Muckenthaler Park

This is a sketch I did after a long walk early this morning.  The time has changed here and finally my body clock matches my cell phone time.  Another work day so I am off to support my art supply addiction.

Muckenthaler

Muckenthaler

Ink on paper

I have sketched this particular view several times and each drawing/painting is always different. I love the horizontal banding of the shade and sunlit grass.

Muckenthaler Park

Fullerton Parks has given Muckenthaler a new picnic table, perfect for my painting after my walk with Ivy.

Painting is a freedom that I have given myself after years of doing for others. I have raised my family, worked to help support the house hold, given up time and experiences for the good of the others and now have decided to schedule time for me. I don't have a goal to be a great painter just to be the best I can be. I don't have a goal to be noticed as an artist, just to share what I have done if someone wants to see it. I want to make sure I have time in everyday to create with the skill that I have worked so hard to develop. Because I see and am able to produce a visual image that others can see then it seems that a consequence of creating art is to have it be seen, not necessarily a requirement to have it seen, just that it can be seen.

This blog has given me that opportunity. Then my fellow artists came to support me in my need to create. Now I find that I am taking time to help other people who have followed the same path of wanting to create and share their art.

Crepe Myrtle and lamp post

This is the last page of this sketch book. I always look forward to starting a new book with new paper and no bad drawings in it. However opening it for the first time is always a bit of a trauma. I will put this one away on a shelf and never look back. This blog has given me the opportunity of getting these sketches out in the open.
I have been working on a painting of the Crepe Myrtle trees in my area. From a distance they are a mass of color. So I thought I would sketch this one up close. It's a wonderful tree that is completely covered in light pink flowers and a smooth clean trunk. I like the way the lamp post is snuggled into the blooms. I have been Sketchercising (walking and sketching) with Ivy daily for months now and usually she is fine, but today I sat on a bench and while working on this Ivy whined the entire time. I think it was because I was also talking on the phone. I don’t think she approved.

LAMP POST and WALKING TRAIL

My moring walk started with this Narnia like lamp post.


I walked to the bridle trail with ivy and then found this path to a corral where Ivy always says hi to the horse. Or should I say the horse bends it's big neck down so that Ivy can smell it's nose.


This sketch was in my book from last week so I finished it when I came to this spot. The sun comes through the trees burning out the lights and making the darks darker. The grasses and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) are really tall now.

MORNING WALK

This is a stand of Eucalyptus that is on a hill. From this hill you can see Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. These trees are so interesting and the way they march up the hill stops me and makes me want to sketch or take a photograph every time. I have walked by these trees for 30 years and still I am sketching them.