Pastel Painting, Saguaros - Baseball Note

I finished the commission of the saguaros and sent it off to Massachusetts. It was received and the purchaser was very happy with it. She is having it framed there. I thought you would like to see it before I put it on my website in the archives. The purchaser requested the colors which are quite different for me, but I am pleased with the results. Thank you, Cathy!

Cathy's Saguaros
Pastel on Colourfix Sanded Paper
9 x 15 inches

Baseball note. The Longhorns won their first game of the Super Regional. They won 10 - 4 over TCU. One more win and they are on the road to the College World Series. You can read about this on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page, the Longhorn official website (the story there isn't much, but excellent photos and 31 of them!) and the NCAA Website where you can see Gametracker, video and all. ESPN is carrying the games. The Texas game will be on ESPN tomorrow (today, Sunday, its after midnight) at 2 p.m. central time.

The overflow. There were UIL softball games going on across the street. You can see fans there watching the baseball game. :)

Conner Rowe making a spectacular catch agains the wall. You can see a much better photo of this on the official page under photos at the top of the article. Wow! (link to official page above)

Michael Torres, #9, after his first homerun!


Michael taking his curtain call after his second homerun. This makes four for the year. How much fun is that to double your homeruns in one day?

Chance Ruffin pitched a full game today. Yay, Chance!

The last TCU batter strikes out, Horns win!! Go, Horns, Go!

Sketching Four

I painted today on the Homestead painting. I changed the whole front but still haven't decided for sure, so it is still simmering.

This evening I have been watching the Super Regional Baseball tournaments, Texas plays tomorrow evening. I sketched for Scavenger Hunt 133. I did a challenge to sketch 4 to 6 items in boxes on one page of the sketchbook. I sketched with Micron 05 pens for about one and a half hours, total.

• Number 8, candle. A candle in a pottery container.
• Number 9, memory card, stick, etc. I sketched one of the JumpDrives we have.
• Number 10, jagged. A torn piece of paper.
• Number 11, shoe. One of the same old shoes I always sketch, but didn't pull it off to my satisfaction. Maybe next time.

For a blog tonight, how about a learning blog. Check out Creative Spotlight http://www.artinstructionblog.com/ I have an article posted there, Plein Air Demonstration - City of Rocks. The site is directed towards beginners but has helpful information.

Sketching Hunt 133

I painted today as you know. After dinner I watched a movie on TV and sketched for Scavenger Hunt 133. I sketched in my small sketchbook with a Pilot ball point pen. One of the challenges this Hunt is to sketch freehand in ink. That is the way I normally sketch. Guess I will have to use a less familiar medium for that. Tonight though it was easy to sketch in my usual way and relax.

Number 4, couch. The couch has frames and framed paintings on it in preparation for the New Mexico show in July. 10 minutes or so for the sketch.

Number 5, used to feel. 10 minutes.

Number 6, lamp. 8 - 10 minutes

Number 7, barefoot. 4 - 5 minutes.

Nothing too exciting, but at least I had pen in hand.


For blogs I read, I will mention Linda Blondheim's Art Notes. http://lindablondheimartnotes.blogspot.com/

I have enjoyed her blog. She is an accomplished artist and business woman. She is discontinuing her blog and working on connecting with her customers. She feels that she needs to focus on the business end of her art to keep making a living at art. You can still go to her blog and read through the archives. There is an incredible amount of information there as she has been very sharing with the rest of us artists both in how to paint and how to run your business. She will still do critiques and on line lessons, but the information will no longer be free. You will find links to her Facebook and Twitter, so she is not disappearing. You will also find recipes on her blog. I first discovered the Macaroni and Cheese sandwich there. :)

I have had her blog in the "Blogs I'm Addicted To" on the sidebar, but I will change that and just leave a link. I like to have blogs in the rolling updated list active and that post regularly. I like some other blogs as much, but not everyone posts regularly.

Homestead - Pastel Painting WIP

I worked on the pastel painting again. (scroll down to see yesterdays image or click here to open in a new window) I will post the better photo I took today of the start. I only took one other photo before I got to the point for the painting to sit a while and simmer to see if it is finished.

Again, this is the beginning. I put pastel on the used Pastelbord and brushed it with water. On a large painting this is helpful to save pastels.

Usually I work all over a painting, but on this one, I fell back on the way I do oil paintings. In oil painting I start with the sky and work forward. I worked at filling in the background and middle ground.

This is the simmering point. I'm not sure I want so much detail in the foreground grass. It probably takes away from the houses. The painting is simmering until I decide.

I also looked at it in black and white. Again you see the grass is the lightest part and probably shouldn't be that way. Hmmmm.

I am pleased, over all, with the theme and colors. I will see how I feel tomorrow.

We golfed again this morning and I took another photo of crepe myrtles.


These are near the tee box on number eight hole and are groomed by the groundskeepers. I imagine they get more water than the ones I photographed yesterday. The blooms are thicker.

Here is a blog I follow because I love food. I don't cook much anymore, so haven't tried the recipes. The recipes are presented with photos of the ingredients, the mixing and the finished products. All of the finished recipes just look beautiful and sound good. You will enjoy visiting the Crepes of Wrath. http://thecrepesofwrath.wordpress.com/

I think Joanna sent this to me and I sent it to Jennie as she is cooking more and trying new things.

Pastel Painting, golf photos and Happy27th Birthday to Jesse

I started a large 24 x 18 inch pastel today. A New Mexico scene for my show in July. I like the start. I used a Pastelbord I had painted previously. I brushed the pastel off with a soft paint brush then washed it with the hose outside yesterday evening. The pastel left the shadow stain but not important as I was going to put an under painting anyway.


Today I put blue pastel for the sky, purple for the back of the hills, red where most of the trees and vegetation will be and purple where the yellow grass will be and spread it with water on a paint brush. I meant to take a photo, but you know how I am .. I get into painting and before you know it, too late for photos of the under painting. You can see the bottom half here. This is a poor photo with a flash so will take another in the morning. I just wanted you to know I did paint today. Looks like the Grand Canyon in front at the moment!



This morning we went to the golf course. The crepe myrtles are in full bloom. They look great in between the green of the pines and other trees.


I also spied a pine with a vine growing on it with red flowers. When I got close, I could see a few leaves were red, no flowers.


For the blogs today go by Skybag, Jesse, and wish her, "Happy 27th Birthday!" She is the daughter of Bag Blog, Lou, that comments on my blog. Skybag takes photos and paints once in a while, following in her mom's footsteps. She will be surprised if we all go post on June 4, Thursday, don't you think?

This is a good day to remind you about the blogs of the Marine Corps artists that I follow, as well. These guys are amazing artists and active Marines as well. Thanks to them for their service and sharing their art with us!

Michael Fay, Fire and Ice, scroll down to March 5, 2009 for a documentary about the Marine Corps Artists http://mdfay1.blogspot.com/

Kristopher Battles, Sketchpad Warrior http://kjbattles.blogspot.com/

The Lips Have It...

Hey, I forgot to add a blog I read to the bottom of my last post. I will give you a link to a post on Valerie Jones' blog. Valerie is one of my Fine Art Friends that are sort of a boosters club. She is a wonderful artist and great person.

She offers a lesson in how to draw/paint lips in colored pencil. It will apply to any medium I think. Have a look and see how Valerie shares her expertise. She has some valuable info in her blog, The Artist Within.

Addition about an hour later.... I should have waited. My friend, Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, has been in Italy studying and painting and sculpting for the last couple of years. She is amazing!! She and other are painting with chalk on the streets, doing amazing work in the style of the masters. Take a look at that on her blog and then go to Kelly's web site and look at her sculptures. She is another dedicated and hard working artist. She writes well and shares a lot of her information.

Apples Finished, new photo

I added some deeper shadows under the apples to set them down. It seems that sometimes I hesitate to make things dark enough. This small change seems to work.

Old Photo

Finished
Serve 'Em Texas Style
Pastel on Pastelbord, 5 x 7 inches

No painting today except this. I did work on my ad for Steppin' Out New Mexico and other paperwork. Gene also took apart a painting so I can use the Pastelbord for a new painting. I need now to clean the board and glass for the frame. Hopefully I can work on the painting tomorrow. It is the only big painting for the show in Magdalena.

Back to work ... Pastel painting and sketches and photos at the baseball games.

Sorry I have been absent. Have you missed me?? Our internet and phone have been out since about 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. How spoiled are we? It was like going back in time.

This post will be a little long so I will put the art first. I painted today as we had to wait for the technician. They said he would be here between 8:00 a.m. and midnight. Pretty large window, huh? Someone had to be here so we were. The tech showed up about 4:30 p.m. Took him about 10 minutes to fix the signal.

Serve 'em Texas Style
Pastel, 5 x 7 inches

I really like painting apples, like I have said before, they are my fall back. Something enjoyable to paint without too much thinking and planning. Still life painting is another challenge after painting landscapes. You can't really use atmosphere like you do in landscapes. These apples are for the miniature show with the Austin Pastel Society at the Scarbrough Building in Austin in June. I would have liked to use red apples, but this is what I had on hand. I like the contrasts with the red, white and blue Texas bowl, so it was probably a good thing after all. I had a nice afternoon, listening to the old iTunes while I painted. (I just noticed in the photo the apples in the back left seem to be floating ... hmmm. I will check that out later this morning. You may get a new photo. It is 1230 a.m. Tuesday. Yikes.)

I was lucky to have some spots of sun to take the photograph. (I wrote about my shady yard problems before.)I like the way the photos turn out of pastels taken in direct sunlight. There is little color adjustment to make. Of course the lines look stronger, I think the digital camera does that .. it separates and intensifies blue and red. The color is fairly close though. I also took a photo of the commission I finished. I will post it after it arrives at its new home.

Our weekend was tied up with the Longhorns Baseball. I did manage a few sketches for Scavenger Hunt 133 on Saturday during the early game, Texas State and Army. (Army won and Texas State was eliminated.)


Number 1 - something that makes noise. The fans and the obnoxious loudspeakers. They kept the volume at deafening levels. We have complained, but ..... I think it is like the new restaurants, they think it seems more fun and exciting if you can't talk ( think yell) because of the noise. Sketched in the small sketchbook with a Pilot ball point pen. Ten minutes or so??? Not many fans there yet.


Number 2, use this to see, Gene's binoculars. About 15 minutes. These took longer as I was watching the game, too.

Number 3, someone sleeping. A cute little girl asleep on her mom's knees. Of course they left before I finished. They woke her up, too! We have seats in the shade so the baby was not in the hot sun. :) About 10 minutes.

A couple of new blogs I have discovered. I am supposed to be listing the ones I already follow. Oh well, I will follow these now, too.

http://santorafineart.blogspot.com/ Carol Santora, loud (as in colorful) cows and other fun and beautiful paintings.

http://scrute.blogspot.com/ Sharon Crute, race horses and more. Wonderful. Thanks, Nancy. Hmm, another blog. :)


**This is a great commentary by Bill Little, Last Man Standing, reviewing the feelings and emotion involved in the games. A great story even if you don't know or care about baseball ... all about the athletes.

I have to include a few of the baseball photos. I took so many........ Joanna got some great ones, so check her blog, link below.

We spent many hours at the UT baseball games, the Regionals were in Austin. The historical game Saturday night between the Horns and Boston College went 25 innings and lasted 7 hours and 3 minutes. Whew! Marathon baseball for sure. It was the longest game in NCAA history. The Horns won, 3 - 2. We left home about 1045 a.m. to watch the early game and returned home about 2:00 a.m.

Austin Wood at the beginning of his marathon. He is the closing pitcher and usually only pitches a couple of innings. He pitched about 13 of the 25 innings. It was a no hitter in the middle of this long game. Wow! There are some photos in a link at the top of that page and all the statistics. Travis Tucker and Michael Hernandez batted 12 times each. The one game was almost the equivalent of three games.

The handshakes at the end. The Boston College pitcher, Mike Belfiore, was amazing as well. He played several positions including the 9 innings he pitched. Amazing young athletes. We, fans (a huge amount stayed to the end), were exhausted. I can't imagine how tired the players were when their adrenalin dropped. The poor catchers...

I grabbed these stats from the Boston College page:

FACTS AND FIGURES

Both teams received a standing ovation at the conclusion of the game

Texas had to reset the scoreboard twice to post the score by inning

It was 96 degrees at first pitch at 6:02 p.m. - The game finished at 78 degrees at 1:05 a.m.

Texas introduced the 21st inning stretch

Both teams used all of their position players

There were 683 pitches thrown in the game

Texas stranded 24 men on base

Belfiore, Hamlet and Lawrence each played three positions

Texas had three runs on 20 hits

Junior Chris Kowalski recorded his first-career at-bat

There were 11 walks in the game compared to 42 strikeouts

The 10 p.m. ET game at UC Irvine game started and finished

The 25-inning game was the longest game in NCAA baseball history. The previous longest game was a 23-inning game played between Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State on March 27, 1971. ULL won the game 6-5.

The game also marked the longest NCAA postseason game in history. The previous longest game was a 19-inning contest between Clemson and Fordham at the NCAA Northeast Regional in New Britain, Conn. on May 26, 1988.

Texas and Boston College combined to set NCAA records with 42 strikeouts, 222 total chances, 69 assists, 192 plate appearances and 171 at-bats.

Texas' 91 at-bats, 103 plate appearances, 115 total chances and 75 putouts set new NCAA records

Tucker and Torres set the NCAA single-game record for at-bats with 12 AB's against BC

Preston Clark's 33 putouts against BC set a new NCAA record for most single-game putouts.

These next photos are from Sunday night. The Horns were behind until the bottom of the 9th inning and Preston Clark hit a grand slam home run and the Horns won the Regional! Yes!!

Some Army fans. They said "Go Army" on their chests and "Beat UT" on their backs. A noisy bunch!

Preston Clark early in the game. After it gets dark, my camera won't take good photos, no flash, so the aperture stays open too long and the shots are blurred.

The Army players at the end. They are a classy bunch. (Great Army stories on this link, they travel in uniform.) They haven't been to the College World Series many times. It was sad that they had to loose. They will go on to be the great guys that protect our freedom every day. Thanks to them for their service!!


The Super Regional next week. Best two out of three against TCU in Austin. The winner goes to the College World Series in Omaha! The Horns last won in 2005. Hopefully they can make it this year. With their ups and downs it is scary. The pitching is great over all. The offense is spotty. When it all comes together, they are great. They are determined, especially the Seniors.

You can read about the baseball fun on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page. There are some articles on the Longhorn Page and the NCAA page where they are streaming the games free on the internet. I'm sure there are stories on ESPN and other sports pages.