May and June 2015

"the Alamo Cat", Japanese watercolor on Arches paper

My whimsical cats and Kendra's portrait have kept me busy and happy these past months.
We have had Gabriel's graduation and Gerald's departure for France. In the meantime I have been working on weekends at the River Art Group Annex and meeting people from different parts of the the US, Canada and from distant parts of the world. I work on the first and third Sunday of the month.

Kendra's portrait is done from a beautiful photograph. As always I learned a lot in the process of painting this portrait.
Have a great summer!

Kendra, oil on canvas, 16x20"

"Huey Cat", watercolor on Arches paper

March and April 2015

Saint Spyridon, oil on linen,  10x12"

St. Spyridon, a Greek saint of Cyprus, was painted for a friend in the Netherlands. It was a Syrian icon that my friend liked best and that was the model for my work, that is why the name: Saint Spyridon is painted in Arabic characters. Robert's students helped me with the writing.

Yolande's Great Oak, oil on canvas, 30x40"

Yolande's Great Oak is nearing completion. I showed it to you last year in its early stages. I repainted almost the whole painting. It is hanging in our living room and I am debating what more needs to be done.

In San Antonio my art is on display in La Villita at the River Art Group Gallery and River Art Group Annex.
 Till the end of May some of my smaller oil paintings are at the Great Harvest Bakery at Winston Hills Village   
222267 NW Military HwySan Antonio, TX
210-348-9870
My friend, Cindy Morawski, discovered the Great Harvest Bakery and I owe my exhibit there to her. (By the way the bread and muffins at the bakery are excellent.) Yes, it is the same Cindy I talked about in my last blog when I promised to show you her pastel of the Bald Cypress from Garner State Park. Here it is!

Fall's Festival on the Frio, pastel by Cindy Morawski

I have mentioned my teacher, Edward Povey, repeatedly in older blogs. He and his wife, Donna,  have started online art courses www.artbytesacademy.com . If you are curious about Edward's training, you can watch some of his videos as you sign up for a free trial and get an idea of how good his lessons always are. I am very grateful to have taken his classes and I enjoy doing the online training.
Thank you for your interest and support, have a wonderful Spring!

Jan/Feb 2015

 It has been a busy beginning of the New Year. For a change from portraits, I was working on my Bald Cypress River Scene and hoped to have it finished by the end of January. It took a little longer. There is a magic about Texas rivers. Two elements that fascinate me about them are the surprising colors of the water (the most beautiful green blues) and the trees found on their banks. I wanted this to be an Impressionist style landscape, only the trees would not cooperate... I was also thinking about a river scene by my friend and fellow artist, Cindy Morawski, (cindymorawski.blogspot.com) who a while ago beautifully portrayed the bald cypress at Garner State Park. I will ask her, if I can show you that particular painting next month.

Bald Cypress River Scene in Boerne, TX, oil on canvas, 30x40"

Till this week, I thought I needed to work some more on this gestural abstract done in class. Looking at it carefully, I finally realized that the painting was finished. The gestural technique was explained by Edward Povey and I mean to paint some more abstracts in the same way. It is very different from my other work and I found it liberating. It can be rotated, since I rotated it again and again when I was working on it.

Gestural Abstract, oil on canvas, 30x40"

My goal for this year is to have a portrait (or other) commission every month. I am painting an icon on commission right now and then a young woman's portrait.
If you know someone who would enjoy a portrait, or other work by me, let me know.
For prints and cards of my work, visit the River Art gallery in San Antonio or online http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/vera-smith.html?tab=artworkgalleries

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 My portrait commissions for 2014 are done. Rosalie's husband's picture taught me a lot. "Olivia's portrait" is my first children's portrait commission  in oils. I enjoyed making it.

Vuillard's interior scene

 "Denis and Vuillard" was a class assignment. We had to mix the colors of a particular Maurice Denis landscape and use just those exact colors and quantities in this Vuillard interior scene. It was a difficult exercise in which we learned a lot. I did give myself the liberty to simplify a little and  introduce trees in the scene at the end because they seemed to be missing.

Denis' landscape

November 2014, home again

Boris, HB graphite pencil on paper

I certainly had a wonderful trip. Thank you, friends and family! Now I am back home and ready to work. In addition to studying art in museums, I did a few watercolors and drawings in Europe. Here they are. The portraits are all from life not from photographs. The same is true of the watercolors.

Dimitri (final version), HB graphite pencil on paper

Léna, HB graphite pencil on paper

Sarah, HB graphite pencil on paper

"Cap d'Ail during the Storm" 9x12"watercolor

"Cap d'Ail after the Storm" 9x12"watercolor

October 2014

This month I am in Europe and had meant to write my blog before my departure. It was too busy and so I am writing to you from the Netherlands, where I am having a wonderful vacation, reconnecting with family and friends.
My second tree painting has slowly been coming into its own. I am not quite finished with it, but I want to show you what I have now.

"Yolande's Great Oak"

Yolande's Oak is named for my best friend from my teenage years. She is truly a great person. I always liked this live oak tree close to the college my son, Gerald, used to attend. One day I saw it in the mist. There are 2 ruined castles on the hills, inspired by ruins in France they stand for my attempt to unite my 2 lives, the old one in Europe and the new one. As the painting was progressing I understood that it was about memory loss and ultimately Alzheimer's. The lesson is to enjoy the  parts of the tree not altered by the mist. The mist itself gives us a sense of loneliness, isolation and unfamiliarity.

Yesterday I drew this drawing of my nephew, Dimitri. 

September events

I was slow getting this out.
  1) Today September 6th at the Universal City Library there is a silent chair-ity auction. Over 20 hand-painted chairs by local artists. I painted one of the chairs and enjoyed seeing what the other artists were doing. The chairs are truly beautiful and very different.
100 Northview
Universal City, TX
210-658-5941 ( Friends of the Library)

  2) I entered 2 watercolors in the River Art competition, they will be on display early next week at the River Art Gallery in La Villita, San Antonio, TX. Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to vote on the work they like best. The competition itself takes place in October.

  3) On Saturday September 13th some of my artwork and I will be under the trees at the Texas Treasures Gallery in Boerne TX from 4 to 8 pm.

  4) On Saturday Sept 20th Cindy Morawski and I will demo working with pastel (Cindy) and oil (Vera) at "Comfort Crockery" from 10 till 5 during the Hill Country Art Festival (formerly Artwalk) in Comfort TX, off I-10 north of Boerne