Psylocke from the X-Men speed drawing by Mark Brooks

The artist is my cousin Mark Brooks, he works as an artist for Marvel Comics... this is about 3.5 hours of work compressed down to 4 mins... it is AMAZING.

Feb28Art

We had a spirited discussion about voter fraud, and the machines that SC uses for elections... lots of the women in that room, myself included worked the polls in the last election and saw first hand the fraud going on.  Maybe not enough to change the outcome, but enough to make quite a few of us mad.

Feb27Art

Got a little more work done on my art tables, did some shopping at a new Lowe's that has opened here... and then a GREAT hockey game, that we won in overtime, via a shorthanded goal.

Feb26Art

We had talked about going to counter protest the Moveon.org and the unions in Columbia today... but decided against it... since those folks have a history of violence... and we didn't want to get involved.
Instead I spent the whole day getting my art books, and art stuff organized.

Feb25Art

This cougar was on a motivational poster... I was captivated by his eyes...

Peach Rose

The Rose is finished... finally. Done on 300 lbs paper 9x12 in size, the rose itself is basically square. It was done with just three colors, Raw Sienna, Daniel Smith Quin Coral, and Quin Gold.. I love DS Quin colors.

Feb24Art

Got an email today from one of the women in a watercolor class with me last year. She's contacted the high school and we're having a watercolor 'workshop' we'll meet every week in the art room and paint together and help each other... we won't have an instructor but we'll have fun I'm sure of it. I can't wait for it to start.

Feb23Art

Had fun tonight pushing paint around, and testing on some new brushes I bought to use with the gouache paint. Cleaning this paint out of the brushes takes a bit more work, and I'm glad I took Roz advise and got a separate set of synthetic brushes to use with this paint. I do like the paint and I'm learning what it will do...

Feb22Art

My mother says I trained my bunny, dressed him in doll clothes,and made him lie in my baby carriage while I pushed him around in it.  He was almost as big as me, I've seen photos of me holding him in my arms, and he feet reached the ground.  My chickens also survived and got fat. My grandmother showed me how to chop off their heads and pluck their feathers for some fine fried chicken... fresh chicken tastes COMPLETELY different from store bought chicken... I do remember that.  As an adult I did visit a friend that had chickens and again had fresh chicken...childhood memories of my own chicken came flooding back when I tasted it.

Feb21Art

Senator Glenn McConnell gave a very interesting talk about some of the budget problems facing SC, thanks to an HHS Agency going ROUGE, spending money they did not have.  The lack of oversight and audit of the agency by the Budget and Control board is grounds for civil, if not CRIMINAL charges in my opinion.  The Senator then fielded questions on everything from illegal immigration to voter ID to roll call voting.  It was an excellent townhall meeting.. Thanks to the Charleston Tea Party for hosting this event... education of the voters and getting honest answers from our representatives is essential for good Government.

Feb20Art

I saw this bracelet before Christmas, but didn't buy it. I went back after Christmas and they didn't have them anymore, but the shop owner said she'd have more in a few weeks. I almost waited too long to check back again, because this one was the last one they had. We went to an RV show this afternoon, and walked thru some that cost 3 times what our house... nice but a bit much for an RV. We'd have to win the lottery to get one.

Feb19Art

My box of gouache paints from Cheap Joe's arrived today. I played around a little with mixing colors. I don't like the purple, I guess I'll need to either buy a violet or different reds and blues... I really like the pink I get mixing red and white, and the green looks nice too. I need to get out a bigger piece of paper and really play with this paint.

Feb18Art

Beautiful day in Charleston today, great weekend ahead too...

Feb17Art

Pizza in a bowl - well actually we have big 'cups' that we have chili or soup in that we use for our pizzas. We really do enjoy this and it is way easier than making an actual pizza with a crust. So here's how we do it... except for the 8 oz can of tomato sauce nothing else gets measured... I just dump in oregano and garlic and whatever else suits my mood... stir and taste and add more if needed... Give this a try, even if you're not on a low-carb diet, this is one great way to enjoy the best part of a pizza.

Feb16Art

Not much time to draw or paint today. We went to shoot, then out to dinner with friends... home now feeding dogs, cats, and birds and off to bed.

Feb15Art

We have a hockey game tonight, our team is a farm team... kids that play in our league do sometimes get called up to the AHL, and even the NHL for the really talented young men. Our referees and linesmen are also on a 'farm' team, just like the players, this is where they start to learn how to referee a game, some of the good ones move up into the AHL and the NHL... I have to remind myself sometimes, that our refs are learning too, and so they make mistakes just like our players do.... doesn't stop me from booing a bad call though.

Feb14Art

We celebrated Valentine's Day when I was a kid, lots of crafts, making a shoe box into a mail box, and lots of cards. I'm a baby boomer, it was common for me to be in a single class in elementary school, with 45 to 60 other kids and just one teacher... we learned to read and we also learned about arts and crafts and music...
By the time my daughter was in elementary school, the classes were MUCH smaller, but the 'artsy' crafts pretty much got dropped, kids bought valentines and exchanged them... and some teachers didn't even allow that. We did have fun and Valentine's day was one of my favorites because of the cards, cutting out hearts, pasting doilies,,, and getting cards from my friends was fun too.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Feb13Art

Managed to only break one of the purple tulips during the planting process. Got some daffodils into the ground, and some pink and purple Hyacinthe into hanging baskets... it was a beautiful day for working in the yard. We have excellent weather ahead all week, I think I'll be riding the scooter to work... woo hoo.

Feb12Art

Meerkats are cute..... so today's wild animal... is a pair of meerkat lookouts. Gorgeous day today in Charleston.... enjoyed doing a little yard work.

Feb11Art

Cold gray day today... we have a hockey game tonight, and I should have done a hockey page. I had picked a colorful Baboon photo yesterday that I wanted to try... I messed up his fur... oh well.... off to the hockey game.

Feb10Art

I'm reading a book called "Sketching People" by Jeff Mellem, and one of the examples is a zebra using only the black stripes... people see the zebra because their eyes want to see a zebra. Cool huh?

Rose - WIP

Pamo wanted a peek at the rose I'm working on... so this is it... I'm doing a petal at a time... hopefully I'll live long enough to finish it. LOL

Feb09Art

Cold today... and started raining after sun down... so another cold wet day ahead tomorrow... YUK.. I'm getting cabin fever... I think I'll work on my rose a little bit more tonight.

Feb08Art

Beautiful day today, I bundled up and rode my scooter to work... ok it was probably too cold to do that... but it sure was fun to ride it again.
I'm very hard to buy for on Valentine's day, allergic to flowers, diabetic so no candy... best present I ever got was my little dog Stoney... but no puppies for me this year.

Feb07Art

Lips and noses... features that are quite difficult for me.. and if I'm ever to draw people I've got to figure out how to draw them.
I tried to load my brushes into the canvas wrap I bought... but my short handled watercolor brushes wouldn't fit except in the first row. I really love my bamboo wrap for brushes, my only complaint was that it wasn't big enough and wouldn't hold all my brushes... I guess the 'solution' should have been obvious... buy a second one. I gave the wrap to Ron, he can use it as a tool wrap for some of his wrenches.

Feb06Art

Spring cleaning, part one... my corner of the den that I use as a studio... well it's where all my painting, jewelry, glass, books, tools, kiln and stuff... lots of STUFF. I didn't finish, but I made a good start on getting my area tidy... so that I can find things... like the box with the book making supplies in it... yippee...

PJC-Group

PJC-Group, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

It was a long WET day... our little band of Jeep buddies did our part to keep the National Forest open for Jeeps.

Off loading the trash

Off loading the trash, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Besides the boat, we picked up two trailer loads of garbage.

Feb05Art

During Helen's art class last month, she used angled brushes a lot... so I ordered a couple. I got the 'faux squirrel' to give it a try... I love my real squirrel brushes, but these are much cheaper.
Got some Fabriano paper to try out, a sketch book and a canvas brush roll... fun new art supplies, maybe I'll actually have time to paint tomorrow.

Feb04Art

I stumbled upon Blind Contour Friday, while surfing from PAMO's blog pamoblog.blogspot.com/ I found her blogging friend Peggy peggy.stermer-cox.com/... from Peggy to the Blind Contour site blindcontourfriday.com/... around the web we go.  Sounded like a fun thing to do ... so here's my first attempt... I cheated... boy it's hard not to look at the paper... I'll do better next time.

Feb03Art

Sitting six feet from Senator Rick Santorum last night, that nose of his just BEGGED for a caricature... I drew and re-drew this trying to get something I liked... I settled on this one... hopefully if the Senator sees it he'll have a sense of humor about it.

Feb02Art

These are the colors I carry in my large travel pallet.  This is my 'short hand' for the colors, and I list the pigment number too, I think it is important to know when you have colors that contain more than 1 pigment, mixing 3 or more is what causes watercolor 'mud'... and this number is an industry standard, while color names vary between brands.
Just got in from a town hall meeting with Rick Santorum, I must say I was VERY impressed with him. He's a solid conservative, family man, with firmly held principles.  He even let his guard down a little and got angry... but it was good to see a man that wasn't following a script and was speaking from the heart. 

Feb01Art

 

First page, palette page... these are the color I carry with me in my tiny bijou box.
Meetings tonight, and tomorrow and Thursday too... so not much time to draw.