Umbrella, Sketches and Photos

My painting friend, Sue from Michigan, sent me a new plein air umbrella for painting.  She didn't have room to bring it on the plane.  It is a Versabrella.  Lightweight and goes into a small regular umbrella type bag.

I put it on my easel, but have not really tried it out yet.  It is not round and longer on one side.    It looks like it will be great.

I'm looking forward to using this new aid for plein air painting.


I'm hosting Scavenger Hunt 371, August 13 - 21, http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1358126 so best get a few sketches done!

I sketched very quickly in the kitchen in the regular sketchbook with the Micron 05 pen.  I sat on a tall stool somewhat like a bar stool so I didn't feel very stable with no bar in front of me.  Ha.

Number 1, dirty dishes - in the dishwasher
Number 2, clean dishes - on the shelves
Number 3, cake pan or ovenware - couldn't find any so substituted the crock pot up on a shelf.  That is so weird because there is a flour sifter and many types of mixing bowls, measuring cups, etc.  Guess we are supposed to buy throw away pans or bake in the cast iron skillets.  :)

Leona, Mary and Matthew

Mary, our niece, visited the last few days.  She brought her sister, Leona, and her nephew, Matthew.  He is 15 and shot a 79 on this hard Angel Fire Resort Golf Course as a first time player here.  Wow!  I imagine we will be seeing him on TV before too long.  He will play on his high school team in the Myrtle Beach area.  It was a fun visit.  We don't see Mary often enough.

We drove to Taos with them so we could eat at Yu Garden and have a great meal before their trip back to Albuquerque.  There was some work on the road and they warned of up to 40 minute delays, but we were stopped only a few minutes.

The weather has been sunny and nice in the middle of the day, then cloudy and rainy in the evening and night.

Gene took advantage of a rain shower to wash off the car.  We had a bit of hail first, then the shower and some run off.

This fellow visited our yard this morning.  He looked directly at me several times, but I missed the shot.  Sigh....

It is about 65 right now.  Good time to walk, not too sunny.  There is a bit of a breeze but you can't get away from wind often in New Mexico.  More later.......