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Dec22Art, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Wonderful news from Brazil tonight, it sounds like the Goldman boy will be reunited with his Dad at long last and allowed to come home. What a wonderful Christmas gift for them both…

We did get an awful lot of snow on Friday. We woke up Saturday morning to 17 inches of snow. Our local weather expert said we haven’t had this much snow in one event since 1997. It’s the most snow Kiddo has ever seen. She’s had a blast sledding down our driveway while we fretted over how we were ever going to dig out. Luckily a neighbor showed up with a tractor. But being stuck at home has allowed plenty of time to make holiday goodies. And this elf still has gifts to wrap before the big guy shows up. So here’s wishing all of you a Merry Merry!

Peace to you this holiday season.

blogged at http://nemcoskyart.blogspot.com/2009/12/sketchbook-tuesday_22.html

original post here

In my previous post I explained how I’ve been printing out drawings done in my life drawing group and adding watercolor.  I just don’t seem to be fast enough to complete a watercolor sketch in situ – although there are several artists in my group who do.  Well it’s so much fun that I did some more – and I’m learning to avoid the pitfalls of ink running, and losing the drawing altogether.  Here are a couple with the original drawing scan, and then the colored in version, as well as a few otheres that worked out alright.  I think the first one actually loses something when color is added, but I like the second one better in color.  What do you think?

This guy isn’t your typical beauty queen, but he was fun to draw.

And this is my favorite watercolor, although not necessarily my favorite drawing.

Oh, Blogger, why are your turning my images sideways?
Okay, everyone, get ready for some neck stretches. Tilt your head to the right, hold,
Tad’s brothers during Thanksgiving. keep holding it to the right, Tad’s dad relaxing…

now, stretch it to the left, and back to the right…a spread I did at the Portland Art Museum

close up

otherside..

okay, tilt your head to the left. and hold.

now straighten up…

nice.

stupid blogger!

this is a sketch I did at home, in my slippers with a cat near my feet.

I painted the banana one day, then painted the squash a couple of days later. I don’t normally make my shadows as dark as the one with the banana – I just picked up the wrong paint color by mistake. I’m not using watercolor paper (this journal has Arches Text Wove in it), so I lightened it as much as I could without ruining the paper. I made sure to use the right color for the shadow of the squash! I had planned on painting more the day I painted the banana, but when I didn’t get it done, it worked for Kate’s Lesson 5 of grids and combining more than one day on a page.

Just a daily journal page about a well loved pair of moccasins I’m finally able to wear again.

My brother and sister-in-law are here for a few days, so I decided I had to try sketching them. He looks more like his sketch than she does, but neither is very accurate. Profiles of people with glasses are hard!

cashier’s register
Originally uploaded by daveterry.

I usually get to the Enterprise around 7:15 or so. It’s always the same routine: buy breakfast from the downstairs cafeteria and eat it while reading my email up on the 18th floor.

This sometimes gives me indigestion, but there it is. It’s a habit I can’t break.

I eat healthy, every other day. One morning I’ll have eggs, a strip or two of bacon, and some potatoes. The next morning I’ll have oatmeal with raisins. The oatmeal is good for my heart and weight. However, I figure that if I eat oatmeal every day my body will get wise to it and stop dropping the pounds. So every other day I feed the body gobs of fat and protean. Then the next day I try to get the fat off through the oatmeal raisin cup.

Ah, but I digress, my diet is not the intended subject of this post.

This is about those faceless people in the cafeteria, the cashiers.

Usually people don’t pay them any attention. They just fork over the cash and funnel through the line.

Of course, I come in so early there is no line. So, I have a choice. Which cashier do I choose, the gabby one or the brusque one?

I vacillate, not able to decide.

One cashier treats me roughly. Even though there is no one behind me, he slams and punches at the register as if in a hurry. He treats me so brusquely I fear I’ve somehow made him mad. He grabs my cash card, shoves it into the slotted device, punches at the keys, ejects the card and tosses it back at me. It lands on my Styrofoam breakfast box. He says nothing but looks past me as if to help the next person. But there is no next person. There is no line. In fact, there are no people in the entire cafeteria.

I’ve tried friendly greetings: “Hey, Jimmy, how’s it going? How are you today?” and when I go I always say: “Have a good one.” But he only returns: “Too” or “Yep.” Never nothing more than a single syllable.

If I go to the other cashier, I’ll be there a very long time. She likes to chat and fiddle with the change. She’ll open the drawer, pick stuff off the floor, or busy herself opening the change rolls. I’m thinking: “Hello!? Anyone there? Hey, there is someone here to give you caaaash.”

One time she walked off while I was approaching the register. She went off to fiddle with the napkins and plastic forks. All the while I stood at the register, card in hand, mouth open, sort of incredulously looking over at her. She was mumbling.

When she does stay at the register, she stares down at the cash drawer and talks to it. She’s telling it something important or maybe she is telling me some story and I’m expected to know the context. I haven’t a clue what she’s talking to her register about.

Oh, I sometimes hear parts of conversations, like: “I told him but he wouldn’t listen, uh huh.” She seems like a homeless person shuffling the streets, talking to herself.

When she finally gets around to taking my money, I just say generic commiserating stuff like: “Yeah, what are you going to do.” or “Not much you can do.” I’m just playing along. Sometimes I’ll say something positive like: “Well, At least it’s a beautiful day.” Then she’ll reply with: “You can say that again, umhumm, yep you can.”

On the one hand I just want to get through the line (using this term loosely since there really isn’t one this early in the morning). On the other hand I don’t want to get slammed around this early before my second cup.

Why can’t checkout people just take my money, thank me, and say: “Have a good one?”

In the end, which cashier I can endure is one of the toughest decisions I make each day.

…dave
If it’s true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

My-Jeep-Christmas-Parade-2009, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Took this picture of my Jeep, after the Christmas Parade… the bear was a hit

Dec20Art, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

We had a lot of fun again this year at the Summerville Christmas Parade…

Dec19Art, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Our hockey team won again tonight… that’s 14 wins in a row. Starting early tomorrow to get ready for the Christmas Parade.

Here’s a new Painting just finished –for now Everyday Matters has me painting for an Eastport Maine Mostly Men Exhibit for next June.—and everyday does matter so much! Check out my site when you have time.

http://www.winnasworld.blogspot.com

Dec18Art, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Rain was coming down in buckets this afternoon… it’s slowed down now… and is supposed to quit… Hopefully the parade that was rained out last weekend, will happen this Sunday without a hitch.

graphite in my sketchbook

I spent some time following the cats around today.

Above and below is Musky looking out the window — he’s watching the birds at the feeder.
graphite in my sketchbook

This one is Missy lounging….
watercolor pencil in my sketchbook

…. and watching the birds.
graphite and watercolor in my sketchbook

“There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat. ” ~Wesley Bates

While I am sitting here waiting for snow, as we are predicted to get 2 feet or more, yes FEET, I thought I’d take this time to do a review of my year in art. Above is my calendar that I keep taped to my drawing board which shows I worked on art 207 days in 2009. And there are a few days left where I may be filling in more squares before the year is out. Especially since it looks like I’ll be stuck at home for a while.

Read more on my blog http://nemcoskyart.blogspot.com/2009/12/207-days.html

http://www.winnasworld.blogspot.com

I have added the Hopper work and a bit more info of interest

Dec16Art, originally uploaded by CaptElaine.

Spent the morning at the court house, the two men that stole my scooter were pleading quilty today, they were sentenced to 3 years in jail and 2 years probation in large part due to their long criminal records of similar offenses.
This page proved a learning experience. I tried to simulate snow using salt on the blue while it was wet… while I got interesting granulation… it does NOT look like snow. And while checking to see if the paint was dry (it wasn’t) I drug my knuckles thru the red paint… some days are that way I guess.

do you have a place that screams Edward Hopper? Check out one of mine

http://www.winnasworld.blogspot.com

Thank you to those who responded to my previous post about your favorite sketching tools. I find it fascinating just learning even a little about how other artists like to work.

Cathy Johnson’s Artist’s Journal class finishes this week. It has been an interesting journey and I am glad I decided to take part. Spending a dedicated amount of time focusing on one topic in a class setting is a marvelous way to accelerate your skills and creativity. The topic of this class, Keeping An Artist’s Journal, also helped me define my goals for my art work. At just the right time too.

So here it is another Tuesday, another gouache landscape study. These are a fun and challenging way to plan a composition, looking at the placement of values and contrast. And they are a clue to what my new project is for the coming year. But you’re going to have to wait a little while longer to find out exactly what that is all about. To help you wait here is a little sketch of Sammie. He’s a very patient dog. Most of the time.

blogged at http://nemcoskyart.blogspot.com/