July 28, 2011

When you have time to draw; be prepared.

An artist can't always anticipate when you will have time to draw, so stay prepared. 

I always carry in my purse a 3.5”x 5” or 5.5”x 8.5” sketch book and often a 3.5” x 5.5” moleskin or similar drawing book. I use a pencil, Pitt pens, and/or watercolor pencils. Recently I added an ink brush and a water brush.



The ink sketches above are from Treasure Island July 4th waiting for fireworks

KOA Campground in St Augustine, pencil drawing

Pastel sketch, Lowe's Parking Lot, Saint Petersburg, FL

Watercolor, Pass A Grille Beach

The sketches above were all done using a 3.5" x 5" Strathmore Sketchbook, 400 series.

I keep all my art sketch materials in separate zip lock bags to keep them clean and protect them from rain.

Pastel pencils, are quick and easy to use with Canson Mi-Teintes colored pastel paper, just cut it to size and clip it to a board or use a brown toned Cachet spiral bound book and if you don't want much added weight, tear out a few pages and add it to your clip board. X-Acto Buzz is a small battery operated pencil sharpener that can sharpen pastels and it's light and small enough to carry with you.
African Penguins, Florida Aquarium, Tampa Fl
 Cachet spiral bound sketchbook  5”x7” 
Carb Othello Chalk-pastel pencils by Stabilo

At a zoo or a theme park like Sea World, a watercolor travel set used with a small handheld easel, a moleskin watercolor sketchbook, watercolor paper pad, or watercolor blocks all fit into a small backpack. Now with the water brush, painting quick sketches, even standing up is a breeze.
Emperor Penguins at Sea World
Canson Watercolor spiral pad, cold press, 5.5" x 8.5"

 
 I love to paint in oils, so when I have about 2 or 3 hours I use my pochade box and oil paints with canvas on board. But keeping the sketch materials in my purse or a small backpack keeps me prepared all the time.



July 20, 2011

This a picture of Alice or me?

When I was in the 5th grade I was ill with the flu and I had time on my hands so I read Alice In Wonderland, oh I loved it. Below is an old drawing I did when I was 20. I was married when I was 19, both of us were way too young and my Dad had pushed us into this. I wanted to have a child so badly I would cry, he did not. He said I was raised to think that way and I should not tie him down, his friends told me the same. I think perhaps I could have raised a child at that time if I was married to a different man but he was right, it was not the time for us. Years later we broke up partly over this issue. 

This a picture of Alice or me?

When I was 23 I found the funds to go to college and study art, I told my Father what I planned to do, he laughed in my face and told me art was only for rich people to study. Now I am saying this not to make excuses for myself, I don’t need any excuses, I have done quite well for myself. When I had mentioned on another site that I had chronic migraines someone wrote that I was making excuses for myself, no I am not, I don’t need to make an excuse but I want to tell my story, the story of one artist. Many people have obstacles’ to overcome, perhaps all of us do. Meeting challenges in life gives us color and flavor that is translated into our art.

Below is a drawing I did in high school when I was 15, I was sent to my room to study in the evening but I was very unhappy in school and I mostly drew. In the big oak desk that used to be my father’s I found many dip pens and ink so with this and pencils I could occupy my time in a way that seemed more useful and certainly more fulfilling.

Below is a drawing I did when I was 15


July 11, 2011

Carlsbad Cavern - Protect It

In July 2010 we went to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I have always wanted to visit these caves as a child, being a dedicated Rock Hound I was mesmerized by these limestone wonders. 

 These are greater to me than the Cathedrals’ in Europe, being natural and God made and thankfully, so well preserved. They just may be the most beautiful and greatest limestone caves in the world, the main cavern is 8 football fields of majesty.


While there as I lagged behind my family to take photos, this man near me started to pound on the wall and tried to jump up and grab the famous stalactites, he made fun of the name, the lion's tail. I told him to stop and his wife told me the cavern was theirs and they could do what they liked with it. So I said, "it does not, it was made by God for us all and when you touch the walls you desecrate something sacred."


Oh great, I was alone and they both were way bigger than I am and they started to shadow me as I walked and say nasty things to me in a harassing way. I walked very fast then I took a turn on a side path with a bench and started to draw. One of the park guides came over to see what I was doing and I told her what had transpired and what they looked like.



One beautiful cavern in Sonora Texas was famous for its natural Butterfly formation, one of the wings was torn off in 2006; was it these people or people who think like this who vandalized this natural feature enjoyed by so many? Why are people so ignorant and nasty? God save us all from so much stupidity.


These Drawings above were drawn in the Main Cave using an extra black pencil by M Grumbacher Bohemia Works :8911/6B woodless pencil to get the rich dark blacks on a spiral bound sketchbook   7” X 5"



The picture above was drawn using Carb Othello Stabilo  Chalk-Pastel Pencils, on Cachet by Daler Rowney Spiral Sketchbook  7” X 5” paper

  
The Natural Cave Entrance


The final picture was drawn late in the day while we waited for the sun to set so the nearly 400,000 Mexican free tail bats would emerge. In this drawing the cave swallows, perhaps the largest colony of these birds in the northern hemisphere were flying in the entrance catching insects before it got dark.

Drawn with black pencil by M Grumbacher Bohemia Works :8911/6B woodless pencil to get the rich dark blacks on a spiral bound sketchbook   7” X 5