Fisk-Burgess House and Grove

Another painting for the Redlands Conservancy exhibit/show at the Redlands Art Association. This beautiful historical home is right in the center of Redlands, Ca. The grove has been preserved through a conservation easement. This house was on the list of places to paint, but we were suppose to paint there on Dec. 1, 2007. I missed the date so Pat and I decided to just paint on the outside looking in. I loved the way the roof top was nestled in the grove and all the beautiful trees that surrounded the area. It was another beautiful Redlands day. Warm sun and beautiful light. This painting is called "From the Outside Looking In". I can put 3 paintings in the show. Now I have to decide which 3 of the 4. The show reception is Jan. 6, 2008. The show will be up for 1 week, so don't miss out. Well today is Dec. 31, 2007. Next time you hear from me it will be 2008. I hope everyone has a wonderful, prosperous New Year. Cheers, Terry d. Chacon

Zanja Ditch Redlands, Ca. en Plein Aire

Last week we got another day of painting in before the Holiday rush. Zanja Ditch is another historically recognized area in the Redlands Conservancy list for Plein Air artists to paint. Sharon Sahovy had tried to find the place prior and was unable to figure out where they wanted us to paint. I had in mind what they were talking about but I too was unable to find in the beginning. I read from Mentone to Redlands University so figured I would go out towards Mentone. Sure enough a small dead end road was found right off of Citrus Ave. Oh my, when I drove through the orange groves I came upon a breath taking site. I wanted to paint the mountains in the back ground with snow and was happy to see this would be possible today. Excitedly I phoned Sharon and Pat to give them directions to the site I had found. I walked around getting used to the place but the view I first saw as you come out of the orange groves with the trees turning colors and the snow capped mountains in the background was just waiting for me. Sharon shortly arrived and also was in aw of the site. We decided to move our cars back so we could get a full vista view with the shed and windmill. Sharon then found another place that she liked and moved her equipment. A couple ladies who live in the area then stopped to see what we were doing and wanted to let us know that there was a sighting of a Mountain Lion in the area the day before so to be on the look out. The hazards of painting in Plein Aire! I decided at this time I would open the rear of my SUV and paint from there. I figured I could jump in the car if the lion appeared. I knew they were serious as I had read in the newspaper that the local High School and one grade school in the area had been on lock down one full day because of a couple Mountain Lions. They did capture one but the other was still at large. After this Pat showed up. She parked her car in front of mine and thought it was a good idea to stay close. I told Sharon to yell if she got suspicious and I would drive to pick her up. The day went on and we all did fine until Sharon got stung by a bee. This is another hazard of Plein Aire painting. She had forgotten her medicine as she was allergic and one of the nice ladies we had talked to earlier happened to be coming back through about the same time and she said she would go get some medicine for Sharon. We need to all carry a first aid kit. The weather was just beautiful, the sun felt so good, a little cool but no wind and the view was incredible. Boy I love my job! Enjoy the painting "The Road to Zanja Ditch".

Terry

Ornament Auction

On Sat. Dec. 8, 2007, RCAA had an Ornament Auction. Mark Schooley asked all the artist who are members of the Gallery to bring in a hand made ornament. Last year I took in a porcelain hand painted bulb with hand painted dogs all over. I was unable to attend because it was the same time as the Eukanuba Dog Show in Long Beach. Well this year they were on separate weekends so I was able to attend both. This year I hand sculpted and hand painted in great detail a black masked red ceramic Afghan Hound Angel ornament for the auction. The wings I painted with 14K gold paint and fired once more to bring out the brilliant shiny gold color. They hang from a red ribbon from the tree branch. I bought an ornament stand to display it on and took it to the Gallery. The ornament auction was great and there were a lot of people there to buy ornaments and enjoy the night. We started out by having a lovely dinner at a new steak house by the Mission Inn. Because it was the first weekend of "Festival of Lights" for down town Riverside and the beautiful Mission Inn, my favorite restaurant had a 2 hour wait. So we walked on and found a new restaurant that was very tasty. We will definitely be going back. Back at the Gallery, when we arrived they had just started the bidding. We had so much fun bidding with other people and some people were even out biding themselves! I think the wine was starting to hit. My ornament brought in $120.00 for the Gallery and was the second highest bid of the night. My friend Joan Coffey and her husband Jerry are the new proud owners. I don't have a photo of the ornament alone, but I have included a group shot of the ornaments that I did for this year. Joan's new ornament is the one on the far right. Enjoy the art, until next time I hope your are enjoying the Holiday Season! Terry

Olive Ave. Market

This week a group of the Plein Air Artists got together to paint the Olive Market in Redlands. It is one of the historically recognized sites in Redlands put together by the Redland's Conservancy

for the Plein Air show coming up in Jan. 2008. This site has had a lot of meaning to me over the past 20 years that I have lived in Redlands. My son Matthew went to Sacred Heart Academy which is down the street a couple of blocks. We would frequent the little store after school for candy and soda. It reminded me of a market that was down the street from us in Prescott, AZ. called Marshall's, when I was growing up. You could find any type of candy imaginable. A few years back they refurbished the store into a coffee house and sandwich shop. They have great Latte's if you're in the area, do stop in. Nicest people work there too. I know my friends Chuck and Victor go there a lot on their way to feed their horses on Sat. morning. It is quite the little hang out in a residential area. Enjoy the painting! Terry

Morey Mansion/Redlands California

The Redland's Conservancy is having its yearly Paint Out through the Redland's Art Association. Each year they pick places of interest in the city of Redlands that they would like to see the artist paint. Jan. 7 through Jan. 11 2008 is the show for this years paintings. Yesterday a group of us met at Morey Mansion which is now a bed and breakfast. I arrived late and most of the beautiful sun lit places were gone as the sun had moved behind the mansion. I walked around and found the sun peaking through on the side of the house by the rose garden. I was also fascinated with the mountains in the back ground and the small palm and large palm tree in the foreground, making for a nice composition. I think I will go back and do another painting of this fabulous place and try for a very early morning scene. I will also probably take this painting back and do some of the intricate work on the house around the porch and call it complete. While there I met the owner. What a charming lady she is. She said she lives on the 3rd floor and has turned the other 2 floors into a bed and breakfast. She also told me that we could come paint anytime we would like and even offered a bathroom for us. Now that's hospitality for you! Until next time, enjoy the ART! Terry

Christmas Painting 2007

Well now that the Thanksgiving day is coming to an end, I thought I would share with you my painting to add to my series of Christmas paintings. This painting is called "The Story About the Man in the Moon?" I always wanted to incorporate my Greyhound with the Afghans and after many sketches this is what I came up with. I thought about putting them in a Southern California scene with palm trees and the ocean, but as I started painting the cold snowy night seemed more appropriate. I knew I wanted a night scene and as I started painting the moon, I started thinking about how excited I get to this day when I see a full moon. So this painting has very special meaning. When I was very young we lived next to a family that I became very well acquainted with, they happen to raise Collies. They had an older sister and we would talk for hours in the early evening in the summer and for some reason she would always ask me to tell a story. My favorite was to tell stories about the man in the moon. So there you have it a little of my past and I hope this painting now has special meaning to you too. Another thing I really like about this painting is the way it looks like an old Christmas card when I print it out. Until next time, Enjoy the ART! Terry

Art Shows and April Antics

This past weekend I was involved in 2 Art Festivals. Art in the Park in Fontana, Ca. and Art on State Street in Redlands, Ca. You sure meet a lot of interesting people at these Festivals and you get a lot of questions. Both days the weather was absolutely beautiful. While at the Fontana Festival they like you to be creative so the people can watch you work. I started this oil painting of April. This will be the second in a series of 12 x 12 inch paintings of April called "April Antics". The first is one I showed a month ago in my blog called "April in the Comforter". I want to paint as many as I can of her as time allows. She has so many crazy things that she does. This one is in her hibiscus bush in my garden. She goes under the bush (it is huge) and sticks her head out from the leaves and flowers and just stands there. She also has another bush in the house that she seems to love and will stand in that bush for quite sometime. We can't think of any reasons why she does this other than the leaves might tickle her back and it feels good. Enjoy the art, until next time. Terry

Banning, California

This weekend my plein air group PAAR painted in the little town of Banning, Ca. This little town is nestled right below the San Gorgonio mountains. I knew it was there but never realized how beautiful it is and how many places there are to paint. The event started on Friday. It was very cold from what I understand and some of the artist painted from inside art galleries to keep warm. The local art galleries and artist were very happy to see us there, visit with us and share their stories. I didn't get to paint on Friday, this was my day to pick up my dog Tootsie from the vet clinic in Woodland Hills. She had been there for 1 week under the watchful eye until she was ready to be bred. She was bred to a one of my most favorite afghans of all time. Ch. Shylo Marquis Malachite. I believe he is her 4 great grand sire. So everyone keep your finger crossed that the breeding took and we will be having babies in Jan. Now onto Saturday. Saturday was the second day of the event and I arrived around 7:30 in the morning. It was cold. I had dressed for the occasion and brought my gloves and hat to be sure and stay as warm as I could in the open air. I drove around town to the different sites that the Art Alliance had given us to paint. While standing next to the Methodist Church I spotted a very small Catholic church in the distance. The fog was in, but it would move up and down the mountains in the back ground. I managed to paint the first 2 sets, but there are mountains even further behind but they were not there in the morning. I noticed them in the afternoon. Here is the morning painting. The second painting is Ramsey st. The famous Fox Theatre, built in 1904, still stands. Although they say they have remodeled it inside the outside they have tried to keep. Another spot on this painting is the red building in the far distance. Copeland House, this was on the list too. So I managed to get 2 important building in one spot. After painting and freezing most of the day we all stopped at the local Chinese restaurant for hot tea and soup. It was delicious and fun to discuss every one's day. Sunday I returned around 9 a.m. I met up with Luz and we went over to paint the Banning Women's Club. I don't have a photo of that painting. At 1 p.m. the Women's Club put on a very nice lunch in our honor. I had to give a speech about our club and thank all the participants. I think I am a much better artist than speech giver! But I got through it. Eddie had told me to write some things down, boy was I glad I did. When they called my name and I started walking to the front I think my brain went on hold. Luckily after starting I felt more comfortable and got through it. After the luncheon all the artist were asked to bring their paintings to Banning Center of the arts. Today was the opening for the show that is up there (see previous post about animal paintings to see what I have in the show) and to set up our paintings on their patio for all to enjoy. While there the Mayor came (I cannot believe she is only 30) and gave us a certificate thanking us for the the time we gave their city and a nice certificate from the Riverside Board of Supervisors. She then asked if it were possible that all of the paintings could be hung at the City Hall. So that is why I don't have a photo of the painting I did today. But here is my second painting from the first day. "The Fox Theatre". What a fun way to spend a weekend. I look forward to painting in Banning again real soon.

Enjoy the ART! Terry

Some doggie and kitty paintings

Banning Center for the Arts is having a 6 week long show starting Nov. 2, which will feature the artwork of animals done by local artists. These are 4 paintings I did for the occasion. I will also have on display "Cover Boy" and "My Brass Bed".

More University of Redlands Paintings

This was the first day of painting at the University of Redlands Centennial Celebration. I should say the first day for me. The event started on Sat. I was up north at the Northern Afghan Hound Club Specialty show where Apache was awarded an award of Merit by judge Ed Gilbert. The following day judged by Edith Hanson, Chief was awarded reserve winners dog. It was a very nice weekend. Matthew and his girlfriend Taylor joined Abbe, Bruce, Bobby and me on Sat. evening for dinner and then came back to spend the next day with us at the dog show. This was Taylor's first dog show and I am sure an eye opening experience. Anyway Eddie had called to tell me the fires had started in Malibu and that I needed to be sure and check when I got to Abbe's in Santa Barbara if the freeway was open before I tried to come on home. I really wanted to get home Sunday night as I had life drawing class on Monday morning and I needed to get ready for the Paint Out at the University. When we arrived at Abbe the 101 was still open so I headed out. The wind was blowing so bad. By the time I got to the 210 which is after Pasadena the wind was blowing so bad that I saw 5 big wheelers turned over on their side. This was after midnight, so one could say I was getting really frightened. Signs were blowing, debris from everywhere. I just held onto the stirring wheel and made it home. I was saying my prayers. Now back to the Paint out. The first 3 paintings were the first day. You can see that there were no mountains in the back ground as compared to the same views I had painted a couple weeks before. You can go back in the blog and view these. It was so strange how the sky constantly changed colors. In Redlands we don't usually get the winds. The winds are all around us and the Arrowhead fires were right behind these buildings. At night you could see the flames. It was very scary. So we painted all day. The next morning I wanted to arrive at 6:30 as I thought early morning looking East I could at least get some colorful skies. That was the painting I did in the previous blog named "Rose Garden at Sunrise". After the Rose Garden I met up with my friend Pat and we liked the trees as they were turning Fall colors against the roof tops and the clock tower. By this time the smoke was very bad. We had to paint with masks on. The ash was floating around, it was unbelievable. Remember on a clear day this setting has beautiful mountain scenery behind them. That afternoon after a bunch of us PAAR painters met at the commons for lunch and rest. We walked around and looked at different views to paint. I decided to call it a day. I was very tired. On Thursday I got out to paint around 8 a.m. I had remembered the beautiful light the morning before on the Larsen Hall and was hoping the sun would peak through again, this is the painting with the dome, so I set up on the quad at the University and looked up the street to paint the dome and the way the nice shadows were hitting this particular side of the building. After lunch a few of us decided to go back to my house and rest before painting our last painting of the day. This painting is on the blog before this, named "Sunset at the Alumni House". Eddie thought it would be nice for me to invite the PAAR group over on Friday morning after take in of our paintings for the GALA Friday night, as many of our members come from quite a ways away. Here is a photo of some of the group who came over to spend the day before the Gala and in between an Artist luncheon that they had at the University for us. Also a photo of my booth which was set up on Sat. for a sale of the weeks work and some paintings I had done of some surrounding areas of Redlands. I also had available ceramic tiles, music boxes and note cards. It was a great selling day for all. Ceramic tiles, music boxes, note cards of the paintings and some of the paintings are still available. If you are interested be sure to contact me at shacone@aol.com. Well thanks for listening about my week, it was a great time and I only wish Redland's University would make this an annual event. Terry

U of R paintings

Well the week is over and I am beat. I wanted to try and get a couple paintings up for your viewing this morning before I leave for my life drawing class. The paint out was a huge success. Over 75 Plein Air painters from all around took part and what an exhibit/show we had. The fires in southern California did not stop the juices from flowing from the artist who set out to paint no matter the circumstances they had to overcome. I was not able to paint on the weekend so I didn't get one painting with a blue sky or with a clear view of the mountains that are so beautiful behind the gorgeous buildings at the University of Redlands. I did paint some paintings previously and I will put them up along with the new ones so you can see what I am talking about. The 2 paintings here were my choices for the art show. I painted the first one "Rose Garden at Sunrise" on Wed. morning. I wanted to try and get a beautiful sky and a hint at the mountains from the south east corner looking out over the rose garden. I got there at 6:30 a.m. and set up and waited patiently for the sun to start its way up. It was everything I had hoped for. The colors were remarkable and I just love the vista in this painting. The second painting was on the very last day of the paint out. A few of the painters were getting really tired by this time and I said lets take a break and go to my house. After the break we left around 4 p.m. back to the University. I had in mind what I wanted to capture in my last painting until I took the back way into the University. I wheeled my car around when I saw this view and set up on the northeast corner of Colton Ave. overlooking the entrance and the Alumni house in the distance. The beautiful sky captured the moment as the sun was setting. This is "Alumni House at Sunset". I will post the rest of the paintings later today and tomorrow so you can see them all. I did 7 paintings in 3 days. Any questions, please ask. Until then, Terry

Chapel Tower w/flags

Today is October 7. 2007 and 2 weeks away from the Redland's University Centennial. I woke up and the sun was shining, the sky was really blue. My son Matthew is here visiting from Monterrey and he and his dad went out golfing. They left around 6 a.m. I fell back asleep and woke up after 8. I jumped up, hurried to get everything ready and was at the University a little past 9 a.m. I wanted to get a painting done before my guys called me that they were home from golf, so I figured I had a couple of hours. I drove around the campus and notice how beautiful the full length column flags were against the crisp blue natural sky on the Chapel Tower. It was begging me to paint. I know I have done the tower twice before, but never had I actually noticed this corner view from the administration building up on the hill looking across the campus with the beautiful San Bernardino mountains in the back ground. The only difference in the flag view and the view I was seeing was the mountains in the flags have snow on them. This is beautiful in the winter time and I need to go paint this view after a snow fall. I set up and began to paint. At first I could not get the mountains the right color and I kept working. They were rosy color against the blue mountains in the background and they also had some gold color in them. I scraped the paint off once and started over and finally got the result I wanted. After finishing the painting and feeling quite satisfied, Matthew called and said they were home. I said I will be there in 5 minutes I am just finishing up. I finished up the clock on the tower and started to pack up. Low and behold when I went to grab the painting off the easel it fell hitting the easel in several spots but I saved it from hitting the ground. Well the 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes, but I manged to save the painting. On my way home, my friend Pat called to see if I had any paintings in the Stage Coach days in Banning. She said they had called her to come pick hers up as the wind was blowing so bad the tents were unstable and flying everywhere. When I got home, my friend Ada called, said she heard I was out painting and she said in Riverside the wind was blowing just terrible. I could not believe how beautiful it was in Redlands. No wind to be found. Often time when the wind is blowing in surrounding areas we are just as calm as can be. I think it is these beautiful mountains that surround the community. Enjoy the painting and the beautiful Redlands view, I know I enjoyed creating it. Terry

Moving Afghan Hound

I got up this morning hoping to go painting in Plein Aire at the University, but it was windy, cold and trying to spit rain. I worked a bit on the computer getting packages ready to send to customers for the week. I then decided to watch a new video I had ordered from Susan Sarback. Susan is my mentor when it comes to painting with the palate knife. I have taken 2 workshops with her in the past and she actually started me using the palate knife. She has always said to me that I can paint my dogs with a palate knife but I have never given it a try from start to finish. Most of the time I might use the palate knife to finish up a painting for highlights and edges. So watching the video was very inspirational. I then found an 11 x 14 canvas and a photo of Apache that Wynne Kalish took at the 2006 nationals and started in painting with my knife. I got about 1/3 done and thought this is just awful. The paint was going nowhere. I then decided to step back and take a look at where I was going wrong. Trying to remember the steps I take to create a painting in Plein Aire, I started painting shapes instead of painting the dog. Got all the ground work in using the masses that I was seeing, painting the lights with warm colors and the darks with cool colors. Guess what it worked. I am very proud I finally did this technique that so many have said I should try. The photo does not really show you all the colors that I used, you will have to take my word that it is very colorful in real life. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it. Terry

April in her comforter

Finishing up this week is my latest painting of my very special greyhound "April". April loves to get on any bed, mess up the comforters or I think she thinks she is making her own bed and then snuggle down into the comforter. What I love about this painting is her eye. She will not move from this position but if you come into the room she will follow you with her eye never moving any other part of her body. I always wanted to capture this moment and I love the outcome. Enjoy. Terry

Commission Paintings-Ally & Katie

Thought I would share with you 2 new commission paintings that are now in their new homes. First is Ally the Corgi owned by Natalie. Precious little girl who was a joy to paint. When her mom brought the photos over for me to look at, I took one look at this position and fell in love. Ally's mom is doing pet sitting and wanted a painting of her little girl to use for note cards and stationary to give to her clients and promote her business. Natalie I wish you all the best in your new venture.

Secondly is Katie. Dorre and Alan and their darling 2 year old little girl came by to discuss having a painting done of Katie. Katie passed away a couple years ago but has lived on in their hearts and they wanted a precious memory of her. They brought lots of photos to choose from, but the photo reference for this painting was undeniable. Katie loved to recline on their bed. The perfect part of this painting is the way the sun is coming through the window in the background. Dorre and Alan had seen my work at a local art show and what drew them to me was my use of color. They wanted Katie to have glorious color but still be representative of her breed (Cane Corso Italian Mastiff). They said she was the most gentle creature and they missed her dearly. After completing the painting I sent a photo to Dorre. She was thrilled with the outcome and wanted to wait until Alan was off work to come by and pick it up. When they walked into my studio I could not believe their response. Dorre was brought to tears. She was so taken with the painting and that I had brought her Katie back to life. Boy this was emotional for me as well, most people seem delighted with the outcome, but I don't recall ever getting tears. Some dogs or even animals just live in our hearts forever. There is no better way, in my opinion, to have a beautiful reminder like an oil painting to look at every day. Hope you have enjoyed these 2 stories. If you would like me to paint your beautiful animals, please let me know. I love my job! Thank you Natalie and the Zane family for allowing me to immortalize your beautiful animals. Terry

shacone@aol.com

University of Redlands Clock Tower

I decided to try a painting in late afternoon but I had no idea that I would be serenaded throughout my painting session. When we arrived at the University we couldn't figure out why there were so many cars and no place to park. We drove around and around. Finally finding a place by the gymnasium. When we got out of the car the blasting began and the young people were everywhere. We walked up towards the administrative building and I saw this lovely composition with the mountains in the back ground, the roof tops, part of the gymnasium is in the lower left corner (it is a huge building on campus), and of course the clock tower. There is a clock on every side and you can see this from most everywhere on the campus. That way everyone knows when it is time to be in class and they won't be late! OK, I just through that end because it sounded good! Anyway lots of things happen when you are outside of a concert. The police are swarming, (I ran into my police buddy Pete, who has been so great during all the days the artist have been painting at the University), the kids are plentiful (one was very intoxicated, yelling as he approached, not a good sign with all the police and he was escorted out in no time), the music was loud (very loud, I think it was music, I must be getting old), most people looked like they were having a great time. I cannot believe how many people talk constantly on their cell phones, how did we ever find our friends when we were growing up. Some of them stopped by to chat about the painting which was very refreshing to know there were some interested in visual art. Anyway enjoy the art, until next time, Terry

Redlands Palms

These palms are across the way from my home and right out my front door. I see them every time I go outside. When I see them I say to myself, I need to paint those palms. I wanted to also get the San Bernardino mountains in the background, so I had to wait for a clear day and a clear morning. With winter approaching I knew I better get it done. I love painting palms. I never realized until I started painting them how many different varieties we have in southern California and how different they are. This grouping is actually all that is left of an orange grove. I have noticed, in the groves that they are removing from the area to put in more shopping, that the palm trees are staying. I don't know the history on this, but if any of you do, that would be nice to know. This painting will be for sale at the Redland's University 100 year Centennial on Oct. 27, 2007 along with several others that I am painting for the event. Enjoy the art! Terry

University of Redlands Admin-building

Continuing on with painting the University of Redlands. This is the back side of the incredible administration building. I loved this scene the first time I went to the University to get ideas about different painting I would like to accomplish before the event starting Oct. 20, 2007. I was disappointed that the morning was so overcast and of course the minute I started packing to come home the sun came out. When I got home and took the painting out of my porchade box I was happy to see that I had really captured the mood of the morning. I will go back this afternoon and try to get the late afternoon light and see which I like best. and today is a sunny day, yipee! Until then, enjoy the painting. Terry

University of Redlands 2nd time

I figured since I was home this weekend I better take some time to go paint at the University again. Our Paint Out is coming up, about a month away. I will be leaving on Wed. to judge in Atlanta, so next weekend will be out of the question. I looked around when I got there to check out some other places but I was still drawn to the Church Clock Tower. I decided to try to get the whole picture in this painting instead of just the Tower and a few trees like the last one. Today the sun was much brighter than the last time I painted here. I met a painter from San Diego who is also painting at the University Paint Out and a few more from the PAAR member showed up to paint also. All in all it was a wonderful morning. Terry

San Juan Capistrano 2007

The Plein Air Artists of Riverside outing this weekend was the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. My biggest mistake made in Plein Air for 3 years. I forgot my easel! I set out my equipment the night before and I was missing my tripod. I had set my easel on the table in my studio, put all my other equipment on the floor. I found my tripod and decided to load the car before going to bed. Never gave it another thought until I lifted the hatchback on my SUV. Oh My God! I forgot my easel. Well my friend Pat and I went on in the mission, paid our fee and said hello to the fellow members who had arrived before us. Of course on the way down to San Juan which is about 1 1/2 hours drive, it took 2 1/2 hours because Pat and I were so busy talking we missed our freeway for a more direct route. Oh well, I said, we can go down the coast highway. This is such a lovely drive and there was not much traffic for a Saturday morning. After going into the beautiful garden at the mission I looked for a bench to sit on that would be in the shade and propped my equipment up best I could and found a 5 x 7 canvas. I painted a scened that looked out towards the bell tower with the lovely garden in the foreground. Not too bad without an easel. Around lunch time, Pat and I went across the street to a taco stand and had fish tacos. When we came back I decided to give a larger canvas a try. As I was sketching in the scene Evelyn, another painter came by with some tape and taped my canvas to my luggage wheels. I am a survivor, I can now paint without an easel. Of course, now that I know I can do this, I will probably never forget my easel again. I sat on the bench and turned truly sideways to be able to paint. Boy did my back hurt when I was finished. This is the second painting. It was such a beautiful day, temperature around 75, light wind, a painters dream. Well for the painters who had easels that is! Enjoy the 2 paintings. Terry

University Chapel Tower

This morning I got up very early and set out to paint the University Chapel on the grounds of the University of Redlands. A group of us met at the administration building and set out to get ideas, sketch and paint for an upcoming event, the U of R Centennial Celebration, 100 yr. Anniversary. One of the events will be a paint out with 100 Plein Air Artists from all around, painting from Sat. through Thursday, with a gala event and exhibit competition on Friday evening and a show and sale on Saturday. This unfortunately will be my one and only time to paint on the grounds until I return from the Afghan Hound Club of America Nationals Sept. 10, 2007. So the pressure is on. There is so much to paint, so it won't be hard to figure out a beautiful subject, the hard part will be choosing when the time comes. I chose the University Chapel the other day when I was out scouting the campus. I love the setting of the large trees in the park up against the tower, and the beautiful San Bernardino mountains in the background. I knew the sun would be glistening on this hot summer morning, but I really could not believe my eyes when the sun peaked through the overcast skies this morning and lit up the tower. It was everything I had hoped for. Those gorgeous trees in the foreground and the palms along the side made for a beautiful composition. I won't be posting any new paintings on my blog until after the 10th of Sept. Meanwhile you might want to check out my updated website at www.terrydchacon.com. Check out my new Keepsakes and Plein Air pages. Some time during the Nationals, be sure to go back to my website for more new surprises on the bronze, custom order, and the giclee pages. I don't want to publish these until after people see the new additions in person at the Nationals. Enjoy. Terry

San Clemente, Ca.

On Sunday a few of us from the Plein Air Artist of Riverside group (Ada, Louise, Pat, Brian and myself), met fellow member Alan Nowell in San Clemente, Ca. for a day of painting. Alan lives in San Clemente and always drives to meet us in our area so he wanted us to come to his area to paint. Thanks Alan and we will be back! We painted at the Ole Hanson Beach Club overlooking one of the beautiful beaches on the California coast. What a lovely day, could not have asked for better weather and perfect place to set up. I actually painted right next to my SUV with the hatch back open. I know Pat took some photos, when I get one I will post it to my blog. Louise at one point decided to take a nap in the back seat with the beautiful ocean breeze blowing in from side to side. I really liked the beautiful buildings in the area and at first thought that would be my subject. When I went back to the car to get my easel, I saw the way the beautiful morning light was hitting this flower bed. I love the challange of painting palms, one thing we have a lot of in S. Ca. and the colors change minute by minute. These palms in the flower bed were just singing...... "Singing Palms" is the name of this painting. The ocean was very calm from my view and the sky was clearing by the time I finished my painting, but I did manage to keep some of the fog in the distance to try and get the feeling into the painting. After a full morning of painting we finished the day by going to get a bite to eat at Dave's Mexican Food. The fish tacos were delicious. Amazing what an hours drive from my house will bring. Until next time, Enjoy the painting. Comments are welcome. Terry

Crystal Cove/Pelican Beach 8-6-07

I know it seems like forever since I posted on my blog, but I have been so busy doing the trophies for the Afghan Hound Club of America and working on some studio commissions that I have been unable to paint any Plein Air paintings. Yesterday a group of us from the Plein Air Artist of Riverside went to Crystal Cove down by Laguna Beach, to watch a demonstration by signature plein air painter Jeffrey Horn from the Laguna Plein Air Painters group. Each of us painted a painting after the demo and Jeffrey gave us some helpful hints. This particular area of Crystal Cove is called Pelican Beach. I loved the way the sun started peaking through the clouds and making the bluff just sing. After painting for a while on the beach we made the walk back up to the car (what a walk, it didn't seem that bad going down) and went into Laguna Beach to see the Pageant of the Masters exhibit and the Art-A-Fair. We were hoping to run into our friend Helga who has an exhibit at the Art-A-Fair but unfortunately she was not there. However, we did run into Robin Hall. Some of us in the group had taken a workshop from Robin last Jan. It was fun seeing her and catching up. She has a wonderful exhibit at the Pageant of the Masters, so if you are in Laguna be sure to see her paintings. After enjoyinng all the art we had dinner at the cafe at the festival and returned home very late last night. I also would like to mention on Sat. the 4th of Aug. Luz Perez and I went to Ada Passaro's exhibit in Torrance, CA. The exhibit is from a group of 80 painters who painted at the 10th Annual Henry Fukuhara workshop at Manzanar. It was a beautiful show. Then we headed down to Laguna to see the Laguna Plein Air Painters figure show. Our friend Lisa McDill has a charcoal drawing in the exhibit, this too was a beautiful show. So see I have been very busy. After the Afghan Hound Nationals in Sept. I hope to get back to my weekly paintings to post on my blog so don't discard your link. I am hoping to go to San Clemente this Sunday to paint, if so, I will post the painting next week. Until then, Enjoy! Terry

Catalina Island

Two of my painter friends, (Joan Coffey and Louise Smith), and I went to Catalina Island on Tuesday and returned late Wed. night. We were exhausted from the trip as we tried to paint every minute as there was so much to paint. We arrived early afternoon and needed something to eat before we started painting. We ate lunch, sipped on margarita's and watched the boats come in an out of the marina. It was such a beautiful setting. We checked into our hotel and decided a 20 minute nap was in order. After awakening from our short nap we were ready to go. We thought we should find a place where there wasn't a lot of traffic so we walked over to Descanso Cove past the famous Avalon Casino. By this time it was around 5 p.m. While painting we started noticing all these cats. One of the ladies told us they come down every evening as people set out food for them. While looking up into the mountain side what would appear but Bambi! She was so cute and seemed so curious about the cats also. She was not afraid of anything and just walked around behind us for quite a while. We finished our first paintings around 7:30 and packed up. We found a cute little restaurant that overlooked the marina and had a bite to eat before turning in for the evening. I told Joan and Louise that I wanted to get up at 5 a.m., I wanted to see the sunrise and possibly get a painting. So up at 5 and out by the marina at 5:30. What no sun! I guess because of June gloom you don't see the sunrise this time of year. Oh well, I still got a nice painting of the marina with the casino in the back ground. The reflections off the boats in the foreground were incredible even though there wasn't a lot of light to capture. Around 10 a.m. the sun was starting to peak through the clouds and I noticed how beautiful the light was hitting the mountains behind us, this prompted the little 5 x 7 with the birds on the roof. We checked out of our hotel and left our baggage in their locker so we could go have lunch. By this time I was feeling really tired. Wished I had taken a nap. After lunch and walking back out by the marina I was taken by the umbrellas and decided another painting had to be done. We packed up around 5 p.m. and went catch our boat back to Long Beach. What a whirlwind 36 hours. These 3 paintings were also done using palate knife. Notecards and paintings are available. I think this has brought you up to date on my week. Please feel free to make comments. Terry

Lavender Festival

On Saturday and Sunday the Plein Air Artists of Riverside were invited to paint at the Lavender Festival in Cherry Valley, Ca. I was unable to attend on Saturday due to previous commitments so I went early Sunday morning and stayed all day. I finished 3 paintings. The first painting is a small 5 x 7 of the lavender bush. While having my lunch I was looking at each individual bush and decided a close up painting would be nice. The second painting was done late afternoon. The third painting done early morning is a vista that I thought was so beautiful. Especially the way the sun was hitting the distant mountains and the nice shadows in the foreground. The little red roof of the pump house in the center of the painting also helped in my decision to paint this particular view. After we finished painting for the day, we sat over under the huge trees and watched on of our fellow artists do a portrait painting of a young lady and listened to the lovely music. The musician playing the piano just graduated high school and is on his way to Julliard. These young talents are amazing. His younger brother also played the violin and he was incredible also. While sitting there an announcement came over that they would like everyone to stay for dinner. They had fixed lavender brisket and salad with lavender dressing, mint brownies and lavender cookies. It was the end to a beautiful day. Enjoy the 3 paintings all painted using a palate knife. They are for sale, if interested contact me. Terry

951

This has been a very busy week with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside. On Friday June 22, 2007, eight artists were asked to paint at the 951 event at the Riverside Art Museum. The event had 600 invited guests who watched the artist at work and asked a lot of questions, enjoyed the wine and specialties as they strolled through the museums beautiful galleries and listened to the lovely live music available on each floor. The saxophone player who played on the first floor was only 19 and so accomplished. I wanted to buy one of his cd's, but by the time I was finished painting, he was gone. I am hoping to find out his name and order a cd, he was terrific. Another thing that I learned was that the museum has a 3rd floor. It is actually the rooftop which has a stage and a beautiful view of downtown Riverside. Definitely a future painting site! I painted outside by the red carpet entrance to the museum and was taken by the way the light and shadows was affecting the beautiful satin draped pedestals with the flower bouquets. This painting is 5 x 7 and done mostly with a brush. I started another painting of the beautiful newly painted blue doors of the museum, but will have to go back another time to finish them. Terry

JUST IN: The sax jazz player's name is J. Boykin, google him and order his cd. He is great!

Veus

I am trying to play catch up on some paintings that I have completed in the last month but have not had time to post them on my blog. This painting was a commissioned piece by my dentist. This is her dog Veus. She got Veus to protect their home after they had a home invasion. He is such a great dog, so friendly. April, Lolita and I went to visit him and their greyhound Tony and take some reference photos for the painting. Veus and April became quick friends and played until they just couldn't play anymore. I liked the composition of the reference photo for this painting as to me it shows his gentle nature, but he looks the part. Painting is 11 x 14 in oil. Terry

Lone Cypress Pebble Beach

Last year while visiting my son at Pebble Beach he asked me to paint him his own painting. He wanted something that nobody else would have, no prints, no cards. I told him to pick out some scenes that he really liked in the area and one of them was the Lone Cypress on the 17 mile drive. He talked about how cool the Rolex clock towers were at each of the Golf Courses so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into the painting. Here is the end result. My son's 21st birthday is this weekend. We are meeting him and a few of his friends, my brother and his wife in Las Vegas to celebrate. I have made a note card of the painting and will give that to him in Vegas. He will see the real painting and take it home the following weekend after a visit with mom and dad for a few days. Enjoy, Terry

Hidden Palms May 16, 2007

Yesterday a group of us from the Plein Air Artists of Riverside, met to paint at the Botanical Gardens on the grounds of the University of Riverside. Pat and I walked through the gardens trying to decide where to paint. The roses were in full bloom as were the day lilies. Unfortunately to get there we would have to pull all our equipment up a steap hill and I just didn't have the energy. When walking back to our set up we spotted these gorgeous palms hidden in the cactus garden. The way the light was hitting them was so beautiful. The hard part was trying to bring them out and separate them from the rest of the garden. This is why I decided to call the painting Hidden Palms. Enjoy, Terry

SOLD