Carole Sikes Artist / Writer in Austin, Texas

As a member of Plein Air Austin, an organization of artists who paint on location around central Texas, I traveled to the Becker Vineyards between Stonewall and Fredericksburg . There were interesting buildings and good vistas even though the fields of lavendar had "gone by". As I was searching for something to paint the wind came up and this windmill began to turn and clatter. It got my attention!

FALL SUMAC was displayed in the window of the Davis Gallery during the 2007 Holiday Show. It is one of the few really colorful Texas native plants. It is seldom appreciated except in the fall and often taken for a trash tree during other seasons and cut down. If you are new to Texas during the three other seasons, please don't discount it. Wait for fall!

This small grove of aspens was planted by Malou Flato at their Montana home on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley. My husband and I painted there in August of 2006 while house sitting for Malou and John.

This painting demonstrates the act of finding something quite ordinary and attempting to make it extraordinary. In painting from nature I find that the painting takes on a life of its own and the completed painting often differs from the orginally selected subject.

Please see my comments below. This painting is available . Please click "COMMENTS" and email me with a request for cost information .

The beginning strokes on a pristine canvas are always very exciting to me. I find it desirable but difficult to maintain the energy that is often evident in the early stages of a painting. This photo is included to demonstrate how I might start a painting. I was on location in the woods of North Carolina . The finished painting is the one apprearing above this photograph.

OUT OF THE BLUE was painted in 2004 for the Austin Museum of Art Auction.

Painted while in a Sydney Yeager weekend workshop . LANDSCAPE 4.07 is 24 x 30, oil on canvas. Purchased from my studio June 2007.