Sketch 487 Smile

The humongous sketchbook is the place for my sketches today.  The Micron 005 in the sepia/brown color is the tool of choice.

These are for Scavenger Hunt 487 http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1423179

Number 1, a self portrait of you - I used the camera on the computer like a mirror maybe that is the reason I look that way.  I never did a self portrait until the Scavenger Hunts and I am not good at them.  Or, it may look like me and I don't like that!  I do not like having my picture taken.

Number 2, above your head - the shelves that Gene made from rain gutters for my studio.  They are so handy.

The shelves are great, you can see I posted about them and sketched them before.  This post was when they were in my studio downtown.

https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/search?q=rain+gutters

This is the post with the shelves here in my studio.
https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/scavenging-contest-thoughts-and-photos.html

And here the shelves are for my sketch today.  Overflowing.......

Gutters Sketch

I have the nicest shelves I've mentioned a few times.  Gene made them from rain gutters.  They are so handy.  Plastic, so no painting required.  Durable as they are for outside.  I can put paintings, framed or unframed. Clip things on them. Put bottles, toys (ha) or anything that fits in them.

They are fastened to the studs in the wall so weight is not a problem.  He put them in my two galleries downtown, the other house and here.  The ones here in my studio are about 6 feet long.  I think the wall in my first gallery downtown was about 20 feet so I didn't have to put nails in the wall and keep moving them around.  Gene came up with the idea!  Yay, so very appreciated.

I sketched at my desk for Scavenger Hunt 111  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-111-apr-17-apr-25.6787/

 

Number 6, gutter - my gutters in my studio.  

Interestingly, on the Hunt, Ai in Thailand http://aiarts.blogspot.com/  and Joan in New York http://watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com/  both had a seahorse in their sketches.  Ai's was on a  boat/ship called Seahorse and Joan's was on a motel called Silver Sands where the first S was the seahorse.  Unusual, yes??  I was sketching my shelves and noticed a woodcut of a seahorse made by our friend, Don Mudd.  He gave me several of horses, turtles, people and the seahorse which I hadn't thought of in ages even though it is right above my head.  I stuck it in my sketch just above the chile pepper. 

The red thing is supposed to be a chile pepper I think?  Woodcuts clipped on the right.

The adobe house pastel is by Regina Burchett, pastel buddy,  https://www.reginaburchett.com/  We traded in Santa Fe on a trip to an IAPS Convention and I've never framed it.  I use it for inspiration.

Gallo - Pastel Painting and Studio Photos

It has been an interesting couple of days to say the least. My studio is coming together, photos below. I mentioned yesterday that I wiped off the landscape with bluebonnets and went for the rooster. I like the way it turned out. Gene framed it this morning and I delivered it. CASA was very pleased and I hope it makes some money for them.

A couple of days ago when we went to pick up the glass shelving we spied a loose rooster by the railroad tracks. Gene stopped and I snapped two shots of him before he ran off. Those are the photos I used for my painting.

Gallo, Pastel on Pastelbord, 14 x 11 inches

This isn't a great photo, but this is the old bird all framed up.

If you would like to purchase this painting, you will have to go to CASA's "Justice is Served" party at the Lost Pines Hyatt on Saturday, May 1, 7:00 p.m, and make your bid. You can get tickets by calling 512 303-2272. It is a lot of fun. The attorneys are the bartenders and it is a casual fun evening to raise money for such a good cause. The Resort is absolutely beautiful to add to the evening.

Front window of my studio. The round tins are for a display for the Family Crisis Center as this is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. You are encouraged to speak out against violence.

Another angle of the window.

My desk and work table. Gene will put some shelves in the bare space behind my desk. He put up some rain gutters when I had the studio before. They work great to hold unframed paintings, canvas to be worked on, odds and ends and a place to clip photos and work in progress. And, they look nice, too. I will take a snapshot for you when we get them in.

My easel where I was working yesterday. I am getting a nice studio easel to have there. You can see a bit of the heavy rubber pad Gene got me to stand on when I paint. It is for the back of pickups to hold loads and keep them from slipping I guess, but it is great to stand on. The tile floors will kill your back. It is hard enough to walk back and forth in the gallery all day.

A view of the shelves and the front window. You can see some of Judy Hawes' jewelry on the shelves and the large watercolor on the wall was painted by Judy.

Another view of the shelves. I will put some of the tiles on little easels. These are from my cafepress.com shop. I wanted to have some small items to sell that are under $25.

We went to the baseball game tonight. (Yikes, it is already tomorrow at 1:00 a.m.) It went into extra innings but the Longhorns won, 4 - 3 , over Texas A & M. The stadium was almost full even with rain in the forecast. There was one rain delay of 30 minutes or so. Tomorrow and Sunday they play in College Station. Read about the fun on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page.

Studio/Gallery News

I am posting these so I will have a record. I'm pretty sure I will make a News spot on my website as well, but for now.....

This is the article in the Chamber Newsletter for May.




This is the article in the Bastrop Advertiser by Jo Watts, who covers area art events. She is a potter and does pottery with a flair. She does very unique sculptures with clay.



And the photo in the paper the same day. I was painting out in front of my studio at Yesterfest on Saturday, April 24.



Here is a shot of the shelves in use in my studio. They are made from rain gutters. Neat idea, eh?

And another shot of my work area.