Joanna, Gene and I sat on the porch this morning. Enjoying what seems to be the last of the hummers. There seemed to be just 3 of them. The others have gone South I guess. I sketched in the Conda regular paper sketchbook with a fine line Sharpie. About 1/2 page in the large book.
For Scavenger Hunt from Life 200 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-200-sep-18-30.9291/
Joanna gave me a new set of goauche paints. I've been wanting to try them as they are the in tools to use for plein air painting. You can have a small kit and only carry a small sketchbook and the colors with a brush and water. Pastels are heavy and oils are wet. Acrylics are OK but different.
The set I got is in pans like watercolors so not easy to get the opaque look I was after. I did have white in a tube which is more the consistency of oil paint or acrylic. I ended up painting more like watercolor and then adding a bit of texture and opaque color using the white. The finished sketch when dry feels a bit waxy ?? and has some texture unlike watercolor.
I always thought of gouache as glorified poster paint and that is what it seems to me. I do see beautiful paintings done with it online so will watch some videos. I will need to practice .. always something to learn.
For Scavenger Hunt from Life 200 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-200-sep-18-30.9291/
Number 1 tree - Gouache, ink from a Micron 02 that fizzled out and is now in the trash. In the large Canson Mixed Media sketchbook, half page. I sketched on my footstool in the living room looking out the window while we visited. Cody (nephew), Joanna, Gene and I. Cody was visiting from Arizona. So nice to see him and catch up.
I was looking for jam or jar that I hadn't sketched. I decided on the grape jelly. Then I thought I could sketch another item on the list, "right in front of me". These are sketched in the large Conda sketchbook with an Ohuhu 0.2 pen.
Number 5 jam or jar and Number 6 right in front of me.
It was good to play in the ink.
This was sketched on the porch on Saturday. We were going along smoothly. Then...Saturday night Gene had a seizure. It didn't last long and I had no idea what happened so another night in the hospital. They wanted to do a few tests and Gene was too agitated in the hospital so we just brought him home. He is doing OK and I am recovered pretty well, so all good again in the Castillo household. Check up on Monday then back to PT and schedules. Thanks to wonderful kiddos and we can get caretakers when needed.
We will celebrate our two birthdays tomorrow. Will be back soon....
I sketched at PT with Gene a few days ago and then at the park here by the house. Joanna and I sat in the shade at the pavilion by the fire station.
Number 3, candle or lamp - the light fixtures at PT, well some of them.
I have missed sketching and posting. I had a procedure on my heart, ablation. It should fix my A-fib and I got to quit one medicine with bad side effects. I was in the hospital overnight. That was much harder on Gene than on me. He needs routine. Having other caretakers and more people around is hard. He is doing OK again.
Back soon....
Happy Birthday Gene! It is the 35th anniversary of his 50th birthday. Hope he has a good day. He has PT and maybe lunch with Joanna, Jennie and me. We will celebrate his birthday and mine together in a couple of weeks with cake and all.
Number 1 hand and Number 2 ink - I only have some acrylic ink.
Sketched in the Conda sketchbook, 8.5 x 11 inches. About 2/3 of the page, so about life size.
Gene went to PT today. I have sketched everything in there but decided I should do something. One of the items on the Scavenger Hunt was "underneath". The receptionist had on black and white pants, black shoes and a white blouse. The computer was black, chair black and counter white. No need for watercolors, eh?
For Scavenger Hunt 197 https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-197-aug-12-aug-25.9212/
Wow, we get a new Scavenger Hunt tomorrow and I only did two sketches this time. I used to average about 10 sketches and we only had 9 days. Now we have 12 days and more time and I do less sketching. What a life?
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 100ยบ 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/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So, there you are then.
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
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.
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.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.....
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.
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.
