Freeze! Day 4 Inktober

Freeze is the prompt today for Inktober 2019.

My favorite freeze is Blue Bell Ice Cream.  https://www.bluebell.com/
It is the best!  They have many flavors that are seasonal and a large part are year round favorites.  My favorite is Buttered Pecan.  They do put real strawberries in their strawberry flavors and Neopolitan.  That is good because I do not like artificial strawberry flavors.

This is not drawn from life, it is from photos and memories.  We don't have any ice cream in the freezer.  Gene is off to get groceries, so he will get some.  I'm pretty sure he will come home with Pecan, Pralines 'n Cream.

Be sure and check out Blue Bell Ice Cream and try some.  The cream comes from happy cows in the Brenham, Texas, area where the Creamery says, "We eat all we can and sell the rest!"

You can read more about it here on my blog:
https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/search?q=blue+bell+ice+cream


Hopefully I will make some headway on getting my studio back in order.  Paintbrushes and pastels are calling......

#inktober  #inktober2019

Hunt 575 Sketches

Hard to follow up a skull painting..... I sketched in the big book with a Micron 01.  Quickly and free hand as usual and as you can tell. 

For Scavenger Hunt 574  http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460723

 I used the skull for Number 3, discipline - it take discipline to paint and learn

Above is Number 4, delicious treat - we are hoping the candy is delicious, we bought it for a fundraiser and haven't tried it yet.  We shall see.

Number 5, Popsicle or something used to cool you down if it's warm outside - Blue Bell ice cream.  The little bowl is a Christmas bowl that made it through the fire.  It was red and green.  The green is now black and some of the red is coming back.  I would have sketched the ice cream for something delicious as it definitely is.  If you can't read what I put, here it is:  Blue Bell Ice Cream is made from the milk from happy cows.  We eat all we can and sell the rest!

My favorite flavor is butter pecan ... or white chocolate almond ... or pecan praline ... or  ...   Their  Neopolitan flavor is the only one I have ever seen that has real strawberries in the strawberry part.  It is made in Brenham, Texas, about 50 miles from us.  Blue Bell Ice Cream is outstanding!!!  Check out where you can buy it and all the flavors  https://www.bluebell.com/our-products/  I see a couple of new ones we haven't tried that sound great.  Moo-llinneum Crunch and Butter Crunch 
MMMMMMmmmmm.

I took this photo out back yesterday with the panoramic setting on my iPhone.  The left pond is the easterly one and the other to the right is the westerly pond.  It was warm and humid.  Misty all day.

We picked up Jennie to go to Larry's early Birthday dinner in Austin.  I did not take any photos.  I think Joanna took some.  It is supposed to be in the 40s again on the weekend.  Jennie's  roses are blooming and beautiful.  Crazy.... 

Sketches and Photos

I sketched on the road trip in the travel sketchbook with the Micron 01 and in the mini sketchbook in my purse with the bad pen that came with it.  Ha.

For Scavenger Hunt 494 (I'm hosting) http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1426449  Come on and sketch with us!

Number 1, couch - this was in the lobby of the hotel.  You could sit three people on each side with the big pillow thing in the middle.  Wasn't comfy, but efficient for the lobby, I guess.

Number 2, kitten - we only have one catlike thing in our house that I could think of, so I substituted "kiddos" for "kitten".  Close, right?  I always get the heads too big, I think.  These kids were at our new neighborhood pizza place.  Close, about 5 miles.  :)

I recycled this list and am pretty sure that I put kitten on it for Robert that used to sketch in the group.  He sketched his cat for many items, like soft, playful, asleep, etc.  He hasn't sketched for a while,  hmmm.

I sketched this cat flute before and didn't want to do it again.  So you got kiddos for kittens.

I took some flower photos on the walk around the lake the other day.  Will just put them here:

Indian Blanket

Indian Paintbrush

Mexican Hat

Primrose

Purple Thistle

Wine Cups  - my favorite, right?

 This looks like the perfect place for a kid to sit and fish from .. Tom Sawyer?

The new flat bridge kept me out of the mud!

Joanna went with us to Houston to see the Longhorns play the Ragin' Cajuns.  It was a great trip but the Longhorns lost.  Not good.  Of course, I forgot to take any photos.  There are a couple on this post when we went to see the Horns play Houston last year.  https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/2016/04/hunt-446-long-gone-and-houston-sketch.html

We stopped in Brenham on the way back at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Parlor and Country Store.  Blue Bell ice cream has to be the best ever!  They give samples and you can buy huge scoops for $1.  Yummmmy.  We took our grandkids years ago and they had tours but no tours at this time.  They say, "We eat all we can and sell the rest!"

Joanna took this photo:

You can see more of her photos and music videos on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/jojolemon/

Larry has some great photos on Instagram, too.

https://www.instagram.com/larrycastillophotography/

Wednesday about 2 p.m. was very slow so we had great service and could try all the flavors.  I ate Pistachio Almond,  Gene had about 3 flavors, 2 scoops and Joanna had Butter Crunch.  Wow.  If you ever see any Blue Bell, have some.  Their Homemade Vanilla is famous!

This was an empty side to the parlor.

And a few photos on Highway 290 on the way back from Brenham.  Pretty drive.

Well, enough is enough for today.

Sketching and Juneteenth Parade Photos and Note

I sketched for Scavenger Hunt 181 way back on June 17. This is in my letter size sketchbook with the pen I use for the guest book. The photograph did not turn out well, at least I sketched.

Number 1, jar - the jar of mints and Snickers on my desk. The jar is actually full, and no, I did not eat them - I got tired of sketching those tiny candies.

**Note - A friend of ours, Briana, is going to China with the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio. Congratulations to her and the orchestra. What an experience, eh?

Juneteenth is celebrated in Bastrop with a parade, speeches, food and more. All the green shirts in the photos are a family reunion group. There were many of those folks on the sidelines. It is always fun to see the excitement of the kids. Here are a few photos of the parade downtown.

Down the street from my studio. It is in the building with the white and signs on top near the left.


The best float I saw, red of course! I was at breakfast with my friend and artist, "T" , and we missed the first few minutes.

Back in front of my studio. All the parade watchers were in the shade on this side of the street. It was warm.

The end!

The Lock Drug Store in the photo has been there forever and has one of the last soda fountains around. It is still the place to go for ice cream and sit at one of the old tables or on a stool at the fountain. I was disappointed, though, that the actual machine that spews out the soda water is not functioning. They used bottled soda water for my soda. So sad. They do use Blue Bell Ice Cream, the best in the world! The creamery in Brehnam, Texas, "eats all they can and sells the rest". We took our grandchildren on a tour a few years ago.

These are three very tall century plant cactus getting ready to bloom across the highway from the golf course. I hope I remember to get a shot when the blooms pop out!

Blue Bell Madness, no art!

Well, for you poor folks that never heard of Blue Bell ice cream, I did a little research. You can read all about it on Wikipedia and visit their home page (under construction so not much there). They have a Country Store for hats and souvenirs.

We took our grandchildren to the creamery in Brenham, Texas, and they loved it. We had plenty of ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches and just plain ice cream with the grandchildren at home. I can't keep it on hand or I will just keep on eating it, all by myself.


Regina, did you see they are making a chocolate chip mint ice cream bar now? Just for you, maybe. :) You said that Outback restaurants serve it. Yummmm. I thought back after your comment on the last post and decided that butter pecan is my real favorite flavor. Of course after I think a while, there will be more "favorite" flavors.

Blue Bell ice cream reminds me of a story. When we were in Bolivia we met Nan and Gibbs, native Texans. They had been in Sri Lanka also and were not with the Embassy there so did not have commissary privileges. Nan went to eat at a friend's home that was with the Embassy. The lady served lunch and said, "All I can offer you for dessert is some ice cream from the commissary. I have never heard of it, something called Blue Bell." Nan about fainted, of course. Who would have thought? Half way around the world! What a treat!

So if you folks out there get a chance to try Blue Bell, don't pass it up.