Apples, colored pencil

I mentioned that I was going to try colored pencil on Pastelbord. I had a 5 x 7 pastelbord that I had used for a sketch. It had an apple on a plate, I washed off the pastel, but it left quite a shadow image, so I just went over that with colored pencil. I am surprised at how easily the colored pencil covers the surface. I was also able to change some areas just by putting a new color over an edge or mistake I was correcting. I finished the drawing and sprayed with Lascaux Fixativ. It seems to have covered it well with little to no bleeding or dissolving of the pencil. It worked so well that I am tempted to try it on pastel now.

Here is the colored pencil drawing. The cut piece of apple is a little more yellow than I wanted, but this was just a test, so I did not try to erase some and do over. It is ready to be framed ... with no glass. Very nice.

Now I will try working on a clean Pastelbord with a new drawing. I think I will like it.

Procrastinatin' Apple 2
Colored Pencil on Pastelbord
5 x 7 inches

Baseball, the good, the bad and .....arghhh.

I was going to post the good last night and never did. It was very good! The Horns played in Lubbock, the series on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so they could have Easter Sunday off, I suppose. The first game in the wind on the plains was a hitting party. Texas won, 22-6. So many hits and scores. Some great plays and good pitching for the Horns.

Then, this evening a very different story. Texas lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 7-5. Two of the Horns freshman relief pitchers walked four and hit one batsman in a row to put the Raiders in the lead in the sixth inning and the Horns did not answer. Sooooooo sad.

Guess we will see if the Longhorns can't win the series tomorrow. The game is at noon. Whew. Stories here on the official site and Joanna's blog.

I was looking for a photo of Tech and Texas last spring during the series here in Austin. It was a sweep for Texas. The Friday game was called for rain and finished on Saturday before that game started. Read about that game in the archives on Joanna's page. Interesting, huh?

This photo seems to be from Sunday, April 15, 2007

Texas Hill Country, sort of

It is always interesting to see different artists take on the same theme. In this case, Texas Hill Country.

Crafts Prairie View
Pastel 16 x 20
This is one of my hill country paintings.

Regina Burchett and I paint together fairly often and our styles are different. This is one of Regina's hill country paintings.

Karin Jurik and Carol Marine had a workshop near Austin and this is Karin's take on Texas Hill Country, a scene between Austin and Fredericksburg. Pretty cool. Carol does still life, so no oak trees, but there are a couple of Austin street scenes here.

Susan Carlin took the workshop so I'm picking her brain on Monday. (Shhhhh. She doesn't know that yet!) Susan does a landscape occasionally, but her portraits are super. Here is one of her Texas portraits.

Baseball notes, Horns beat Bobcats 9-6, Photos

The game on Tuesday evening was cold and miserable, but we liked the results. Our son, Larry, went to Texas State, so we can't be too upset to loose to them. In fact we lost to them October 30, at the Dell Diamond as Disch-Falk Field wasn't ready yet. The coach, Ty Harrington, is a Texas-ex, too. It rained almost all the game and was in the fifties. Brrrr. You can read about the game officially here and get the cold nitty gritty on Joanna's page. I kept thinking they were going to call the game, but the kept on playing. There was no lightening and I guess that is the real problem.

You can see the flag standing out in the wind and the clouds. About the second inning and the temp on the scoreboard is 57, seemed like 47. You can see where the tarp had been over the infield, by the end it was all dark green. They brought dry dirt out once for the pitchers mound and home plate.

We did go prepared with jackets, hoods and gloves. I almost forgot to put up some photos of the game. Well when it is dark I can't get good photos as I am no tripod and the players move!! But Larry was there taking photos for the Texas State Bobcats so here is a few of Larry from afar. He only had on a golf windbreaker and no hat. That is one of the few times I have seen Larry without a baseball cap!

Gene and Larry looking up at us.

Larry hard at work here. He got some super shots.

Here he is probably collecting his thoughts or thinking about being somewhere warm. :) I don't think he is a big baseball fan .. mostly a golf fan. :)

The Horns are in Lubbock for the games against Texas Tech today through Saturday. Off on Easter Sunday. It should be very windy there. We lived in Lubbock for three years in the eighties .. another foreign country. Heh, heh. Famous for tornadoes, prairie dogs and Buddy Holly. I actually learned to like the wide open cotton fields. The dust storms would bring the dust from New Mexico and it would hang in the air. I would look out and it was like fog, only brown. Our house was at the west end of town and I could see forever. Now the house is in the middle of town. Memories, memories.

Sketchbook Sketch for Hunt

For Scavenger Hunt #78, on wetcanvas.com, (wet canvas is off line at the moment so I can't post this there ..drat - hopefully it is back on when you read this) number 2, something checkered, my sketchbook. About an hour in my regular sketchbook with a Pilot ball point pen and colored pencils.


We were housebound after a medical test for Gene so TV was our thing. I did manage this sketch during a movie. Sort of fun to mess with drawing checks and making different colors with different patterns. After I was done I decided to go ahead and color it. The sketchbook was a gift from my art buddy, Sue Modrak.

As you know I rarely use colored pencils so these haven't been used much that are in the packet on the front of the sketchbook. I have trouble using colored pencils as they take patience to color many layers to develop beautiful results. I want instant results, so I like pastels for color. I like oil painting when I feel like using a brush, but oils don't like me, I get a headache. Therefore, I try acrylics and am getting used to them, too.

I did try colored pencils on Pastelbord the other day and that went better. I will try fixing that sketch and post the results. Nicole Caulfield uses that system so she can frame without glass. Her work is amazing, huh? Check back to see how mine came out.

Drawing and Artists that Draw, Acrylic Cactus

I'm not sure how I started reading DaniDraws.com. Leslie was it you? Anyway the newest post has a list of 75 artists you must know and where to find them.

There is a large amount of info on DaniDraws and you can get lost there learning and discovering. Have fun but come back here.

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I changed the painting, Pears in Bloom. I kept looking at it sitting across from me here in the living room. Many artists have a similar place. A "curing" shelf where they put completed works and let them sit to check on as they pass by. Some artists turn the work to the wall and don't look at it for some period of time. I usually sit mine in the living room where I can see them from my computer. The more I looked at the cactus painting from a distance the more the flower part looked like daisies. Not good as they do not look like daisies in real life. :) Up close it was OK. I decided to change the flowers and I am pleased. I think the new image is closer to the real color and I realized it is 11 x 14 inches, not 9 x 12 inches. See what you think.

Old Pears in Bloom

New Pears in Bloom

Street painting.... with Kelly

If you all don't read Kelly Borsheim's blog regularly, you should stop by and see her pastels on the street in Florence, Italy. Wow.

Marine Corps Artists on the move

The two Marine Corps artist that I follow are off to Afghanistan soon. Check out Michael Fay's new sculpture and see what is going on with he and Kristopher Battles.

These guys are amazing. Keep them in your hearts...... and in your positive thoughts.