Cooler Sketch

My last sketch for this Hunt is the "cooler" I use for ice cream when I pick up groceries.  It used to be for my lunch and drinks when we traveled for plein air painting or just running around.

For Scavenger Hunt from Life https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-196-jul-31-aug-12.9181/

Number 10 cooler - in the Canson Mixed Media large sketchbook.  About half a page with a Micron02 and watercolors.

The cooler is not that wonky, it is just my perspective.  I sketched on the porch.  Slightly warm but it was about 730 a.m. so not bad.  The last I looked it was 100º in the car about noon.  Gene had PT and then we got a Chef's Salad at the Roadhouse Bastrop.  (We have a new Texas Roadhouse here, not be confused with that.  We haven't been yet.)  The salad is huge so we share with a side of fries and a blueberry milkshake that we also share.  Nice lunch.

Gene and Joanna walked by the lakes the other day, well, Joanna pushes Gene in the wheelchair.  He is still unable to walk unassisted and not on the bumpy trail for sure.  Gene brought me a flower.  It was so tiny and cute.  Turns out it is a Texas Frogfruit.  https://txmg.org/hendersonmg/plant-library/texas-frogfruit/ 

 

Garbage Footwear Sketches

It was my day out.  It was very warm, but I parked in the shade and rolled my windows down.  Not too bad with a breeze.  The item on the list was "garbage".  Fun to find this dumpster overflowing with stuff.  The house is being updated.  The whole inside was gutted.  The outside looked pretty good.  Roof looks new but the screens on the windows were bad.  

Then I went to Jersey Mike's for a tuna sandwich lunch.  They have gluten free bread.  It was good, but I like Schlotzkey's bread better.  I like the tuna and bread at New World Deli in Austin.  So yummy.

 Number 8, garbage - Both sketches are in the Canson Mixed Media sketchbook, large paper.

Number 9, footwear - a girl in a sundress and boots caught my eye.  I got her out of proportion.  The people go through quickly so I sort of sketch a combo and memory if you do more than one person.  The worker was a woman, this looks like a guy with a weird hat or ???

At any rate it was good to be out and about.  I brought Gene a Dairy Queen sundae and a Blizzards for the caretaker, Shellie and myself.  Gene had a pretty good day, too.  We both need a break once in a while.
 

Open Multiple Things Sketch

This beautiful morning found us out by the east lake or pond (as it is drying up).  It was a lovely morning for a very hot day to come.  I sat on the bench and sketched in the small Ohuhu sketchbook.  I took my sketchbook, pen and watercolors.  I failed to take the water brushes however and did ink sketches.  I added watercolors to the first sketch back at the house.  I liked the sketch  better before color so left the second without color.  That is the fire station in the background.

Number 6 open - open view
 

Number 7 multiple things - trees, Loblolly Pines, yupon and another bushy something.

I found a recipe for Rice Krispie squares, titled "Grammie's Rice Krispies Squares".  They have peanut butter, chocolate and butterscotch.  I will get the ingredients and try them.  I like easy gluten free sweets when I have sweets.  I will report back and share the recipe ... if it is good. 

 

 

Truck or Not and Sample Sketches

 It was my day out so I went to sketch.  It was too hot to be outside so went to the library to see what I could find and not be in the way.  It was noon and all the restaurants are pretty full and not parking downtown.  I found a chair by the window and sketched the scene outside.  It fit the Scavenger Hunt list for "truck" if I substituted the cars and SUVs out there.

My second sketch was my lunch at Anita's.  The item on the list was "sample" so I sampled a few things.  I had salsa and chips, a puffy taco with ground beef, guacamole which was in a little fried tortilla bowl like taco salad, cute and a new touch for them.  And a virgin margarita (no alcohol).  It was good even with no tequila.  Sigh..... I like tequila.  The table top was like the Mexican flag.  I didn't notice when I sat down.

Both sketches are in the newer Ohuhu Mix Media sketchbook, 8.5 x 5.5 inches.  I used an Ohuhu 0.2 pen and watercolors.  

It was a good time today.  Gene did well with his caregiver and we are ready for the night.  Hope we sleep well!

Multiple Items Sketches

I sketched at Physical Therapy for Gene yesterday.  Not much to see, sort of like a doctor's office.  It is so good for Gene to be more active.

I sketched in a sketchbook I got for the great grands.  I sketched on the back page, just in case.  The tablet style is 4 x 6 inches, Master's Touch by Fabriano.  Nice paper, will take watercolor.  The sketches fill the page.  I used a Pentel R.S.V.P.  ballpoint pen.  About 30 minutes.

Number 2 box-tissue box and Number 3 multiple items

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 196  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-196-jul-31-aug-12.9181/

Maybe more sketching today.  It is too hot to be outside during my day off, so maybe a library or coffee place.  

Log or Wooden Sketches

It was starting to get warm about 930 or so  but we went for a walk anyway.  Joanna pushed Gene in the wheelchair so she got a workout.  I went to the first bench and sketched in the Ohuhu sketchbook that is 10 x 7.6 inches with only one more page to fill.  I had my small watercolor set, Windsor Newton.  I'm not fond of the colors in this set.  It is small and fits in my pocket, though.

 

For Scavenger Hunt 196   https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-196-jul-31-aug-12.9181/

So, there you are then.  

Sketchbook Cover Sketch

An item on the Hunt was "sketchbook cover".  I like this new Marker sketchbook.  It is black with The Starry Night by Van Gogh on the cover.  I haven't done more marker sketches.  Should get with it.  Well, I should get with all my art.  Life has still been in the way.  Getting better though.

Today I sketched at my desk in the Conda Sketch Pad, full size pages, so this is about half a page.  Number 6 sketchbook cover - Marker sketchbook with a Micron 03

For Scavenger Hunt 195  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-195-july-19-31.9155/

My niece sent me a few things Barbara (my sister that recently passed) wanted me to have.  Some of the Christmas cactus that belonged to my Grandma Jennie.  The main plant has to be 100 years old, wow.  It is in a galvanized tub.  Beautiful and blooms red blooms.  I hope this one survives.  

I have another plant that is from the same main plant.  I had it in Lubbock back in 1980.  I took a piece with me to Peru, it did well.  Joanna had my plant and gave a cutting to her friend Kathy who took it to Oregon.  My plant burned in the fire.  Kathy gave me a cutting a few years ago and it did not survive so she recently gave me another cutting.  Seems to be doing well.  It is the more "traveled" cactus from the main plant.  Fun and interesting.

My sister also sent a couple of cameras that belonged to Mom.  The old Brownie took such good photos as the negatives/film were so large.  She had to put tape around it to keep the light out when she changed film.  I love the cameras and Larry will have them as he is the photographer.

Gene is slowly getting his strength back.  We are alone tonight for the first time in ages as David went home.  Different!

 

Person Outdoors

I sketched on the porch this morning.  Where else?  It is pretty nice with the fan on although we expect 100 degrees this evening.  Not fun, but at least we don't have to be working or running around in the heat.  

For Scavenger Hunt 195  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-195-july-19-31.9155/

Number 2 found outdoors - mower and landscape 
Number 3 person - mower driver
In the FIXSMITH sketch book, with a Micron 03 and watercolors.

Number 4 hand and Number 5 writing or painting tool - Micron 03 and watercolor

The mower was chopping down the wildflowers.  Not sure if it is too early.  Have the flowers all seeded out?  We haven't had too many flowers this year and maybe the early mowing is the reason.  It was also a dry spring and early summer.  Still dry in our area after flooding in other parts of Texas.

Dusty Mugs

I finally played in the dust.  Good for my  fingers.  A sketch in pastels for the Scavenger Hunt this time.  Item was "I have more than three of them".  You may remember I had a huge collection of mugs that burned in the fire and now I have another bunch which I said I would never have.  Sigh....

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 195  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-195-july-19-31.9155/

There are some fun sketches and different artists and techniques to see on the Scavenger Hunts.

Number 1 (for this Hunt) I have more than three of them - mugs sketched on wiped off Mi Tientes paper.  About 45 minutes with soft pastels.

Here is my easel and set up for the sketch:

You can click on the images to make them a bit larger.

Ceramic and Wood Sketch

As usual, sketched on the porch.  I put my models on the arm of the wooden glider and sat there.  While sketching we listened to the birds and watched the people walking.  Not too many folks today for some reason.  Person(s) is on the list, so I was hoping to see more.

 

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 194  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-194-jul-7-jul-19.9140/page-2#post-145180

Number 4 ceramic - plate 
Number 5 wood - arm of glider

Sketched on the bottom of the page from the last sketch in the Fixsmith 9 x 12 inch sketchbook with a Micron 02 and colored pencil.  

I do not enjoy coloring with colored pencil.  There should be at least two more layers of color to get close to the colors of the items.  It takes time to do that.  My painting buddy, Regina Burchett, says coloring is therapeutic.  Not in my world, it makes me crazy.  I prefer the old pastels.

I had avocado on rice cake.  An attempt to be like avocado toast.  The avocado was not nearly ripe enough so I had hard slices to chew on!  It was still good but not great.  If it had been ripe I would have had a hard time finishing the sketch before eating the snack.

 

 

Bricks Glass Sketch

We have been able to sit on the porch a bit in the mornings.  It is pretty warm but with a fan and just sitting there it is OK.  We were listening to birds with an app called Merlin.  It listens and identifies the birds.  There were about 10 this morning.  It doesn't recognize the local rooster.  That was a surprise.

I got out my new sketchbook.  It is a FIXSMITH 9 x 12 inch plain paper sketchbook.  I've been sketching with ink in the watercolor sketchbooks and that is sort of a waste.  If I want color on this paper it will be with colored pencil.

Our Scavenger Hunt from Life list https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-194-jul-7-jul-19.9140/ had brick and glass as a couple of the items.  There it was, the lamp on the wall of the porch.  I thought I was being careful with perspective and got a line wrong and that messes up the whole thing.  You can see, I hope, that it is metal and glass on the red brick wall.     

Number 1 brick and Number  glass sketched with a Micron 03.

We are doing OK.  Gene is slowly recovering his strength and that helps a lot.  We won't be traveling or anything like that but we are hanging in there.

With Wheels Sketch

I started to look for an item on the list this afternoon, taking a break from paperwork and washing clothes. I saw "with wheels" and right in front of me was Gene's wheelchair.  So.....

 For Scavenger Hunt from Life 193  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-193-june-25-july-7.9123/

We are doing OK.  I need full time help with Gene now.  It is difficult having another person in the house.  We will figure it out.  Lots of doctors appointments after Gene's hospitalization.  Checking in with family doctor and all the specialists.  Hopefully he will get back in PT in a couple of weeks.  We have an intake evaluation coming up.  Yay!

 Hope all of you are well and sketching/painting/reading/writing/making music, etc.  Back soon. 

Nature Takes Its Course Sketch

An item on the new Hunt was nature.  I decided to sketch the flowers over the fence.  I said in my last post that they were Indian Blankets, well, they are Mexican Hats.  They look a little like sombreros.  These are mostly yellow with the red center and brownish pestle I guess you call it.  Others are red with yellow centers.  So pretty and fun to see.

For Scavenger Hunt 193  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-193-june-25-july-7.9123/  Check out the link to see what the other Scavengers (sketch artists) find for their items.' 

Gene is holding his own.  Went to have a general look over after the hospital release.  Dr. Chavez, our family doctor, has been in the hospital as well so we saw Dr. De Leon. She was very nice and checked all Gene's boxes, uh, meds and how he is recovering.  Our first caregiver with Gene is very patient with him and very conscientious. A new experience for us. We are so pleased as it is not easy to have someone else in the house full time.  We can't thank him enough.

We had maids in South America but they were not live in maids.  Our long time maid, Felipa, was so special and like family but she worked 8 - 5 unless we needed her to take care of the kiddos.  

Hoping to get back to a regular routine.  It is taking some time!  i still haven't cleaned off my art table.  Sigh. 

Landscape Sketch

I am so far behind on computer stuff, paper work, etc., my studio and table are covered with junk mail and junk.  It will take a few days here to get back to just litter!

We did have our breakfast sandwiches on the porch the last couple of days so I sketched this morning.  A small landscape on the bottom of the previous doughnut in box sketch.

 For Scavenger Hunt 192 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-192-june-13-june-25.9093/

Number 2 landscape - as usual the back yard.  The Indian Blankets are blooming.  Pretty after the bit of rain we had.  I think there was about 2 inches here when it was flooding north  and south of  us.  Some is better than none.  This is Sharpie pen and watercolor.

 I used an old Windsor Newton set of paints, very small with 12 colors.  Not the best tones.  No good green.   But at least I put pen to paper!

 

Food Trucks Bastrop Sketch

Today was my day out.  I went to lunch with my friend, Susan, at Anita's.  Such a nice lunch.  I had a non alcoholic margarita, asked for lemonade and she asked it I wanted frozen.  Sure I replied and she brought a mason jar of "lemonade".  It tasted just like a margarita so maybe I got margarita mix.  It was delicious.  Must have had 800 calories, but worth it.  I ate a Puffy Taco.  I like those a lot.

After lunch I went over to the food truck plaza so I could sketch in the shade.  I had a latte and sketched for about an hour.  Then got some carnitas at El Fercho to take home for Gene.   I asked what Fercho meant and the waitress said it was a nickname for the owner Fernando.  Hmmm.  They have pretty good food their.  The carnitas was more like shredded pork like we put in tamales.  Usually carnitas are fried pork.  It was good.  I will add some red New Mexico chile for the leftovers.  Pep it up a little.

For Scavenger Hunt 190 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-190-may-9-22.9023/
Sketched in the older Ohuhu Mix Media sketchbook with Ohuhu pens and watercolors.  I put in the red letters with a Prismacolor pen when I got home.

I sketched toward the Moosebelly BBQ trailer (I wrote Mooseberry on the truck, guess I was thinking about the blueberries in their BBQ sauce.) and the Thai food trailer.  Neither was open.  Tuesday is probably a slow day.  The latte trailer shut down shortly after I got mine.  I guess they stay open only until lunch time.  The stage with the bench is wired with electricity and has small speakers up.  It is new to me.  It is about 20 x 12 feet, my perspective is off.  I added it after I did the trailers.  It should have been in first.  The back of the Moosebelly trailer is a screened in section and the think sticking out of the orange Thai truck is actually a blue pickup in the parking lot.  There were more flowers but I had been sketching about 45 minutes and needed to leave so quickly added the color.  

Gene had speech therapy and stayed with Pam, caregiver.   He also rode his stationary bike today.  Pretty busy, too.

Strange not to have a baseball game tonight.  Longhorns have one more regular season series with Missouri on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  After that there will be the conference tournament.  After that the Road to Omaha starts with Regionals, Super Regionals and the College World Series.  We shall see how the Horns do.  They have played well, only losing 12 of their 49 games.  One game was rained out.  Hook 'em Horns!  You can get more info here https://texaslonghorns.com/sports/baseball/

 

Full Sketch

Sketching took place today at PT for Gene.  I forgot my watercolors and brushes but did remember the sketchbook.  It was pretty nice outside but I didn't feel up to the wind and stayed inside.

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 190  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-190-may-9-22.9023

Number 1 full - a cup full of plastic flowers.  At first I thought they were real.  I picked them up to change the angle and realized they were silk/plastic, it was so lightweight.  the tag on the cup read, "You are the Berry Best".  A gift to the receptionist.  Fun.

I sketched in the new Ohuhu smaller sketchbook with an Ohuhu .7 pen.  I added the watercolor at home.

Mother's Day was nice.  Joanna, Jennie and Brandon came out to visit.  Joanna brought pizza for all .  Crazy, as we all had different pizzas.  Jennie and Brandon brought chocolate covered strawberries. Larry was working out of town and of course David and bunch are in Kentucky.

 

We played a round of Telefunken (a progressive rummy game I learned in Bolivia) and had some mocktail margaritas, by Top Hat in Austin.  (very unimpressive, made with kombucha and lots of other stuff)  They have caffeine in the tea.  Next time I will try making regular margaritas our way and use non alcoholic wine in place of tequila.  

Joanna brought another surprise.  She gave me a bluebonnet cup which was special on its own.  The real surprise is that it was made by Lou and Toby Baggett in Oklahoma.  Lou is Bag Blog here in comments and her blog, link in sidebar and you can find them on Instagram and Facebook or whatever it is now.    So unexpected!  I love it.

 

Sketch Pens

At PT yesterday I wanted to sketch my sketching pens.  I had a pack of Ohuhu pens so that was perfect.  I held them in my hand but decided not to include my fingers in the sketch.

 For Scavenger Hunt from Life 189 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-189-apr-27-may-9.8965/

Number 5 used in my art - Ohuhu pens sketched in the Ohuhu Mix Media sketchbook with the Ohuhu 0.7 pen.   

Indoor Scene Sketch

Off to PT as usual today.  I sketched in the Ohuhu Mix Media smaller sketchbook with an Ohuhu 0.3 pen.  About 20 minutes duration.

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 189 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-189-apr-27-may-9.8965/

Number 1 soft - tissue
Number 2 has wheels - chair
Number 3 indoor scene
Number 4 rectangle - tissue box

For the previous Hunt I did #4 rough texture - a pen basket at PT done with the app Brushes on my iPhone.  

That's all folks!  See ya later.

The Last Purchase

 The Scavenger Hunt list had "the last thing you purchased".  Not exciting for me, it was a prescription for Gene.  They come in a brown paper bag, so that made it somewhat interesting.  

I sketched out on the porch on a gorgeous morning.  It got hot and muggy later so had to close up the house.  I sketched in the large Canson Mixed Media sketchbook, a full page with the two sketches.

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 188  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-188-apr-15-apr-27.8930/page-3#post-143138

Number 2, the last thing you purchased

Number 3, person or persons - a couple of walkers with their dog.  You wouldn't be able to pick them out of a group from my sketch.  Not even the dog is close.  They were walking pretty fast.  Really.....

The Longhorns are playing Vanderbilt this weekend.  They won Friday night and lost tonight.  All the teams in the conference are pretty close.  The Longhorns and Aggies had one game canceled for weather.  That may hurt them in the standings as other teams have an extra win in their column.  Hopefully they will win tomorrow and win the series.  

Palette in Watercolor

My watercolor palette is always a mess.  Maybe that is why my watercolors are used mainly for sketching.  I sketched while Gene was in PT.  

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 188, Number 1 - used in my art, watercolor palette

I sketched in the Ohuhu Mix Media sketchbook a full page 10 x 7.6 inches with an Ohuhu .5 pen and watercolors.

The baseball game tonight was interesting.  The Horns played the Alabama Crimson Tide in Austin at the Disch.  The Longhorns used a different lineup tonight and it seemed to spark them.  They lost the series last weekend in College Station against the Texas Aggies.  Bummer.  Tonight was fun, they won 10 -2 with 4 errors.  Yikes!  They haven't played Alabama many times over the years.  I captured this screen shot from ESPN+ SEC network.