Double Duty Sketches

Oh, should be out doing plein air painting or sketching....

But, sketched at the dining table quickly as I could.  About 10 minutes in the BookFactory Sketchbook with the Micron 03.

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 87  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-87-oct-9-oct-17.6110/

Number 5 from the fridge - A jar of New Mexico green chile.  It is pretty good, not as good as fresh chile but when you don't have fresh or frozen it hits the spot.

This sketch doubles for Inktober Day 12 - spicey  (from their list spelling, my computer says it should be spicy.  Hmmm.)

I like it when a sketch does double duty.

I follow Laurie Pace's blog and today I like the painting and story......  She paints a lot of horses, sort of abstract but I like horses and her colorful style.  Not a horse today.

https://lauriepace.blogspot.com/2023/10/playing-for-papa-how-do-you-deal-with.html

 

I listen to this podcast once in a while.  When I was trying to sell a lot and networking, etc., I listened more often.  I haven't listened to this yet, but I think the question of prices comes up so often so this is my next listen.

 https://artbizsuccess.com/larson-raising-prices/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=larson-raising-prices

We went for our check up with Dr. Chavez after all our tests a couple of weeks ago.  We both had good results!  Yay!  When we got back in the car I had the radio on country KVET 98.1, I Heart Radio.  They broadcast some of the Longhorn Baseball games.  It made me wonder if they still play the National Anthem and The Eyes of Texas at noon, so I checked in on-line when we got home and .... they still do!  Made me happy to find some still patriotic folks that aren't afraid to say so! 

https://www.iheart.com/

 Which reminded me of the Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash song.

 https://youtu.be/XfzJ8UBr-c0?si=xV8yK3TwjNW-P5Fd

 

 Home Front, Oil on canvas, 9 x 13 inches

Ok, I'll leave you alone, now.  

Floral Sketch

Our house has very few objects with floral design or flowers growing.  When we were in Bolivia we had cut flowers around quite a bit.  Cut flowers are sort of an unnecessary wasted expense.  They die!  In La Paz, though, I used to volunteer at an orphanage.  There was a flower stand outside and the flower vendors, mostly women, would keep an eye on our cars.  The vendors didn't expect pay, so I would buy flowers.  I liked the carnations because they smelled lovely and lasted a lot longer in vases.  And, my car was watched over with care.

La Florera (Flower Lady)
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches
A painting I did many years ago.

For Scavenger Hunt 664  https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/scavenger-hunt-664-jan-18-jan-26/

Number 8, floral - the design on our couch.  The pattern has sort of beige large leaves with dull green and rose highlights, smaller darker green  leaves and a navy blue background.  I doubt we would have picked this couch but we got it when our house burned and now it stays.  Plus it makes for a floral sketch.

Happy Thanksgiving Olden Days

 Happy Thanksgiving!  A favorite day of mine.  My folks always had the best Thanksgiving with old fashioned dressing, gravy and sourdough biscuits, etc.  My mom made the best pies.  Dad cooked the turkey.  I don't think he ever cooked it in a Dutch oven, but who knows?  I've posted this painting before.  It is old and depicts the olden days.  I never was happy with it, but it fits my memories today and the cook looks a bit like Dad.

There will be six of us together today.  I remember the house full of people, even strangers.  In South America we always had anyone that didn't have a place to go or if they were there TDY.  You can put Thanksgiving in my search box on the upper left and read some of the stories.

 

Bigger Dutch Oven or Littler Turkey?

Hope your day is full of family and love.  We are most thankful for our military, all first responders and police that put their lives on the line for us every day.  So thankful to live in the USA!  I'm proud to be an American.

Cry Me a River Over Bolivia

That old song came to mind when I was trying to think of a title for this post with "river" in it.  Why, I wonder?  Here is the song on YouTube I was thinking of sung by Julie London in 1964.

https://youtu.be/DXg6UB9Qk0o

Nice version by Ella Fitzgerald, too.

https://youtu.be/2Gn9A-kdsRo

We went for a walk by our western lake this morning and I stopped and sketched in my travel sketchbook with the Micron 02.  There is a patch of cattails on the side by the flat bridge and I decided that I hadn't sketched that view before.

Number 4, river - I substituted the lake for a river.  The sketch is slanted a bit going downhill on the left, so could be a river running that way, right?

Number 5, green - the trees, grass and cattails.  The long flat bridge keeps you out of the mud when you walk around the lakes after a good rain or two.  They are awfully low at the moment.  There is some sort of stuff floating on the water, brown color.  Not good.  The day was sunny but hazy, the water had green reflections and the sky color was pretty gray.

Joan Tavolott, wet canvas artist friend, sketched and thought of me! Thanks so much, Joan.  Check out her La Paz, Bolivia, music sketch.

https://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/2020/07/la-paz-bolivia.html

The sketch does remind me of the market streets, narrow, uphill and downhill.  The large llama is made of reeds from Lake Titicaca, the flutes in the box are tarkas made of wood or heavy reeds.  The ones on the wall are pan flutes, sampoñas made of the reeds.  The guitars on the wall are probably charangos, made from armadillo shells or to look like armadillo shells.

Here's a song with a tarka and a sampoña.  I can't imagine how much air it takes to blow the huge sampoña at 12,000 feet above sea level!

https://youtu.be/ktuSeCqP1Mk

Well, I'm homesick now.  We lived in La Paz about 13 years split in two tours.  It was my favorite place to live.  It is like living in the mountains in New Mexico only twice the altitude.  Temperature in the daytime about 70-75 and 45-50 at night.  Sweatshirt weather.  Loved the people, too.  Jennie and Larry are our Bolivian children.  Loved the bread and other food.  Ah, the memories.  Thanks, Joan.

Achocalla, oil 20 x 16 inches

Some of other paintings, sketches and stories can be found with a search for Bolivia at the top of my blog.

https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/search?q=bolivia

Not all of course, that is a lot of years to cover.  Would require a whole book.

Don't Fence Me In

We are a little stir crazy and feel a bit fenced in.  We are in much better shape than many people in our country and around the world.  We try to do what we can to support our local community which helps our country I think.  I looked up on YouTube about how to make some face masks for us to wear when we go grocery shopping.  We are doing our social distancing as I mentioned.  We stay home a lot anyway but miss our outings to baseball and music.    Gene and I are not suffering in the way that some will and are.  Our family is OK at the moment.

Fence was an item on the list.  Today it was supposed to be rainy with thunderstorms.  So far not much.  I sat in the laundry room and sketched the fence on the porch.  You can see a bit of a fence at the house across the way as well.

 Number 4, fence - in the big book with a Micron 02

Vista del Rey

Oil on canvas panel, 9 x 12 inches

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1479174

I painted this in Angel Fire last summer.  I wanted to look at it again.  :-)  It really feels good to smoosh the oil paints around with a brush sometimes.  I just don't like the drying time.  You know, watching paint dry.  

I use a limited palette.  I put white, a cool and warm yellow, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, burnt umber or black, blue, something like sap green and a blue green or a greenish blue.   I put orange and a purple at times to save mixing.  I mix on the palette with a knife or the brush if it is a small amount with a small brush.  I usually sketch with a thinned down burnt umber on a brush to establish the big shapes.  When painting outside I put the light and dark shadows quickly before the light changes.  I usually paint all over the painting to keep the overall color unified. I put some shade of red in pine trees and use purple and orange with the greens.  This gives a more natural color.

How do you work on a landscape?

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The International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) cancelled the convention in Albuquerque this May.  (More people affected by the virus)  They are having the Exhibition online.  You can see the entries on this link.  Some great paintings.  Some names I recognize.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1479174

J.R. Secor is an artist I met on wetcanvas.  He paints with acrylics mostly on big canvases and linen paper.  His favorites are the southwest and the ocean where he lives in Florida.  I  like to see his paintings of New Mexico of course.  He stretches the imagination from representational to abstract.  Always colorful and interesting.  You can see his work on his new website and his blog.

https://www.jrsecorfineart.com/

Red Barn Watercolor Sketch

I wonder how many photos I have taken over the years of barns with the idea of painting them?  Especially red barns?  There would be hundreds most likely.  Kay Smith
https://kaysmithbrushworks.blogspot.com/
put up the photos for the monthly challenge on wetcanvas in the Southwest, Western Art Forum.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477959
I painted the calf and now this barn, red!  You are welcome to paint with us, in any medium.

Kay's Barn, watercolor and ink sketch, in Canson watercolor sketchbook, 9 x 12 inches

It's a good thing the barn is constructed better than I painted it.  It was definitely not that run down.

**  ***  **  ***  **

I did find a few barns I've painted.  There aren't many when you consider the number of photos I've taken. 

 Texas Red Barn

Oil on canvas panel, 7 x 5 inches

 Old Red

Oil on Canvas board, 14 x 11 inches

Old Barn

Acrylic on canvas panel, 12 x 9 inches

Pink and Blue to Summer Arrival

The self critique helped me to "fix" the painting.  The name of the painting was changed from Pink and Blue to Summer Arrival.  The hollyhocks were not all that pink.  The painting on the right is the finished one. 

The critique post was a couple of days ago.  https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/pink-and-blue-in-oil-paint-and-critique.html

I haven't been painting regularly and this was apparent.  I was excited to get the oils out and smoosh around the paint.  I just dove right in.   I failed to do a sketch or two for perspective and light which is so important.  You can see the errors before you start and find a good composition.   It is much easier to paint from a good plan than to try to change it as you go.

Summer Arrival

Oil on canvas panel, 9 x 12 inches

Maybe the name should be Summer's Last Stand?

I made a hand-out for Elements of a Good Painting in 2008.  I should take my own advice.

https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/elements-of-good-painting-pastel-demo.html

Pink and Blue in Oil Paint and Critique

The Southwest and Western Forum on wetcanvas has a monthly challenge to paint Southwest photos.  We share the hosting and February is my month.  I chose photos from our travels around New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.  Artists can choose to paint as many as they want in any medium.  Photos can be combined, cropped or used as is.  It is fun.  Come join in!

Pink and Blue

Oil on canvas panel

9 x 12 inches

Southwest Challenge February http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1476633&page=2

But wait!!! ..... something went wrong.

I used M. Graham oil paints made with walnut oil.  They have no odor and I can used them with no allergy problems.  I get a headache from regular oil paints which have linseed oil in them.  The paint doesn't have quite as much body, but it has good color and is easy to clean up with just the walnut oil and paint brush cleaner.  I use Ugly Dog Brush Soap and have for years.  In fact it is the same old container.

I always work quickly.  I painted this in a few hours, a la prima, as they say, all at once.  I get bored if I have to work on a painting for an extended time.  This sat overnight and I changed a few things.  The roof is a bit saggy ... well, it is old, right?  Rarely do I go back.

After looking this all over I am using it as a practice piece.  In my photo you cannot see the sky at all and the wall with the window should go back at more of an angle, that is why the roof and window are so slanted.  There is a corner at the end of the blue roof on my right so the shadows are completely wrong.  The photo was all in the shade and I made up the shadows.  Be careful when you change a photo so drastically.  Be aware where the light is coming from.

The other thing I see that is my mistake is the front wall.  I placed the curve right at the corner of the wall which makes them look like they come together with the "kiss".

This is more the shape I had in mind.

This would have been the composition, more or less.  Much better. 


I do like the colors and the Hollyhocks.  I would like the window to be bluer as well.

I hope this self critique will help you when you decide how to handle painting from a photograph.  Thanks for putting up with my practice and thinking out loud.

Oil Practice

Painting in oil has a different feel.  Sometimes it is relaxing to smoosh the paint around.  Sometimes it tries my patience.  Mixing color is satisfying and challenging.  My palette is basic .. a warm and cool of each primary, white, burnt umber, burnt sienna and white.  I use a green similar to sap green and sometimes purple and orange to save mixing time.  You know I'm impatient.  The drying time and the clean up time of oils are a couple of things that bother me a bit.

With pastels I can just walk away when I'm finished.  I've been using vinyl gloves lately so even cleaning my hands has been easier.  I didn't like using finger covers or the old rubber gloves.  You need to feel the pastels.  I've found these "hospital" gloves much better for that.  I have been using liquid gloves, a cream, that protect the hands.  It is good but you need to stop once in a while, wash the hands and re-apply.

I did use gloves with the oils, too.  I'm using the walnut based oils from M. Graham.  https://mgraham.com/artists-colors/oil-color/  (The linseed oil in regular oil paint gives me a headache.) They are a little bit softer, the colors seem to soak into each other a bit more.  I had to add more highlights after the painting sat for a while.  They do have a medium with alkyd which I will try next time.  To speed drying and merging layers.  I think that would help the colors to sit on top of each other better.

The view is across the street/road from here.  I stood in the open garage again.  Good to be in the shade for me.  I really like the light through the trees and try to capture that.  Some artistic license was used to move things around for the composition.  I see I didn't sign it ... oops.

Vista del Rey

9 x 12 inches, oils

We haven't been able to see the sunsets from here at the house, too many trees.  We finally got some photos last night.  We started at the Resort through the window.  We could tell it would be spectacular. Took the last down on the highway.  Definitely Angel Fire.

Fun with Sue, Sketching and Painting

Our friend, Sue Modrak, was here for a few days.  Always fun and good for my soul.  We paint and sketch, drink a latté or two, lots of art and then visiting and out to dinner with Gene.  Long days but a good time.

The first sketch was up at the Vietnam Memorial.  This is the ski run area.  The tree line just sort of stops as you get into the valley.

We painted in the back yard.  I got out the walnut oil paints for Sue so thought I would do an oil painting, too.  I did one of the trees and sunlight, wiped it off and moved to the front yard and started on a house across the way.  Wiped that off too, and just did a Bob Ross style of painting to use up the paint on my palette.  I hadn't used oils in so long.  I will try them again .... soon .... before I forget how to use them again.  It was a great time, just enjoying the quiet, watching the rabbits and chipmunks.  We have seen deer every day, too.

Sue and I went to Taos with Gene.  He had physical therapy.  He dropped us at the plaza and we sketched on Bent Street while enjoying a latté and a snack.  Such a gorgeous day.  This is in the travel multi-media sketchbook with a Prismacolor pen and watercolors.

And a photo from our table.

Selfie of the artists, painting buddies.

We had lunch at Michael's Kitchen and drove back by way of Questa and Red River.  I wanted to show Sue where we painted for the paint out.  She had hoped to make it for that.  We started at Sheeps Crossing.

This is watercolor, about 7 x 10 in the travel sketchbook in watercolor.  It was getting overworked so I just stopped.  

Sheeps Crossing is a beautiful overlook over the Rio Grande in the Wild Rivers area.  It was sunny when we started, then the clouds and wind with a sprinkle blew over and back to sunny.  Gene napped while we sketched/painted. 

Sue painting at Sheeps Crossing.  I'm scrunched under a cedar tree, I can't take the sun like that, even with a hat on.

We stopped in Red River and had a drink with Barbara and husband, Lou's (Bag Blog's) cousin.  Enjoyable out on the deck at the Bull O' the Woods.  We hoped to go in the Lost Love Saloon at the Texas Red Steakhouse but it was overflowing.

We found an aspen grove on our street and tried out some more watercolor in the same travel sketchbook.

On Friday we went back to the aspens and I got out the pastels.  This is on a Pastelbord, 8 x 10 inches.   Summer aspens are green with sort of a blueish highlight.  They can look a more yellow green with the sun behind them.  There are some photos in the previous post. 

Sue's oil painting, about 6 x 12 inches.  We were sort of back to back in the meadow.  I'm very happy with our trade!

Sue painted with oils and we traded these paintings for our "remembering the time together" keepsakes.

She sketched back at the house with inktense and ink.  The yard in real time and the deer from a photo from the previous evening. 

I played with the watercolor markers, just trying out some strokes and blending.

Sue left on Saturday flying back to Michigan from Santa Fe.  All safe and sound at home.

It was our annual visit and so much fun.  We always have fun and jump start our painting. We met Sue and Wally at a workshop in Montana in 1995 I think.  We have painted and visited either in Texas, New Mexico or Michigan almost every year since.  Wally and Gene got along great while Sue and I painted.  He passed away a few years ago.  We have great memories to share.  

The annual visit is a very good thing.  It is very quiet here now.  I'm about caught up on rest so got in some sketches for the Hunt. (previous post)

And the saga continues....

Procrastinating ... Again! (paintings)

I have not been productive with my art in quite a while ... as you know.  My previous post was "Back to Normal" and that is an understatement.  Nothing clicking..

A very appropriate post came up on the RedDotBog about how productivity helps your work.

https://reddotblog.com/artistic-productivity-cornerstone-of-a-successful-art-career-19/

I was thinking about my most productive years and they seem to be about 2008-2011.  I had my own gallery/studio downtown and a regular schedule for painting, even at home.  I would abandon the computer and telephone and just work.

Here are a few paintings from that time.  These are also some of my favorites.  Just think what might happen if I became busy again. 

 La Paz Bolivia Market, 16 x 20 inches, pastel

 Evett's in the Evening, 10 x 8 inches, pastel

 Blue Window, 11 x 14 inches, pastel

 Cool Water, 10 x 8  inches, pastel

Water Canyon, 14 x 11 inches, pastel

Along the Rio Grande, 10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Late Post for New Year's, Windmill Paintings

I did manage to get another sketch yesterday, midday, but never posted.

For Scavenger Hunt 525
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1439893

Numbers 6 - 9, art supply, made of wood, from the bathroom and board game.

And, no, we did not play Scrabble yesterday.  Gene is not a game player.  Smiling.

I have too many stories for today, one about the Christmas cactus I will postpone until it blooms more.

I put up photos for the January Challenge in the Southwest and Western Art forum on wetcanvas.com. Windmills are a favorite subject for photos and paintings.   I liked this windmill photo and got to thinking about it.  I did a pastel painting from it years ago.  Turns out it was back in 2007.  Old photo and old painting....the photo is from 2006, a rainy year.

Papalote

Pastel on paper, 9.5 x 15 inches

So maybe I will post some old windmill paintings not in any special order:

 Magdalena Windmill

Acrylic on Canvas, 12 x 12 inches

 Windmill at Sunset

Pastel on board w/Colourfix Medium, 6 x 12 inches

 Papalote Dos

Pastel on Pastelbord. 9 x 12 inches

 Cool Water

Pastel on Pastelbord, 10 x 8 inches

 Papalote Tres

Pastel on Pastelbord. 8 x 10 inches.

 Water Underground

Pastel on Pastelbord. 14 x 11 inches

 Cloudy in the West

Pastel on Pastelbord, 12 x 12 inches

 Windmill, Too

Pastel on masonite with Colourfix medium. 10 x 16 inches.

This was probably the first or second windmill I ever painted.  It is 16 x 20 oil.  Must have been in 1999 or 2000.

Time out from windmills, there were a couple more practice paintings, yikes!