Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Sept 26 - End of the Road (sort of)

The travels for 2012 have come to an end, but the work is just beginning!  There has been so much I've learned on this trip and I can't wait to get out again for the next Lines on the Road adventure.  I think I may have promised to do the Umpqua Plein Air again next year, heh!

I left home thinking I'd be doing one type of work and ended up doing that, expanding my skills in it, and also discovering two completely different ways of rendering a sketch that each has merit all on its own as a final product.  The illustration markers were great for what they were and for portability; their limitations started me thinking about trying watercolors again, but I also discovered some new and interesting ways to use them within their capacity.

My "office" while traveling consisted mainly of a tote filled with a new tablet of illustration ("marker") paper, 20 colored pencils, two india ink pens, about 30 illustration markers, and my beat-up point-and-shoot Canon camera.  I used up the tablet of paper, one of the india ink pens, and copious camera batteries during the trip and came back with watercolor paper, brushes, watercolor ink sticks, a bag of oil paints, a notebook full of ideas, a full sketchpad, a plan to hit the road again in October, and a serious desire to be back in my studio.

Will I do this trip again?  Definitely!

Do I know when I'll do it again?  Not a clue, but next year probably; same bat channel, same bat time.

Do I know what's next?  Yep: work, work, work.

I'll be tackling all the ideas, sketches, paintings, etc from here going forward--finished pieces will be posted here since they are still part of the LOTR project, but I'll spare you any contextual blathering (you may thank me at will).  Be on the look-out for a little bit of everything--colored pencil, watercolor, city icon illustrations, oil and acrylic abstracts, and even some fabric items.  They'll trickle in at first--I'm 5 weeks behind paying attention to the house and winter looms--but rest assured there's lots of art to come.

Until then, thanks for following along with the blog and hope to see you at the show . . . whenever that may be!  Heh.

Sept 21 - Parkersburg, WV

Apologies for the gap between Dayton and this last post "from the road". . . I meant to get these up the day after I got home, but strangely, I found myself sucked into the daily routine as if I'd never left (except for unpacking).  Three days later I remembered I had to do this or bust.

Parkersburg WV reached its peak sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, with industry booming and Victorian mansions springing up on every block.  Much of the city has hit a decline since then, and it hasn't found footing in the arts and tourism boom like it's sister city across the river (Marietta, OH). Having said that, however, allow me to say that the historic sections of P'burg where those Victorian beauties have been maintained really wow a wandering body.  My entire goal in stopping there was to capture some of the architectural elegance for later illustrations.

Sadly, though, I didn't catch much with my camera.  [Never fear, however, because I'm going back in a few weeks!]  Most days I bat about a .300 with the camera, but my average was way down that afternoon in P'burg.  Still, you can check out some of the local "color" from the block I circled while in town by clicking the photo below:




[And what was I doing the rest of the time I was there, you ask?  Well, part of it I hope will be in a future edition of This Old House; the other part of it will appear in future artwork in late October as part of my regular website.  Stay tuned!]

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Sept 19 - Dayton, OH

Today included an exhausting seven hours running around the historic Oregon district and the main part of downtown Dayton, Ohio with family!  It's a pretty cool city to wander around, though: lots of flight-themed architecture and decorations, and tons of mechanical history here (starting with the Wright Bros and ending somewhere around the invention of the self-checkout register).

I'm hoping to get a picture or two at the Wright museum at the airport tomorrow--no good shots at the city's Carillon Park where they have the restored Wright Flyer III.

As usual, I'm keeping back a lot of photos to use on art projects or for show at a future time, so there will be more of Dayton to appear later.  Click the photo below to see some of the other pictures from the city:

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Sept 17 - Oklahoma!

When I first thought about driving through Oklahoma, I thought it was going to be a long, boring drive filled with wide open spaces full of corn, cows, or (possibly) horses . . . and that would be all.  After I stopped at an information center, though, I realized I owe a huge apology to the entire state for wallowing in my ignorance.  I'm embarrassed.

Sadly, however, I didn't have time to explore or hit some of the highlights as I was blasting through the Sooner state; I was starting in Texas and hoping to magically appear in east Missouri before I stopped for the day.  I would've missed:


  • The only existing skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Carlsbad Caverns and Blue Hole
  • 39 tribal nations throughout the state and all the heritage, history, culture, and exhibitions that entails


I did manage to make a quick stop at the OK History Center in OK City to catch some of the tribal displays--mostly Sac and Fox, Awapaho, Choctaw, Osage, and Otoe.  I got some great patterns to compliment what I'd seen by the Pueblo back in New Mexico that I want to use on some fabric pieces, as well as some cut-work that will work for a quilted piece I had in mind for a wall hanging.  I was also inspired to do a little more investigation into my family history to see if I could find the tribe in my family tree--its one of the northern US or Canadian tribes, which is all my grandmother knew herself.

The history center also had a gallery display by artist Woody Crumbo; he worked in silk screen, watercolor, and oil to name a few of the medium types he used.  I really loved his style of applying patterns and color work into the animals, and also how he used watercolor more like opaque paint rather than the typical transparent layers; I somehow manage to mix watercolor like syrup (to the horror of every water-colorist I've taken a class with) so it was good to see someone else actually employing that on a finished piece--might have to try it again back home.

No flash photography was allowed, of course, but I did manage a few quick pictures of Crumbo's work for my reference files:









Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sept 16 - Albuquerque, NM

This morning I woke up in my hotel on a bluff overlooking Albuquerque to see about 10 hot air balloons flying over the city--practice runs for next months Balloon Fiesta.  Of course my camera was in the car and by the time I got downstairs they'd either descended or were too far away to capture.  At some point I'm going to learn to keep my camera with me at all times!

Today was a busy day as far as the travel schedule goes: drive up to Santa Fe, drive over to Las Vegas (New Mexico) to have lunch with a new friend, then drive about 7 hours to Oklahoma City (I only made it to Amarillo, TX).  By my calculations that gave me about an hour in Albuquerque, which ruled out the tourist trolley for all things Breaking Bad.  Luckily the Petroglyph National Monument is on the west side of the city so I hot-footed it over there for one of the smaller trails.

The combination of sun angle and stone color can make the images a little elusive; the Pueblo elders believe the petroglyphs choose when and to whom to reveal themselves to.  I'd timed it just right to see The Flute Player, which a lot of folks miss by showing up later in the day.  No fancy photos, just something to share from the trip.

Click the photo to see some of the petroglyphs and other sites from one of the park's trails:



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Sept 15 – Western New Mexico


I crossed over into New Mexico in the late afternoon and here’s the summary of the drive with visual aids:

  • Unexpected sights of pecan and walnut orchards, and several vineyards!
  • Had to pass by Silver City and the Gila cliff dwellings, which was sad since the cliff dwellings were on my must-see list.  Next time!
  • Huge dust devils along the valley and one monster next to the highway at one point—it was like a tornado of dirt spirals a good 50’ wide and a couple hundred feet tall!  Signs were everywhere for "caution: dust storms" and "zero visibility possible" and "do NOT stop in traffic lanes."
  • Cone-shaped mountains that looked like pyramids from a distance.  I think they must be volcanic remnants—I’ll have to check into that once I’m home.


  • I crossed the Rio Grande twice!
  • I passed a sign for a town called “Radium Springs”, which reminded me of “Radiator Springs” from Disney/Pixar’s Cars and I wonder if this is where they got the inspiration for the name.  It also made me wonder (thinking of anthropomorphic vehicles) if I were a car what would I be?  I’ll have to think about it and work up an illustration for fun.  Let’s see  . . . 1970s, something speedy but not glamorous, both practical and fun, a little bit tom-boyish, some funky detailing. . . I have a sinking feeling that if I were a car I’d be a brown El Camino with orange pin stripes.  Ha!
  • Other misc pix of New Mexico as seen from the highway:

From cones to buttes.

More lush desert.

More cones.

Catching some evening light against the red rocks.

More cones in the distance.  Is using a camera while driving a distraction if my eyes are still on the road?  Heh.


Sunset lasted almost two hours.


Sept 15 – Tucson, AZ (part II)


I got a very brief glimpse of Tucson in the less-than-24-hrs I was there.  There are two “downtowns”: the high-density commercial area and the adjacent historic-slash-University funky area.  Decidedly walk-able and very cool to visit.  When visiting, please note that there are numbered streets and numbered avenues . . . it’s very confusing to cross 6th Street at 6th Avenue.  You’d think they would’ve started using letters at some point, but no.

We (my hosts and I) had dinner on 4th Ave then took a walk around the funky side of town.  I was lucky enough to be there on a Friday night, when the SkyBar has a group of fire-dancers working outside.  They used batons, hoops, etc, and grooved to some great electric mix music and live bongos.  My camera is useless for night shots, so I’m going to try to reproduce the memory on colored paper with conte and ink stick wash (if the two are compatible) or pastel.

We also visited the Hotel Congress where infamous bank robber John Dillinger was captured.  The interior of the hotel lobby is awash in copies of news articles and mug shots, which is an interesting contrast to the muted tones of tribal designs on the stucco walls.

The following morning I was headed out of town, but took a quick detour to the east side of town to the Saguaro National Park.  Did you know Saguaro cactus only start to bloom when they’re about 40 yrs old, and only start to branch out around 75 yrs old?  And that they have a “skeleton” made out of woody ribs that natives would use for fences?  I didn’t.

I didn’t make it all the way up into the deepest part of the park (the ponderosa pine forests), but I did manage to get a few pictures down in the desert portion.  Note to self: when wandering through lush desert aimlessly taking photos, try not to walk through low-growing cacti (again).  Got a couple of spines embedded in my ankle for my carelessness!  The park is gorgeous and I’ll be coming back to do some more exploring, though I’ll have to be on the lookout for more than just tricky cacti that jump in front of me when I’m not paying attention: there are tree snakes, jaguars, and mountain lions in the park, too.

The pictures aren’t fantastic or many, but I wanted to share for those that haven't been to the Sonoran Desert.  Click the picture to see the photo album:


Sept 15 – Tucson, AZ (part I)



I was able to finally shake off that fit of “woe is me” and “am I there yet” as soon as I had the travel plans out of Salt Lake taken care of.  They’d been up in the air and right up until the night of the 13th I wasn’t sure when I was leaving, how I was leaving, where I was going, etc.   Not knowing makes me cranky.  I don’t know what it is about me: I can be incredibly spontaneous but I get antsy if there isn’t some sort of Plan to follow.

And by “Plan” I mean something as easy as “Hey, there’s a cheap flight to Barbados leaving in 30 minutes, let’s go; you call the cat sitter and I’ll start the car.”  See that?  The hypothetical Plan was to start the car and go.  Happiness is a decision in my book.

Anywho, I found myself headed back to the southwest!  By a sheer stroke of good luck I have a friend who bought a car in Tucson AZ and needed to get it back to Virginia . . . and there I was, still bummed about missing the southwest because of the hurricane a few weeks ago and working on my route home from Utah. 
 
Yes, it’s true: I live a charmed life.

The only downside is that I don’t have time to really explore since I’ve got about 3 days to get from Arizona to Ohio.  I’ll have a few hours here, a few hours there . . . and a lot of photos taken from the car at 80 miles per hour.  Ha!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Sept 13 - Bonneville Speedway and Salt Lake, UT

I went out today to see what photos I could get of some of the surrounding areas to the west of the city and maybe work on some sketches if anything jumped out at me.  The air was so incredibly hazy, though, it really wasn't a good "picture day."  Places that were well within walking distance appeared shrouded in mist or fog; there was no horizon line on the lake and sailboats appeared to be floating.  It was weird.

The Bonneville Speedway salt flats were amazing, though, even with crappy photos that don't do it justice.  The flats were a bit soggy so I didn't risk taking my brother's car out to one of the tracks to blow the cobwebs off the engine (that weren't blown off at 90mph getting there), though there was a group of folks who drove out for something as evidenced by the trailer of wood and metal they were hauling.  It was probably a good idea to stay back: I passed a camper that tried to drive out and ended up sunk in the salt up to its running boards.  I could see some of the pathway cones further out, but no obvious activity happening.

And you'd think whatever pools of water were out on the flats would be hot in the mid-day sun, but the water was cooler than ambient temperature (mid 70s). . . the dregs of memory left over from my chem lab days explained it all to me once I actually took a few seconds to think about it.

I managed to get some decent photos, but nothing that really stood out for me.  Nearly all of the salt flat pix had to be tweaked to get anything off in the distance to show up.  As usual, click the photo to see the entire album:


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sept 12 - Commentary from the Road

The illustration markers have been fun to use, but I have to keep reminding myself that I only just used them for the first time a few months ago and that it's going to take time to master them, just like any other material.  My mind keeps wanting to layer them like I do with the colored pencils, or use them like watercolor washes, but they aren't either one of those things and I get a little frustrated with the limitations.  There is no creating the correct medium tones or values, it's simply hue and tint application.  Period.

They're almost boring, even.  Almost.

BUT I give them major props for portability, which is why I bought them in the first place, so I just have to suck it up and learn to play with them within their capacities.

I'm looking forward to being home again, in my own studio with access to all my supplies (not just what I can carry through security in a tote bag).  So many of the photos I've taken--many of which haven't been added to the public photo albums shared on this blog--are reserved for color pencil work once I'm home, and I even have some reserved for painting or other media!  The markers are fun, but I'm antsy to get back to my pencils and a better quality of work.

And three and a half weeks on the road is starting to wear; I feel a little frayed around the edges.  I'm a little tired, a little homesick, a little ready to get back to the regular hum-drum of house projects, part-time jobs, grumbling at having to do chores, and looking forward to dinners with my urban family.  (Note: I am NOT ready to deal with mowing the yard again, however.  If it were just about the yard I'd stay away until it was buried under 6" of snow.)

Wanted: Someone to mow and weed my lawn every two weeks in exchange for amateur art.  Will negotiate with velvet Elvises (Elvi?) upon request.




Park City, UT - Easy Street Bar (sketch)

So for this sketch I tried to do the same blocky under-painting with the markers then apply the pen lines as I did with the the corner lamppost sketch (previous post) and the Knoxville butterflies.  It didn't work out as well, but I think that's largely because of the over-whelming black blobs (among other things).

I've told myself any number of times in the past few weeks: Do not use the black marker!  Use the 60% grays instead!

I should just throw the darn thing out.  THAT will keep me from using it!

Anyway, still working on this method.  (sigh)






Park City, UT - The Corner Lamppost (sketch)

While I was in Park City today I decided to work a bit more on that blocky sketch drawing similar to the butterflies of Knoxville.  This one turned out okay, but I know I need more practice at it.

Working with the limited color palette of the markers throws me off as well, as evidenced by the blue spruce that looks like Cruella deVille had a hand in color selection.  I should have used the muted blue colors I have and green tones be damned!  For some reason I continue to think that pale jade green marker (the one that looks almost white in the picture) is darker than what it actually is, even though I have a color key for the markers sitting right next to me.  One of life's mysteries.

I digress.

So. What am I trying to do?  Basically I'm throwing down blocks of color without any other lines what-so-ever to guide placement or proportion.  Then I overlay with india ink pen to create the sketch details.  It almost reminds me of those comic strips where the color blocking is offset from the lines.  There's potential in this style, I think, I just need to keep working at it.


Sept 12 - Park City, UT

I spent yesterday kicking around with my family, getting the tour and seeing some of the sights.  We drove north and east circling a section of the Wasatch Mtns, lunched in Park City (it's Utah's Malibu to Salt Lake City), then we circled back around to Salt Lake City by way of the Guardsman Pass.  Gorgeous country, especially with the Aspen trees just starting to turn yellow, and the maples already brilliant scarlet.

Today I was on my own and back at work, camera in hand, so I decided to revisit some of the places we saw yesterday since I'd have time to dawdle and wander around.  Click the photo to see the online album:



Monday, September 10, 2012

Sept 9 - Portland, OR

I took the train up to Portland and have a little over 24 hrs here before I fly out to Salt Lake City.  With the time crunch I wanted to catch as much as I could, so I'm limiting myself to just photographs while I'm in the city.

Portland was made for me to photo!  It's got that funky blend of modern sleek appeal with historic charm; I knew I was in trouble when I spotted three of my favourite browsing companies (because they're certainly out of my price range) with display windows right on the main streets for me to drool on.  I'm staying in the northwest part of the city - the Pearl District they call it - and within walking distance of some of the best attractions in the city.  I was commanded to Powell's Books, which is the largest privately owned bookstore, and just did my usual wandering around with camera in hand.  I should make a tee that says "Caution: tourist" across the back.

I'm also headed to the famous Rose Garden and perhaps the Japanese and Chinese gardens as well.  The sky is again overcast, but here's hoping the morning the fog will burn off a little bit!  As usual, click the photo to view the Portland photos . . . more coming soon!


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sept 9 - Roseburg, OR (artist favorites)

There were some amazing pieces created during the plein air event, and I wanted to share some of my favorite works before I left town and got sidetracked by other cities.  I neglected to write down titles and artists.

This first is an acrylic painting that just floored me--the artist is sketching with paint!  I saw this and thought to myself, "She's doing exactly what I want to do with the markers and pens with my rough sketch illustrations and exactly what I need to be doing with paint!"  Swaths and blocks of color and some line-work to add details where needed.  The eye and the brain fill in the rest.  LOVE IT!


A zoom of the detail.  LOVE!

Ditto the following.  The juror created a special award for this one and then bought it for himself!  Let me say that again: the COMPETITION JUDGE bought this painting . . . that's a major coup for the artist!


Detail

Despite my exuberant love of the above two paintings, the one I would have bought for myself (had I won prize money) is this pastel piece:



And then these are just some of my other favorites:

Acrylic

Pastel

Pastel


Roseburg, OR - Roseburg Painters (illustration)

This illustration was done as part of the plein air event during a "quick draw" session in downtown historic Roseburg.  We were given two hours to complete (and frame) a painting of any subject along a stretch of Jackson Street.  My goal here was to keep the viewer's eye moving back into the picture to suggest the long open space of a street but suggest a lot of energy and movement with very few details.

This one is my favorite of the four I did during the competition: it is exactly what I pictured it would be when I started.  The correct perspective was there, the figures were good, the lines were clean and energetic without being over-worked; it came together perfectly.

And people are loving this style!  I had about 6 people stop to comment on it while I was working during the competition, and later during the show several others told me they really loved this look.  You will definitely be seeing more of it.


Roseburg, OR - High Contrast View (illustration)

This was the third piece I worked on during the plein air event, and was really just something I did for fun and not for competition.  The intent of a plein air painting is to capture the correct tone, value, and contrast in light and shadow of a subject under natural (ever-changing) light conditions.  By the time I was looking for my third subject, I was hot, sweaty, getting tired, and really just wanting to do something fun.

The color-blocking appealed to a lot of people at the show though it doesn't follow the intent of plein air per se.  One person suggested I take this image (or the style, at least) and apply this to decorative tiles like what might be seen on a back-splash.  It's something I never thought of (but I like it!), so I'll mull the tile idea over and run some numbers once I'm back home.  Decorative tiling by Pencilated . . . has a nice ring to it.



Roseburg, OR - Cornflowers (illustration)

This is a mixed media of illustration marker and ink stick--after I thought about it, I realized I could've just called the medium "ink" and been done with it, but hey.  There was this GREAT ancient truck parked on the farm that had once been red but was so faded it was mostly bone white with red around whatever edges it had--there's a photo of it in the Roseburg album and you'll see it again in some other work once I'm back in the studio.

I'd picked up a packet of solid ink sticks the other day and thought I'd give them a try for the faded paint effect.

Yes, I said "give them a try."  I'd never used them before, had literally taken the cellophane off the box sitting right there during the competition, and tried them out on something I was planning on submitting in a show.  The jury here is still out on whether that was an incredibly stupid thing to do or an incredibly gutsy thing to do.  (Hint: it was an educated guess based on some experience with the same ink-solid in pencil form, so this artist would like to suggest the correct answer is "incredibly gutsy.")

Anyway, this piece earned accolades (but not awards) from some of the folks at the gallery, and I got a lot of compliments on it during opening night.  It's featured in the arts center "top 40" gallery for the event (out of about 160), which made my day!

Things that I like about this:  The high contrast between the warm colors on the top half and the cool colors on the bottom half.

Thing that I don't like about this: I should have used the dang rusty brown (instead of fire engine red that was closer to the real deal) to play down the truck and added in some cream tones to the background to make the white less bright.  Maybe include more weedy flowers with future attempts?  I don't know--but this has potential as a style.

Cornflowers.  Appx 8 x 10 in. (unframed), mixed media on paper.  $150 (framed) at UVAC.

Roseburg, OR - Hint of Fall (illustration)

Apologies for the picture-of-a-picture here (and in the next few posts); these had to be framed on site and dropped off for display within an hour of finishing them so I wasn't able to scan them as I've been doing with the other illustrations I've done on this trip.

This was my first sketch of the day for the plein air competition and although I've received some compliments for it, this was actually a flub for the day in my book.  I fell prey to the classic competition faux pas of second-guessing what I wanted to do and reigned it in to what I thought they (the juror, really) would want to see.  What I got was a sketch that didn't accomplish anything except disappointment in myself.  I wanted to do this in the ink wash and scribbley-pen overlay like I did with the butterflies or the Tin Roof sketches from Knoxville, and that's what I should have done!  I'll redo this when I get back home to the studio.

But, hey, if you really like this version, you can buy it for $150 (framed!) from the Umpqua Valley Arts Center in Roseburg, OR.

I'll work on my salesmanship in the meantime . . .




Thursday, September 6, 2012

Sept 6 - Roseburg, OR (the plein air event)

So, so tired!

Today was a whirlwind of activity starting at about 7am and going right up until now (1030pm).  The weather was beautiful, the farm I worked on was beautiful, downtown was beautiful . . . the margaritas and designer cupcakes I ate with dinner were beautiful.

I did a total of four pieces today--I had to have them stamped, framed, and delivered to the art center within one hour of completion, so I don't have any scans of them to post.  Tomorrow I'll have photos of them from the display, though, so keep an eye out for those.

I didn't know what I was going to do when I started the competition this morning, so I did whatever felt right for the subject. The shed and tree at the entrance to the farm became a nice, calm ink illustration; the rough and tumble cornflowers against the aged truck became a roughed-in drawing in ink stick I applied with my fingers; the blowzy over-blown red begonias against the blue mountain ridge became a cartoon-like illustration; and the energy of the downtown street scene became that rough ink sketch style with a color wash I liked so much back in Nashville.  I'll redo a version of these once I get back home, too.

Anyway, enough of that--no sense talking about them if I can't share pictures of the art right now.  What I'm trying so unelegantly and unsuccinctly to say is that it was a busy day, I did some good stuff, I got a few pictures, I ate, I laughed . . . and I am exhausted!  Tomorrow we have a morning full of demos and more painting (non-competitive), and then at 5pm they announce the winners and open the display to the artists and the public.  The top forty pictures are displayed in the main hall of the arts center, and I'm hoping I get at least one picture chosen for that.  (Secretly, of course, I'm hoping I win the top prize cash pot, but I'll be really happy if someone buys something!  Heh.)

Okay, I'm falling asleep while I sit here, so without further ado I present to you a small selection of the photos I managed to take today while I wasn't scribbling away on paper.  Enjoy . . . and wish me luck for tomorrow!


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Sept 5 - Roseburg, OR

This morning we (my hosts and I) had some time to kill before the plein air events started in the afternoon, so we drove up to Crater Lake to get in a little sight-seeing.  It was amazing--so blue!  And (oddly) I forgot to take the camera, so just pretend there's a bunch of lodge pole pines standing in front of an electric blue blue-screen (or one of the guys from the Blue Man Group) and that would be about the color intensity of the lake.  Just . . . wow.

We got back to town just in time to change clothes and clean up, then run back out for the event meet/greet and associated dinner.  I met the guest juror (Thomas Kitts) and talked to him for a bit, and met a lot of other really great people--most are here as competitors, though I'm trying not to think of the event that way.  He gave a short speech about the plein air process and (thankfully!) also gave us a heads up on what judging criteria he'll be looking for with our work.  I am the ONLY pencil/pen/ink artist here, so that made me feel better since I had been thinking there was NO chance I'd even be able to compete.

I don't even have a plan for any of my work, I'm just going to show up and let it roll.  I'm definitely feeling the high-contrast graphic vibe, though, so we'll see!

I'm not the only fish out of water, though, since there's a woman here who does encaustic paintings, and I hear she did really well last year.  I'm astounded that she's able to do her work in the field at all but apparently she has a whole rig set up in the back of a van, which has got to be a sight to see so you know who I'll be looking for once I'm done with my stuff!

Tomorrow I should have some photos to post--of my work, at least!

Here's how tomorrow will play out:


  • 730am: Check in, get my papers time-stamped and start sketching/drawing/whatever.  I'll start at a nearby farm, though I have the option to also travel down to a local vineyard.
  • 2pm: Whatever I've done, I get it time-stamped again and slap one-, two-, or three of my best pictures into frames and schlep them down to the arts center within one hour of the final time-stamp.  If I leave the farm location and go to the vineyard, I have to frame and deliver what I did to the art center before going back out to the vineyard.
  • 3pm: If it's not at the art center by this time it won't be part of the judging.
  • 4pm: Pencils ready for the quick-draw contest in downtown Roseburg!  We have about two city blocks roped off for the event, and we have two hours to do whatever we're going to do.  We can each only enter 1 picture from the quick-draw event for judging.
  • 6pm: Pencils down!  Like the painting session earlier, I have to get the work checked out and framed before it's due back at the art center.  I have the chance to win a people's choice award with this one!
  • 7pm: Deadline to have the quick-draw art delivered to the art center and then I'm sure I'll fall over asleep before I get back to the car.


There will be a bunch of artist demos on Friday morning while things are being judged (I'm hoping to catch a pastel demo), and then later that day they'll announce winners and hand out awards.  I win "furthest traveled" and I heard I'll get an award for that, which will be nice.  Maybe it'll be a gas card. . . heh!

Alburquerque/Santa Fe, NM - A Wave as I Flew Over (sketch)

My only experience in the Southwest was in the Alburquerque airport, and you can't really call that an experience.  That's like going to a shopping mall and hoping to get a sense of local culture.

While perusing one of the gift shops I came across these great art cards inspired by the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration--LOVED THEM, bought many, inspired me to create a picture of my own in tribute to my passing through/over.  I might be able to get back to the southwest sooner than I thought, but until it's official I'm keeping mum.

This was a quick practice sketch I threw together mere minutes (literally!) before I boarded my flight--I thought I had about an hour to kill but I skipped a time zone in there somewhere or spent too much time perusing the shops or something, so it was a bit of a surprise when I'd just settled in to start this and heard the boarding announcement.  I haven't had time to work on developing this further as a final, but you should expect to see a finished version (and probably more like it) later in ink or mixed media tissue collage.  Trust me, the final version(s) WILL look a thousand times better, and just like those art cards.


New Orleans, LA - Biking Through Isaac (illustration)

Yes, we did.  Through town, down to the Moonwalk (river walk on the Mississippi), and through the Quarter.  We had to call it quits, though, once things started flying at our heads.

My nod to the city and bikers who hosted me during Hurricane Isaac, a la the Icon series.  Just for fun.


New Orleans, LA - City Icons (illustration)

I bopped around the French Quarter during my entire stay in NOLA, which is right on the Mississippi River. No complaints from me, even with the hurricane!

From left to right: homage to the city's French history and Mardis Gras (beads were like ornaments in everything from railings to tree limbs), the Crescent City Connection (twin cantilever bridges), painters set up around Jackson Square, the green and white-striped canvas roof of Cafe du Monde, the statue of General Jackson in the Square, the famous Natchez steam sternwheeler and it's calliope pipes and double stacks, and the Saint Louis Cathedral.

I was lucky enough to catch the calliope in action one afternoon and the happy jazz tunes puffing out of the steamer added a little pep to my pedaling.  I actually knew the words to one of them (thanks to a few years living with grandparents), and joined in with a few sidewalk musicians who bongoed or tapped in rhythm.  The Quarter along the river front became one of my favourite spots in America.




Sept 4 - Roseburg, OR

Well, it seems to have been a few days since I last popped on to update my traveling blurbs.  The extended pit-stop in New Orleans really kinked up my art plans for the southwest and the west coast, and it was only yesterday that things settled back into place as planned.  I'll spare you the long version and skip straight to the short and sweet: I traveled.  A lot.  Then, I visited briefly with my family, and then I did more traveling.  Now I'm here in Oregon (also visiting with family) and it's beautiful and warm and sunny and I may never leave.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) begins the first day of the plein air competition that started this whole cross-country trip.  It's pretty much a meet and greet over dinner, official sign-in and name-tagging, etc; the real work starts at 7:30am on Thursday when we start the competition and quick-draw contests.  I'm entered in both events and have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing or how I'll be doing it . . .I'm just going to let the location and light talk to me once I get out there.

But, before I get too far ahead of myself, I owe you a couple of images from the last few days . . .