A swinging pig!

0.5mm EnerGel pen in a 6x8 inch drawing sketchbook for Scavenger Hunt #189 hosted by RainySea. This was for an animal (with challenge) in motion. LOL, no animals around me and I have no desire to draw the raw or cooked chicken in my fridge. I considered drawing a can of "Flying Spam" but I couldn't tell you what part of which animal is in Spam.

Thanks Pat, Jo, and Jeanne for your recent visits and encouraging comments (and Ai, too, on my sketchcrawl effort.) Less pressure on my mind certainly helps to release my creative juices.

Art Finally!

"Poison" 4x4 inch acrylic on canvas. No reference photo. I had a good morning yesterday as life gradually returns to how I like it. I had a morning ride in my truck and I ended up at DuPar's Restaurant. Had a relaxing breakfast and thought "I feel like painting a snake. A really colorful poisonous snake." LOL! This probably isn't the first art of the year, but it sure feels like it--It's been so long. I've got another snake in my head...

There's light at the end of the tunnel

It's been a trying period. My truck is good again. I just need to get away for an hour sometime next week so that I can pay the DMV registration. Looks like we'll be getting Mom's car back around mid-August. Events seem to be converging around the end of my probation period at work. I've found my groove at work, too, and I'm starting to make improvements in my processes to improve the quality of my work.

What a waste!

When did the definition of "totalled" change from "not fixable or not safely restoreable" to "the cost of repair exceeds the value of the car." That is so wrong and environmentally short sighted (and many other reasons), especially if the owner still wants the car. The cost of repair only exceeded its value by a couple hundred dollars and there isn't anything that isn't repairable. The interior, the engine, the front half of the car is still pristine. Tires, battery and brakes are less than a year on the car, only 70000 miles. Insurance will not budge. We're in mourning.

Another of life's bumps

Got rear ended on the freeway. I had a safe, controlled brake because of a wild 4-car crash and spinout unfolding in front of me and the 19-year old behind me wasn't paying attention. Why? Her first words to me (when she finally got off her cell phone) she thought she caused that crash. Someone else had already come around to ask if anyone was injured.

New Job

Been a while since I even sketched. I've been at a new job over a week and there's lots to learn. Not an early bird, I'm trying to get to bed earlier so I can wake up easier and have time to make my coffee that I need to get my brain in gear. I haven't been to the gym in probably as long, so I made an effort today. Hope to get to the gym at least 3 times a week, that should help get my energy level up, too.

Now that I have income, I got a new computer that I was needing but it comes with Windows 7, 64-bit which means drivers don't exist for my printer and scanner and my old programs won't transfer to this operating system. I went with Win7 because that's what I'm using at work but I had a week of computer issues at work because of Win7, too. If you can avoid it, Win 7 is not ready. I couldn't avoid it at home and it will resolve itself eventually but it'll probably cost me more money. I'm not giving any more than necessary to Microsoft so I went with Open Office.

Lack of art of late

Just been busy with real life is all. I kicked up my job search and I got an interview for my increased effort. I've been in class this past week, basically workshops in resume, interviewing, and job searching. I was baffled and frustrated with the job search process in the new millennium but turns out I knew how to do it all along and just needed a poke in the ribs to apply the knowledge. It's nearly midnight and I'm still struggling with the thank you letter. It's easier to update the blog. Probably just tired. Played tennis today and had a short hike. It was a good week and even better day.

I think I'll call him Doodle

I bought some Prisma Art Stix this week. A local frame store has discontinued carrying open stock and had a nice selection of colors in the discount bin. A rarity, drawn from imagination while waiting in the car , 6x8 inch drawing sketchpad.

Memories of Scotland

Here's the 2 page layout in my journal. The pen, for scale, is 5 inches. Bottom left page, is what I remember of the TV room in the basement of the bed 'n breakfast. Top right page is my memory of eating fish 'n chips out of a rolled up newspaper with my two co-workers and travel companions.

My Travels - English Tea

Landed in Glasgow, Scotland and had a short drive to the ferry pier. The ferry ride seemed to last a couple hours. I only remember gray and drizzle. We checked into the bed 'n breakfast about 2pm and I was starving. So while the others napped, I looked into the dining room. It was dark. I was told it was only open for breakfast but the nice lady at the desk said, "wait downstairs in the TV room and I'll bring you tea." I shrugged, better than nothing to get me to dinner. I was just expecting a hot beverage, but she brought a tray with a couple sandwiches, quartered and with the crusts cut off. Never had cucumber sandwiches before. Never had a sandwich with alfalfa sprouts. There were biscuits (shortbread and cream sandwich cookies) and chocolates! Of course, there was tea and cream...never had such dark tea before, I needed the cream. Bright sunshine was streaming into the room from a huge picture window. I only regret that I didn't leave a big tip on the tray, or any at all, because the meal never showed up on the lodging bill as I'd expected to add tip to my meal bill. As you can see, I've never forgotten my first encounter with British hospitality. I only learned years later I'd been given "tea," meaning a substantial meal with tea, the hot drink. Americans would think of it as an early dinner.

The sketch is gouache and ink. It's not much, but I'm rather proud of it as I've never been able to draw from memory or imagination. All the sketching practice of everyday objects has paid off.

My Travels - Ireland

It's St. Patrick's Day. How cool that my next planned sketch was my memory of our one hour fuel stop in Ireland. Not sure, it might have been Dublin. I only remember the brightest green in my 20 years. I don't even remember if the sky was gray or blue.

Of the sketch, the window ended up too big. I only wish they made airplane windows this big. I might have taken a picture of this sight but the shot would have been lost in my first mis-loaded roll that developed blank.

My Travels - New Project

This is the first entry of my new project. I'm scanning my travel-related 35mm film to draw/paint them into My Travels sketchbook. The sketchbook has smooth, but thick, 12x15 inch pages which are bound to be able to lay flat for double-page spreads. It's great for colored pencil, but I hope to do more gouache, acrylic inks, and fluid acrylics on the pages and in more of a journal format.

The drawing is of my first camera, a Canon AE-1 Program, in colored pencil. I used it from 1985 until 2006 when I went all digital. I was waiting for just the right digital SLR. That lens (extended) is really long and heavy from back in the days when lenses were made with glass and metal, but oh, what a workhorse this combination was!