Lisbon, Portugal

This is my The Virtual Paintout challenge contribution for Bill Guffey's blog site. If you haven't tried this, well you just have to. I don't usually paint from pictures because when I see the picture it feels like it has all ready been done and then I lose interest in painting it. But for the challenge I did. I of course don't feel I did the picture justice but I took up the challenge and painted it just as I saw it. The address is, Travessa do Paraiso, Lisbon, 1100, Portugal.  Look it up on Google Maps and take a look. 


I am so fascinated that you can just grab the little yellow guy (in Googlemaps) drag him to any blue highlighted street and Google will provide, for you, an eye level street photograph of anywhere in the world. Well almost anywhere. I feel like I have actually been to these far off places, instead, as my brother-in-law brought to my attention that I was only there virtually.

Fullerton at Bastanchury and St. College

I have painted this view before and will probably paint it again. This is in Fullerton facing west (sort of) toward Los Angeles. I had gone out to dinner with a friend and when I left the restaurant just wasn’t ready to go home. I drove to this walking trail that has almost a complete 360 degree view. It was a lovely evening while I waited for the sun to set and the lights in the houses to come on. I walked the trail for just under an hour. Very relaxing.

Foggy Morning Hiltcher Park Trail

I have sketched and posted this tree before but the subject is such a strong contrast of light and dark that I am drawn to it over and over again.  I sketched it a few days ago, then did an ink wash yesterday and then today I planned on painting the strong values.  I was surprised to find the misty fog in the background and less contrast.  I guess I will be painting it again.  I don't quite have it yet.

Last Roses of Summer

This is Missy finding my bouquet of the last roses of summer.

She is my drain pipe kitty. When she was just a kitten born to a feral mother she was captured and adopted into my household. She was hiding in a drain pipe but only her head fit and her little body was quite visible so I picked up her tiny spitting hissing self and took her home. I should have know at that time that she was possibly slow in the comprehension department with our first encounter.  Later I was assured by her various actions that she was indeed possessed with short term memory problems like Dora in Finding Nemo.

This is a photograph of the bouquet I gathered from one of my favorite rose bushes. .

Missy has had the opportunity of finding these flowers over and over again all this morning

The Adventures of the Meandering Molskin

Well I have finally joined with 4 others to paint in a Japanese fold-out Molskine.

It is surprising; something so small can cause such stress. I am also surprised that this is something that I initiated. I had put it off because I thought it would be too hard, or stressful, or I’m not good enough or who would want to be in my book and all that other stuff that runs through an artist’s mind when they first look at a clean white piece of paper or canvas and realized they aren’t an artist after all.

Then I just thought I can make myself scrub a toilet or clean up after a baby or a husband for that matter. I should be able to make myself do something I like.

Sooooooooooooooo!

I started by asking Gemma @ http://www.sandyfloorboards.blogspot.com/ and Anna @ http://www.annaquarelles.blogspot.com/ If they would be interested.  They both stepped up as the friends that they are and said anytime anywhere. I asked them both to invite one person. Gemma brought Kim @ http://yarrow-retreat.blogspot.com/  and Anna asked Dolors @ http://www.dolorsbarberan.es/ . Gemma helped me with the name because she is a famous poet and writer.

Now with everyone on board the new blog site is up and running. http://www.theadventuresofameanderingmoleskin.blogspot.com/ 

We begin in October by finding a theme for our book, paint our first 6 pages and then send our treasures on to the next person.

So exciting!!!!!!

You can all follow along if you would like. Just follow the blog site and enjoy. I will.

Leaves

Last week these leaves were just starting to poke out of the ground so today I brought my paints to capture the amazing colors. I had sketched them a few days ago and now after painting them I think I need this plant in my yard. A few weeks ago this area was covered by a huge Bougainville with massive blooms of that color my uncle used to call " GD" Purple. I can hardly call the color by any other name after he christened it that name. So in my head it is GD Purple. Anyway, the Bougainville was removed leaving the ground devoid of any vegetation. I guess this plant and its magnificent colored leaves lay dormant until the light coaxed it out of the ground. Now it’s acting like it has always been there and owns the place.

24th SKETCHCRAWL

Today was the 24th Annual Sketchcrawl. I met with Paul, John, Nikol and Marguerite in front of the Balboa Pavilion. Paul was the one that set it up on the Sketchcrawl site. This is the first time I have met with anyone from the web site and sketched. I know there is a huge population of artists in Orange County so I will continue talking it up and by next Sketchcrawl maybe there will be even more.

The day started with this view of Balboa Island. In the background the tall buildings are Newport Fashion Island on the main land. An adolescent pelican flew in, landing about 9 feet from me and began posing like he was trying out for the next Top Model program. I sketched furiously until he became bored and flew away.

This next sketch is the Main Street facing east toward the Balboa Pavilion. Years ago when I would bring the kids here there were trees lining the street and now they have all been removed. The trees reputedly were messy, hid the signage and they ruined the street and sidewalks. They were also beautiful, cooling and picturesque.

If you have read this far you deserve an explanation as to why I haven't posted for a while. My computer has been acting up and moving so slowly I could do house work in between applications. Just to let you know I don’t like house work. Then to top it off my Internet connection had gone screwy at the same time. So when I tried to fix one the other would foul the fix program. Well you get the idea. I will be catching up with the postings that were missed because even though I was unable to post I continued to walk Ivy, sketch and paint every day. The walking is for my body and my doctor and the painting and sketching is for my soul.

Morning walk at Arroyo

This is the cross streets of Arroyo and Ramona. It is one of the favorite walking trails that Ivy and I use for our morning Sketchercise routes. I drew this after we got home from memory. I find it interesting that what I see doesn't show up in a camera lens or a photo. I'll take a photo next time I walk this way and then I will do a sketch on the spot to show the difference.

Off To Work

This is a sketch that I have been seeing every morning when Ivy and I go off for our walk. This man comes from behind and passes me riding into the sunrise. The shadow and the blackout conditions leaves an imprint when I close my eyes. When I got home I put it on paper. I don't quite know about the mechanics of the bicycle, but this is what I see in my minds eyes.

Anaheim Hills

The land is dry right now. This started as a study in browns. The camera doesn't quite capture the colors but the most important part about my day was the wind had shifted the smoke from the fires and I had clear blue sky with a few white clouds and fresh smelling air. I got out for a few hours today and schlepped all my stuff up this hill and sat in the shade under a big old oak tree. Martin (a fellow Sketcherciser) said while he was painting he “heard two horses chewing the apples which lay around mmpf mmpf” so I thought I would listen to what I could hear sitting under this wonderful tree. Here is what I wrote on the flip page of my sketch book as I continued to paint….. birds chirping, buzzing of insects, leaves in the breeze, a hawk above, cars from the 91 freeway in the distance, an airplane overhead, dogs barking, a scratching sound from something in the underbrush, bees on the sage off to my side, tires screeching, horns, bang, oh well so much for the peaceful outback. I think there was an accident on the freeway. There is a lizard on a rock in front of me that didn’t make a noise; oh here come the emergency vehicles because I hear sirens.
Funny the sounds don’t quite match the scene I painted.

Houses

The houses in Fullerton are always snuggled amongst trees and plants. I like the way these cottages feel so safe and protected. My son-in-law is a roofer and would cut any tree that touches the buildings. There must be a way of having it all, plants snuggling buildings and homes that are safe from nature.