Balloon Lift Off and Speed Painting

This weekend is Angel Fire 6th Annual SummerFest and Balloon Rally.  We walked over to the Sunset Grill on Friday for dinner.  The Jimmy Stadler band was performing at the Mountain Pavilion at the resort. We didn't listen long and went and sat inside at the restaurant.  The deck was full with folks eating and listening to the music.  The resort was giving free BBQ as well for their 25th anniversary.

Jimmy Stadler Band

The sunset from the Sunset Grill was outstanding.

Friday morning I woke up with a whooshing sound.  At first I thought someone was power washing something, then I peeked out and saw the balloon in the lot next to the condos being filled.

The balloons were tethered and some were providing rides up and back down on the tethers.

This one was right out our walkway.  Three were in walking distance.

Saturday morning Joan Bohls and I went to the lift offs of the balloons down at the soccer fields.  We were trying to sketch/paint them.  I tell you, you have to be very quick and have a plan in mind.

As the first balloon was being filled, I sketched with some Sharpie markers.  By the time I was doing this, the balloon was almost in the air!  So I switched to my pastels and was more successful as I can make larger strokes.

This is on Canson paper, I knew I could never fill the tooth on sanded paper.  We painted for about half an hour or less and by the time I had this much done they were all in the air.  They are not painted in the order they filled.  The one on the left was the first and long gone by the time the others were up.  The far right one was way off to the left as that is the direction they traveled, but I wanted to get it in, so.....  Also the others went up in different time line than my showing them.  I think the silver one in the middle was the second one up.  At any rate it was a great challenge just to get some different colors and start of the lift off.  You will have to try it sometime.  It was a little like doing gesture drawing at a "from life" drawing class with models.  It was fun and I thank Joan for the idea.

Joan working in oils on a canvas.

Me with the pastels.

Our fleeting models.

One was coming down about a mile away as we were driving back into Angel Fire, probably near the Post Office.

This morning Gene saw 7 balloons up in about the same area when he went to get his paper and the Potcheen  is performing at the Mountain Pavilion as we speak.  The booths are open there as well.

Hope you had a great weekend, this one "flew" by.

Notes from Angel Fire, Sketches and Photos

We arrived in Angel Fire on July 15.  It was pretty dry and warm here, too, when we got here, but the monsoon weather started and it has greened up near here.  There are still dry areas, but hopefully the rains will  catch up.  The State Parks and fishing areas were all closed but are opening more every day.

Our condo is not quite what we expected.  The deck area is much smaller than last year and we don't have much of a view.  We thought it was in an end building but is the second one in.  I can see some trees and mountains that I sketched when we first got here for the Scavenger Hunts.  We love it here in Angel Fire, though, so we can live with this condo.  The weather is excellent and plenty to do for us.

What I see from the deck.

Our son, David, and his wife, Lisa, were here for a week.   They had a whirlwind tour of the area, then we went back to Albuquerque and Magdalena to visit with family.  We had a great time. I posted a few of the photos from that visit.

Last week, Sue Modrak, my painting buddy from Michigan was here.  I have posted a bit from her visit and will add some sketches and photos as I catch up.  We picked her up at the Sunport and took her back to Albuququerque on Monday.

Last Tuesday, my blogging friend and artist, Lou Baggett (Bag Blog) was in Red River so I went over and spent the afternoon with her.  What fun it is to meet in person again.  We have met now three times I think.  We just can't talk fast enough.  I had lunch with Joy, her friend that was with her, and Lou and then we went looking around RR which is where Lou spent many years.  Every where we went we ran into  someone she knows.  We even sketched, from the car as it was sprinkling.  A very pleasant afternoon.

Lou and I at the foot of the ski run.

This is the sketch I did.  We sat in the car as it was sprinkling.  Lou painted a little watercolor.  I had lovely ink lines but the sketch was lost as I added pastels on the watercolor paper.  If you stand back from your screen it looks better .. really!

We were right by this lake.  Very pretty.

Gene spent the day here in Angel Fire (AXX).  He packed up some things we have to mail for Sue and David.  He didn't get out on his bike as it was rainy off and on with lots of clouds.  He was probably glad to have a day off on his own without much to do.  He is great to put up with Sue and I and our painting and gabbing.  It is very quiet here this morning.

Scavenger Hunt 232 sketches:

Number 3, thermometer and Number 4, phone.  Both in the usual sketchbook with a Pilot ball point pen.

Maybe we will be off to try a little golf for the first time since we arrived.  We will go to Escondido and see how the prairie dogs are doing.

We did go golf this morning (Friday).  Beautiful day.  This is hole #9.  The walk up the hill to the hole on the left is a challenge at this altitude!  It looks gentle in the photo but is very uphill.  Beautiful day.

This is the ski run as we came back into town from Los Alamos yesterday.  We went to golf but it was raining when we got there.  Need the rain more than golf.  A few photos from the ride:

We stopped an ate lunch at Chimayo.  Such a great restaurant.  Looks like we will go there for my birthday like we did last year.  That post has a couple of slide shows of the scenery.  Beautiful.

I feel sorry for those of you in the heat wave.  Our area at home is going into something like 30+ days of over 100 degrees.  Yikes.  Stay cool!

Scavenger Hunt 232 Sketches

Scavenger Hunt 232 runs from July 30 - August 7, posted by Stacey from Australia.   As usual, I'm getting in some sketches, but not all.  The Hunts have 26 items up for 9 days.  I'm not sure why we picked 26 items, but we decided on 9 days so that the Hunts start on different days so the artists can have new items without all the new Hunts starting on Monday or a weekend.  It has worked out well.

The sketchers volunteer to make the lists and keep the thread going.  I have been participating since the beginning.  It has been really good to keep me sketching which I consider my homework for painting.  It helps me to sketch with pen and ink.  It is fast and I have to concentrate to get the shapes and perspective down without pre-sketching in pencil.  Every artist has their style and this seems to work the best for me.   At times one of the challenges may be to use a different medium and that is good as you might have to think out of the box a little.

All sketches in the Hunts are to be from life, not photos.  That helps as well for determining composition and shadows.  Every once in a while one of the artists pick an item like "an ad in a magazine" but otherwise it is all common items from life found in or near your home.  When you cannot find one of the items, you are welcome to sketch a substitute.  I tend to sketch landscapes and having a variety, for instance the pipes under the sink or your dirty dishes, gives me specific lines and something that I would not ordinarily sketch.

The artists (guys and gals) are around the world so we get to see different fruits, animals, neighborhoods, etc.  If you need to be inspired to sketch, come on over to the Hunts and give it a try.  You can post your sketches, comment or not, and visit with some great artists.  I know that my friend,  Judy, from my gallery in Bastrop, sketches and doesn't post hers on-line,  so you could do that, too.  :-)

The Hunts are a tiny part of wetcanvas.com where you can find posts in any genre, medium, style, etc.  I usually wander around in the Artwork from Life (the Hunts), the Southwest forum, Pastel forum and the Plein Air section.  There is photography, sculpture, debate, business, painting, and so much more.  There is a great image library if you are looking for inspiration or the shape of animals, flowers and anything you can think of.  wetcanvas.com is free, but you do have to sign up if you want to comment.  It was started by a group of artists and grew so much that it is now sponsored by F-W publications which is The Artist's Magazine, Pastel Journal, Watercolor Magic, etc.

See you around there I hope.

For Hunt 232:  Number 1, push bike - turns out in Australia this is a pedal bike, but what I saw on-line here was something like a bike with no pedals.  So I substituted the motorcycle, the complete opposite, I saw out back from the deck.  Now that I see it is a pedal bike I will try to sketch Gene's bike later.  Number 2, birds on a limb or stick - I did the hummingbirds again.  There were so many around the feeders when I came outside.  They have thinned out now that I have the camera, wouldn't you know.

Making a View Finder and Photo Tips

Several years ago, Sue - my art buddy from previous posts, encouraged me to sketch.  She advised me to carry a sketchbook at all times and sketch whenever I was waiting in a line, at the airport and so on.  She also gave me several sketchbooks as gifts.

She can whip out a sketch in no time.  To help me figure out what I was going to draw, especially outside, she made me a view finder.  It is large and fits in my larger sketchbooks, not the purse size, but I have found it extremely useful.  I like the large size when working plein air.

Sue made it from a cardboard from a folder it looks like. You could use an old mat board.   She cut the cardboard to have opposite corners of a square/rectangle.  She added a piece of transparent plastic on which she drew grid lines with a Sharpie.  I can adjust it to the size and shape I like, then use the grid lines to transfer my large shapes to the paper.  It has been so helpful.  I have carried it around for years. Thanks, Sue, for the view finder.

You can adjust the size and shape.

Back or front side, black or white mat.

Side where the plastic is taped to the cardboard.

Photo tips:  I used Holland Photo in Austin to have slides made to enter in contests when that was the popular and required way to do so.  Most contests rely on digital photos now.  I signed up for their newsletter and have received an occasional letter with many great tips for taking photos.  It helps for taking photos for my reference and pleasure.  You might like to sign up for the Holland Photo newsletter as well.  They are very helpful at the store.

I also like Prescision Camera in Austin.  They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  They have a very large showroom with every type of equipment and accessories and will get anything you need.

Off to Red River to Meet Bag Blog

I'm off to Red River to meet Lou (Bag Blog).  Should be fun.

Here is a painting I finished yesterday.  More later!