Last of Hunt 70

Scavenger Hunt 70 ends tomorrow or today, June 3.  It is almost midnight.  This is my last sketch for the Hunt.  I went for groceries yesterday and had to be back but wanted to get "Public" done.  I thought the Library would be perfect for that.  I forgot my sketchbook of course so sketched on a coaster with a ballpoint pen.  Therefore, it was small, quick and messy.

For Scavenger Hunt 70   https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-70-may-26-x-june-3.5509/

 

I didn't number it and forgot when I numbered the next sketch so this is Number 11, three things in public - the Bastrop Public Library and the flags.  Only two things really you can't really tell what any of it looks like.  The library building is white limestone with metal roofing.  The flags are the US Flag and the Texas Flag.

Today I did a bit better.  I sketched in the large Canson mix media sketchbook with a Micron 03

 

Number 10  book you just or plan to read - Carol Marine's Daily Painting book.  It is so good and full of ideas for painting and marketing.  

Carol Marine is excellent at painting and teaching.  She is generous with her information.  She and her husband started dailypaintworks.com to sell her work and now have many artists there.  She has some free tutoring videos and some that are very inexpensive.  The site is a great one for artists that paint a lot.  You can make your own domain name, have auctions, connect to blogs and newsletters.  There are contests and challenges.  I recommend it.

carolmarine.com and dailypaintworks.com
 

She lived in Bastrop for a while before the fire.  We were always going to get together but when I was here she was traveling teaching workshops and when she was here, we were in New Mexico or traveling elsewhere.  After the big Bastrop fire burned their home, too, they moved to Oregon and now live in Montana.  She doesn't do workshops very often now so if you see one you should try it out.  She is mostly an oil painter but her advice is good for any painter.

New Hunt, New Sketches

Time for the first sketches for Hunt 695.  We went to breakfast at the Texas Grill and I had a new to me cup that I hadn't sketched before.  It had a duck sort of losing its feathers.  Head was sort of teal and the rest was gray.  Had a different duck on the front and back and one inside that looked like it was going down in the sand....

Number 1, something you use daily - coffee mug, sketched on coasters with Gene's new ball point pen made from the wood of Jack Daniels barrels.

 

Number 2, landscape - in the big book with the Sharpie Pen from the porch.

The sunrise was beautiful this morning.  I was up at 4:30 a.m. but this didn't happen until about 7:00 a.m.

 

Hunt 693 Sketches

Sketching on the porch in the mornings has been delightful.  Thursday was very cool, about 67 degreees F.  Friday and Saturday, too.  In the high 90s in the afternoons.  Hopefully summer will soon be over.

I'm trying to get the big book finished by Christmas.  It will be 5 years I think.  Seems like much longer, ha.  Jennie expected me to finish in a couple of years.  It is 300 pages and I sketched on both sides so would have had to do a page a day almost.  No way ....

These are for Scavenger Hunt 693 in the big book with a variety of inks.  One challenge for the Hunt was to sketch directly in ink.  That is my usual mode, so an easy challenge for me.

Number 1 alphabet - I was going to sketch Scrabble tiles which I have done several times before so decided to find an alternative alphabet.  Thus the phonebook.
Number 2, spoon
Number 3, restful - a spoon rest
Number 4, lemon

You can click the images to see them larger.

Today no sketching.  Our adult kiddos are coming to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow.  We will eat pizza and play some Telefunken.  A progressive rummy game we learned in Bolivia.  It will be a good day and we can remember the first responders at the Trade Center in 2001.  Hope you think of them as well.

I sketched on a coaster while waiting for Gene to get his check up.  I had to wait outside so sketched the window by the entrance.  It was hot but I was in the shade on a bench with a breeze.

Number 5, universal - the No Smoking Sign in the window.  White limestone walls.  About 10 minutes.

Number 6, moon - with the association of moon - night - day - sun - sunlight 
In the big book with a Micron 02 and colored pencil the light on the tree and grass, early morning.  About 40 minutes.

Hope your weekend is great.  Beautiful and peaceful here.

Routine Sketches

Are routines good?  Sometimes I feel like I get much more accomplished if I stick to a routine.  Have my snack in the morning with some good coffee and sketch.  Exercise.  Then post.  If I do that,  I have the rest of the day for painting, vegging or going out.  But sometimes that feels like a "rut" and that we should do something else.

Yesterday we opted for going to breakfast first.  Then the grocery store.  I had Gene all "trained" for grocery shopping but the past few months I have been doing the shopping.  How did that happen?  I do not like shopping at all and especially groceries.  Part of that is my list problem.  I can't follow a list or make a list to get going.  I do have the grocery app on my phone and that helps.  I still forget to put things on the list.  It is nice at the store because it tells you which aisle to go down to find your items.  I suppose I can get used to that.

We went to breakfast at the Texas Grill.  It is pretty good, sort of an average old time diner but a huge place.  Nothing different on the menu.  They don't have migas which is something I like here in the Southwest.  At home I make them with left over corn tortillas or chips, potatoes, sausage, green chile and scramble that into eggs with cheese on top.  At the Grill I usually have a cheese omelette.

But, I'm getting away from the sketching.

For Hunt 689  https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/scavenger-hunt-689-august-6-august-14/

Number 8, red - ketchup at Texas Grill with ball point pen and Precise Roller when I got home, on a coaster.

 

Today was on the porch - yikes!  Friday the 13th!  Number 7 (numbered out of order as I forgot the coaster sketch) - queen  Sketched in the big book with a new Sharpie pen and colored with the Precise V7 roller.  We play Telefunken, a progressive rummy game at family get togethers.  They play for me as I played in Bolivia.  I'm pretty sure that most of the family have fun with it ... margaritas always help.

Number 5 jar and Number 6 pickle- sub pickle relish and Number 7 ice pick.  Sketched out on the porch day before yesterday in the big book with the Micron 02 and colored pencil.  

I finished the pastel painting and ordered a frame.  More about that tomorrow....

Sketches Hard

Sketching shouldn't be hard.  It should be a way to make progress in your art, try something new, practice and relax.  My sketching is practice for the most part.  I have been posting my sketches here and online.  My blog is sort of a journal with sketches, paintings and life.  Sketchbooks can be full of notes and ideas and are not generally open to the public.  I've done more sketching because I do post them.  I feel guilty if I don't do my "homework".  Sketching is good for you whether you post it to the world or not.  Up to you!

I could possibly have more readers if I focused just on art with lots of "how to" and art history.  Art for me is part of my life but not the most important part.  So my loyal readers are stuck with my "life" as well.

One of the items on Scavenger Hunt 687 was "hard".  We can make our own interpretations.  I chose to make it something that is hard not soft,  as opposed to difficult.  Sometimes they are interchangeable, eh?

For the Hunt,  You can click on the images to see them larger.

Number 7 (I think), hard - a china cup at the Texas Grill.  I didn't think to sketch my "different" cup on a coaster until we were almost ready to leave.  This is about a 2 minute sketch with Gene's pen.  I added the green at home with a Sharpie fine line marker/pen.  It wasn't difficult.

On the 23rd, I sketched in the big book with a Pilot ballpoint pen and colored pencils.  Gene's favorite wine in a box.  The Cabernet is from Chile so that makes it better.  Joanna gave us cookies in the can(s) at Christmas.  I bought some more cookies to replace the ones we ate.  The cans make great storage for shortbread cookies.  The other can is red plaid.  This sketch was more difficult.  I had a bit of a perspective problem in my freehand drawing.

For the Hunt Number 2 and 3, in a box and in a can.

For the July Challenge on wetcanvas, Southwest and Western forum, I sketched in an Art Street sketchbook the miniature horses we saw when we were looking for a house in Bastrop in 2011.  We try to do paintings for that forum.  A sketch is better than nothing.  This is freehand with a Micron 02.

I worked on the  cactus blooms photo that I put in the challenge.  I attempted a watercolor.  It did not come out well enough to post here ... it stays in the Art Street sketchbook.  As I said, not all sketches and notes are public info.

Digi Chair and Coaster Mug

I didn't sketch yesterday until we started watching TV in the late afternoon.  I sketched on my iPad using ArtRage and my fingers and probably a bit of the Apple Pencil.  The item was chair.  Gene had moved to his rocker.   I sketched  the chair without him in it for a change.

Number 2 chair - should be number 3.  Gene's recliner.

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

Number 3 mug - should be number 4.  The mug I was served coffee in at the Texas Grill this morning.  We hadn't eaten breakfast there for a while.  They have a collection of mugs and this was the first time I was served in this one.  The letters are sort of maroon in color.  I didn't have a sketchbook with me so sketched on a coaster.  I carry a few in my purse.  I didn't see the stain on this side of the coaster until I scanned it.  Some hand sanitizer leaked in my purse and the other side is pretty much coffee colored.  At least I got a sketch of a different mug.  I'm pretty sure I have sketched all the ones in our house.

Alive in 2020

A beautiful 2020 so far this year.  Scavenger Hunt 616 is alive and well on wetcanvas.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1475232

"Something Alive" is an item on the list.  So....

Number 1, something alive - a man reading the newspaper at Dan's Hamburgers on Manchaca in Austin.  On coaster with my new Lamy fountain pen.  The pen is really nice but I think the finer line with a Micron 02 or a Prismacolor 02 or less work better on the coasters.  The Lamy lets more ink be absorbed.  The Lamy sure feels nice, though.  Nice to have again in my tools.

 From their website.

My photo from another day.  The ordering and cooking is behind me when I was taking the photo.  There were many people yesterday right at lunch time.

http://www.dans-hamburgers.com/dans.php#know-dans

We like to go every once in a while.  So good.

Gene's check-ups were both good.  He's on the mend!

More Coaster Fun

Another check up for Gene today and now he is released for our trip.  Yay!  Good thing, eh, as we leave this week?

I sketched out the window at the office on a coaster with the Micron 02. (Number 4 on the coaster sketches)

For new Scavenger Hunt 594 http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1468238

Number 1, something that blows in the wind.  I was wondering as I put the cell tower in as well why with soooo many cell phone towers we still have bad reception at our house.  Of course, the answer is we live in the boonies at the end of all the signals.  As I watched the wind, though up above the trees, I thought maybe the wind just blows the signals away......

We are counting down....on the road soon.

Backyard Sketch on a Coaster

We went to Austin for a check up for Gene!  He passed and is good to go for three months. 

While we were at the doctor's office I sketched on a coaster with the Micron 02 pen.  I'm using it for Scavenger Hunt 593
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21629914

Number 8, part of your backyard or landscape -- I'm stretching this and using the sketch I did out the doctor's office window.  There were some folks doing some exercises by the pavilion.  There is a basketball court behind them as well. 

The coasters I got to sketch on are 3.5 x 3.5 inches.  Fun but a small sketch.    The sketch above is the third one I've done. Below is the first one of the coffee pots at the other doctor's office.  The second one I did at a Chinese restaurant and I gave it away with no photo of it.  The coaster art is fun and easy to carry in my purse.  We'll see how it goes on the road.