It's Lonestar Round Up time in Austin, and yesterday I joined up with Shelley Jackson, Jeff Crosby, and their daughter, talented artist/dinosaur handler Harper, for an afternoon of sketching the South Congress scene.
Shelley and Harper enjoying music at the end of the sketch day. More pictures of cars here.
A day in the life with a spicy kitty who knows how to inspire action. Below is the back door trim where she hangs from.
Painting some graphics for the info page of my site.
Trying to get the right order on the portfolio.
Walked away from my work table this afternoon without capping a small container of Higgins black ink (barely diluted). Add a windy day and open window, and I've got permanent art on my table where it pooled up under a piece of plexiglass. There's a flash flood warning for tonight; maybe it's a sign. And I will have to start a new practice of reading the ink spills.
Gouache is a medium that I've always wanted to try out but have never quite known how to begin. I mean, even spelling it is an adventure. But I feel comfortable using watercolor, and I figured that gouache was like watercolor with the ability to go opaque. Yesterday afternoon I got to play with some colors (thanks, Marsha!), and it was a little weird. I kept expecting it to do watercolor-y things like create nice color bleeds when put on damp areas (it mostly stayed where I put it, and I had to drag a wet brush through to mix the color on the page), or dry lighter (it dries darker). It's also very easy to start out super thick, and get loads of opaque texture, which can be cool if you're expecting it. One really nice thing is how easy it is the thin out/lift dried color on the page (much easier than traditional watercolor). I'm just realizing how watercolor-geek this is sounding...
So, the air plant & dinosaur holder were a birthday gift (and so awesome). My kitty took it as a challenge, but at least it got her off my paints. Happy weekend!
***No plastic dinosaurs or epiphytes were harmed in the filming of this.
Just nice to start out 2012 with a fresh, clean banner at the top of my blog. I've got so many unfocused pictures of whooping cranes and other waterbirds from our Christmas outing. They may not be great for sharing, but they're excellent sketching material.
This year my mother had an inspired idea to deal with the slow time between the morning gift exchange and Christmas dinner: a whooping crane tour. We bundled up and drove out to Rockport, Texas, and despite some initial hesitation when we learned we'd be on the boat for 3+ hours (the wind made it nose-freezingly-brisk, and my 14-month old nephew was with us), we boarded the Skimmer and headed out into the gray day. It was amazing. Our guide, Captain Jay, was genuinely excited about pointing out birds and sharing information, not just for the cranes, but for a peregrine falcon, a 37-year-old kite (a regular), and so many others. As for the whooping cranes, they're beautiful. And endangered. It's so strange to think that only 400 or so exist in the wild, and the majority of those winter half an hour from where I grew up. We saw two family groups (mother, father, juvenile), and a couple of adult groups. The shot above was one of the last of the day, when the sun finally broke through the clouds.
Above: group of three adults, who did everything in sync
Above: this couple was the closest the boat got to observe, and one is banded and wearing some sort of transmitter. I also love that the other has an orange eye, instead of the normal golden.
The mother and juvenile are part of the same family unit as the bird on the left in the photo above; he's the male, chasing off some interlopers.
More of the same family group. Apparently the drought raised the salinity of the water, which in turn affected the cranes' main food source: blue crabs. Instead, the birds are having to spend much more time foraging for food with less protein. I have many photos of birds with their heads in the grass.
And there are lots of other non-crane bird shots, but I'll save that for the next post.
