Friday, August 30, 2013

Sketching this summer

I did less drawing in the studio than usual this summer. But I did more sketchbook drawing than usual. I started a new sketchbook at the end of June at the Lyle Area Classic Car Show. These are a selected few:





Downtown La Crosse had their Crazy Days in July.  This year at the Gallery La Crosse, some of us artists set up outside to help draw in customers. I had my hooked rugs, none sold. But I did a lot of sketching over three days!









In August we went to the Iola Military Show in Iola, WI. There was also a display of antique tractors.





Here is a selection of general interest sketches.










 After only two months I am almost through a hundred-page sketchbook! plus some sketches in the watercolor sketchbook. I should feel proud.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Some changes in the studio

I finally made the changes in the studio that I had been thinking about since December. The big, old CRT TV has been replaced with a wall-mounted flat-screen TV, the big, floor standing stereo speakers have been replaced with smaller shelf speakers and the stereo stand moved to below the TV. With the new TV, I can now use a VGA cable to connect it to the computer. I bought a VGA switch box, a long VGA cable to connect the TV and a short one from the switchbox to the computer. Along with a wireless keyboard and mouse, I can use the TV to view photographs and control the computer from my drawing board. This has allowed me to sketch from photos that I have taken. Drawing from a distance is a different experience than from having a printout right next to the drawing paper.
Winter has been lingering here in the uppper Midwest, I haven't done anything in the backyard except to remove some of the covering from the Tulip tree sapling. Besides the weather, my recovering knee is restricting how much outdoor work I do. I don't want to deal with ice and snow; Don has been doing the sidewalk clearing this winter.
Slowly the leg is getting better, I am back to swimming three times a week again. I park my truck in front for easier access.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

I'm Back!

I am home now from having a Total Knee Replacement for my left knee on February 4. I spent two weeks in a rehab center for physical therapy twice a day, five days a week. I am nowhere near done with PT yet. But now it will be outpatient three times a week. Because I had my left knee done, I can drive myself. Next winter I will have my right knee done. I have now one leg shorter than the other.
Here is one of my projects done before surgery.
This gorgeous hibiscus is in the Buffalo NY, Botanical Gardens greenhouse. Last fall we drove east to see Niagara Falls.
12" x 16", color pencil on white Stonehenge paper.