Spears Art Studio Landscapes Gallery

fine art and private & home school K-12th grades Christian art curriculum
supporting the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages of Classical education

Landscape Gallery

ORIGINAL ARTWORKS by Diane Shields Spears

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In 2001 we accompanied our missionary friend to his ministry fields in Mexico. Of the many photos taken of various areas, those of Mimbres, about 7,000 feet up in the Sierra Madres, presented images quite different from the dry, dusty, concrete block dwellings of border towns and desert villages. The mountains were cool, drizzly, forested, and green. These were the only log dwellings we saw on that trip.

Between Showers #1 is a view from the top of the hill;
Between Showers #2 is the
view from the other side of
the row of cabins. These
images were painted much
later in the studio from the
photos.

Between Showers,
Mimbres, Mexico #1 ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 16"x20"
manufactured barnwood frame
$350

Old Cabins,
Mimbres, Mexico ©
(Study for Between Showers #2 ©)
oil on canvas panel
image size: 16"x20"
custom frame
SOLD

Between Showers,
Mimbres, Mexico #2 ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 30"x36"
unframed
$1080.00

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Camp Verde, Texas is a beautiful area about 15 miles north of Bandera ("The Cowboy Capital of the World"). Camp Verde General Store/ Post Office is all that remains of an old WWI Army outpost, experimenting with the use of camels in the dry areas of Texas. My mother-in-law and her family grew up in that area, and her first grade picture (1912) was in the photo album a local brought to the store for temporary display.

Study for Camp Verde Shadows ©
oil on canvas panel
image size: 9"x12"
barnwood frame
SOLD

Camp Verde Shadows ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 38"x28"
custom frame
$1265.00

Verde Creek Cypress,
Camp Verde, TX ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 11"x14"
custom frame
SOLD

Caisson Relic,
Camp Verde, TX ©
oil on canvas panel
image size: 8"x10"
barnwood frame
SOLD

Bandera County is part of the beautiful hill country of Texas, dotted with huge oak, cedar (mountain juniper), and cypress trees and many large cattle ranches. Texas Rangers roamed these areas 100+ years ago. My husband's great-great-grandfather was a Texas Ranger who "put down the rifle and picked up the pen." Andrew Jackson Sowell was and still is a respected historian of Texas' rugged and colorful past.

Off Hwy 16 is at the turn-off to Tarpley. Sabinal Canyon is in Lost Maples State Park.

Life Struggle depicts a determined fern growing from the massive root systems of the giant cypress trees that line the Medina River.

Famous D. C. Trees © are actually luscious magnolias in full bloom, not cherry trees. This is a study for a future larger painting.

Off Hwy 16 ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 28"x32"
custom barnwood frame
$950.00
represented by
The Ridge

Sabinal Canyon ©
oil on sretched canvas
image size: 32"x28"
unframed
$925.00

Life Struggle ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 16"x12"
barnwood frame
SOLD

Famous D. C. Trees ©
oil on sretched canvas
image size: 8"x10"
manufactured frame
$90.00

These are images of the same general area of Medina Lake - a view from our house. We are so blessed to have a beautiful view - even when the water is down. It is not a constant level lake due to irrigation rights of towns and cities to the south. We also experience occasional droughts.

More images of Bandera County are found in the Drawing Gallery.

Plum Cove #2 ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 24"x18"
manufactured frame
$455.00

Plum Cove Water Down ©
oil on stretched canvas
image size: 32"x40"
barnwood frame
$1280.00

"Stained Glass Forest" is a series of paintings in which the negative space is treated as positive space, thereby making the spaces between branches look like stained glass. There have so far been 8 paintings in this series. There will probably be more. The painting process is slow and sometimes tedious, because some of the spaces are very small.

The sold image (#2) of this series is missing from my files.