NELLIE. Boxer Girl, pastel pet portrait

13006. SOLD
If you are interested in the purchase of this piece, please send your email to txsauce@txsauce.net with 13006 Nellie Boxer as the subject line. Thank you so much.

I have painted Nellie to generate a donation to Legacy Boxer Rescue in Hurst, Texas.

Art Helping Boxers.  

Boxer dog pastel impressionist sketch art white on black 

by artist V. Bridges Hoyt

NELLIE BOXER • pastel sketch on black Mi Tientes paper
7x5 inches
Special SALE!  $35. incl s&h

This pastel sketch was inspired by a boxer girl named Nellie who had a serious look in her eyes and a big black nose with a little crook that gave her a whimsical look.

Your purchase of this pastel 7 x 5 inch pastel sketch for $35 will generate a $30 donation to Legacy Boxer Rescue. The remaining $5 covers the shipping fee. Nellie's owner has given me permission to paint, and LBR is aware of and welcomes the donation from the sale of this artwork.

As a child, I was reprimanded for daydreaming. Today my daydreams morph into paintings.

V. Bridges Hoyt — painting the sauce of Texas. 

Trees, Oil Painting 7x5

13004. 

Oil paint colors in this rhythmic composition include cadmium red, chromium oxide green, ultramarine blue, ivory black and titanium white. This painting is on a stretched canvas. The canvas, including the wrapped edges, was initially toned with a pale wash of cadmium yellow as a background before additional colors were applied.

Red Trees in Green Forest. 

oil on wrapped canvas 7x5 inches. 

© V. Bridges Hoyt 2013. 

95.

+ 6.50 shipping

Click on the Buy Now button to purchase through PayPal, or contact me for a direct purchase by credit/debit card or personal check. Email txsauce@txsauce.net

As a child, I was reprimanded for daydreaming. Today my daydreams morph into paintings.

V. Bridges Hoyt — painting the sauce of Texas. 

Shades of Gray Tree Landscape 7x5 Oil Painting

13002.

Shades of Gray Tree Landscape 7x5 Oil Painting

oil on canvas panel

7 x 5 inches (12.7 cm X 17.8 cm)

95. + 5. s&h

Shades of Gray
artist V. Bridges Hoyt 

As I painted, I realized this lone tree and landscape painting in shades of gray is a metaphor for the life of elderly people who live alone and die alone. Ultimately we each die alone, even when family members and friends are around us. The elderly need not be abandoned to live alone if we each do our part to befriend seniors, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, or friends. Out of respect for life, we need to befriend this older generation of people who encompass years of wisdom and life experience. Although some may be losing memories, our presence can comfort them. With an open mind, we can help them and ourselves by giving a little time and showing a healthy respect for the lives of our elderly.

I ran across an article which says it much better than I can. Click here.

As a child, I was reprimanded for daydreaming. Today my daydreams morph into paintings. 

Thanks for following my Texas Sauce Art Life.
V. Bridges Hoyt

Greens Straight Out of the Garden - 16x20 oil painting

I was going back through some old draft listings and found this one for a painting that never sold. I like this painting because it means something special to me, but this is the time of year when I clean out the studio inventory by offering sale prices on a few paintings. I am about to list this one at TXsauceStudio.Etsy.com where you can use the coupon code SANTA50 for a 50% discount on all items through December 31, 2012. The 50% discount is off the original price. I do not inflate prices. This sale is a true SALE and the coupon code is my Christmas gift to you.

ART. Painted alla prima in the studio, this was a joy to paint. People say to me "turnip greens?" and I answer Yes! Turnip greens remind me of my time growing up on the farm. Somewhere I have a photo of my mom and my toddler children gathering vegetables out of the garden. This one was painted pretty much straight out of my mind. So here you see my impression of Greens Straight out of the Garden. Click here to see enlarged detail images of the painting or to purchase! This is an oil painting on 16 x 20 inch canvas. Frame not included. Monitors vary in color matching. Typically I get a pretty good match, but this original painting has greener leaves than the image on my monitor.  #9025 Greens

LIFE (July 2009).  Daily I am reminded of how quickly life passes. It seems impossible that the years pass so quickly, but I am over the top of that steep hill I was climbing. As I look ahead towards the valley, I know that the farther I travel the faster I will move. Better do my best not to stumble but to make every step count.

The palette got cleaned off this afternoon, and as I began to set up for the next painting, I found no turp in the house ... so off I headed to Home Depot where I guessed I could find turp at a lower cost than Michael's Arts & Crafts. Sure enough, I got a large can for what I've been paying to get a small can at Michael's.  Home Depot carries small and large cans of turpentine, turpenoid and mineral spirits -- take your pick.  Got back to the house and then decided after lunch to take my walk at the Woodlands Mall where the air would be cooler for walking. That worked. Then it was home for a short nap and out for a dinner before getting back to the palette set up. Although it's nearly 1:00 a.m. in the morning, I managed to get the paint on the palette and the art/life on the blog for Monday morning.

V. Bridges-Hoyt

"Painting the Sauce of Texas"

animals • flowers • people • places

To commission a painting or portrait,
email txsauce@txsauce.net

~~~

© V Bridges Hoyt Design 2009

Texas Landscape #6: Live Oak and Bluebonnets

Daily Painting.  RESERVED on layaway for CP.

Texas Landscape #6: Live Oak and Bluebonnets
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2012
oil on paper, 4x4 inches

This scene is engraved on my mind as I have driven through this pasture many times with my dad. The lone Live Oak Tree by the distant fence row is our landmark. My color palette includes Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow Light and Ultramarine Blue all mixed with a teeny bit of Permalba White.

Painting from imagination agrees with me in this stage of my life. I am actually letting the muse do ALL of the work. When I go to my easel and pick up the palette knife, I have no idea what I will paint or the colors I will use in the painting. When I paint early mornings, the muse takes over. I am back into the pure "daily painting" mode that I discovered in 2006, and I love it!

Small works painted quickly with an ala prima technique.

Thanks for following Texas Sauce Art Life.

Texas Landscape #5: Long Hot Summer

Texas Landscape #5: Long Hot Summer
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2012
oil on paper, 4x4 inches

Abstract landscape painted with a palette knife in the colors of Texas—bright reds and oranges of a vivid red sky over Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes. My Texas Landscape Series paintings are inspired by memory impressions. As a native Texan and a lifelong resident of the State, I am painting visions of my life in Texas. 

Thanks for following Texas Sauce Art Life.

Texas Landscape #4: West Thru East Texas

Texas Landscape #4: West Thru East Texas
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2012
oil on paper, 4x4 inches

I have driven many a road through the hills and forests of East Texas with a red-orange sunset glowing ahead in the West. This series consists of memories made on drives to visit my dad at the farm in East Texas. As I pull memories from my mind and paint them on paper or canvas, my head fills with visions ... too many to count.

Thanks for following Texas Sauce Art Life.

Texas Landscape #3: Forest

I am continuing the "out-of-mind Texas landscape series" with my recollection of the abundant forests where I grew up in East Texas. Tall pines and hardwoods towered above a tangle of underbrush and vines. Click on the image to view painting description and detail.

TEXAS LANDSCAPE #3: Forest
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2012
oil on paper, 4x4 inches

The Big Thicket — Before settlers and lumberjacks and boomtowns moved in, the Thicket boasted 3.5 million acres of Lone Star wilderness. Today, less than one-tenth of the original, primitive big Thicket still stands. The immensely diverse region displays 1,000 species of wildflowers, and almost 200 species of shrubs and trees. Two stretches of wild river run through it, and eight major ecological systems flow together.  —http://texas-on-line.com/graphic/forest.htm

Learn more about the Texas Forest Trail as it winds through the areas of Tyler, Mineola, Quitman, Pittsburg, Daingerfield, Jefferson, Marshal, Longview, Kilgore, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Lufkin, Woodville, Camden, Moscow, Livingston, Coldspring, Conroe, Montgomery, Huntsville, Crockett, and Palestine.

If you like the painting above, click to view more Trees and Prairie art.

Thanks for following Texas Sauce Art Life. I offer you two ways of following my blog either through Google Friend Connect (midway in the left sidebar) or by email subscription (in the upper right sidebar).
Contact txsauce@txsauce.net

Texas Landscape #2: Sunrise

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly flow the days

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

—from Fiddler on the Roof (1)

TEXAS LANDSCAPE #2: Sunrise
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2012
oil on paper, 4x4 inches

One of my Facebook friends says this painting reminds her of sunset in the Sam Rayburn Forest or Davy Crockett National Forest, both in Texas. I love it when a person really connects with one of my paintings. That's what it's all about—painting :: viewer. This sunrise, sunset painting could be happening almost anywhere in Texas ... or elsewhere. Click on the image to view enlarged detail and description of this painting.

Speaking of sunrise, sunset, the days are growing longer again. I love it! Today is a minute shorter than tomorrow will be. The sun is waking up a teensy bit earlier each day all across Texas. (2)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012	07:16	18:03
Mon, 06 Feb 2012	07:15	18:03

Reference Links:

1. Fiddler on the Roof: Sunrise, sunset
2. Happy Zebra World Clock Sunrise, sunset in Dallas, Texas

Texas Landscape #1: Wildfire, and Valentines

From 15 November 2010 through 31 October 2011, Texas wildfires burned 3,959,040 acres of land and vegetation. During those 12 months Texas wildfires burned 2,862 homes and 2,700 other structures.  A whopping 47.3% of all acreage burned in the USA in 2011 was burned in Texas. (1)

Texas Landscape #1: Wildfire
oil on paper, 4x4 inches
Click on image to view detail and description.

Painted with a palette knife and oil paint, this daily painting is from my imagination and was inspired by the Texas drought and wildfires that burned in the summer of 2011. This original oil painting was created on Arches 140 lb. paper which has been mounted on an archival backer board for extra support. As soon as the oil paint has dried thoroughly, a glaze of Damar varnish will be applied for a uniform glossy finish.  My muse has returned after what seems like a long absence.  

Throughout history we find oil paintings that have been painted on paper, and I decided to do a series of small Texas landscapes on Arches professional grade paper. The beauty of this application of oils on paper is that it gives us options in how we can frame an oil painting. This small 4x4 inch size can be matted and framed under glass, as you would frame a watercolor painting, or the mini oil painting can be framed in the traditional way of framing directly into a miniature frame (unglazed).


Approximately 150 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas. (2)

Hoyt Valentine Siamese Daisy Rose
Mixed Media Original, 8x10 inches
Digital Collage and Colored Pencil on Paper

The valentine digital collage mixed media series continues with the Siamese cat enhanced again with colored pencil after the painting was printed as a digital collage on patterned background paper. I've been having fun with the valentines.

Thanks for following Texas Sauce Art Life.


Reference Links:

1. Wikipedia, 2011 Texas wildfires
2. Valentine's Day History

Blue Dachshund Christmas

Click on image to view detail.

I am busy painting pet portraits that were commissioned just in the past couple of weeks. Since I can't post those, I'll share this Christmas painting that I did in 2009. This is 9x12 inches and primarily watercolor but is my wash and line style with some gold paint highlights on the Christmas bow and the doxie's collar.

The painting was published on Christmas cards for Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue. I provided them with a high resolution image and kept the original, but I am offering the original painting for sale this week and will donate a portion of the sale back to CCDR.

Swan Lake Treasuries

One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.
Balthus

SWAN LAKE
Click on image for enlarged detail.

My watercolor painting "Swan Lake" has been featured in two Etsy Treasuries and my painting "Sunflower Gold" was included in a third.  I feel honored. 

1. Elegant Swans for the Holidays
2. Swan Lake
3. Unique Gifts for Good Friends

Studio Works copyright V. Bridges Hoyt 2011

Studio Works.  The sunflower on the left is the start of a new painting.  On a blank piece of Arches 140# cp I brush on tones of color and build on that.  I add my ink lines near the end of the painting, never at the beginning, to avoid that paint-by-number look on these sunflower still life paintings.  I want them fresh and impromptu.  Portraits, on the other hand, must be more exact to achieve a likeness.  I approach each medium differently.  With oil portraits, I sketch in tonal values with my brush correcting as I add more paint to the canvas.  With watercolor portraits (the birthday girl above) I do a light pencil drawing to capture proportions accurately before applying paint.  Colored pencil portraits (the boxer pup on black paper) are the most tedious as my tool of application, the pencil point, is the size of a dot and must be layered many times to achieve tonal value.

— with Vernita Bridges Hoyt, Fine Artist.

Christmas Candle

This has been one heck of a year. I have not produced as many paintings as I typically do. My focus has been on family even more than usual.

Last January my grandson (age 13) broke his arm in half ... literally. After two surgeries he is back to normal, but the nails (long rods nailed lengthwise through his bones) were not removed until the end of August just before school began.

The first week of June I finally was able to get away for a reunion with a group of artist friends; I had no sooner gotten off the airplane and into the hotel restaurant where I was meeting my friends when my brother called to say that Dad (age 95) was in the hospital for dehydration. Dad improved quickly with fluids, and I stayed in Chicago with my friends ... my first time in Chicago and the first vacation I've had in many years. That time with my girl friends (my sisters)  strengthened our bond and would prove invaluable as the year moved on because Dad's short hospital stay was a forerunner of events to come. 

In October it was clear that Dad was no longer safe staying alone in his own home. He had started to fall frequently as the aging process had accelerated. He needed 24 hour care. Again he was weak from dehydration and not eating enough. After much thought and worry, I knew that I would not be able to lift him off the floor or give him the necessary nursing care even if I moved into his house or brought him to my house. The best course of action was immediate hospital care to stabilize him and then around-the-clock skilled nursing care and physical therapy. After a few weeks he has stabilized and, although in a wheelchair, he does seem stronger, but the emotional and physical stress revolving around that decision and move has exhausted me. I find that I just want to rest. 

Now here we are only two weeks before Christmas, and I have not experienced the spirit of the season nor decided on gifts nor mailed out Christmas cards. Last night my eye fell on the ribbon candy Christmas candle that I have lit each Christmas Eve for the past 40 years. When the kids grew up and moved away, I thought the traditions had all changed, all gone away. Life transitions throughout the past 10 years underscored that thought—my husband had died, my mother had died, my father had required much help, and other family and good friends had turned their backs to me. I felt so alone through those years. Life had changed. Traditions were gone. However, as I gazed on the pink and red candle sitting on the top shelf of the hutch, I realized that the lighting of the Christmas Candle is my tradition, all mine, and is here to stay. "I will do it my way." Yet as I think of doing it my way, I know that God will have me do it His way. 

The muse called me to the studio ... but the bouncing boxer pup called me for a walk, and off we went. 

Life is a treasury.   

~

Sunflower Zen

2011.12.03 — Sunflower Zen, mixed media on Arches 140# cp paper, 16x12 inches unframed.

Sunflower Zen

Click here to view additional images.

In my quest for a simpler life, I looked around my studio knowing I need to de-clutter. When I am working on a project, I tend to focus on the painting to the point of ignoring my surroundings. My life outside the studio has been full and busy over the past several months, and when I finally took a look at the studio clutter, the folding table out of place, the paintings wrapped and priced to sell and the many greeting cards made for the East Texas art festival I didn't get to attend, I realized I need to bring some order to the studio as well as to my life, if at all possible. After moving the folding table back into the closet to serve as the art packaging center it was meant to be, I continued my survey of the studio.

Sunflower Zen • mixed media 16x12 inches

© Vernita Bridges Hoyt 2011

On the drawing board were a couple of unfinished watercolors. That would be a place to start—to complete just one of them. I began with the sunflower sketch and developed a center of focus leaving all other parts of this painting simple.

In my stillness, I revert back to the warm cadmium yellows and oranges of the sunflower, the softness of green tints on the leaves and stem and the wavy line of an ink pen.

SUNFLOWER GOLD, watercolor mixed media painting

vbh-9053:  I am bumping this painting back to the top of my blog as I have listed it at My Etsy gallery shop. Art Coupons for 15% OFF and Free Shipping are available on my Facebook page link in the blog sidebar or you can also get the coupon codes off the painting description at My Etsy.

ART. I'm not sure how out-of-the-box it really is, but this is the finish on the experimental sunflower painting. I've added gold to the painting, and in the sunlight it really glows. The sunflowers and background wrap around and continue on the sides of the stretched canvas.

SUNFLOWER GOLD

© V. Bridges-Hoyt 2009

mixed media on canvas, gallery wrap w/painted sides

9 x 12 x 1-1/2 inches

To own this painting, email Vernita at

artist@vbridgeshoyt.com

Today's Blessing: Dinner and visit with a good friend of 30+ years.

V. Bridges-Hoyt

"Painting the Sauce of Texas"

animals • flowers • people • places

To commission a painting or portrait,email txsauce@txsauce.net

~~~

© V Bridges Hoyt Design 2009

Squirrel in Tulip Garden Watercolor Art

Oh, tiptoe from the garden
By the garden of the willow tree
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
—Tiny Tim 

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

watercolor and ink 

6x9 inch Arches 140#hp paper 

© Vernita Bridges Hoyt 2011 

AVAILABLE

This wildlife illustration was inspired by a squirrel outside my studio window. Tulips on the window ledge inside the studio found their way into the painting.  I love the color in this painting. Although we think we see squirrels as brown or gray, this brown squirrel is made up of many colors including cadmium orange, burnt sienna, cobalt blue and yellow ochre. Click on the image to see the many colors in this painting. 

Available at My Etsy gallery shop where you will see an image of the full painting.

LIKE my Facebook page for special Art Coupons.

Any questions, please click here to contact me.
View my art website at www.TXsauce.net.

Big Bad Wolf Christmas Gift Art

Big Bad Wolf • original pastel art • 12x16 inches framed

Christmas Gift Art!

Big Bad Wolf, pastel art © V. Bridges Hoyt

Framed to 16x12 inches, Ready to Hang

Black metal gallery type frame includes plexiglas to protect pastel work

Media: pastel on Canson Mi Tientes

Price: $110 USD

Click here 

to view the framed painting.

Charity Benefit for Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in the high desert country of Candy Kitchen, New Mexico. WSWS provides sanctuary for wolves who have lived in a domestic situation and been abandoned. Wild animals are not domestic pets.

Story behind the Painting:

There comes a time in the life of a woman when she identifies no longer with Little Red Riding Hood but more with the little girl's aging grandmother.  The fairy tale was about warnings to be careful as a little girl walked through the woods alone. However, if too careful the little girl could become the old grandmother sick in bed never having tasted even a portion of the fruits of life. Along comes the wolf, the villain in this fable. In theory, perhaps the grandmother did not recognize the wolf as personification of life unexperienced and is overcome by the sheer volume of lost opportunities, so she runs to hide in the closet much as an ostrich would hide its head in the sand or is swallowed up by 'unexperienced life' aka the wolf.  My imagination runs wild this morning. In any case, my painting of the Big Bad Wolf is not really so scary.  

Beagle in Green Collar

© 2008 Vernita Bridges-Hoyt

Beagle in Green Collar

study of Royce, a Bones Beagle

8"x10" framed pastel on Mi Tientes toned paper

$99

Beagle in Green Collar • 8x10 inch Gallery Frame included
Camera glare is on digital image only, NOT on original painting.

To purchase, click on the PayPal "pay now" button below.

email artist@vbridgeshoyt.com

Thank you for shopping.

White Beagle Blues Christmas Gift Art

Beagle Blues

(white, blue and red)

Click here to view full painting specs, frame and purchase info.

Beagle Blues is matted, framed and ready to hang

and will be a great Christmas gift 

for that special him or her. 

~

Holiday and Greeting Cards 

designed from my original paintings 

are available at the end of the blog. 

All greeting cards are 

5x7 inches 

and professionally printed 

on high quality paper.

Each card is a work of art.

 You might think about framing 

a few of my greeting cards 

as an affordable collection of art prints.

Scroll all the way down to view card designs.

Thanksgiving Dachshund in Hat

We are officially into Autumn by the calendar and officially into Autumn by the recent cooler weather. I am officially reducing my studio time until after the first of 2012. Maybe this year I'll be prepared for holiday gift giving before Christmas Eve arrives. As we go through this last quarter of the year, I'll be posting a few of my favorite pieces.

CHEF DACHSIE
Dog in Hat Series
© Vernita Bridges Hoyt

available as a Thanksgiving card
CLICK HERE

Holiday and Greeting Cards designed from my original paintings are available at the end of the blog. Scroll down to view card designs. The 5x7 inch greeting card images are nice enough to mat and frame as an art print.

Texas Attorney's Office, oil painting

"Sam's Room" is available for purchase from my personal collection through the end of December 2011.

SAM'S ROOM 
copyright Vernita Bridges Hoyt
interior of Sam Houston's log cabin law office
oil on linen • 24x20 inches

Huntsville, Texas, hosts a memorial park to Sam Houston, a Texas hero. Within the park are a museum,  two homes of Sam Houston and a log cabin that was the law office of Sam Houston, Attorney—all on the historical register and filled with original furnishings. If you're in the area, this is a lesson in Texas history and a must see. The body of Sam Houston lies buried in a Huntsville cemetery.

Contact me for your choice of purchase options—Credit or Debit Card, PayPal, Check, or Layaway Terms.