Sketches - Coffee mug, Sketchbook

It's after midnight, but tonight was the end of Scavenger Hunt 24. Here are the last ones for me. I only got 7 out of the 26 done. These were with the ZIG Millennium pen and in my Canson sketchbook. Nice paper, bad photography with flash. About 30 minutes total.

#4, buttons - I don't know what they belong to. #5 , Sketchbook - given me by Sue, of course. It is about 10 x 10 inches with rough paper in it. I haven't used it too much, waiting until I get good at sketching I suppose. Very pretty. #6, Ruler or some circle template or measuring curve - protractor.





#7, Cup of coffee or hot beverage. This cup was given to me by Larry in Bolivia. Must have been about 1990 or so. It is natural pottery color with shades of blue in the houses and mountains. Very pretty,the sketch doesn't do justice. Notice I cannot draw or spell ellipses. Ah me.

New Blogger Info, not so scary!

I did a little more research after I had the reply from Katherine about moving my blog. I went into the edit area of my new blog and found that in the "edit html" section, was my old template and a way to save your template and edit from your desktop. Because I usually use the automatic helpers, I had not seen this area. Sorry for the scare! I had been adding one link at a time, but I did finally get it all here ... I think. Today I looked at my old template to check if I had moved all the links. I moved the photo and link to my shop from the old to new .. copy and paste. Boy, I'm good at this now! Ha.

In general, it is easier to add links and information without using html, just click and edit. Move links on the list or alphabetize automatically.

Some blogs will be getting more glitzy and weird with these easy operations. Hmmmm.

I was noticing that Google has a new section to save documents and spreadsheets so several people can work on them simultaneously or you can work on your papers from anywhere. That sounds convenient. Might be a way for an art group to keep addresses and contacts up to date, work on proposals, etc. Works with the blogs, too.

Too many new things to try and learn.

Did you see the new iPhone? Wow. Gene was about to order, I think, when I reminded him that cellular phone reception here at home is not very good, almost non existant. He would have to go somewhere else to use it. Ha.

Arghhhh, a post with no picture.

Old and New Pen and Ink Sketch

This was created for a gift. It is about 2.5 x 2.5 inches, pen and ink sketch in a frame about 6 x 6 inches.

I haven't done pen and ink other than rough sketches for a long time. I made our Christmas cards for several years with pen and ink way back a couple of decades. Ouch. I will look for some and add them to this blog for fun.

Updating my blog and Sketch of Mystery House

I don't like to post without a painting or sketch so I opened my sketchbook to find an unposted sketch, and there it was! The mystery house with the orange door in Magdalena. This house was vacant on and off for many years. It was probably a two room house and has grown to four or five small rooms. It was updated by a young couple a few years ago and then they had a job opportunity elsewhere. It was vacant again and then about two years ago was rented. It was renovated to the extent of a new roof after years of leaking. In May of 2006, the renter was gone, but the little car was parked on the street. Before Christmas someone came and took the car. The house is still empty it appears. It doesn't seem to be for rent or sale. What happened? Hmmmm.

On another note, I hesitated changing the template of my blog because Blogger said that I would loose some of my information with their new Google system. I did loose the links and information that I had added on the sidebar. It is taking me a while to get the information back the way I want it. I wanted my blog to look more like my web page and feel a little bit more connected. It seems to be getting there, slowly but surely. I did not like the "brown" of the original template I used, but it was one of the calmest and cleanest looking templates before. The directions for change said my original front page would be here forever to compare. I have yet to find it. Oh well. I think this new look is better and hope you all agree.

Sketches for Scavenger Hunt 24

I started this Scavenger Hunt very late, but here are a couple of sketches. I'm just happy that I am still sketching. I have sketched more since August and more regularly than ever before. Thanks to Sue, she inspires me, and the Scavenger Hunts for keeping me on track with new items to sketch.

Number 1, Embroidery. I couldn't think of anything in my house that has embroidery, then remembered these pillowcases that were a gift that I have never used. Watercolor pencils.


Number 2, Window coverings. Blinds in the living room while watching TV and number 3, light switch on the lamp. ZIG Millennium pen. Both in the generic sketchbook. About half an hour to forty-five minutes for both.

Golf Day and Complimentary color demo

I may not get any sketching or painting photographed today. I thought you might like to see what a pretty day it is here for a January day. It is sixty-six degrees out and we had the most enjoyable walk around the golf course. The golf game itself was not great, but we were outside and loving it!

The red car went by at an appropriate time for a little complimentary color in the composition. Complimentary colors are opposite colors on the color wheel, or the color made up by using the other two primary colors. Red is complimented by green, made up of blue and yellow. You use complimentary colors to accent your theme and also to grey the compliment. Mixing colors is so interesting. I enjoy using a very small number of colors when I paint so they are all interchanged and the color flows in the painting.

A good example is to paint a red bell pepper. The base color is red, of course. The shadow side of the pepper is made darker by adding a deeper red with a touch of green. The lighter red you can add a little white. The reflection on the shiny surface is green and white, greyed with red and the highlight is green and white. Well, I will just put a sample:

The base red (This was done on some cheap watercolor paper, so coverage is difficult.)

Some green added and develop the red.


Finished


Step back to see the over all look.

So, I did paint today!

Pastel Show Entries

My entries for the Austin Pastel Society Seventh Annual Juried Show are on their way. Artists can enter three soft pastel paintings. Richard McKinley is the juror this year. They will be juried by digital photos. About 55-60 pieces will be picked to hang in the Corridor of Art in the Chase Bank in downtown Austin, Texas. The show will be up from March 4 to May 6, 2007, with a reception on March 18. I expect there will be over 150 entries, so wish me luck!

I chose these three paintings. I really like, Young Alpaca, it is 8 x 10 inches. Bolivia is so close to my heart and this painting has the youg girl in the background dressed in her aguayo (colorful shawl) and spinning some wool on a spindle. Joanna took this photo of the painting for me last year for my brochure and news stories for my shows in Bastrop and Magdalena.



Boys with their Toys is Jennie's dogs, our grand-dogs. They won't pose, of course ,so this is from several photos that Jennie and Larry took and the way I see them. Larry took care of the dogs on a recent trip we took with Jennie to New Mexico and he took her dogs on a photo shoot. He added the remotes as he said that they enjoyed watching Animal Planet while with him and the little one liked Jeopardy. I like the straight on view of the dogs. It is 16 x 20 inches. Larry took this photo of my painting. It is hard to get good color with the white and dark.




The landscape, Lookin' for Rain on the Flats, is special to me as it has the Ladron Mountains, Sierra Ladrones, in the background. Those mountains are so fascinating. They jut out to 9,000 ft. altitude above the river plains at about 5,000 ft. I have taken many photos and they look different every time. Blue, purple, cloudy, dusty, you choose. You can see this view from Highway 60 as you top off Sedillo Hill between Socorro and Magdalena. You can also see it from I-25 between Socorro and Albuquerque as you follow the Rio Grande. When we used to work cattle at the Field Ranch and it was very hot, we would ride along where it was sunny like the far hills in this painting and just wait for the big puffy clouds to come over and be in the "shade" and cool off a little. Lots of good memories in New Mexico. This is 18 x 24 inches. Larry took this photo of my painting as well.


Here is the latest photo I took in December, 2006, as we left Magdalena. A snowy version of the Ladron Mountains!