Rained Out, Sort of...

We are rained in this morning. It rained hard yesterday afternoon and is coming down some again. By rained in, I mean we can't play golf or Gene can't ride his bicycle. It is nice and cool and the rain is much needed. May be a day to catch up on paperwork and start a painting.

These sketches are for the scavenger hunt #3. The matches - number 5, are out of whack, could I blame that on the photo? Guess not. The number 6, medicine, is OK, but not true to the perspective. Number 7, ceiling fan, is something to heat or cool the house. These sketches are in the Canson book with the ZIG pen ... really. Probably about 20 minutes each at the most.

This exercise is good because we are in a strange house and I am forced to sketch things I usually wouldn't. Cant stop now!

Sharpie

Well, Joanna, as for my sketching with a Sharpie, here is the story:

From the wetcanvas.com Scavenger Hunt 3
Nitsa aske me what a Sharpie was,

"Nitsa, a Sharpie is a permanent marker. I use them to write on CD's or DVD's. Nice flow to them. Some of the colors soak through the paper though.

Jo"

My second answer to her (and now to Joanna)

"Arghhh. I just looked at my "Sharpie" again. LOL I have been using a blue ZIG pen which says, "Pigment ink. Acid free. Archival Quality. Lightfast. Waterproof. Fade Proof. Non-bleeding.

No wonder it was sketching so nicely! The other evening I did use the real Sharpie and it did bleed, therefore my statement above. So sorry, the ZIG pen is great .. Sharpie, not, at least for sketching.

Dingy Jo"

No wonder you were remarking about the sketches looking good and done with a Sharpie. Looking back in my sketchbooks the ones done with a Sharpie did bleed. Grumble, but nice to know the difference, now. Live and learn.

Two Days in one, Scavenger Hunt #3

I'm writing this the night of July 26, but blogger.com has been down so will not post this until morning.

I decided to post this sketch even though Iam not real happy with it. It is the first sketch for Scavenger Hunt #3 on wetcanvas.com which was started while we were in Magdalena with no high speed.

I did the sketch and then started over 4 or 5 times. It didn't get better. Then I realized that it is just a sketch and I liked the concept and it is practice after all. So here it is, the first attempt, items 1 - What's for dinner? (Chinese), 2 - Three vegetables (brockley, carrots, mushrooms, squash, bamboo and probably more, so at least 3) and 3 - glass (the wine glass) Out of whack, and I hadn't started on the wine yet, hmmmm.

Regina is going to join the scavenger hunt this time as well, you will enjoy her sketches.

We ran into rain coming to Silver City. Actually we mostly followed it. In some places the water washed over the highway and some small rocks had washed down. No signs saying, "Watch for falling rock", either. There was one pretty good sized boulder and smaller rocks in one place, blocking one lane of the road. (Photo included) Here at the house, very little rain. We have taken many photos. I'll try to post one every once in a while. New Mexico is an amazing place with amazing and beautiful vistas.

Today's sketch of the patio was done in the Canson sketchbook with the Sharpie. (fine point of course) It was about a 30 minute sketch I would guess. We don't have a balcony or terrace. This rock patio will have to do. It was time to put up the feet, have coffee and wine and relax. Ah, forgot the wine in the sketch!

The discipline of sketching every day is great, we should see improvement. I hope.

Hunt 14,15 and 16

This is posted a day late, reason below.

Later on July 24

After I posted the snack items I did two more sketches, but did not feel like posting before our trip - had to get up a little early. For the scavenger hunt, number 14 - my keys, and number 15 - window. The window was most difficult as it was night and the reflections on the left had some dark behind them as well as showing the white interior, plus the reflection of Gene in the chair. It was my first attempt at a night sketch of a window, so all in all, not too bad! These two are with a Nexus pen, violet. Good feel, similar to the fine point Sharpie.

July 25


We are in Magdalena this evening on AOL dial-up so will post this on July 26 when we get back to Silver City. I sketched in the yard as it was a beautiful evening. This is water (#16 for the Scavenger Hunt on wetcanvas.com, there were 26 items for this hunt so may not get them all done before they start a new one, but the idea is to sketch .. which happily I have been doing!), where Mom Frances had watered her pine tree. Same Canson sketchbook with a Sharpie. About 30 minutes. Evenings are so nice here, the temperature is perfect and the sunsets are fantastic.

Silver City has nice evenings as well, but the yard has a board fence so you don't have the open views and breeze.

**Note, I added a link, on the left, to Steppin' Out New Mexico, an on line art magazine. They have been kind to me, where I host a sporadic blog and have photos of my art. A great venue for art in New Mexico, I hope more people make use of it. They have ads, news articles, galleries, journals, e-mail, calendars, and much more for the art world in New Mexico. Learn about shows, galleries and more there.

Scavenger Hunt 9 - 13

Today I got out the pastel pencils and did a sketch on Daler-Rowney paper, sort of peach color, 8 x 10 inches. It is 9 - salt and pepper shaker, 10 - beverage, 11 - bowl, 12 - favorite snack, CHOCOLATE and 13 - 3 items from the kitchen. It took about 2 hours, I did the diet, caffeine free Coke last so the ice wouldn't be melted. I like doing glass, eiser with color of course, at least the glass and Coke. This is for Regina who plans to join the next Scavenger Hunt. She liked another snack sketch I did at her house of Coke and potato chips. :) This scavenger hunt has been fun,

I washed clothes today and finished setting up the art room so I could get out the pastels for color sketching. We travel tomorrow to Magdalena, so may not post any art until Wednesday.

I forgot to mention that it was great for Landis to win the Tour de France and that Tiger won the British Open Golf. I got to watch a little of the golf, I enjoy the golf and beautiful courses, but can't stand the talking heads, especially on the main networks. The Golf Channel for the European Tour is better, they talk just as much but show golf instead of the announcers. Oh well.

Numbers 5 - 8

Today I went to pick up Gene after his bike ride, but no time to sketch. I sketched here when we got back. In my Canson 8 x 10 sketchbook with a Prismacolor pencil so I wouldn't be tempted to erase. These are for the scavenger hunt on wetcanvas.com mentioned previously. The number 5 and 6 is the wooden candleholder and table with telephone for numbers. (The lamp stand is metal.) Number 7 and 8 is the pillow and fur. The fringe on the pillow is the closest thing in this temporary house to fur, it is pretty fuzzy. So I have 8 out of 26 items. Pretty good for me. I may sketch once a week normally, so this is a record.

Beautiful day here, off to go sit in the yard and have some wine.