a road I may never take again. This one, 207, has a green dotted line on the Rand McNally map, which means it's a scenic route. We pulled off the road near Claude to move Nancy from the right to left side in the back so she could watch me paint...It was fiercely windy and a little bit cold. I turned around to look over the land, and saw this cloud of dirt in the distance. When we finally drove off, I made sure we drove by slowly so that I could sketch John Deere coming at us. I am sure that the farmer was thankful for an enclosed cab! Our tractors had heat and A/C , and I can imagine what the new ones must have!! I confess I made Barbara drive REAL SLOWLY past this scene and I made lots of quick strokes which I completed from memory as we drove by.  I wanted it to look windy. So far, this is the ONLY painting I really like for "Passing America..."  149 to go!

Below are photos of this scenic stretch inthe Great Plains of Texas!

This grain elevator in Claude did not seem to be shut down, though it was very desolate! At harvest time I bet this place is BUSY! I  can imagine farmers whose parents and grandparents built this place inan earlier time when LIFE revolved around agriculture...

The reason for the green dots on the map...Caprock Canyons State Park appeared out of nowhere! It's so obvious that the plains were eroded by great waters passing over the land and carving these red rock canyons. Our road was "eye level" with the tops of the mesas, but then the land sloped away toward the river. This Canyon is at the end of Palo Duro Canyon, and looked the same to me!

"Passing the Edge"___

"Passing the Edge"___8x10 oil___a drive-by painting, Passing America: the Great Plains
Driving east from the southern Rockies there is a definite "LINE " where one can actually SEE the Great Plains . Just south of Las Vegas, New Mexico on US 84 this view stood out before us at sunrise. Click to zoom in, and you can see the line of the plain, which I emphasized by a bead of paint made by pressing down on a loaded brush...hard to explain, but I can "show it" at a workshop...if you can come!...my schedule is on my web site. This painting begins a new project ... "Passing America: The Great Plains". The photos below were taken as and before I painted  this "drive-by" canvas.

we left Las Vegas before sunrise, and as soon as we came down into the plain, the sun came up, giving us a morning rainbow in the west!

We left the rain behind, somewhere between Tecolotito and Dilla, NM. This shot shows the shadow of our "wheels".

There were still heavy clouds, but the sun was breaking them and somewhere in that distant blue is the line of the plain, which I painted above.