Pillow Sketch, Roses

We had company today. It was a great 18 holes with Gen and Charlie. So good to see old friends of forty years. Charlie doesn't golf, but boy do we have fun. We just got Gen to play a couple of years ago and she has become a bit of a fanatic. Ha.

The rose bushes here are going crazy. They are huge and full of blooms. If you read Gene's Journal, these may be a duplicate.

I did take a few minutes to wind down and sketch, just for me, not for the Hunts. I'm pretty sure they are on to a new list, so we shall see for tomorrow. These are the pillows on the couch here. Turquoise and orange flowers, black and white flowers and a green one. The couch is sort of brown. The bright colored ones we bought for the chairs in the yard. A whopping $2.50 each at Wal-Mart. Can't beat that kind of a deal. Looking like rain again, so we brought them in.

Back to a routine of sorts, so may get in some painting tomorrow.

Green Ladron Mts., Hunt #5, 3-8

We went to Magdalena, NM, and I had to photo all the "green". The whole trip, a circle through Glenwood and back through T or C and Deming, has turned green from these thunderstorms we have been getting. Really strange in NM to have green everywhere! So, another photo of the Ladron Mountains with some green in the foreground. :)

I'm so behind on the Hunt #5. I sketched in the car on the way so have numbers 3 - Rocks, 4 - T (trees), 5 - a plant that usually in your garden, pines, cedars, thistles, etc. Then for # 6 and 7, foot and shoe (Velma's), #8 - Gene's ear. Maybe by the end of the Hunts I will have a portrait of Gene. Already have his ear and eye.

We have company today and tomorrow so it will be golf, telling stories, food and wine. Later

Note to Chuck

I was looking at my daughter's Photobox blog and she had a link to a moon photo and hummingbird photo. I was checking it out and saw that you just might enjoy some of Rick Lee's photos. He has some nice dead bugs for you. :) But maybe you already saw them. Hmmm.

Arghhhhhhh!

There is just not enough time in these modern days with all the time saving equipment. How did the pioneers and old timers do it? They worked from daylight until dark and still visited family and friends.

I can't manage to do my computer stuff, paint, golf and squeeze in a little cooking, housekeeping and day to day chores. Even with Gene's wonderful help. I was working fast and furious on my computer and painting the other rainy day and he asked what he could do. Vacumm and straighten up, I said. And because he likes to be busy he did just that. Well, maybe just a little to show me he could do it. But anyway, nice of him.

I'm still behind. When I posted the first two sketches on the hunt #5, one of the artists had posted #21. I'm leary of looking now, that was Monday morning. By now they have probably moved on to #6. I'm off to check. More sketches tomorrow .. maybe we are having company .... ooooolllld friends and will have to golf and visit tomorrow afternoon and they will spend the night. As my Mom used to say, "See you in the funny papers!"

Scavenger Hunt 5 - Val Verde Finished

Well, they have started a new scavenger hunt, so I'm off and running. I got 16 out of the 26 items done last week. I sketched #1 - coffee cup, and #2 - landscape. Both are in the Canson sketchbook with the ZIG pen. The coffee cup was this morning out on the patio, it was cool so I tried to show the condensation on the inside of the cup. Then I went to pick up Gene on his bike ride, 28.6 miles or so. We ended up in Cliff, NM, so I sketched while waiting for Gene, it was across from the Post Office and I didn't think to sketch that with the flag. Oh well. Both quick, twenty minutes at most. There is a "well known landmark" on the list. I told Gene I should sketch Wal-Mart, every little town has to have one. :)

I also finished the Val Verde Patio II, it is pastel on Art Spectrum paper, 9 x 12 inches. Framed in a dark wooden frame with double white mats. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I don't know why that hotel and fountain are so fascinating to me. I guess I like arches and patios. The restaurant there has been closed for about a year I think. It is in Socorro, New Mexico. Hope they open again. The hotel part is apartments and offices. There is a small coffee shop and a book store I think. We used to eat at the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, it was at the train depot. Sooooo fancy and it had the same look. I don't remember if there was a fountain, but I imagine so. Gene framed it this evening and we will take it to Magdalena tomorrow and put it in Peppers Gallery.

Blogger didn't upload the photos, I will add them later, we are on the road.

Back on track

A couple of days off from posting and sketching. We went to Deming, NM, yesterday. Gene rode his bike, about 50 miles. I arrived there about an hour before him so went to the Deming Art Hop. There are three galleries for that, you can read about it on the Steppin' Out NM link to the left. (Check the calendar for August 5.) There was a variety of styles, media and artists, including gourds and jewelry. The Art Center was having an opening for the month and had a juried show. Enjoyable and good for a small town. I visited with Richard Orona, Proprietor, of the Galeria 200. Very nice, in business since February 2006. Didn't find anything to buy. I looked for a little painting or carving of a house for my kitchen at home. I have a wall with all little houses on it from all over South America, Canada and the U.S.A.

My sketches for today for the Scavenger hunt are #12 - eye, Gene's eye, #13 - 3 tools, a cutter, hammer and pliers, and #14,15,16 - Easel, wallet and door. A reminder that these are quick sketches with no drawing with a pencil first and no erasing. Sketching in this manner gets your eye educated to see the important lines, etc. Very good practice for me, it is slowly getting easier. Today's sketches are in a "no-name" sketchbook, a copy of the Canson. The cover is not as nice and the paper is a little more absorbent and would bleed with watercolor or ink. I also used a no-name ball point pen, it says "The Welcome Addition Club, Support for a Healthy Pregnancy and Baby", I cannot imagine where it would have come from. No babies in our world for 17 years! Christy, granddaughter is the latest. :) But it was in my purse, not here at the rent house.

The chair at the golf putting green is my kind of golf! That is at the Silver City Course, the practice area set up for the Western New Mexico University teams.

Watching golf and rootin' for Tiger!