Sketches yard and white, Baseball note

Scavenger Hunt 34 is in full swing, so many nice sketches. Some artists do very finished drawings, some are quick sketches. Mine fall somewhere in the middle. I do not erase and try to be quick and sure. (You can see on the white hat that my ellipse was the second stroke.) Watercolor, pen, colored pencils, computers, graphite and other media are employed in the creations. The list of items frees the artist to sketch and not have to think about what to work on. It also challenges the artists to draw items they don't usually tackle. It is a little addictive. :)

I went out in the garden to sketch this evening. We actually have a yard with natural pines, oaks, youpon, cactus, etc. No cultivated garden. I was sketching #9, Something in the garden - these oak trees and some cactus for about 10 minutes until attacked by a mosquito .. so that was it. I touched it up in the house. About 15 minutes total with a Pilot ball point pen.


#10 Something white is a little miniature hat from Cochabamba, Bolivia, and a little pottery llama from Peru. (about 15 minutes) They are about 2 inches high. In Bolivia, you can tell which region the people are from by the hats they wear. The women on the altiplano and in La Paz wear derby hats. In Peru they make these little animals and people with clay. They are so cute. Some are so ugly they are cute. They are painted in very bright clothing. The blanket on this llama is red and green.

The baseball games this weekend have been so exciting so far. UT won over the Oklahoma Sooners on Friday 4 - 3 and today, 3 - 1. There were some outstanding defensive plays today. Travis Tucker was superb. Adrian Alaniz, the pitcher was outstanding and pitched the whole game. Wow. Read about it on the official page and on Joanna's more exciting version on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball page.

Sketch Blue Pots, Framed Pastel Painting

Another active day. I finished painting the frame for the Cola in Blue pastel painting. It is hard to take a photo of framed pastels without setting up a special lighting situation. I took this angled photo, but you can get the idea. It isn't as shiny, it is semi gloss and is shining from the flash. Looks pretty good.


While I was updating my tax software, I sketched for the Scavenger Hunt. #8, Something Blue. These are tiny pots from Chile. The tallest is about 2.5 inches tall. They are chipped on the back side, don't know why they are still on the shelf. Hmmm. The sketch was done with a Micron 05 pen and colored pencils. The highlights are done with a ZIG Opaque Writer. I ordered these Zig pens on sale without having seen any of this type. They have something like acrylic paint in them and work something like a marker. I haven't found a good use yet. We shall see. I did splatter some on my shirt, so it is now a "painting" shirt.


I worked on taxes and washed clothes. Ah, the glamorous life of an artist! And her spouse. :) Gene framed the painting in between working on a shop he is building and the rain. Not much rain, but enough to make things soggy and wet.

We did our golf thing this morning before the rain, just a few sprinkles. Here are a few more photos. I just can't resist.....

This plant/bush has unusual flowers. I hadn't seen one like this before. Clumped leaves sort of like a geranium.



The famous Texas bluebonnets.


An Indian Paintbrush that is only half grown. :)


And some purple and magenta ones, maybe a type of phlox.



If all people were treated equally and regarded equally, there would be no prejudice. Think about this.

Pastel Painting, Cola in Blue - Sketches and Flower, tree photos

This morning I finished this soft pastel painting, Cola in Blue, 5 x 7 inches on Colourfix sanded paper mounted on illustration board. It will be in a wooden frame, navy blue with gold trim. I will try to remember to take a photo. Colourfix is made by Art Spectrum. (an Australian company) This sanded paper is very popular with pastelists and comes in 16 colors. It is very durable, you can use underpainting with water or acrylics. It holds many layers of pastels which is very desirable. Sometimes I call it just Art Spectrum, I use both names to confuse you, I suppose. (See if you are on your toes.) I use a variety of pastel brands. The color is most important. I usually start with harder pastels, like Nupastel and finish with something very soft like Ludwig. I also use a hard pastel to blend sometimes. The glass is one of my favorites and Diet Caffeine Free Coke is my drink. I usually just use a coozie/koozy (sp?), but do enjoy it over ice as well. The glass is about 35 years old, really! Susan and Regina think I should do a series. Regina suggested this a while back when we were practicing at her house and I painted a coke and chips. So if this comes to be, it will be the "Regina Burchett Memorial Junk Food Series". There you are then. (When you get to looking at all the wonderful pastels and paper, don't forget to come back. **Warning: Pastels are addictive.)

This painting is to put up in my show at Daddy's Grille. You can stop by there and buy a raffle ticket and eat a bite. This one is not a raffle prize, you can purchase it there or send me an e-mail. It will soon have a "Buy now" button on my web page to pay through your Paypal account or with a credit card. If you buy it at Daddy's, tax is included and no shipping. A bargain, right?



These sketches are for the Scavenger Hunt on wetcanvas.com. #4 Something you wear, my shoe #5 Something you drink, wine #6 Something you eat, Kisses, Candy Cane flavor and #7 Something wooden, a pencil. Done with a Micron 05 pen in my generic sketchbook. About 45 minutes, total. I don't erase, so covered some of the ellipses on the wine glass with white out and tried to give it a little shine. Ha. I could have used watercolor or acrylic paint for that. Hmmm. Next time. These are not my best effort, but I am sketching and that is the plan. This Hunt runs until April 2. Some of the sketchers have nearly finished the twenty-six items. I just try to sketch and have not completed a Hunt yet. Whew.



This was a full day. We golfed nine holes, well, walked nine holes and hit the ball around. It was a pretty day. These photos are from yesterday, Tuesday. (This will be Thursday by the time I post, it is almost midnight. But, this is my Wednesday post.)
Wine Cups and little Star Flowers, I think. The wine cup is about 1 1/2 inches across so the white ones are very tiny. So pretty.


The primrose is the first one I have seen this season up close, they are so delicate.


The tree and puddle look so luscious.


If anyone would like a copy of a photo (for a reference photo) in larger format, just send me an e-mail, jo@jocastilloart.com

Sketches for Hunt 34 and Pastel Painting

The first sketches for Scavenger Hunt 34, March 25 - April 2, are #1 Something Glass, Glass candy dish. Sketched many times before, very handy on the coffee table. #2 Something Old and the full page challenge, An antique iron made of iron, you would open the lid and fill with hot coals from a wood stove. The handle is wooden. #3 Something New, A stress ball, gift from the baseball game (Time Warner was a sponsor and gave out the balls at the gate). All were sketched in my generic sketchbook about 6.5 x 8.5 inches with a Pilot ball point pen. It is interesting to see the different styles and reasons that people join in on the Scavenger Hunts. Some do very quick sketches and some are near finished drawings suitable to framing. The artists use varied media as well, even computer drawing. Walter Logeman uses a computer with several different drawing programs. Makes sketching more interesting to me. Of course I spend more time blogging and reading instead of painting. I need to go read Maggie Stiefvater's blogging entry, How to Juggle and Other Parlor Tricks, again for hints on making time for all we need to do. She is amazing .


I sketch with a pen to keep from erasing. I'm trying to get descriptive strokes down the first time. I think this will be helpful when painting to be able to use fewer strokes and leave them untouched and fresh. This would be great with pastels as when you touch and blend them they loose the vibrancy as they are pigment crystals and untouched they have facets to reflect light. There are times when I blend, sometimes for skies and shadows. Some instructors say to never blend, others blend with fingers, brushes, tortillion, (I noticed on Wikipedia, they spelled it 'tortillon' at the top of the definition and 'tortillion' in the definition. Interesting) packing foam, etc. In the end, it seems to be personal preference.

I worked on a pastel painting today. I worked more on it after this photo. At this point it was slightly smaller on the left top ellipse. This little painting, 5 x 7, on mounted art spectrum is to replace the one I sold at my show at Daddy's Grille. It has only a small amount of blending. I did some blending with a harder pastel over the soft pastels. Maybe it will be called, Cola in Blue.

Old Sketches 1999/2000, Baseball today

I mentioned on March 21, that I found some old sketches that are like the sketches I'm doing now in the Scavenger Hunts. In the Hunts we have a list of 26 everyday items to sketch in 9 days. The list has things like your keys, a hat, your favorite chair, etc. I found this sketch from 1999 of my keys and my hand done in pencil. Below are my keys and my hand from last summer 2006. Pretty cool. Back then I had not heard of the Scavenger Hunts.

1999

2006


This sketch of scenery must be from my imagination and not life as it says, "who knows". It is similar to the sketches I've done when the Hunt requires a landscape out your car or house window.

1999



I seldom use colored pencils, but I found this one of a building at the State Park. It looks like I was sketching while waiting for my grandchildren by the swimming pool. It is interesting to me that my style hasn't changed much. I do think that I work faster and am more sure in what I am doing. Hmmmm.

2000


The Longhorns lost today, 11-9 to Kansas State. Drat. Read about it on the official page. They were just a little out of sync including the pitchers. Then the Wildcats were hitting more and the balls were going in the perfect spots to fall for base hits. There were many hits, amazing catches and base running. The final score was not in our favor. It was about 75 degrees and a beautiful day for a game. At the end, they let any kids under 14 run the bases. I got this snapshot of the beginning of the line. They let the second kid go when the first one reached first base. The little guy on the left was overtaken by about 3 or four of the older kids that followed him. They were great fun to watch. I took movies and they were fun to watch over again tonight. There were many more runners than in this photo. Fun.