Hunt 153 Underway

I sketched yesterday afternoon and watched golf. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore and Nick Watney are the top challengers in the European Tour this week. Cool. I am always patriotic and want the Americans to win. I'm not politically correct, eh? Today the Longhorn Football Team played so I watched and sketched. Texas won and are still undefeated. Go Horns!

Back to sketching, for Scavenger Hunt 153 I worked in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with a Micron 05 pen and added a bit of colored pencil to a couple of the items.

For newcomers to my blog, the Scavenger Hunts are on wetcanvas.com. One of the artists makes a list of 26 everyday items that can be found in the house or nearby. We have 9 days to sketch. You can make quick sketches or detailed sketches and use a medium or media of choice. There are usually a couple of extra challenges. For example to use your non dominant hand or medium that you usually don't use. It is good for me as I do keep sketching and having a list forces me to sketch things that I usually wouldn't try. Anyone can join in. You post your sketches and comment as much as you care to. Come check it out.

Jeanne Grant has participated in all 153 Hunts, I have only missed a few. Doesn't seem like we have been doing it that long.

For Hunt 153, Number 1, open book. This is a notebook that you can fold back and used like a clipboard.

Number 2 - curled paper - I put a little pad of scratch paper that has been on my desk on my computer to sketch. When I started sketching it I realized it was a piece of a calendar from 2005. Where did that come from?? The calendar doesn't have a company name but says "Home Tips" on it. Hmmmm. Number 3 - glow - the glow around the power cord on my iBook. Number 4 - ladle - from the kitchen it is hard plastic and number 5 - bottle top - from Gene's Gatorade.

Number 6, watch - Gene's wrist watch that he was wearing today.

Now I'm Cooking! HEB style.

Our Texas grocery, HEB, is doing something neat. You sign up for the newsletter and have access to recipes, contests and so much more. You can make your own recipe file, cut coupons, etc. Here is what was going on today:

Texas Chili & Frito Pie from heb.com on Vimeo.

They had three videos, with recipes today. I'm sure you don't have to be in Texas to try all their recipes. How much fun is that?

Scavenger Hunt Almost Over

I almost missed this Hunt. Wow, it ends tomorrow. I'm not sure why I haven't been sketching. I should do it as a warm up to painting.

Scavenger Hunt 152, sketches done with a regular Pilot ball point pen in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook. Just a few minutes, freehand with no pre-sketching with pencil.

Number 2, candleholder - a wooden candleholder from Bolivia. The candle is black and decorated with colors.

Number 3, made of glass - a glass candy dish that I have sketched many times before.

Prickly Pears, Oil

Gene brought me some pears to paint the other day. I was just about finished with the painting when he remembered seeing some prickly pear cacti around the corner and went to find me some additional "pears" to paint. I thought of adding them to that painting, in fact I put one in, but it changed the composition and feel of the other pears. (I will post that soon. I took some video and want to make a video and post that. That takes time as you may know.)

In the meantime, here are the cactus pears.

Handle With Care
Oil on canvas panel, 5 x 7 inches
A Jo's Notion, $50, free shipping.

They are good to eat. Somewhat like a kiwi inside. I've mentioned before that we would find them when riding horseback and rub the needles off with gloves and eat them for the juice. I still got a sticker in my finger when I was setting them up to paint even though Gene had rubbed them off, I thought. I think I will go have a snack on them now, yummm.

And a photo of a typical Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom.