Baseball Sketches and Photos

I inaugurated my Cachet Studio Blank Book sketchbook today. It is 7 x 10 inches with a hard cover and an elastic band to hold the paper. Very nice. Regina gave it to me for Christmas. Since it has the band I decided to use it for baseball sketches. With the busy schedule, I won't have time for much art so this is a substitute plan.


The first page has sketches from my seat. A couple of heads, a few gesture sketches and the corner of Joanna's score keeping setup. I used a Pilot ball point pen for convienance and they make good marks. It is easy to drop the lid of a Micron or regular sketching pen. It could roll down many steps and rows.


On the way home in the pickup I did a sketch for Scavenger Hunt 75. #6, a window view. Out the front on Highwy 95. Pretty bad, but the ride is a little bumpy for steady lines. I think sketching in the car requires short strokes and I didn't really remember that today. :) Something else to practice. Sketching in the van is easier, more room and smoother ride.


Kyle Russell hit a foul ball up toward our side of the stadium. Our seats have always been behind the screen and we haven't had to dodge foul balls. They added the lower rows and changed the screen and it doesn't go to the roof now, so we have to pay attention! You can read about the game which the Horns won 17-4 over Virginia Commonwealth on the official page and get the real scoop and great photos on Joanna's page.


For the second day of baseball we were treated to a visit from the real Bevo. Pretty interesting. I posted a link about Bevo in the previous post.


Also this year they added barbeque for the fans. The sandwiches looked great and we had the smell of barbeque and kettle corn all afternoon.

Blog Comment Change. Baseball note.

I just changed my blog to use a pop up window for comments. The reason is that you can see the original blog and comment. When you don't use pop up windows, you have to abandon your comment to see the original photo or painting. I hope you agree that this is better. If not, please let me know.

I did not sketch. It was a long day. We first went to the Blood Center and donated blood. Well, I donate blood and Gene donates platelets. After the game, we went to Hunan's on William Cannon for our fix of Chinese food. They do special things for us. The mixed seafood plate had sea cucumbers in it. I doubt that is included on the regular menu.

It was the first game of the season for UT Baseball, Texas Longhorns, today. The Longhorns won,6 - 2. We enjoyed the "new" or renovated stadium.


They had fireworks from the scoreboard at the first and at the end of the game. I only got photos of the smoke as I wasn't expecting fireworks.


They also had Bevo, the mascot, a little rare visit. We did not have the live longhorn like they do at the football games. We had the person dressed in a Bevo costume. Smokey the Canon from football was there for a loud BOOM or two. This was the first time I had seen this.

This is Michael Torres, one of the new players. Looks like he might get a hit.

This is Preston Clark , catcher, a solid player and leader. He had four RBIs. (Runs batted in).

The Eyes of Texas at the end. The new home dugout is on the first base side. Unusual, but they had more room for a spectacular locker room. So we now get a side view. :)

A couple of planes passing by. The route to the airport gives us many sightings. Usually they are going towards the airport not away as in today's photo.

There were two plays that stand out. Jordan Danks caught a fly ball on the run over his shoulder in center field and went to his stomach and slid to hold on to the ball. David Hernandez did the same at shortstop. A good start to the season. Joanna will get up her review and details. Hook 'em!

Cactus Sketches and Baseball Note

I wasn't going to post but decided I had better get up an artful post. UT Baseball starts tomorrow. Yipee! I love it, we love it, but it is a vicious schedule this year. The NCAA decided that the southern schools had an advantage over the northern schools by starting early February so all NCAA baseball starts this weekend, I think. The Longhorns will have the same number of games so we will be going to five games a week instead of four. I don't know how they will keep up their studies and travel so much. We will be driving back and forth to Austin so our days will be pretty full. I will try to sketch for some of the Scavenger Hunts since I won't have much painting time. The stadium, Disch-Falk Field, has been remodeled as you may remember and it is super nice now. Joanna went to fan appreciation day and got some photos for a preview. Hook 'em Horns!

This is the Eyes of Texas at the last game with the Aggies last year.

I sketched these cactus flowers while watching golf last evening. That is your art for the day. I got a good start on the acrylic painting with an idea from these sketches today. You will get to see it soon! I like it now. Acrylics dry so dark that it takes some practice to get them bright enough to suit me. I don't like to paint everything fifty times. Maybe this painting will help me figure it out. I will let you know. Tomorrow night .... baseball photos!

Sketching Fun and Pastel Frustration

Really,I had fun sketching today. Very unusual for me. I struggle with it and do it to help my painting. And today I needed help with painting. But first the sketches. I didn't post a couple of sketches from Scavenger Hunt #73 on wetcanvas.com, so I will post them now. We left for New Mexico on a trip and I forgot the camera so no posting. Can you believe I went to New Mexico with no camera. All the sketches are in my regular sketchbook for the Hunts with a Micron 005 pen except the shoe was with a Pilot regular ball point pen for writing.


#3 a key chain and #4 a scale. The scale is a small letter scale. 15 minutes each.


#5 shoe with laces. I have sketched these shoes several times and this is the worst. I need practice in sketching, too much time off. 10-15 minutes.

Today after the painting frustrations and after dinner, I started Scavenger Hunt #75 (I missed #74). I'm still out of practice but like I said I even had fun. Watched TV and just relaxed.


#1 Stuffed animal, my Faris, Mushabelly horse. 10 minutes.


#2 Keepsake, a photo of my Mom in a leather frame. She looks worried in my sketch, she has a slight smile in the photo. Nice memories.

#3 Something round, a baseball that Gene caught at a UT game as we were coming into the stadium a couple of years ago. #4 A rectangle, a little wooden box from Chile. 25 minutes for both.


#5 A triangle, the top of a ceramic box from Ecuador. The box is a church. About 20 minutes. The lines were off so I "covered" them with hatching since I don't erase. Hmmmm.


Actually I needed help with painting for three days. I first started on a painting of prickly pear cactus blooms on a Colourfix card that I had used at the class. I wiped it off, brushed it and then smeared it with water so it was just dark. I was the dark brick red to start with.

The ice cream cone right up the center!
Pastel, 9 x 12 inches on Colourfix card

I finished and took it downstairs to let it set ... and I had made an ice cream cone with the blooms, stacked on one of the buds. (Smile here.) So I went up to my studio and started over on one of the boards prepared with the Colourfix medium. I could not get a good composition no matter what. Too close to center, too close to the edge, etc. Finally started and it was sooo tight and formal looking.

Today I worked on this second painting with a looser stroke and it was not going well. I finally brushed it off and decided to work on the board in acrylics. I paint looser with a brush .. sometimes. I still couldn't get the composition so I went in the kitchen, propped up my feet, watched Tiger win his match in golf and sketched cactus for an hour or so. Maybe tomorrow the painting will come together. We shall see...... painting is so easy! Really. As Susan Carlin says, though, when you paint, you should paint when you are happy so it will show in your work. Tomorrow I will try that. (Today, really, it is midnight as I type.)

Pastel Moment

The quote below is from Clint Watson in his "Fine Art Views". I subscribe to his newsletter. He publishes articles from some of the other blogs I subscribe to, but I like the one today called: The Moment of Hope. Check it out.

"PS - It may seem a bit of a downer, that the better you get, the more you realize that you're not great. However, it's not.

Creative pursuits require a lifetime journey of commitment and growth. It's a journey, not a destination....so while you may never be satisfied that you have "arrived", you'll get a bit closer every day, and the true greats all enjoy the ride.....and what a beautiful ride it is....won't you join us for the journey?"

Goin' Red

8 x 10 inches Pastel on Art Spectrum Pastel Card (Colourfix)

I did this pastel last summer. You will find a demo on my web page.