Houston Livestock Show

Today was my day to go draw animals and people at the livestock show. What a great place to sketch! Between the carnival, the animal exhibits, the activity in the show ring and the people wandering around there is plenty to look at. This girl was waiting to show her prize heifer in the open show. They are BIG animals and the kids do a wonderful job handling them. She won second place.

Austin State History Museum

Short trip to Austin, and a quick sketh. Sigma Micron 0.3

Field of Cars in Fieldstore, Texas

This Saturday I had a free afternoon and decided to head over to LaGrange TX to the Quilt Museum for a sketch. I got a late start and by the time I got there I knew I would only have an hour and a half to sketch before it closed. But I headed out anyway - I thought the small town might have other sketching possibilities once the museum closed.

About 40 minutes from home, out in the countryside, I came across signs for a Car Show. Perfect, and much closer. I pulled into the field next to the local rodeo arena. I had to ask the owner of the first car I sketched what town I was in. Fieldstore.  The Car Show was part of a fund raising event for the local rural Fire Dept. They had an auction of baked goods, chili cook-off, and inflatable bouncy houses for the kids. The weather was bright but chilly and breezy. Here are a few of the cars on display. I forgot my stool so drew these standing up, they are a little shaky and make the cars look old and dilapidated. Which they certainly were not. Beautiful and shiny, and much pampered by their owners.

An Illustrated Journey

My entry into urban sketching actually began several years ago when I discovered Danny Gregory through Roz Stendahl's blog. Danny is out with a new book on people and their travel journals. I've been eagerly waiting for An Illustrated Journey. He is promoting the book by doing a series of vidcasts on Vimeo. The first is with Liz Steel. Her bubbly personality is a real treat. Check it out.

My Barber Shop

My local Barber Shop at Kipling Street, in Houston.

Barcelona Beat

Summer 2012 I was in Spain with my hubby to celebrate our anniversary. We spent 5 days in Barcelona and didn't even scratch the surface of that magnificent city. One night a festival was happening across the city. Stages were set up in the different plazas. While we were at dinner a swing band started up in the plaza where we were. They sounded like they were shipped over from the states. A lively guy was really groovin' it up on the bass and the female singer was belting out the hits, "Hey Mambo" and "Whatever Lola Wants" etc. I talked to the band leader during his break and had him sign a page of my sketch book. They were all from Spain but you couldn't tell it from their singing. This is a collage of 4 of the many pages I scribbled up in the crowd that night.

I can't wait to return for USK this summer.