Moveable Type Treat

Last night The Museum of Printing History, in Houston, hosted the Type Truck. I met my long-time designer friend Ping and her sister Jane at the museum for the presentation put on by Kyle about her project. She is traveling around the country printing in her truck. Check her website to see if she'll be near you. www.Type-Truck.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Moveable Type is a mobile print shop built into the back of an old delivery truck. Within these tight quarters, Kyle created an efficient and fully functional shop, with a small table top press for printing smaller work, and a larger proof press, capable of printing larger posters.

Kyle Durrie is proprietor of Power and Light Press, a letterpress studio specializing in inappropriate greeting cards as well as posters, music packaging, and custom stationery.

As you can see from my sketch there was quite a line to go inside the truck and print a poster. We adjourned for Thai food to warm up.

Burgers in Fort Worth

Life is hectic during the holidays and it has been hard to find the time to sketch or post. So here is a sketch from the Thanksgiving Holiday. For Thanksgiving we took a road trip up to Fort Worth to visit my sister P and her family. We stayed in FW's art district near the museums, and were able to spend an afternoon touring them.

For lunch we went to Dutch's near the TCU campus. We went based on a review in TX Monthly magazine for best burgers in Texas. Guess I was hungry when I saw the photo in the mag, 'cause I just had to try their Bleu Cheese Burger.

The buns tasted homemade and the melty cheese, bacon and burger were awesome. Definitely belongs on the "Things I Shouldn't Eat" list, but yum!

Fort Barrancas Cannon

Another view of one of the old cannons at the fort. 

 

I'm a sucker for any scene with a flag in it!

Hastily sketched on location, tidied up and watercolor back home.

TX Pow Wow

Every November in an arena at a local Trader's Village (a sort of flea market) a Native American Pow Wow is held. I took S and one of his buddies a couple of years and ago and knew I needed to go back this year to sketch it. There were Pawnee, Cherokee, Alabama Coushatta and many other groups from around the U.S.

Otto on the left is from here in Texas and Chuck on the right came all the way from California.

In the center of the arena under a shade canopy is a large drum with drummers seated around it, also to the side of the arena is another drum circle. An announcer would call out the competitions, like Grass Dancers and the dancers would enter the arena, the drumming would start and they would dance. They were judged and a winner was declared. During some dances you could enter the ring and drop donations or buy raffle tickets for blankets and the money raised was awarded to the winners. There were dances for children, women and even audience participation.

On these sketches I put most of the color on the page before I left the house, (technique from Lining Over Color workshop in Lisbon) drew with a pigma pen and added more color with watercolor and Inktense watercolor pencils.

Thank You to those who serve!

An annual Veteran's Day project at my son's jr. high school honors veteran's with this display. Each 8th grader interviews and makes a poster about a veteran they know personally. All the posters are laminated and hung on "clotheslines" running between the trees in front of their school. The display hangs for a week. There are hundreds of them. I spent some time this morning reading the posters, it really brings home the fact that we all have a link to the armed forces who serve for our benefit. It is a touching tribute. While there were plenty of grandfathers, and a few grandmas, there are a large number of men and women who are currently serving. God bless them all. This sketch is just a small portion of the display.

Georgetown's Old Masonic Building

. . . and its "onion dome." The Old Masonic Building, constructed in 1900, has quite a history. In addition to its intended purpose, it has served as a post office, and most recently the lower floors have housed restaurants (first Chinese, then two different Italian, and finally a restaurant and bar. . . the space is now sadly vacant), while the upper floors are used as offices.

The building is on the square, on the corner, with lovely views from the second story balcony (just beyond the trees). The dome is quite iconic!!!

From the driver's seat

Well, here in Texas we love our cars. Frankly I wish we had mass transit like some of the cities I've visited but out here in the suburbs, things are to spread out to hoof it. So, here I am in the car line at school. Once a week I leave the office early to pick up S and take him to percussion lessons. As you can see SUVs are the family bus around here, not for me though. Don't need to bring the living room, tv and family pet with me, just a couple of seats and off we go. This line gave me enough time to draw and paint this sketch. Gotta love the water brush. Discovered it in Lisbon and have been using it ever since.

Oct 15 - 33rd World Wide Sketch Crawl: Houston

Our group was small, but mighty. We sketched at a big Farmer's Market in the Heights just north of Downtown Houston. The weather was clear and pleasant to start but warmed up plenty by quitting time. I had the best little perch on a display of mops tucked in a corner drawing these vendors. A little old Mexican woman just kept busy tending her wares the whole time. A few passer-bys checked on what I was doing and the booth owner was very nice to let me sit there. I got a nice bag of fajita seasoning from her. This is probably the best smelling place I have ever sketched. Between the fruit and veggies, herbs and fresh baking smell from the panaderia across the street.

Sketch Crawl Houston

Or, since this is Texas - "World Wide Sketch Drawl"

Hey sketchers come on down.

We'll meet in the front at 9, make a plan for the day and go from there.

Canino Produce Farmers Market

at 9 a.m. 2520 Airline Drive 77009

We will park across the street in their lot.

Anyone of any age or skill level who wishes to participate is welcome! We will chat briefly; disperse to sketch, reconvene to share sketchbooks and for a group photo,... then lunch?

P.S. Bring your own sketching supplies.

Dr Butter and Pocket Pies

On Saturday the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft celebrated it's 10th anniversary. D, S and I have enjoyed many openings and exhibits in the wonderful space at HCCC over the years. (as observers not exhibitors) The weather was cooler and of course clear, on account of the drought, so we headed into town to check it out.Cool Dr. Butter carved ice sculptures with a chain saw, spraying ice shavings over a shrieking audience of kids. He even carved an ice beer mug, filled it with beer, and handed it off too, the ultimate frosty mug.I visited with a lady that was dying fabric with plant roots and spinning cotton boles into cotton thread. How could I not have a pocket pie from a food truck called "Oh My Pocket Pie" for lunch? Unfortunately, I was too full when the ice cream truck rolled in dispensing FREE ICE CREAM to jump in on that gig. S on the other hand was skulking around trying to figure out how to get round 2 on the ice cream, and that is after he had already decorated and eaten a chocolate cupcake at the Sprinkles booth.

The HCCC is just part of the museum district in Houston, within walking distance of the Contemporary Art Museum, Hou. Museum of Fine Art, Children's Museum, Holocaust Museum, Museum of Natural History and the Zoo.