Light Double Sketches and Smoke

I managed a couple of small sketches at Gene's PT today.  The lights is about 1/2 page and the water bottles about 1/4 page in the Conda Sketchpad with an Ohuhu Pen .5.  The ceiling there has so much stuff it is hard to get the lines going in correct directions. 

For Scavenger Hunt from Life 170  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-170-sep-11-sep-23.8239/page-4 

Number 2 - light
 

Number 3 - double

I think art is personal and artists should do the things that make them happy, be it painting, crafting, cooking, etc.  I really enjoy painting and sketching from life.  I have more or less dropped out of the forums that use photos.  Once in a while I can find something in a photo like a cow or other animal that it is hard to capture in real life as they won't be still.  Otherwise I like to have hands on information.  I like still life for that reason and also plein air painting.

I'm missing my pastels.  Maybe coming soon.  It is still too hot to paint outside except very early morning.  It is still 87º now about 10:00 p.m.  Not good.

Here is a clever sketch "easel" for standing and using watercolor or ?? On James Gurney's page.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurney/p/claytons-paint-rig?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

There was some sort of fire across our ponds/lakes today.  They are dry and it looked like some of the grass was on fire.  The fire trucks and emergency vehicles were on the other side, but a couple of the pickups drove down the path to check.  They were only there a couple of hours so I guess it was taken care of.  We drove around but couldn't see if it was just trees or one of the houses.  Maybe someone will let us know.

 

You can see how dry the grass is.  We do need lots of rain.  It will take several good rains to put water in the lakes.  The clouds were beautiful, wish they brought the rain.

 

Where Oh Where

Where have I been?  Just life and my land of procrastination, like always.  I'm hosting the Scavenger Hunt and it started on the 11th and I'm just posting my first sketch.  Sigh......

 For Scavenger Hunt from Life 170  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-170-sep-11-sep-23.8239/ 

Number 1, footwear - assorted feet at Gene's PT.  Fast as the people come and then go workout. So not sitting or standing long.  In the big Conda Sketchpad, about half a page with an Ohuhu pen .2

I got a clever birthday card from our friends, Byrd and Street.  Here is the front:

 Then inside it said:  "Don't think too hard on your birthday ... just celebrate!"

The drawing on the envelope was cute, too.

My cousin sent a great one, too.  Handmade by a senior in assisted living. 

 Inside it said, "This is your day, Enjoy!" with a big red heart.  

Both cards were fun and thoughtful.   My birthday went on for a couple of weeks along with Gene's. We started over Labor Day and had lunch again last Saturday.  Fun and nice to be with friends and family.  When we traveled in the summer we would celebrate our individual birthdays together and then with family when we got home, so this year was similar.

I also got a beautiful handmade sketchbook, with handmade paper with New Orleans picture on the front.  Its about 6 x 9 inches.  Very nice.  Like the coffee table book, I will have to think before sketching!  No messing around!

Our main celebration was with our family when David and Lisa were here.  We went to the Saxon in Austin to see George Ensle.  You may remember he wrote a song for Gene on his 75th birthday.  Joanna got him to sing it in his show.  Gene was so happy to hear it in person!  We know some nice folks that are singer songwriters.  We ate at Matt's El Rancho, https://mattselrancho.com/index.htm  lots of history there, interesting read.  We hadn't been there in 25 years or so.  It was good but a bit noisy on a Saturday afternoon.  It's huge now.
 

The Old Bag

It was PT day for Gene so I sketched in the waiting area.   A man fell as we were arriving.  He stepped off the curb wrong.  He scraped his arm and was just sitting there.  I asked if he needed help and he said I guess so.  We got him   some help from the PT place. They patched up his arm and helped him back to his car. He was not a client but may be now, they suggested PT to work on his balance. 

Back at the gym I sketched in the Canson travel book with a Sharpie marker.  Zipper was on the Hunt list so I sketched my old purse/bag.  It has 3 zippers but I rushed it a bit.

Number 1 for Scavenger Hunt from Life 169  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-169-aug-30-sep-11.8198/page-4#post-132681

After that a pretty quiet day.  We did pick up groceries, etc.  Joanna came by for a while.  Always good to see her and we talked to the other kiddos.

September is a good month here usually but was very hot today.  We did have a bunch of hummers yesterday and we were able to sit out on the porch for a long time.  I guess they are migrating.  Fun to see the birds and their actions.