Sketch, Shopping Cart

We were on our way home and stopped at Wal-Mart. Gene went in and I just sat, thinking it was too dark to sketch or work on a puzzle. All of a sudden I remembered that a shopping cart was on the list to sketch in Scavenger Hunt 55. It was dark and the parking lot was fairly empty so I sketched across the lane. A sketch of less than 10 minutes in my Strathmore Sketch book, recycled paper, 3.5 x 5 inches with a Pilot ball point pen. This is just #3 in this hunt. Whew!

Sketch, Menu

I managed to get one sketch in yesterday. For Scavenger Hunt 55, number 2 Take out menu. With a Micron 005 pen, green, in the NY sketchbook. The menu has green lettering so used the green pen. I'm not fond of green so a good time to use the pen. About 30 minutes. The restaurant has been a favorite here. Great food, accomodating for my gluten free diet and always leftovers. It is on the schedule for tomorrow night. :)

Old Ice House, Socorro, New Mexico

Grandad's Boost

Oil, 9 x 12 inches
My Dad and David at the Criswell

I have a blog on the Steppin' Out New Mexico website. I was looking there to see when I last updated (too long ago) and ran across this post by Ben Moffett. He writes about the "old days" in Socorro and the area. I have thought to paint the old ice house, but something else always comes up. It brought back some fond memories.


My father ran a filling station on the main corner in Magdalena, New Mexico, when I was about thirteen or fourteen. Gene worked at a station catty-corner, but at that time that wasn't too important. :) After school, my Dad would go to the Paris Tavern, leaving me in charge of the station. I learned to fix tires, change oil, clean windshields and other duties there. My friend, Charlotte, would come down to keep me company. I was not paid, but since I didn't receive an allowance, my Dad would give me money when I requested it ... most times anyway. He used to buy rags for cleaning and checking oil, etc., in a box from the Checkered something company. The boxes had a checkerboard on the side. He did not have a permit to sell food, but he always bought little packages of jerky, potato chips, peanuts and Snickers from the Tom's Peanuts salesman for us to have for snacks. Charlotte and I would play checkers with Coke tops from the Coke machine, drink Cokes and eat the snacks, usually chile chips or peanuts. What a life? The only downside to being a service station attendant was cleaning the restrooms. I don't know if it proves true in all situations, but by my calculations women are much messier and dirtier than men. Hmmm.

OK, back to the business of art.......

Chile Store, Pastel Painting, WIP

WIP, work in progress.

I started a new painting in soft pastels. I prepared a new surface for me. Gene cut me some masonite in 16 x 20 inches. I sealed the back with acrylic medium/varnish. I then painted two or three coats of Colourfix Fine Tooth Primer in burgundy. After it dried, I looked at it for a couple of days to decide what to paint. I have an idea in mind for an old cottonwood here in SVC but I want to do it larger so continued to contemplate.

I finally decided what to paint. I did a quick sketch in my generic sketchbook to check the crop of the photo. I then put on a little color with pastels and brushed it in with alcohol, putting some blue across the top where the white tent and the sky would be. The other part I put a little bit of dark blue. I sketched with a light blue pastel. I moved the pickup so that it was behind the tent somewhat and moved the chile around. I plan to put some chile in the bed of the pickup.


I start with the under painting and a light sketch. Plans may change so I don't get to heavy handed yet. Sometimes what is put in a sketch or an idea in my head looks completely different when you get it on the painting surface.


Next I developed the pickup so I could check perspective because I moved it closer to the tent. I worked on the main focal point, the vendor and sign. I will continue to develop the whole painting as I go.

I did work a little more in the focal area. I plan to work around the painting, changing colors to fit the mood and put some of the colors all over the painting. For example the plastic can in front of the vendor is really gray, but I feel that there needs to be green in other areas than the trees and pickup. I stuck some green in the background shadows and will turn those into fruit boxes. They actually have blue labels, but need the green, there is plenty of blue. I extended the tent roof some and may do more. The pole holing up the tent should not fall on a line of the pickup.

Before I bring the focal point to anywhere near completion I will work on the background and negative space. Bear with me and check back for the finish.

Amazing, Rebecca Finch

I guess my next post will not be my pastel painting, but Rebecca's oil painting. I have linked to her blog before and if you go take a look at this you will see why. Yellowware

Her studio has been her sun porch with too many windows and changing light. She is in the middle of moving to another state in seven days and took on this commission and painted it in her bedroom so she could have good steady light.

It is fantastic. Sigh.......

You can see more of her work here.

Sketch, Scavenger Hunt 55

It is a new day! Well, a new Scavenger Hunt, Number 55. EP, eyepaint, is the host. We have 26 new items and some challenges. I have been working on a pastel painting (next post) but for a break, I did a sketch for the Hunt.
#1, Someone reading. That would be Gene. I find several things wrong. His head is too small and it does not look like Gene. The line of the back of the chair coincides with his glasses making it look like the line runs through his head. A big no, no in composition. The chair perspective is bad as well. Otherwise, not so bad. Ha. With a Micron 005 pen in the NY sketchbook. About 15 minutes. No preliminary sketch which I do on purpose to attempt to look well and put down a correct line. You can certainly tell in this sketch that I did not keep to my plan. Lazy.

Sketch and the Whole Enchilada

This is the last day of the Scavenger Hunt 54. Doesn't it go by quickly? I never finish. It does keep me sketching and that is very good.

#14, Serving bowl. In the NY sketchbook with a Micron 005 pen. About 10 minutes. The dreaded ellipses. It didn't look too bad at the time I did it. :) Maybe one day I will actually work on them with a pencil, ruler, etc. I am more careful if I am putting ellipses in a permanent drawing or painting. This is just practice, remember?

Gene is out on his bicycle and I am sitting here, hungry, and thinking of what to eat. We received this photo from Jennie of her homemade enchilada, which by the way, she ate almost the whole enchilada. She makes the corn tortillas and red chile herself. Yumm.

Oh my. My mouth is watering. Have you ever had a New Mexico style enchilada? With an egg on top? Oh, so good. Sadie's in Albuquerque has serves about the best as far as restaurants are concerned. They also sell great salsa. Silver City has none, the chile here is not great. Must be too close to the border or something. Las Cruces has some good chile, though. We will let you know what place is tops there. Most restaurants thicken their chile with a little flour so that restricts my eating red chile in many places as I am trying to eat gluten free. A few make green chile sauce with no flour so I have eaten those. Not quite the same. Ha. The Elephant Butte Inn makes their green chile about like I do, so that was the best I had had for a while when we ate there last week.

Maybe I will at least go warm up a tamale we bought in Bayard with some frozen red chile and a fried egg on top. That would be close. Well, I take that back. Not even close. But, it would be red chile and egg. The tamales are certainly not as good as Gene's mom used to make or even the ones Jennie and I make, usually for Christmas. I haven't cooked here very much. About all I have cooked is migas for brunch. Migas are corn tortillas broken up and browned, then scrambled with eggs and cheese and hot peppers. I usually add some hash browns and meat of some sort. Here I use green chile and hot dogs. We have only bought lettuce and tomatoes once. When we go out I eat salad or for lunch I sometimes get a Subway tuna sandwich as a salad. They finally have spinach again, so the salad is more healthful.

I do have a restaurant page on my website with recommendations in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. I haven't updated in a while, but this reminds me to get with it. It also has only a few of our favorites, it would be a full time job to keep it current. :)