On the Road..personal
notes and sketches..When Jo and Gene (husband) are on the road, you can follow their itinerary with photos , sketches and computer art. Jo will be painting on location and also using the sketches and reference photos for her studio work when she returns to Texas. Travels around the United States and Canada. Please remember the sketches are for the artist's use and not a finished product. They are exercises for learning and fun.
Jo is using this for extra projects as well, since sketching is few and far between. To keep up with travels and current work check my new Art Blog.
October 13, 2006
I followed and joined in the Scavenger Hunts on wetcanvas.com this summer. It is a sketching group where you sketch from life and post the sketches on the wetcanvas.com site. Artists try to sketch about 25 different items in 9 days. Different artists pick the items, so you sketch things that you may not normally tackle. It is an excellent way to improve your drawing, try different techniques and loosen up for painting. You will surely see and improvement in my work as every time you do something new you learn from the experience.
This sketch is of the water faucet in the yard in Magdalena, New Mexico. It is with a Micron 05 pen in a generic sketchbook about 6 x 8 inches.
Check out Jo's blog to find out more about this project and what Jo is up to on an almost daily basis.
July 31, 2006
Start Background Developing background, trees I started a new pastel painting of the Val Verde Hotel Patio in Socorro. I just love that old place. You can see the previous oil I did of the patio here. Scroll down near the bottom. You can keep up with this on my art blog as well. July 27, 2006
Scavenger Hunt This summer I'm taking part in Scavenger Hunts on wetcanvas.com These two were done for Scavenger Hunt 2 and we are now on Scavenger Hunt 3. An artist picks 26 items and other artists sketch them and post for others to see. It is a fun learning experience. You can see my sketches in my Art Blog and follow the group on the wetcanvas site here.
July 11, 2006
Looking East This is looking east from the yard in Magdalena. In Magdalena for Peppers Art Show on July 8. On the road from here too Silver city , New Mexico. This was done with a Sharpie in my Canson sketchbook given me by my friend Sue. She is always encouraging me to sketch, sketch, sketch. I will be posting sketches and travel news on my Art Blog. Check in there for the latest.
April 29, 2006
Street scene started at Yesterfest, 2006, on Main Street in Bastrop, looking south from the gallery.
Yesterfest is a day highlighting Bastrop in the "old days" and a fundraiser for the Opera House.
I painted with pastels out front of the gallery. It was a beautiful day and in the morning I was in the shade of the buildings. A little breezy, I taped my easel to one of the beams that hold up the porch on the second floor. The afternoon was warm and sunny.
The Guild artists were painting faces (free) on the left and Jo Watts was giving a demo with her pottery wheel dressed in yellow shirt and hat. One of the dancers from the Opera house came by in the black and red. Charlie McDaniel is there in the hat and multicolored shirt. Other artists were painting and selling their wares on the street.
Hopefully this painting will be completed and framed and put in the gallery.
I can't believe I did not take one photo. First time ever! Where was my mind. Thanks to Michelle Belden, I have this snapshot.
Stop by to see the finished product.
April 21, 2006
Trio in the Pines This trio of small paintings was made for the Relay for Life in May, 2006, at the First State Bank in Bastrop. A new painting creates interest in charity events. Another fun painting to show the special Lost Pines in Bastrop. Images are from bluebonnets along the highway, our yard, and our street.
Click on image for a larger view and back on your browser to return here.
January 12, 2006
Trifecta Here is a painting created about 2 weeks ago for the annual Family Crisis Center dance, Night on the Nile. I always do a new and special painting for this annual event. We live in the loblolly pines and oak trees and I wanted to show how majestic and peaceful the trees are. For such small paintings, the feeling works for me. Hopefully the owner and viewer will also feel the mood. The photo on the left shows how I worked on the three images. The first was a sketch out my studio window and the other two are from my photos at the lake at Bastrop State Park, about 3 miles from here.
Click on the image for a larger view and back on your browser to return here.
July 12, 2005
We are traveling in New Mexico and are in the hometown of Magdalena. No sketches yet, busy with the Old Timers Reunion and show at Peppers. Here are a few photos from the Old Timers Reunion. Jo will paint at Peppers Saturdays in July. Check back for sketches on the road.
Sunset in Magdalena Young lady calf rider. Queens in Wagon. Mom Frances in Center
July 16, 2005, Saturday
Jo painted at Peppers Gallery. Pleasant day at about 95 degrees, but dry and cool in the shade. That is a wonderful thing about being in the Rocky Mountains in the summer.
Jo's Set Up for Painting The almost finished cactus painting, pastel on mounted Art Spectrum paper, 5 x 7 inches.
July 23, 2005, Saturday
Jo painted at Peppers Gallery. Nice day, mostly cloudy and cool. Started an acrylic painting on board with canvas, 11 x 14 inches, of the porch at Peppers. The fiesta of the Mary Magdalene Church was in progress. They had a mass, a procession and an afternoon of food, music, bingo and other activities. Food included barbeque cooked underground, New Mexican food, hamburgers and baked goods.
Here is the start of the painting.
Here is the start of the painting. Click on the image for a larger view and "back" on your browser to return to this page. 
August 11, 2005
Painted at Peppers every Saturday, I painted a cactus in pastels the first time. Then the next two Saturdays, I painted on an acrylic of the patio at Peppers. The young daughter wanted to paint with me and be in the picture, so there you are then, as they say in Canada. The finished product. I finished at the cabin in Española today. This photo is pretty yellow, taken in a room with flourescent light. The true color is in between the start and this. Sorry. Maybe on your browser it is different yet.
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Magdalena, New Mexico (Hometown) July 8, 2004 & July 11, 2004 These two were done in Magdalena, sitting out in the yard in the evening. Mom Frances, mother in law, works on her yard and we visit. These are done with no changing of the lines so good exercise in perspective and shadows. Propably about thirty minutes each. |
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British Columbia August 1, 2004 & a day or so later On the left is a sketch off the deck of our cottage, Woodbury on the Lake, in Woodbury, BC, near Nelson. Such a lovely place. The sketch is on rough paper in a new sketchbook given me by Sue. No detail on rough paper! Probably about 20 minutes. The right was done while Gene unloaded his bike for a ride from Three Forks to New Denver. About a 10 minute sketch. Horrible of Gene, but it is an exercise to try to get perspective quickly. I think he is bigger and has a beard .. looks weird with the bike. He was walking around so never saw him in the same spot twice. Oh well, works the mind. When Gene is biking, I do so many landscapes that I was trying to do something a little different. You can always change the trees to make them fit as the viewer would never know how the "real" tree was. Perspective on people, cars, buildings, etc., is a little harder. :) |
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British Columbia, Woodbury on the Lake August 9. 2004 Another quick sketch on the rough paper in the book from Sue. It must be handmade paper, cover, etc. Very elegant with a protective sheet in between the pages. Have to try pastel on it. :) These teddy bears were on the cooler but belong on the chair, so I sketched them into the chair without moving them so the perspective on the chair is off, but I enjoyed doing them and am pleased otherwise. About thirty minutes in the cottage. |
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British Columbia August 10, 2004 Gene rode his bike from Rosebury to Nakusp on the Kettle Valley railroad bed. I stopped to sketch by the lake at a rest stop. I worked for 45 minutes or so on the one on the left. I hadn't seen Gene on the other side of the lake, so started a close up of the little boat ramp on the right. I was interrupted as I realized another twenty minutes had passed and no Gene. Had to pack up and go meet him in Nakusp. He beat me there! |
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Austin, Texas October 22, 2004 A paint out at Hwy 71 and 620 in West Austin with the Austin Pastel Society. Click here to see how it went. |
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July 16, 2003 Sketched with Sue, my long distance artist friend, living in Mt. Morris, Michigan. She encourages me to sketch and it has much improved my painting. Sue sketches all the time and makes it look so simple. The sketch on the left was done quickly before doing the plein air pastel of the bridge in Richville Park. Great fun and inspiration from sitting quietly and working together. It was a warm day, but cool in the shade sitting on the grass. Here is what the pastel looks like trimmed to frame. |
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July 21, 2003 Picture on left sketched in Maine at our friend's, Carol and Don's, house. They have a great Iapanese style garden they have been working on for ten years. Carol and I sat in the garden and while visiting I sketched on notebook paper. The bird is a sculpted metal owl. July 22, 2003 Picture on right was sketched of roadside as we drove down the highway in New Brunswick, Canada, enroute to Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was foggy so we couldn't really see the view and I resorted to birch and pine trees as we drove by. |
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July 29, 2003 Jo, preparing to paint plein air at farmhouse in Middle River, Nova Scotia, Canada. Completed a 9 x 12 inch of the corner of the house and yard. There were shadows under the tree, even though it was overcast. Beautiful area. The finished painting is on the Sale Gallery Page along with other paintings. |
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August 9, 2003 In Dartmouth, NS, at Shubie Park. An artist really shouldn't show their scratch paper work, but since that is all I have been doing .. here it is. A study of rocks. I had them shaped much better but moved away from the mosquitos and in so doing, drawing from memory you then draw what you know instead of what you see and the rocks now all look alike. They were individuals when I started. Hmmmm. I'll have to go back and see ... |
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August 19, 2003 Fisherman's Reserve Paintout near Dartmouth, NS and Paint the Town at Annapolis, Royal, NS A great day doing a little plein air with Canadian friends, read all about it and see more photos and Jo's painting. |
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