two green men

These two green men inhabit an ancient live oak tree in the garden of the Antique Rose Emporium in Independence, Texas. And as spell-check just reminded me, I mis-spelled it 'Independance' on the sketchbook page. Oh, well . . .

Bardie bits

No, Bardie does not hold still for me to sketch him; I drew these from phone snapshots . . .

random toys

This week we have three grandkids visiting us, meaning there really isn't much focused sketching going on. But I managed to draw a few random toys . . .
(The bluish cast is from taking this photo in afternoon light on our shaded patio. It's actually drawn on one of my favorite papers, Fabriano Artistico soft press, in natural white.)

a real tea cup and saucer!

As we ate a wonderful breakfast at the Heritage Sunday House bed & breakfast, I laughed because I was finally drinking my morning tea from an actual tea cup and saucer. At home, I drink tea from large mugs. Diane heard me and said we needed to take care of that --- she told me to choose whatever tea cup and saucer I liked in her antique shop, and it would be a wedding anniversary gift to me! I chose this cream-colored set made in England with figures that look like 18th century etchings. Now I can drink my tea in style!

For many years, I have loved other sketchbook artists' sketches of their tea cups -- especially Liz Steel's impressive collection of tea cups! I love how quick and loose Liz's tea cup sketches look! Typical to my own habits, I spent a lot more time on this sketch but I had fun doing it.

Heritage Sunday House

Nearly 3 weeks ago, after renewing our wedding vows, we went to the Heritage Sunday House, a charming bed & breakfast in Burton, Texas. Built in 1914, the house was once a Sunday Haus, a weekend home for German farmers / ranchers who lived too far from town to drive in for church services. They would travel to town on Saturday, get their shopping done, stay overnight to attend church on Sunday, then take the long drive home.

The innkeeper, Diane, became a friend immediately --- a lovely, gracious lady of German heritage whose family settled in the area. She also found out that I was a sketcher --- she had been wanting to find someone to draw some art for her brochures, as well as for note cards to sell. So apparently I have an art commission! Next door to the house sits an old dance hall, now housing Diane's antique shop. She invited me to sell my work there as well --- I laughed and said I'd have to actually do something outside of my sketchbooks first! But this opportunity has challenged me to move forward with my art. 

non-photogenic sketching

I have never been photogenic . . . and the same holds true of trying to sketch myself. But I wanted to record a few visual memories of our renewing our wedding vows this year so I drew from photos others took. Not happy with how this turned out -- almost didn't post it -- but time to move on . . .

Bardie, the artist

Bardie has decided he can draw with me . . . if only he can manage to pick up the pencil.

Bardie discovered his cat cave today . . .

. . . and he likes it! The big (to someone his size) livingroom can be a scary place; this seems like a safe place to observe it from.

a new trick learned

Very early this morning, Bardie was chasing his favorite moth toy (bits of rolled-up paper on a steel wire). When it rose above this cat cubicle cubbyhole, he even went inside it, thinking he could catch the "moth" from underneath. Finally, he jumped up on top and caught it! (This had been my goal.)

Before he realized it, he had made the leap onto our VERY HIGH bed . . .

 

and discovered a whole new view.

Then it was back to that pesky "moth".

While I was posting these photos on Instagram, he then jumped from the floor to the bed behind me, without using the cat cubicle as a stepping stone. Success! I had wanted him to learn to get up here without our having to pick him up, so he would not have to meow to be picked up when he gets lonely during the night. I think he still misses his brothers and sister, and his mama cat who was overprotective of her litter. Here is a photo of his mama, Pippi, and his sister:

settling in

We have two hands-full of loving energy living with us!

Bardie decided it was lunch time . . .

followed up by having a bit of a wash . . . Hard to do while keeping one eye on that flying moth toy . . .

 

so he moved over a bit. But that darn camera was still there . . .

so Bardie was out of there!

That is, until he met up with this handsome cat living in the mirror.