2/22/16 sketches

 We headed north today. We checked out John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. A lot of people. Water sports available. Short hiking paths. One was closed. Checked out Cannon beach and Far Beach. Both small and crowded. So left

 All these beach sketches done at Harry Harris Park. $5/person weekends and holidays. Much less crowded and nice little pavilions.

I really liked swimming in the tidal basin pool. I think it would be really fun with a snorkel and mask.

Ate at Hobo's Restaurant. Good food. Key Lime Pie OK but not as good as the one at SS Wreck.

The waitresses wore black t-shirts that said on the back "I've fallen and I can't reach my beer."

Sketches 2/21/16

Rode boat over to pigeon key. Forgot how much I enjoyed riding in the boat. The boat driver and his helper were very nice and helpful. So was the tour guide. I did a quick sketch of her but she moved too much. She had good weather beaten face, could tell she spends a lot of time outdoors. Someday I could come over on the 10am tour boat and leave on the 4pm one. The ramp to the bridge is closed for repairs otherwise we could have walked back about 3 miles or so to mainland.

Current cook's cottage. Kids were coming in today for classes and leaving on Wednesday. They use solar on island with back up generator.

Cousin asked me how to draw pier since it was at right angle to shore, but it didn't look like that. Showed her the angle then finished the sketch when she walked on the pier to wait for the boat.




Bistro 31. Had what looked like orange crates used as lamp shades over lights.







Bahia Honda Key MM35. Really liked this park because you can swim on both sides of the key in very shallow water. OK beaches covered with a lot of sea grass. Borrowed a bigger sheet of paper, 8.5x6 from cousin. Mast a little short and boat body a little too big. the small figure on left is cousin sitting on rocks.

Sketches 2/20/16

I think we enjoyed hiking at Long Key state Park MM 68. (Days are starting to run together. There was not a really good beach there, very mucky and shallow.

Ate at NoWhere Bar and Grill, Marathon. Good food.





 
Visited Sombrero Beach. Very nice beach. Pretty many people for February. Couldn't get the turquoise color of the water with the markers. A lady and her young daughter who likes to sketch came up to us. It's always nice to meet other people who like to draw because only they truly understand.

 Not quite right turquoise color even after blending blue and yellow.

Some people on beach.







Waiting in line for bathroom.

Also checked out Coco Plum Drive Beach Marathon. Very little sand but long. Can see Sombrero beach from there. Met two interesting locals. Told us there were only 2 public beaches left in Marathon. The rest have been bought up by "rich people".

Very quick blind contour drawings of birds at Anne's Beach about MM 73. I really like the picnic platforms. Understand now why the 2 small parking lots were very crowded in the morning.

2/18/16 sketches

Found some more sketches after I tore them out of lined 3x5 notebook and put them in permanent sketchbook.

Finally figured out scan settings that work.

But still don't scan straight so learned about the straighten tool. I already knew about the crop tool.

 Drew the same guy 3 times before I was happy with the proportions.

Cousin's hand.

zentangle bird

 Riding FTL bus to car shuttle stop

Well now I know how to make scan settings work, I can use the scanner but you won't see that for awhile as I already have posts scheduled out into March and I need to get back to work. Oh, well.

Sketches 2/19/16

Will be doing some catch up, was out of town on vacation with my cousin.

I brought along my 3x5 notebook, 3.5x5.5 and 11x8.5 sketchbooks. I also brought along my brush pens, watercolor pan, and a set of markers. I found I mainly used the smaller notebooks and a ball point pen. The watercolors were too much of a hassle to use, the brush pens exploded in their plastic bags in my luggage, and the marker were not light enough and didn't include the right turquoise color for the water. Maybe if I had gone on vacation with an artist I could have did the watercolor but it's too hard to do more than sketch when you're around non-artists. Next time, either bring lighter markers with turquoise color, and/or watercolor. No brush pens!

We explored Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. 5$? admission. I really liked the old equipment and the fossils in the quarry walls. There were some mosquitoes, so long pants and long sleeve shirt would be good. Didn't get a chance to draw there. Received one work related call there.
Ate at the SS Wreck Sportz Bar and Grill, Marathon. Good food. Excellent Key Lime Pie.

Decided to explore the keys so ended up driving down to Key West and walking the beaches to the Southern Most Point. Cousin had never been there. I like to be low key when drawing but my cousin teased me by loudly saying "Are you drawing that naked man laying on the wall?" I told her to shut up. He was wearing a bathing suit. I thought the angle was interesting. Received a work related phone call.
Short wait to get our picture taken at southern most point.

 Ate at 88 restaurant. Guy was playing guitar. quite a crowd of people. Good food. They have a small beach, $5 admission, with water sports available.




Coat rack put up with finishing nails straight into the drywall. Discovered that the hard way when I hung my coat up and rack fell off wall bending back my thumbnail. That hurt! I quick put it back up using the original finishing nails.



Started drawing one of the full closets. This one was in our kitchen/living room area and contained a apartment sized fridge and microwave that didn't work. The working microwave was on a low table outside the closet. We were very surprised to see that she kept her personal belongings in the 2 closets of the 1 bedroom/1 bath 2 room lower unit. Very roomy. Nice and clean. Easy to keep clean because of the readily available cleaning supplies.

Spent a little time everyday drawing the closet. This is as far as I got. So much stuff in the closet! The shelf is the eating area. Didn't get to draw in the garbage can and stools.









OK. I am going to spread out these posts. More to come.

Mayfair Mall Pencil Sketch 2/12/16

Hung out with my friends and sketched at the mall. Really enjoyable.

I started out by sketching chair and added people as they came and left. Should have probably started out a little bigger?

Taught friends how to make origami fish and jumping frogs from scrap paper. One of them said I was a good teacher and should teach a class. Maybe when I retire.

 Saw this while out walking. I like the pine cones.

Origami JumpingFrogs

Made from old magazine pages.
They jump a lot further when made out of thicker paper like construction paper.

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/origami2/exploring01_06.htm

Southridge pencil sketches 2/9/16

I thought it would be perfect to sit at the counter and look in, but we are a sociable group so put 3 tables together so we could sit and talk. A good time was had by all. Met a friend that I haven't seen for years!

 I was looking at these 3 guys playing cards. Still don't have the proportions right. Someday in the future it would be nice to make a painting of "The Card Players at Southridge Mall."

 I inked at home after I took these pictures. Tried scanning in the inked pictures but didn't look very good. So back to my indifferent photography.

 I really liked this guys mustache and hat. He was quite lively. Kept moving and pulling his jacket back up over one shoulder.

Practiced using my Tombow markers after I got home just on this sketch.

night pencil sketch 2/6/16

Just a quick pencil sketch on 3x5 notebook paper made while my husband went in the store to buy something. It was very dark out. Hard to make out any details. I like drawing construction equipment.

Bakery Square 2/6/16

 A couple of us met up on a sunny winter morning. This was a good place to go. Friendly staff. A lot of people to draw.