Sketch and Yesterfest Photos

Today in Bastrop is Yesterfest. This started as a fund raiser for the Bastrop Opera House and is quite a day. Demonstrations of how things were done in the old days. Crafts, food,theater, dancing, music and much more. We wandered around, visited with friends and had a little BBQ brisket. It used to be held down at Fisherman's Park but is now on Main Street.

When we went for the brisket, I did a little sketch for the Scavenger Hunt. We were to do a store we frequent. I pushed the definition a little and sketched the BBQ trailer. It is there every weekend to sell their food. It is in my Strathmore recycled sketchbook, 3.5 x 5 inches, with a generic ball point pen from a hotel. About 3-5 minutes while Gene ordered the food.



This is Lea and Mark. Lea is a great friend and potter. She makes a unique wildflower and bluebonnet design and sells at the new Lost Pines Hyatt Resort and Spa and at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. Mark helps and makes glass jewelry. They were sure looking serious about something.




One of the actors, I believe, they were having a shoot out and some of the spectators, old and new together.



A couple of gamblers on the street.



A little jazz music at the north end of the street. There was a folk/country band at the other end.



A demonstration of old washing machines. The little girl seems a little skeptical about using those old things to wash clothes.

Scavenger Hunt #38 Sketches

I'm back to the Scavenger Hunts, number 38. I see I forgot to number them. :( The idea is to sketch 26 items in nine days. Usually there is a challenge thrown in. You can sketch any way you want and any order. It is a way to find something to sketch without thinking about it. I normally sketch the same things over if I don't have a list. The challenges may be to use your other hand, different media, etc. It is good for me and has enough challenge to keep me sketching. My personal challenge is to sketch without erasing or pre drawing with a pencil. I want to practice being sure with my lines and faster. Learning to "see" better before I make a mark. I think this will help so much with painting and planning my paintings. It is not my favorite part of painting, I like to splat on the color and make forms with color. Guess I should be an abstract artist, huh? But, I keep trying and slowly my drawing skills are getting better.

I have to do some of this hunt as I will be hosting #39 and need to be ready. Come on over and join us and see some of the different styles and meet some interesting artists. Some are very detailed, almost to a finished drawing for framing, some are quick but sure, some beginners, some use watercolor and other loose media. Have a look see! No pressure! Just fun. It is fun, isn't it? I'm trying to see practice as fun..... Hmmmm.

#1 is the BBQ grill. Ours is covered and I'm lazy. 10 minutes. These four done with the Pilot Pen in the Blank Page sketch book.



#3 is a weed, 10 minutes with 5 right by the weed and desertion for the mosquitos and finished behind the screen on the porch!

#4 Insect, the crushed mosquito that I got. A hah!

#5 A pair of hands - with a challenge to draw with your left hand. The right hand was drawn with the left and the left with the right. Can you tell I am right handed? Oh my.


I make the photos this size so I can use the same ones for the wetcanvas.com site. They are a little smaller than my usual blog photos. Is that OK?

Procrastinating help for artists and Baseball

Artists and friends, if you have been procrastinating and slugging along, you should take a look at Maggie Steifvater's post today, well yesterday, as it is after midnight now. She has some words to get us goin'. A friendly butt kicking, she says. Also a pearl earring painting with a twist to make you smile. :)

We went to Austin to watch the Horns. Yes, I know that they are in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but the game was on ESPN-U and Time-Warner doesn't have that channel . Joanna, Gene and I went to the Scholz Garten to watch the game. The restaurant/bar is one of the oldest around. It lives on reputation as the food was not great. Desserts surpassed the main courses. Not expensive at least. They were having a big party in the garden for Spamarama. It was a new experience to see the game in a sports bar, of sorts. Especially since the Horns beat Oklahoma State 3 - 2. Some interesting plays and with no sound, I needed explanations from Gene and Joanna. Ha. There were balks, steals, tags that weren't called right, a run down for Texas that even involved Nick from center field. You will have to read about in Joanna's post. What a time. We couldn't have stood the bar scene a few years ago. All Austin public buildings are non-smoking. Yeah!

Photos Turtle, Trees Down, Flower

We golfed the last couple of days at the State Park. Our old turtle came out or stayed out to say hello.



These blue flowers are so neat. About the size of a fifty cent piece, if you remember that size. Ha.




Morning before last in the wee hours we had 1.5 inches of rain in a couple of hours. There was wind at our house but not damaging. Then at the golf course we saw several trees that were down and broken from the wind.



This huge pine was gone by the tee box on number 8. No more waiting in the shade for the group ahead of you to move on. It was surely 100 feet tall. So sad.



There were a couple of businesses damaged by falling trees and wind in town as well. Nothing like other parts of Texas with tornadoes and deaths. So awful. You have to feel for those people.

Relay for Life Raffle

I make a donation of a painting to the Relay for Life at the First State Bank in Bastrop. They have supported me and art in general in the community. This year I donated the Texas Pasture Box. The painting is a pasture in the area. The box is lined with midnight blue velvet. Very rich and elegant looking.

The painting is soft pastel on Colorfix paper mounted on illustration board. 5 x 7 inches. I wrote about the painting here on my blog.

The Relay for Life activities are:

Friday, May 18, 2007 through Saturday, May 19, 2007

Location: Bastrop High School
Erhard Football Field
Corner of Cedar and Hill Streets
Bastrop, Texas
Phone: (512) 321-2548, Betty Rucker

To read about the raffle prizes and last years events check my web page. You can buy the raffle tickets at the Bank. I was reminded today because they were selling sausage wraps for the cause and we went and had lunch there. Check it all out and go get some raffle tickets and win the painting.....

Art in Public Places?

I assume that most cities have an Art in Public Places program. Here is one spot to make you smile in Austin. It has been up for years. We would drive under this overpass for trains on Lamar Boulevard and wonder what these blue panels were. For weather? Water? (It's near Town Lake) Communicating? Traffic? Well, Joanna investigated a while back and it is a project from Art in Public Places. Hmmmm.

It is called Moments, by Carl Trominski. Installed in 2003. From there you can check out more art in Austin.

Today I thought of getting a couple of snapshots at the last second, sorry they are lopsided. :)





We drove across the bridge on 360 over Town Lake. The colors are great. When downloading there was the surprise of the antenna topper showing so well. Ha.

Leslie is blogging!

You will be pleased to discover a new artist blogger, Leslie D'Allesandro Hawes. She is also a writer. Great, entertaining articles. She works in colored pencils and can draw anything. Around here in Bastrop, Leslie was known as the "faery lady". Her work is so detailed and beautiful. She has a delightful sense of humor, well, it can get a little dark. Ha. No, she is fun and a lovely person. We can grumble together and laugh together. We had some great times here and I miss her .. we miss her. She is out in the desert in Arizona, now.


This is from one of her cards, the copyright belongs to Leslie. Talk to her about a print, commission or book.

Go on over and check out her artwork, blog and musings. She has an unusual interactive website. A little like wetcanvas.com in miniature. The blog is up in the right corner of her home page and you can subscribe with your blog reader. Enjoy visiting with Leslie! See ya later.....

Magdalena Church & Texas Hat

I can't believe that I am still so far behind in posting. This trip to New Mexico was not great for posting, even though we had high speed, well, sort of, in the hotel.

This is a framed version of the Magdalena Church that I painted for Gene's mom. We put it up with the Kelly Church and a church I painted in Canada in her new place. They looked great and I forgot a photo. Typical of me these days. Senior moments are more frequent. :)



Gene bought a patch for the hat he bought last summer in New Mexico. (Las Cruces, I believe.) Here is his new version for the warm baseball days this month and early June if we get to go to the Regionals (we will be gone for these for sure, granddaughter graduation) and Super Regionals. We will go to the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City.




I will post some of the road trip photos tomorrow and get to work on a new painting. July is fast approaching for the show in Magdalena. Deadlines....... Magazine and news articles must be out this month. Wow.

Fire and Ice Blogjacked

Michael Fay, Marine Corps Artist, had a wonderful blog, Fire and Ice, that was compromised by someone that evidently disagreed with Michael's political views. What better way than to take away his free speech, right? All his work that had been put into his articles about his time as a Marine artist on the front lines with our soldiers. He had sketched, painted and posted the brave, weary and lonely soldiers. Also the heros and our brothers, sons, husbands and friends. He had many of his wonderful sketches and paintings and first hand stories of what goes on day to day in service to our country. Besides his art, Michael occasionally spoke of his feelings about the U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Someone that didn't like Michael's political views decided that their views were more valid than Michael's and destroyed and took over his blog. Who are they to say that? Narrow minded, self centered, egotistical jerks ... that's who. Freedom of speech is one of the things our soldiers are protecting. What an insult to take away Michael's rights to free speech, whether you agree with him or not.

I respect Michael for his fine work, beautiful paintings and sketches. I support his efforts and our Marine Corps efforts to document the daily lives of our troops. I'm removing the link from my blog. What a sad day.....

You can read the BBC article about him, here. And here is an article in the Wall Street Journal.

I have a link to Sketchpad Warrior, Kristopher Battles, U.S. Marine Corps Artist, still in my links.

Hope all is well with you two artists.

Semper Fi!

Jo