Trumpet Blast

7x5 water soluble graphite on watercolor paper
greeting card
$30 + $5 sh

TGIF! Finally have time to paint and create! I'm working on some small works for blog (daily painters galleries) for the upcoming holidays. And finalizing a couple of restaurant scenes to send to Castle Gallery. Have a beautiful weekend friends!

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Upcoming Events:

• November 29: Major's Fundraising Art Sale begins 
• December 6: Small Gems show dk Gallery, Marietta, GA
• December ?: Annual Holiday Show, Castle Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN

First Chair

7x5 water soluble graphite original sketch

greeting card

$30 + $5 sh

Last night was our open studio event and it was a lovely evening. Better, I think, than if I had it at my home studio (which really is much too messy to allow people to safely enter!) With V.... there it was more relaxed and - well, just like our regular meetings but with more people!

It's so nice to meet new people and share my art with them. Thank you to all who came by!

So there are still some original sketch greeting cards available - and I love doing these so much that I will continue to create more and offer them either on ETSY or my own website (store is in the works maybe - more on that later. So many ideas and options!) ack!

Dominick the Donkey

5x7 water soluble graphite on paper (greeting card)
$30 + $5 sh

One of many small original sketches available at our "open studio" event.

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Wednesday -  November 20th - 4 -8 pm

Joel's Coffee House

11301 Lakeline Blvd, Ste 120

Austin, TX 78717

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Upcoming Events: 

• November 20: Chocolate and Chiaroscuro Event, Joel's Coffee House, Austin
• November 29: Major's Fundraising Art Sale begins 
• December 6: Small Gems show dk Gallery, Marietta, GA

Conductor Card

7x5 water soluble graphite on paper (greeting card) - sold

One of many small original sketches available at our "open studio" event.

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Please join artists Robin Cheers and V....Vaughan at their "satellite studio" for gourmet chocolate and new collections of gift sized artworks just in time for the holidays. With Joel's offering amazing artisan chocolates, locally crafted teas, fresh coffees and seasonal treats, Robin and V.... will be sketching from life. So bring YOUR LIFE, a child or pet to pose for an original sketch by the artists...a truly original gift idea. Also available are original art greeting cards and small paintings. 

Wednesday -  November 20th - 4 -8 pm

Joel's Coffee House

11301 Lakeline Blvd, Ste 120

Austin, TX 78717

***

Upcoming Events: 

• November 20: Chocolate and Chiaroscuro Event, Joel's Coffee House, Austin
• November 29: Major's Fundraising Art Sale begins 
• December 6: Small Gems show dk Gallery, Marietta, GA

Major Smiling

5x7 fine art card - sold

water soluble carbon 

This is one of my dogs, Major, enjoying the sunshine. He got to enjoy it today despite the cold and despite the fact that he is recovering from a very difficult surgery. Today is one week since they took out part of his intestines to remove two masses. 

He is really underweight and anemic since he was unable to eat/pass food for about a week before surgery. 

Today I had the first promising news. His blood work shows the anemia improving.  We've (I've) been nursing him and syringe feeding him and he is acting more like himself. But it will be a long recovery yet. We're loving on him lots and so grateful for all the vet care he's gotten. He's made a lot of friends who are pulling for him! 

Cards like this one are some of what V....Vaughan and I are going to offer at our "Chocolate and Chiaroscuro" open house November 20th. 

Friends who come to that event get the first opportunity to buy these fine art greeting cards. They are 5x7 watercolor cards and you can send them to a friend or that hard to buy for coworker - or keep them for yourself and put in a frame! The cards are unique, original sketches. Something I haven't offered before. 

Trumpeter Sketch

I saw this man playing and singing in different areas on different days and with different fellow street musicians. He was really talented! I bet he is well-known in New Orleans but I do not know his name. 

Pencil sketch from the pages of my sketchbook.  

Figure Sketch

V.... sketching, chatting on the phone, etc.

Still get together with V....Vaughan regularly to sketch and talk shop. Last week, she was taking care of all kinds of business - and sketching her rodeo riders - and was an inviting subject herself to sketch. I think the top one needs to be a painting.

Central Park Sketch

I thought I wrote something about this when I sent it from my iPhone in Central Park. Its a little weird emailing a blog post. Apparently there were some glitches. I ended up not painting in the streets again. We kept busy exploring all day on Monday - walking and biking around the city, exploring Chinatown and Little Italy, enjoying Hudson River Park, and then had a great dinner with Phil Levine and Nancy Myers back in the West Village. I still can't believe I biked down Broadway midday!

Beach Dunes Sketch

page from my sketchbook

This is just a little sketch I did from our back patio at the beach. This is our last day in FL at my parent's house. All my spoiling will come to an end and I have to go back to being a fully functioning adult/parent. :-)
But I miss my hubby and my dogs. And fish, and garden, and so on....so will be happy to get home. Until next year!

Doodles

marker sketch on 8 1/2 x 11 paper

I'm trying to get back into action today. I painted two small paintings today. Both have been wiped off. Just as they deserved. So I ended up with time just to sketch. I think this is actually good. Its been maybe 3 weeks since I've painted so trying to jump right in is crazy. I knew I'd fail to be happy with my results. The sketching reminds me of how I like to work - the gestural qualities I like to get in paint. It also makes me focus on the values and a sound composition (editing).

This reminds me too that I heard a story on the radio (npr) the other day about people who "doodle". That is me to a tee. I can't seem to be sitting without doodling. My daughter gets upset with me when I absent mindedly grab her crayons and start on her menus at restaurants. Have I written that before?
Oh well, the gist of the radio story was that people who doodled while taking notes, listening, etc. actually retained more information than those who just sat and presumably focused on the teacher, or information being presented. So, take note, if you have students or people who are doodling away while you talk, it does not mean they are not listening.

Ballet Dancer

pencil on paper

Last Thursday my friend Tess Walls and I went to Ballet Austin for a behind-the-scenes look at a Nutcracker rehearsal. The dancers were below us. We watched from a landing above the studio, the wall behind them is all glass and they were often silhouettes in front of it, making the figures all the more dynamic. The girls wore their practice tutus and I saw Degas in my head. I wish I could capture more of that dynamic line he did. (and like my friend Tess's sketches... beautiful!)
I was tempted to add some color, but I sent my pastels to a friend who is convalescing in Houston area...
I am convalescing as well. The surgery went fine and I am laying about for the most part. I am sketching though from my photos and things in the room (dog, husband, child, toys).

Face Off

12x12 oil on panel

I like the feeling that the spotlight is on this painting and the rest of the room is dim, and the figure almost silhouetted before the painting. This, of course, is Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from the MOMA.

Sun Times - 30 Minute Study


Roughly 8x6 oil on paper - sold

This was based on a photo posted by Karin Jurick on "Different Strokes for Different Folks".
To be honest, I wanted this to be much looser and suggestive. I didn't mean to paint the backdrop so much. I guess I forgot.

Cafe du Monde - 60 Minute Study

12x8 oil on paper

Click to purchase this study in my new Etsy shop.

This is all I've had time to paint today. I spent the bulk of my morning doing lots of business things. And laundry (someone has to.) I am really proud of having gotten so much done, even if it hasn't been all painting. It might really surprise people who don't know what else goes on in an artist's studio to know how much we have to be business-type people as well as creatives.

Speaking of business, I have set up shop with Etsy so that I can offer these sketches on paper as well as other works which are in need of good homes. Please check it out.

Beach Sketch

acrylic on paper canvas

This guy kept hanging around. I guess he thought I was eating, not painting. This was a first attempt with some acrylics on the beach. They dried fast. Very fast.

Beach Sketch

pencil with watercolor wash

What more enjoyable pastime could there be than playing in the beautiful white sands of a gulf coast beach? This time, the white of the paper is pretty darn close to the actual sand color.

Firelight sketch

Back from our trip to Bandera Texas - the cowboy capital of the world.
The Dixie Dude ranch was a wonderful experience. We really enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of all the ranch staff.

The country is beautiful - but rugged. We rode, we hiked, we ate too much, we roasted marshmellows, we watched trick roping, listened to music and tall tales around the campfires. It was perfect really. I would highly recommend the experience to anyone who likes outdoorsy vacations. Like camping but with catering!

The above is a sketch I did from memory - I studied Brian at the campfire and then sketched real fast when I got back to our cabin. I carried my sketchbook with me the next night but it quite a few more families had come and we didn't get to repeat this scene.

Below is a photo of another cowboy, Ringo, on his horse... and a good look at the Bandera countryside.