Carson Kainer, UT Baseball

We are UT Baseball fans and have been concerned about the health of Carson Kainer, outfielder for the Longhorns. Joanna put an update on her page. We wish Carson and his family the best in this difficult time.

Toilet Sculpture

I promised the toilet sculpture for Chuck. Here it is. Just outside Silver City on the road to Lordsburg. Hmmm.


No drawing today, actually a very 'nothing' day. Threatening rain, so no golf or outdoor activities. Computer/TV time. The Painters Keys newsletter by Robert Genn last time was about the importance of drawing and the current one as well. If you haven't ever subscribed to his newsletter, I highly recommend it. It sometimes gets a little philosophical and far out for me, but I do enjoy reading it and the responses. It is directed at painters but applies to writing and more.

At any rate, that is one of the reasons I have been doing the Scavenger Hunts. I certainly need the practice in drawing and sketching. For these hunts I have purposely not been erasing or starting over .. practice makes you see so much better. I have never been consistant at drawing and my painting only improves when I keep at the sketching.

Scavenger Hunt Water

We are supposed to sketch water, a pond, stream, etc., for Scavenger Hunt #4. We went and golfed today and it was a super beautiful day. Golf was average, but the day, wow! I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. His rattlers were missing, so no warning. Oooooooeeeee. I'm including my photo and description from an on-line reference page. Back to sketching, I decided to sketch one of the ponds as we were playing, so only a 5 minute sketch. You can't hold up play! So here it is, a little faint as I couldn't fill in the details in the short time. :)

We went to eat at a beer garden/pub later and were caught there in a heavy rain and hail storm. We got 1.2 inches here at the house in about 20 minutes. Another wow! A photo above just as we went into the restaurant.

I didn't have time to work on the fountain/patio.

Hunt #7, 8 and 9

I sketched this early while Gene biked. We played golf this afternoon and that takes a chunk out of the day. It was really nice, though, and it was good to be outside. The course is a bit damaged from the flooding here in the desert. The ends of a bridge washed out and lots of silt, trees, logs, etc. One hole was not playable.

This sketch is #7 - camera, #8 - battery and #9 - a brush. Hope to work on the fountain/patio tomorrow. It is so close to being done. We have to sketch water, pond, lake, etc. I forgot my sketchbook .. the golf course has ponds with ducks, fish, water lillies. Drat.

Val Verde Black & White

I had a chance to work on the patio/fountain some today. I think it is better, but it doesn't have the snap. I put in in black and white to see and sure enough, it is mostly mid value. In color you don't see that as much because of the color, so I will work on that tomorrow or next session. It is beginning to have the feel I want.
Stay tuned for the finish!

I also did a sketch of Gene's cell hone, my crossword book and pencil for the scavenger hunt. Numbers 5 & 6. It is on white paper in the Canson sketchbook, I just took the photo at night with no flash.

Later,
Jo

Scavenger Hunt 4 - Roses

We are expecting rain, so I decided to sketch for the Scavenger Hunt #4. I did 14 of the last 26 items in #3. See how this one goes. Amazingly we have roses in the yard and blooming. That is great as one of the items this time was a rose. So, number 1 - Rose will be roses from the garden. There are red ones and white with pink edges. The red are easier to sketch. White is hard to tell what is shadow and what is edge. For number 2 - Statue, 3 - Something with drawers, dresser and 4 - something with writing, book. I just saw that the book was supposed to be open, so I will do my crossword puzzle book and pencil as we have to do a pen or pencil. Ah, me.

I will go work on the fountain, patio now. Here is a snap of some of the real roses in our temporary summer yard in New Mexico.

Dead Flies

Today was rainy so I stayed in, except I had to go rescue Gene on his bike ride, he was rained on and cold. It was about 63 degrees Fahrenheit for the high today. This afternoon I sketched the dreaded flies for the Scavenger Hunt. Gene had noticed them yesterday and didn't throw them away, nice to save them to sketch. I think .. saving dead flies. Oooooeeee. The one on the faucet looked alive, but it was dead. Weird. I then worked on the Val Verde painting. It is coming along. I worked on the fountain. Need to adjust the lights and darks some more and work on the archways, to make the fountain stand out more. Didn't spend too much time on art today.

Twice a Week, Mick McGinty

Twice a Week: The Last Piece(will be available Tuesday nite)

This artist is amazing. I have watched Duane Keiser, A Painting a Day, for over a year and now I have found Mr. McGinty. Wow! Besides liking the art work, they make me hungry. Not good. Ha.

This ear of buttered corn was the first I saw.

Hunt #9-14

Here are today's sketches for Scavenger Hunt #3. #9 - Toy, no children or pets here so had to use my toys, the computer and my ZIG pen. #10, 11, 12 - Suitcase, Belt and Torch (flashlight). The flashlight is a small one that plugs in a cigaret lighter in the car to keep charged. #13, 14 - Old Lady (me) and mirror in the bath, silver with lizards on it .. we are in the southwest, after all. (Crooked, guess it is looking trough my implants at an angle. I can't do golf shots like that either, I have to look over the ball straight and pick a mark close to me to aim for.)

Guess those that know me can verify that the old lady looks a little like me. I don't usually draw or paint portraits.

These are with a Prismacolor pencil in the same Canson sketchbook. Photos not great, sorry.

Start of Val Verde Painting

Yesterday was rainy and cool. It was an 'in the house' day. We did odds and ends of paperwork, watched some golf, watched the hummingbirds at the new feeder we put up and enjoyed the day. I started a pastel version of the Val Verde fountain in Socorro, NM. I have painted it before in oils, but wanted to do a pastel version and try to have the water flowing this time. It is on a piece of Colorfix sanded pastel paper, pre sized to 9 x 12 inches, storm blue.

The first photo is just the base with placement and color started, the second is developing the background, I got carried away and covered the top of the fountain! And on the third I developed the trees and worked on the background. I covered the good ellipse of the bottom of the fountain, so will have to redevelop that as I move to the front of the painting.

The values in the background are mostly mid range so that when the darks and very lights are put on the fountain it will stand out. I'm also letting some of the paper show through to gray and push the background back to emphasize the fountain area.

The next step will be to put in the arches across the front of the building. There is a walkway around the "U" of the patio, so the door and windows set back behind the arches. We shall see if it developes as I imagine it will.