Monterey sketchbook

Finally got my sketchbook from Monterey scanned and posted to Issuu.

TRON with Carols

"Christmas Ships" = a zillion ships on Lake Union broadcasting Christmas Carols.  It looks a little like TRON on water, but with a choir instead of Daft Punk.

Not the easiest thing to photograph (small objects drifting gently in the dark) but you get the gist.

(Not quite) solstice sunset

I missed the true solstice sunset - I was in a meeting until 5pm and it was dark already, and I have the feeling that it was more a case of "getting darker" than an actual sunset.  Today I was working at home, though, and got to see both the moon set and the sunset.

Kitchen jam

Not that kind of jam - the musical type.  One of the Daves pulled out his guitar and the guys were passing it around in the kitchen so I ran out and grabbed a notebook to sketch.  This has been on my desk for a few weeks and I'm just now getting around to scanning it.

Sunrise and breakfast

I'm still working on my sketchbook from Monterey, but in the meantime here's the sunrise from Friday and breakfast on Saturday.  There' wasn't a scrap of food in the house, so I went out to Louisa's and it was pretty good.  There used to be an awesome breakfast place in the U District, but they turned into Thai place about a year ago.

Friday morning sunrise

Pink and purple this morning

Monterey

It's going to be a while before I get my sketchbook scanned, so in the meanwhile here's some pictures from the trip.  Getting there was 9/10 of the fun - MRY was socked in fog, and those small planes like to be able to see the runway.  But now I can say that I've been to San Jose (but that's another story).  Here's the good part of the trip:

Christmas tree

Got the tree today - and the lights and ornaments are on!  We get the tree from the Boy Scouts who are always set up across from Ballard Market - they are very good at tying knots!  After I got mine home and up I looked out the window to see someone who had Saran-Wrapped theirs to the roof - wild.

Drawing Jam!

Today was the Drawing Jam at Gage and I spent a few hours over there.  I started off with print making, which I have never done before.  I think I could really get into it.  Here's my very first attempts:

My robot's head needs to be shoveled out some more, but I really like my pear.

Then it was over to the Judy Garland Christmas show:

And some figure.

And then good ole' Sylvia O'Stayformore, Drag Queen Extraordinaire:

I had taken the landscape that I'm working on over and thanks to Mitch for taking the time to give me some feedback, and it was great to see Deborah, Cathy, D. Lisa, Julie, and Laura again (and I hope Barbara made it over there).

Another sunset worth sharing

Thanksgiving report

Things started off with some cooking of course: 

And then everyone just lounged around for a while...

Then the party kicked in... 

Mel and Robert were caught in the act while I boogied down..

Robert had a little too much pie...

Still frozen

The temperature is still below freezing and that means that yes, the street is still a block of ice.  In fact it's worse than yesterday since all of the snow has been compacted into a good inch of ice.  It is also a steep hill.  This has made for tremendous entertainment.  Hint:  If you have a winky little car with front wheel drive you will not - I repeat not - be able to get up the hill.  I do not recommend a 3-point turn on the steep icy block; just back down slowly.  If you have a lap dog you won't make it no matter what you are driving. If you are driving a Metro Shared Ride van with chains on the back and are determined as hell, you will make it, and I must say watching the sparks fly out as the chains eventually dug their way down to the blacktop was a real kick.

A day's worth of watching people slide backwards down the hill was topped off with a nice sunset.  Yes, that Prius is at a slight angle.  The driver was blonde and had a lap dog.

Snowpocalypse sketches

Went out for a walk around lunchtime and tried some sketches with my gloves on - very nice for getting that lumpy snow look.  My face went numb after about 20- minutes (the temperature was below freezing).  The first sketch shows a neighbor's vegetable garden  - I'm worried about the kale. :)

Snowy sunrise/moonset

Snowy Day

Now the snow is sticking and it's beautiful!  Time to sit back and relax with a cup of hot cocoa.  Won't Ruth be surprised when she gets back from her Caribbean Cruise to find that it's 32 and there's snow on the ground.

The evolution of a painting

Here's a series of photos showing a painting that I'm working on that's based on photo's I took in New Zealand a few years back.  You can see the under painting, initial block-in, and where I am today.  The block-in has a certain pow that got lost in today's blending, but I can add that back in with the next layer.  The ground in front I still need to work out - right now it's just a boring tan band.

Interesting how the landscape actually kind of works going from one painting to the next - I totally did not plan that!

First snow of the season

It's snowing!  Yeah!

OK, so maybe it's not a whiteout, but still - if it's going to be this freakin' cold, it had better be pretty, too!

Two views

Two interesting views today.  The first was this very cool fog marching across the sound, which I call "Dragon's Spine" (since it looks like, well, the spine of a dragon going by):

The second was moments ago and I'm not sure exactly what it was, it looked like someone let the light out of a deluminator, but I think maybe it was someone letting hundreds of little glowing balloons go from Gasworks park.  They don't photograph well, but imagine hundreds of tiny lights lifting off from the park and floating away on the wind.  Really quite fabulous to watch.

Kitty in a window

Experimenting with different media in this sketchbook.  Can't say I care for ballpoint pen in here (pages are too soft) but a picture of a kitty in a window is worth sharing.

Moonset

Now that we've changed the clocks I was still in my office when the sun set, but got home in time to watch the moon set.  Hard moment to capture with my point-and-shoot (it was what I had handy) but here you go:

In real life it was a zillion times cooler than this.

Witch's brew

Today was pumpkin-carving day.  First we went to the Evil Bakery for lunch and Scrabble (with the usual series of disasters occurring to our nuns) then it was back to the house where I whipped up some Witch's Brew - Ginger Ale, Orange smoothie Odwalla, and Strawberry ice cream - and then pumpkin carving.  Mel had to take off, but Ruth and I chopped off their heads, pulled out their guts, and carved some triangles (mine were equilateral, Ruth's a little more isosceles).

 

Fall on Eastlake

Beautiful colors.  Pity about the horizontal rain.

Big Bad Birthday Bash

My friend D. Lisa had her birthday party last night.  Her birthday is actually December 28th, but after 54 years of no one remembering her birthday, she had a party to remember.  It was on the top floor of the Smith Tower with catering, live music, and a fabulous view.  Music was by Alice Stuart, who is 68 and still rockin': http://www.alicestuart.com/index.html

Dancing the night away:

That's the birthday girl getting down in the orange patterned dress:

Being a gluten-free girl there was no cake, but truffles!  Three different kinds, with a view of Qwest Field in the background.

The view is great if you don't get vertigo.  It's great if you do, too, but I bet it's easier to stand on the outdoor balcony if you don't:



Happy Unbirthday D. Lisa!  You should do this more often.