Cane Creek, Part 3 of 3

Once upon a time we owned seven beach towels. When we were packing to go to the lake last week we couldn't find a single one. They've been used for cat nests, packing cushioning and just simply lost during an outing.

Told Cindy Lou to keep her eye out for some cheap ones since they will surely be lost or destroyed too. She said the cheapest she's ever found were $10 and that was at the end of the season.

Found these fabulously bright and fun ones at Big Lots for $5.50 each! Woot! (Click on the image to embiggen to see the detail.)

The one with the flip-flops will be mine since it matches my bathing suit color.

(And with that dear readers, we end the bargain shopping portion of this day's adventures.)

After a brief stop at Staples to look around and exclaim, "HEY! THAT'S A HIGH PRICE!" like they do in their commercials, we left Pine Bluff and headed back to Star City. The temperature on the bank sign as we were leaving was 106°.

Stopped at Piggly Wiggly in Star City to buy steaks and other stuff for supper. When we got back to the campsite Mr. Hotdog went into Mosquito Warrior mode.

1) Spray Raid Yard Guard Fogger all around campsite including under the picnic table.

2) Light 5 mosquito coils at corners of pad (plus one for Cindy Lou's hammock.)

3) Light 3 lanterns of citronella oil.

4) Light 4 citronella candles for the corners of the picnic table.

5) Spray everybody all over with Deep Woods Off, including bottoms of feet.


Even with all that the mosquitoes were getting tangled in my eyelashes, the only place I didn't spray. These things were vicious and huge!

Just before dusk a mosquito fogger truck came through the campground. I thought Mr. Hotdog was gonna wet his pants with joy.


Thankfully we were just going inside to eat supper when it came by. Glad the steaks weren't still cooking on the grill.

When we came out after supper the campsite was blissfully mosquito-free. Mr. Hotdog kept walking around with a big grin repeating, "Mosquito truck, mosquito truck" in kind of a sing-song voice. He was very happy.

Unfortunately the mosquito truck also killed the lightning bugs. They were belly up on the ground still glowing. It was eerie.

THE END.

Phew! I thought I was never gonna get finished!

Bugs On My Windowpane

Journaling:

Saw these mating bugs on the window and liked the shape their bodies and legs made. Had to draw.

Giant Lunar Moth

Journaling:

Cheezburger the Porch Cat brought me a hunting trophy - a giant brown moth. And my little brain went immediately to this futuristic scene with it.

I brought the moth inside to study.

Cheezy was hot.

Today's EDM Challenge was "Draw the view from a window of your house, apartment, office, etc." I should have titled this post as such and let people wonder about me.

I ain't right.

Art Supplies & Pencil Ponderings

Journaling:

Momma got Blicked! It's always a happy day when the postman delivers a box of art supplies.

Sharpened up the pencils to take them for a test drive. Discovered the Derwents were too big to fit in my electric pencil sharpener. Pfft! Bought the Derwents on a recommendation by Roz Stendahl. Wanted a pencil that would lay down a very black line and scan well. These are "pigmented" (with carbon maybe?), not graphite, so the shine doesn't confuse the scanner.

Got the Design Ebonys because they are the pencil Rick Tulka uses to do his Le Select Cafe drawings. I've long admired his clean black lines and hoped it would be the miracle pencil I was searching for.

Did a little test with the four blackest drawing pencils I now own using the Big White Marble from drawing class as the subject.

The Derwent was the winner hands down in the qualities I wanted. It has the blackest black of lines and a matte finish that plays well with the scanner. It is waxier and somewhat stickier to draw with over the graphites, and has a rougher, looser line. It also has a very soft lead and is a booger to keep sharp.

Don't think this would be a good pencil for fine detail work but would be great fun for guerilla sketching. Add a bit of water and it makes a dandy wash for shading and shadows. Woot! Great fun!

Had an epiphany doing this little test. *This* is the kind of sketch the drawing class teacher wanted us to do...general shapes with shading for contour, not the details of the cut glass. OH! Of course! These were easy - whipped them out in a few minutes. I should have done something similar in class. Doh! I have a new perspective going into Class #3.

Decided to put down the pencils and check up on the arty bloggers. First one I hit was Karen Blados who had posted a macro photo of a housefly. Ewwww! Had to draw.

(From photo by Karen Blados, used by permission)

This is just the head of course. Didn't have the gumption to draw the whole body or his sticky tongue lolling onto Miz Karen's sofa. Ewwww!

Now you know why I seldom leave comments on blogs. My ADD kicks in and I'm off on a new tangent. Never did leave a comment. Must go back and do that.

I used Rick Tulka's favored Sanford Design Ebony for the fly. There's no way on God's Green Earth Tulka managed the black lines I see on his drawings with just this pencil. Or maybe I should say there's no way on God's Green Earth that I can get the lines I see on his drawings with just this pencil. Frustration, disappointment. There must be something I'm missing. Must ponder on that.

While pondering I was staring at my happy little manikin sitting on my desk. He suddenly struck me as wonderful and needing to be drawn. Picked up the black Derwent.
Manny's been in this pose for quite some time. I don't remember why I posed him like this, but I remember it's supposed to be a vaudeville high kick with a cane and top hat. (Hear the music "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere, It's up to you New York, New York!")

That thing curving around his upper arm is a paperclip for the cane. Never could figure out a top hat for him.

One more doodle and I'm off to bed....



Realized if I keep drawing with pencils I should be drawing in a sketchbook, not on loose pieces of copy paper. The sketchbooks I own are too rough for drawing in pencil (in my opinion) and I don't want pencil drawings smudging around in my daily journal anyway.

Must see Dick Blick about a sketchbook with slick paper.

Yay! More art supplies!

Cicada Husk

(click to embiggen)

Uncle Buck is a native Texan currently living in a high-rise in downtown Chicago. He is a blogging buddy on the non-arty side of life.

We talk about how we're fixin' to do stuff and tumping things over. He's the one person I talk to who knows about tanks and bar ditches. LOL!

We whoop and holler and get our Southern on.

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Edit: For any non-Texans, a tank is a small body of water where cows get a drink. The rest of the world calls this thing a pond. I just realized some folks may think I'm talking about the military vehicle with the big gun on top.

Steampunk Bug Alien

An odd little critter that just leapt into the sketchbook. I liked the way the hand and eyes turned out.

Sketchbook 8-28-08

Connoisseur Ticks

Lightning Bug

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