Pipe Organ

Went out urban sketching with Miz Dee today. Went from the church to the local drinking establishments. We like to get around.

I was speed sketching. I'm so over drawing ticky little details. Just made a squiggle where a squiggle was needed and moved on. Didn't care if anything was whomperjawed. Just ran the pen across the paper, slopped on some paint, and had a good time. Got five sketches finished.

Stay tuned, more to come.

Courtesy Loan & Sultry's Gate

A couple of quicky, late-night doodles:

Spiral Staircase

Out on another sketching adventure downtown with intrepid sketching partner Miz Dee. We started rather late in the afternoon to allow the downtown traffic to clear out.

It had been a warm sunny day, but our spot in the parking lot was in the shade. The temperature dropped rapidly with the waning sunlight. The wind was whipping between the buildings. It wasn't the most ideal sketching situation. Adding to the discomfort, we had forgotten to bring folding chairs. We opted to huddle in the car and draw through the open windows.

Our original sketch target was a beautiful Gothic church, but when we got set up I spied the Urban Grunge and spiral staircase in the neighboring back alley. The church was all but forgotten.

Warmth

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

(Well! That lettering didn't work out, did it?)

Got a brochure in the mail today for CPE sessions in faraway, warm resort locales. I took one look at this cover and thought, "Ohhh...I want to go there!"

Kudos to the advertising guys for this company. They made me want their product.

It was cold, wet and icky today. I wanted to be anywhere warm. The chill was seeping through all my layers of clothing. I just couldn't get warm enough.

----------------------------------------
Process notes:
I was tired of the same old title lettering I've been using. It's quick, easy, and brainless so I tend to use it quite a bit. I wanted to experiment with a different kind of lettering. Um, *FAIL*.

I couldn't figure out which parts of the letters should be fat and which should be just single lines. I guess I need to work out the whole alphabet so the letters will at least appear to be from the same font type. I've got a mixture of styles going on here. Not good. But a sketchbook is the place to work through that kinda stuff, right???

Christmas Loot - Returns

Monday, December 27, 2010

Hubby gave me three really cool hoodies and some gloves for Christmas...all the wrong size. He said he was afraid the hoodies would be too large when in fact they were too small.

Bless his heart, in his eyes I'm still that little slip of a girl he married 30 years ago. I so love him for that. He can make that kind of sizing mistake year after year after year.

But he thinks I have gigantic hands.

So tonight we exchanged the three little girly hoodies and big boy gloves for one big boy hoodie and two pairs of little girly gloves and a girly scarf...just exactly what I needed.

He's such a sweetie. I think I'll keep him around for a while longer.

---------------------------
Process notes: Those red bows on the gloves aren't permanent fixtures. That would be waaay too girly-girl for me.

Added bonus of buying stuff today: 60% off after-Christmas sale!

Possum Christmas

Saturday, December 25, 2010 - Christmas Day

Clan Speck gathered at the farm this evening for our Christmas celebration. There were 16 folks this year and food for 50.

The evening was enjoyable and uneventful - until we were about to leave. Hubby was locking up the garage when he saw a nekkid tail disappear around the mower, then into the well pump alcove. He found two teenaged possums huddled there, bedding down for the night.

The alarm was sounded and the whole house emptied to see the critters and to take photos. Much ewwwwing and squealing ensued.

I learned that if you poke a possum with the handle of a leaf rake he will curl up in a ball and "play possum." You can pick him up and tote him away by the tail. Learn something new every day.

The possum pair were relocated to the edge of the woods via tail (by two of the Brothers Speck, not Hubby.)

The farm dogs didn't seem interested in chasing them, didn't even bother to sniff them as they were being toted away. Those farm dogs are worthless as critter chasers! They were probably sharing their dog food with the possums.

The possums will probably find their way back to the doghouse and spend the night there. Good Grief!

------------------------
Process notes:
The critter drawn here does not resemble an Arkansas possum in the least. Please don't get the impression we have some genetically altered possum species living here.

The title of this entry in my journal reads "POSSOM CHRITMAS." The spellchecker on my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen was broken. Managed to fix Christmas digitally. Gave up on trying to fix all the possoms. I *knew* that didn't look right.

Wrapping Paper

Friday, December 24, 2010 - Christmas Eve

Actually it is 3:00 AM Christmas Day. I should go to bed but I'm not at all tired. I've cooked all day for tomorrow's family gathering while Hubby played golf. I was happy not to have him underfoot all day.

He and his golf buddies came in from the course and shed man-smells in my living room for 2-3 hours while making lewd comments* about women golfers on TV. (eyeroll) Why do they revert to junior high locker room mentality when they run in packs???

Realized I hadn't wrapped the gifts for the nieces so I dug out an old but unopened roll of wrapping paper. There's no telling how long I've had this. It had the cutest peeping characters on it. Had to draw.

I have to get up in just a few hours but do I brush my teeth and put on my jammies? No! I pull out the watercolor palette and the waterbrush.

I'll probably pay for the lack of sleep tomorrow.

Sigh.

---------------------------
*"Grrrr...She can grip my club like that any time she wants."

The Mailbox

Thursday, December 23, 2010 - Hubby got his mom a new mailbox for Christmas. He worked on getting the post put together and mounting the box on the post.

My job was to get all the stickery bits on the number holder thingy. The white background oval was a reflective sticker and the numbers were peel-n-stick.

When I was finished I trotted it in to show him. I held it up and asked:

Me: "What do you think???"

Him: "Are those her numbers???"

I tipped my head and gave him a look, wondering when it would dawn on him how silly that question was. Yes, of course those are her numbers. I looked up her address to make double-sure before I stuck them on both sides of the thingy.

He seemed earnest in his query and was waiting for an answer, so I gave him one befitting the question.

Me: "Nope, I just picked some random numbers to mess with the mailman's head."

Sigh.