Eat at Joe's

 This is the second in a series of three Grand restaurants for a friend.

Heirlooms

Every Tuesday a portion of the Grand street is shut down for the Farmer's Market and there's always large tables laden with delicious, locally grown fruits and vegetables.
(for this month's Sketchbook challenge)

Cubs and Fire

It was during my trip back home to Jersey when my older brother and I decided to go fishing at the pond that we encountered a big mama bear with her three cubs. Apparently, someone had thrown some left over bagels in the area, even sticking some up high in the trees and this family enjoyed eating them all up. It was fun watching them and taking pictures from the safety of the car. My brother and I decided to go try our luck fishing at the river instead the pond. 
 
 

The fire department at my home town still sounds out the 5 o'clock whistle each night.  As a kid, when I heard that sound I knew it was time to head on home. It's comforting to know that some things don't change.  I knew drawing the building was going to be challenging due to the different shapes and angles so this was a practice session for me because I'm planning on doing a series of watercolors of my home town.

The Last Class Assignment

I can't believe how 6 weeks has gone by so quickly in our drawing class. It was a sad and quiet meeting last night as our teacher gave us our final work assignment, working with pastels! That was a first for me. And in our 45 minutes I got as far as I got below before turning in the colorful pieces of pastels  (funny how the camera couldn't clearly focus on the fuzzy board). Now I need to add more things to my art stuff...pastels....it's very different than sketching or working with water colors. But it was fun working from the dark to the lighter shades and seeing the form appear on the board. I'm hooked.

On another note, I was able to get a few people from the class signed up to continue to do some sketching meet ups. Who knows, maybe we'll get a Urban Sketchers group formed in the future. Now that would be exciting!

Rookiepainter Challenge 33

I love finding blogs that provide you a monthly challenge. Here's one and my attempt at the still life that was given.

Getting Closer

 

 

Another page done for the Sketchbook Project. Two to go.

Towards the End

The deadline is Jan 31st and I have four more pages to fill in my book. I can do it especially since I have ideas for those empty pages. It's the back cover page that's still a blank in my head. Something will come up plus I could always go with typical "The End" or "Ta Da".

The Sketchbook Project 2012 - what a trip.

Running Across the Road

Wow....I can't believe I haven't posted in a while; nor have I sketched or water colored. I had so many plans of doing nothing but art work during my time off from work! I guess it happens to all of us. Today though, was different. I decided to go for a ride and look what crossed my path! I think this is the first one I've seen in the 6 years I've been back living in California. A stop off at a library to look up some pictures of the Roadrunner, a quick sketch and ta-da! or should I say beep-beep.

Hope Street - again

....because I'm giving the 1st one to my big Brother.

A Gift

This was a birthday gift to a friend.

Metal Barn

Here's the finished picture, finally.  I have an endless supply of my photography to choose from to convert into sketches. Even though I enjoy the "on location" sketching being able to take my time to start and finish a drawing works for me too.

I've tried to remember where this shot was taken, what town or near enough to a town to count but my memory kept coming up blank for this shot. It would be around the Ramona area or Julian or somewhere else. It's definitely in southern California and that will have to do.

Travels - Jerome, AZ

Something about this water color has missed it's mark for me and I'm not sure why. I even added some color pencil in some areas. Maybe that's it, it's too much or too dark. This is when a good critique would come in handy for me.

Jerome is an old mining town that is full of history. Today it's a tourist and art destination with many B&B's and over 30 galleries and studios.  This abandoned building is the of the first you see as you enter Jerome.

Hope Street

I finally added the water colors this afternoon, after work....still have one to go but I have the whole weekend to sketch and paint.

Driving around Ramona one day I came across the line up of mail boxes and had to stop to take some photos. Then I noticed the road sign and knew I had found something special.  Little did I know that two years later I would be sketching and painting the same picture.

 

 

Travels

This is from a picture I took, traveling on Route 66 which is also called the Mother Road. We were on our way to Flagstaff and I had to stop to take this classic rt66 shot.

The Ingredients

Split Pea Soup and the first time using my Lamy fountain pen!

It's a totally hot pen.

In the Works

 I'm enjoying working in my 6X9 spiral book. The size is just right for me right now. I also picked up a two pack, fine Sharpie black pens. The shade was slightly lighter than the Microns that I have been using so I'm testing them out with these two sketches. (they passed the water pre-test).  I'll be adding the water colors at some point but for now, I'm enjoying this stage.

Gerda's World

My favorite place at my Cousin Gerda's home is in the back patio. She has different plants, a water pond and lots of cool trinkets to look at. Here's my attempt to capture some the patio. I also found out my sepia ink is not water proof. That will teach me to do some prior testing.

Ramona, Ca

This is from a photograph I had taken a while ago while riding around the Ramona area. I've always had an attraction to water towers of any shape, size, town labeled or in the middle of a field.