Quick Sketches and note

Scavenger Hunt 145 is over on September 10, not much time. I drew these sketches with a Micron 05 pen in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook. About 15 minutes total. It will take more time to post them here and on wetcanvas.com and I need to get to the packing. That is the way it goes. We are also supposed to do sketches from life, real things. The comic strip is from a "photo" in the paper, so shouldn't count. Make that a senior moment as Jeanne Grant said when she put up a sketch of Klinger's nose on the Hunt. :) Ah, well. At least, we are sketching.


Number 5, elevated - the dining room light fixture. Number 6 (or not), final - the last panel in the Pearls Before Swine comic strip today.

EP on the Hunts asked about Pearls Before Swine and I checked and I can embed it here! It is by Stephan Pastis. Fun. Except, in comparison, my pig is floating .... ha.




As I mentioned, we are leaving Angel Fire tomorrow so I decided to do a couple of quick sketches this morning in case I don't get anymore done for a few days. We are going to Albuquerque a week earlier than originally planned to check on Gene's Mom. She was in the hospital and was released today. She is 92 and her health is failing. She is an amazing person. I will do a separate blog about that.

Photos in New Mexico and Colorado

We are leaving a week early to move to Albuquerque for a month, well, now 5 weeks. We decided to make a final circle and go to Antonito, Colorado, and drive the canyon to Chama, New Mexico, where the narrow guage train runs in the summer time. We wanted to ride the train, but decided we could make a circle and see more. It was an absolutely beautiful trip. The weather was perfect, it rained ahead of us and around us, but we didn't get in much rain. It took a little over 7 hours with a few short sight seeing stops. We went to Eagle Nest, New Mexico, for dinner at the Boardwalk Steakhouse again. Very good and left overs for tomorrow.

Here are a few photos to tempt you to look at the rest on my Picasa albums. I put a map where we went with the photos. I hope you like them.

Leaving Antonito, Colorado

Conejos River, Colorado

In New Mexico.

There is latte in Chama, NM. :)

Brazos Cliffs in New Mexico

We should leave here on Tuesday. There won't be too much posting until we get settled in Albuquerque. See you down the road.

Plein Air Acrylic and Sketches

(**I'm editing this on September 7, it was pretty confusing!)

Night before last I sketched for Scavenger Hunt 145. I didn't post yesterday as we went back to Colorado to finish Gene's bike ride where I did some plein air practice. More about that after the sketches. I sketched in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with a Micron 05 pen, freehand as always. One of the challenges this Hunt is to sketch the twenty-six items in order. You might notice, they are in alphabetical order as well. I have a start at that.


Number 1, armor or proctective gear - Gene's bicycle helmet. About 15 minutes. Number 2, ball or bouncy - Gene's exercise ball with a stool to give the idea of size. 10 minutes or so.


Number 3, clasp - on my art bag that I rarely snap closed. 10 minutes, maybe. Number 4, duo or pair of something - salt and pepper shakers. 10 minutes.

Yesterday, Gene decided he wanted to go back to Colorado and pick up where he left off on his 100 mile birthday ride. We left and went to Taos for breakfast at Michael's (Thanks to bag blog, Lou, for the recommendation).

It is about 90 miles to La Jara where Gene finished almost 82 of the 100 miles on his birthday. About noon today, he started were he left off on his birthday. I went down the road about 25 miles or so (back into New Mexico) and put up my easel. It was a beautiful day. I painted for about an hour with my acrylic paint on watercolor paper. The paper drys so fast that I thinned the paint a lot and used it somewhat like watercolor.

This was my first attempt looking from Highway 285 to the east. There were many clouds near the mountains both east and west, but not many above us in the valley.


When I finished the first painting, I just turned the paper over and started again. There was a cattle guard across the highway and some beautiful sunflowers. The flowers were on the left, but I decided to change the view and put them on the right.

After I had painted for about 30 minutes, Gene came by and decided to ride on down the road so I painted for about 20 - 30 more minutes and packed up to become his SAG (Support, Assistance and Gear) car again. They aren't great paintings but I got in some painting time with the acrylics and enjoyed the afternoon. Gene rode a little over 34 miles.

You see the San Antonio mountain on this map, I was at the northern end of that peak on Highway 285.


View Larger Map

Digital Plein Air

There is always discussion going around about digital paintings. I don't think that if you manage a photo in Photoshop or some program that that is a painting. It is a photo that was manipulated. Some people have a great touch with that and it uses skill, but to me it isn't painting, is it? But here is a painter, Joe Watmough , painting plein air on his computer. He says he is developing his own brushes. Hmmm. Pretty neat, at any rate.

The link is on wetcanvas, you can read even if you are not a member but you have to join to comment. It is free and there is a great deal of info on wetcanvas.com .. all media, discussion, instruction and more. Here is a link to his blog, but it doesn't have the explanation or WIP (work in progress) as on wetcanvas.

Worth the Wait, Pastel Painting

I finished, I think, the painting I started before we went to Albuquerque. It is a take on the New Mexican Restaurant we ate at in Taos. With my artist's license I made some changes. Not too many.


The painting is on Pastelbord. This board is made in Austin, check out all their products. I taped it to another board to put on the easel so that I can paint to the edges without getting down into the tray for catching the pastel dust or bump into the clamp at the top of the easel. (This video is on my sidebar about how I do that.) I put on some pastel and smooshed (official painting word) it around with a paint brush and water to cover the light beige of the Pastelbord .. I don't do beige. I was going to use watercolor for a change, but couldn't find them. I am 99% sure that I packed them, but did not see them anywhere. The main objective was to cover the light colored board. An under painting saves pastels as well. You don't need so many layers of the expensive pastels.

I was thinking about the bright blue tape, do you suppose that affects my choices in colors? I probably shouldn't use that. In this painting, it probably is OK as the colors are bright anyway. I was just trying to use it up. Hmmmm.


I then got into the zone and forgot to take more photos. In general I try to put some pastel all around and put some of the colors in all areas to harmonize the painting. I don't mean that I put bright red in the sky or trees, but I try to add some dark red into trees and some green in the shadows of the reds, etc.


In looking at the photo, the edge on the light green umbrella looks off, not as noticeable in real life, but I will touch that tomorrow and take another photo in the morning sun before the clouds come. Let me know if you see anything else. The values look pretty good as well. There are a couple of spots too dark in the trees and by the umbrella as I mentioned.

Worth the Wait
Pastel on Pastelbord, 9 x 12 inches

There is a post fence around the patio, but I didn't want to close in the area, so I left the fence out and added another couple waiting to be seated. I like the final piece.

While I was looking at the Ampersand page I found a new to me pastel artist, Joe Mancuso. I especially like his plein air pieces. He has a video of a quick paint out painting as well and a blog.

We hope to golf tomorrow. We will see if the rain cooperates. Rain is needed, I'm not complaining about that at all. It is good to get out and be somewhat active, though.

Last of Sketches Hunt #144

As usual, I did not complete all twenty six sketches for Scavenger Hunt 144. I did manage a few more than normal, maybe because I haven't been painting and we were on the road. These are in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook, 1/2 page each with a Micron 05 pen.

Number 17, hand - my hand on my sketchbook. My thumb is not quite that weird. Number 18, eye - again, my eye.

I am hoping to finish my restaurant painting today. We shall see, I'm working with pastels, 9 x 12 as I recall.

Weekend Sketching and New Mexico Photos

I sketched some while we were in Albuquerque for Scavenger Hunt 144. I used the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook. I sketch freehand for this project, expecting it to improve my ability to put down sure lines in a minimum amount of time. As with any skill, my sketching is better when I am paying attention and putting in a little effort. Sketching is not a favorite pastime, but the more I do it, the easier it is and therefore the enjoyment level increases.

Joining in the Scavenger Hunts on wetcanvas.com pushes me to sketch more. The camaraderie there is also good for the soul. Painting and sketching are solitary habits. I have "met" artists around the world. It is fun to see other peoples takes on everyday items. It is great to see the different styles and techniques. It is a good place to get a jump start when you are out of the mood or need encouragement. You can drop in and out. Many of the sketchers do that. Some of us are regular participants. I feel a little guilty when I don't sketch and join in the Hunts, but that is just me ... or maybe it is becoming a good habit. Hope to see you on a Hunt.

Number 13, plastic - the lock and key covers for the car and Number 14, soft - the quilt on the bed when I was sketching the keys. I used a regular Pilot ball point pen for this sketch.

Number 15, biodegradable - Mom Frances' flowers on her table. Micron 005 pen in blue. It is difficult to get the blue to show in the photo.

Number 16, doorway view - at Mom Frances' apartment into the bathroom. Again difficulty in taking a good photo of the blue ink. It isn't just photos of paintings .. it has to do with blue!

On the way back to Angel Fire from Albuquerque, we played golf at Cochiti Pueblo. It was a beautiful day, beautiful course and very average golf, which is only normal. Here are a few of the photos. You can click on images to make them larger.

Approaching the golf course.

Look at the beautiful pottery pots in the wall of the clubhouse.

Gene's tee box with mine about 90 yards on down the path. I usually don't take advantage and he wins. Yesterday we tied. He won on the front nine and I won on the back nine.

Pretty every direction you look.

Beautiful views all day.

Another of the great views


Hole 18 toward the clubhouse.

Headed toward Santa Fe after golf.

The Rio Grande as it leaves Cochiti Dam.

It was a great day. We stopped to eat a New Mexican dinner at La Paragua in Española and arrived back to Angel Fire to find that it was about 46 degrees at about 9:15 pm. It had been in the mid 80s during our trip. I had a sweatshirt on this morning. It is beautiful again and about 72 degrees this afternoon, 80 on the sunny balcony.