Jo Castillo Art Blog

Happy Birthday Marines!

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:48:00 +0000

Happy Birthday number 234 to all the U.S. Marines! Semper Fi!

I have had a notice of this day on my calendar for two weeks and still did not do a special post and look up some great photos of the Marines at the Embassy when we were in South America. I will have to point to my post of last year.

And here is a quote from Gene's daily posts from and about Marines.

Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
..................................... Ned Dolan, Capt. USMC

Be sure and check out the post today by Michael Fay, Marine Corp Artist, for a video of the 2009 Marine Corps Birthday message. He is also retiring.

And the other Marine Corps artist whose blog I follow, Kristopher Battles has a post up, too.

Happy Birthday Marines! And a big Happy Birthday to our Marine, David!!!

The Visitors, Pears Oil Painting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:29:00 +0000

I painted a still life of pears a few days ago. I used my Flip Video recorder (Thanks again, Joanna) to make a "how to" video for you. I'm a little faster at editing, but not much. It is so long in between making videos that I have to learn again.

I have been wanting to do a new pear painting for the Pearathon that Regina Burchett is hosting. A nice place to see and share your pear creations.

Gene shopped and picked out the pears for me to paint and I painted them on an Ampersand Gessobord with about an inch and a half edge on it. I painted with Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour. I get a headache when I use turpentine or paint thinner, even odorless. These Artisan paints seem to work well for me. I tried the Grumbacher MAX water miscible oils and the oil in them still gave me headaches.

I used a shelf in my studio for the set up. It is always full, but decided it served the purpose. It was at the eye level I wanted.

I screwed the Gessobord to an old painting board. (Thanks, Susan Carlin for the idea of screws .. I use tape for regular board or paper.)

(Added 11/10/2009: Oh my gosh, I said here and on the video that I screwed the Gessobord to the board, you all know that Gene does all that sort of thing for me. He is great to take care of the framing and heavy lifting for my painting. I was nervous speaking on the video and didn't edit this very well. Sorry Genej. I also called the pears, apples in the video .. should have taken more care. Ah me!)

Having the painting surface up away from the tray, makes it easier to paint to the edges of the surface and not have your hand or brush down in the tray. It also helps in this case for painting the edges.

I sketched in the pears with thinned burnt umber oil paint. I can easily change my drawing by just wiping off this thin layer.

This is about the middle of the time into the painting. I try to paint all over to keep from getting bogged down in one area.

The Visitors

Oil on Gessobord
6 x 12 inches

This is the final painting. It is a bit hard to take photos of wet oil paintings. You get reflections from the brush strokes that aren't actually on the painting. This is very close to the painting colors on my computer.

This is what I call Jo's Notions, you can purchase it on my web page through PayPal for $100, free shipping.

Here is the video, I hope you enjoy watching and listening to hints about the way I paint.

Hunt 153 Underway

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:44:00 +0000

I sketched yesterday afternoon and watched golf. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore and Nick Watney are the top challengers in the European Tour this week. Cool. I am always patriotic and want the Americans to win. I'm not politically correct, eh? Today the Longhorn Football Team played so I watched and sketched. Texas won and are still undefeated. Go Horns!

Back to sketching, for Scavenger Hunt 153 I worked in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with a Micron 05 pen and added a bit of colored pencil to a couple of the items.

For newcomers to my blog, the Scavenger Hunts are on wetcanvas.com. One of the artists makes a list of 26 everyday items that can be found in the house or nearby. We have 9 days to sketch. You can make quick sketches or detailed sketches and use a medium or media of choice. There are usually a couple of extra challenges. For example to use your non dominant hand or medium that you usually don't use. It is good for me as I do keep sketching and having a list forces me to sketch things that I usually wouldn't try. Anyone can join in. You post your sketches and comment as much as you care to. Come check it out.

Jeanne Grant has participated in all 153 Hunts, I have only missed a few. Doesn't seem like we have been doing it that long.

For Hunt 153, Number 1, open book. This is a notebook that you can fold back and used like a clipboard.

Number 2 - curled paper - I put a little pad of scratch paper that has been on my desk on my computer to sketch. When I started sketching it I realized it was a piece of a calendar from 2005. Where did that come from?? The calendar doesn't have a company name but says "Home Tips" on it. Hmmmm. Number 3 - glow - the glow around the power cord on my iBook. Number 4 - ladle - from the kitchen it is hard plastic and number 5 - bottle top - from Gene's Gatorade.

Number 6, watch - Gene's wrist watch that he was wearing today.

Now I'm Cooking! HEB style.

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Our Texas grocery, HEB, is doing something neat. You sign up for the newsletter and have access to recipes, contests and so much more. You can make your own recipe file, cut coupons, etc. Here is what was going on today:

Texas Chili & Frito Pie from heb.com on Vimeo.

They had three videos, with recipes today. I'm sure you don't have to be in Texas to try all their recipes. How much fun is that?

Scavenger Hunt Almost Over

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:38:00 +0000

I almost missed this Hunt. Wow, it ends tomorrow. I'm not sure why I haven't been sketching. I should do it as a warm up to painting.

Scavenger Hunt 152, sketches done with a regular Pilot ball point pen in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook. Just a few minutes, freehand with no pre-sketching with pencil.

Number 2, candleholder - a wooden candleholder from Bolivia. The candle is black and decorated with colors.

Number 3, made of glass - a glass candy dish that I have sketched many times before.

Prickly Pears, Oil

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Gene brought me some pears to paint the other day. I was just about finished with the painting when he remembered seeing some prickly pear cacti around the corner and went to find me some additional "pears" to paint. I thought of adding them to that painting, in fact I put one in, but it changed the composition and feel of the other pears. (I will post that soon. I took some video and want to make a video and post that. That takes time as you may know.)

In the meantime, here are the cactus pears.

Handle With Care
Oil on canvas panel, 5 x 7 inches
A Jo's Notion, $50, free shipping.

They are good to eat. Somewhat like a kiwi inside. I've mentioned before that we would find them when riding horseback and rub the needles off with gloves and eat them for the juice. I still got a sticker in my finger when I was setting them up to paint even though Gene had rubbed them off, I thought. I think I will go have a snack on them now, yummm.

And a photo of a typical Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom.

Happy Halloween!

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

I put a few of the balloon photos from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in a slide show for Halloween. Many of the special shapes fit the category. I hope you have a safe and fun Halloween!

Click on the slide show to go larger and see the photos individually.

Drooling....

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Have you all seen the new iMac. Oh my, the mouse is incredible and all of it is so neat. (You can run all your old Windows stuff on it if you wanted to ... why you would want to, I don't know? It is easy to do, check it out here.)

Have a look at the iMac

http://www.apple.com/imac/

The MacBook and MacBook Pro are wonderful. The mouse pad is super. Hope to get Gene one for Christmas. WE need a new one for next summer.

Have a look at all of them.

http://www.apple.com/mac/

First Pastel and a Story

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:54:00 +0000

I mentioned that I had found a photo of my first pastel. You might find it interesting to see. This photo is not great, it was taken here in Bastrop, probably about 1998. The painting was rolled up and stored and I suppose it still is somewhere. I painted it in La Paz, Bolivia in 1992 under the instruction of Yolanda de Aguirre, a well known Bolivian artist.

First Pastel
Full Sheet of Canson Paper

Mrs. Aguirre's class was interesting and fun. She was in her seventies at the time. My friend, Estella, and I signed up for the class. As I recall, the class was to be for 8 weeks, twice a week for a couple of hours each lesson. We both signed up to learn more about oil painting. Mrs. Aguirre told us for the first lesson to just bring a sketch pad for notes. Well, OK, but a strange way to start oil painting.

When we got there, we found we were to study art history. She had booklet of about 40 pages of photo copies of art history from an encyclopedia or school text book. She questioned us about what we knew about art history and famous artists. Which wasn't a lot for either of us. Perhaps Estella had taken art in high school in Texas but I had no art after elementary school. Our next class would continue in the same manner after we had read our homework.

"Wait!", Estella said, "The lessons are for 8 weeks not 8 years, we have to get started painting."

Mrs. Aguirre laughed and changed her lesson plan. We had a sketch class, a charcoal class, a couple of life form drawing classes (my first chance to sketch a person posing), the pastel class for a few sessions and then we painted with oils. I don't think I saved my oil paintings, maybe I didn't finish the class or something. I had another pastel of glass bottles, but don't remember if I saved that one, either.

When I was working on my pastel, Mrs. Aguirre walked by and said, "Check you ellipses on the copper pot." She did this a couple of times, finally she told me that I had the opening too large, that looking at it directly I would not see so much of the inside.

"That is what I see," I told her. She got a little upset and said again that I was wrong. Then it dawned on me.

"Mrs. Aguirre, you need to get on a stool or chair to see what I see," I laughed. She was under five feet tall and of course she was not seeing the pot as open as I saw it.

You know I paint fast and get bored easily. Our painting took 3 sessions, I think, and she changed the peppers and lima beans on us over the weekend. The new beans were smaller. Then she came to look and said my beans were too large. "Well," I joked with her, "I think you watered them over the weekend and they grew."

Estella is so much fun and we had a great time. Mrs. Aguirre was a wonderful person and was a great artist, too. She just expected us to be students for some lenght of time. She painted in the masters style, but did not use an under painting. It was direct on the canvas. We were encouraged to block in all the basic shapes and tones and work from there. On the copper pot for example we put in the light color for the highlights right away and kept the darker colors separate. I often work now by applying the highlight over the base color. We did learn a great deal and, as you see, have great memories of classes in La Paz, Bolivia.

New Pearathon a la Regina

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:44:00 +0000

For you artists that love sketching/drawing/painting/sculpting (?) pears, this site is for you. Regina has started a Pearathon page for lovers of pears. There are a few rules to check out and then send the links to your pears on Picasa, Flickr or where you store your photos to add to the wonderful images on the site.

Regina and I had an art show a few years ago called the "Pastel Pair" which featured our pear paintings. It was so much fun. Oh, my gosh! I just looked and it was June 4, 2005. And, as usual, I regress.

Back to pears, they are almost as much fun for me as painting apples. I will include a painting here that I did as a demo when I had a show at the First State Bank here in Bastrop. I don't have a good photo of it to submit to the Pearathon, but it was one of my favorite pear paintings so I will show it to you anyway.

I can't find the record of it to see the name, etc. It was 5 x 7 inches, pastels on purple Daler-Rowney paper. Someone won it as a door prize.

I made it larger in Photo Shop Elements, but you know that it is hard to make more pixels than you already have and I could only find the small thumbnail photo. Sad, isn't it? I'm glad I keep better records, now.

While looking for a better photo, I found a photo of my first pastel which calls for another post. Hmmm.

Useless - Sketch for Scavenger Hunt and APS meeting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:17:00 +0000

I have been signing in on wetcanvas.com and replying on the threads for the Scavenger Hunts, I preview them and then hit "Preview" again instead of "Submit Reply" and closing the window. Later, maybe only a minute later, I realize my mistake when my post doesn't show up and have to go start over. Very irritating. Do you remember the old saying? "If you don't have time to do something right, what makes you think you have time to do it over?" I usually make this mistake when I am in a hurry and have spent a while writing a long post and commenting on the sketches. Such a waste of time. Sigh.......

So, I'm pretty useless .. actually that is the item I sketched last night! Number 2 on the list, the most useless gadget we have.

Actually it may not be the most useless, but we rarely use the DVD player.

We had our Austin Pastel Society meeting today. It was such a beautiful day and Jeanette Cuevas was our presenter of a demo. She is a great artist and so sharing with her information and techniques. She does a watercolor under painting on watercolor paper.

Jeanette and the interested artists.

Jeanette working on the painting.

The demo painting. You can see her style of using hatching and letting the under painting show through. She will have the rest of the Work In Progress, WIP, on her blog and the finished painting on her blog when she gets back home.. Be sure and check out her great paintings on her website. She will be having a workshop with this technique in Rockport, Texas, on November 3, 4 and 5. Maybe you can go, there are a couple of spaces left.

And here is a beautiful sky as I was getting in the car to come home. Nifty, eh?

It is about 40-45 miles to the meeting each way. It is at Tres Amigos Restaurant. (the Highway 360, Lakeway location) They have a very nice room for us there and the wait-staff is always great. Good food, too. Our next regular meeting is in January. November and December are put together into the Christmas Party the first week in December. Hope to see you there sometime. Pastelists are a great bunch of artists. We always have fun and they have been a great inspiration and encouragement to me.

More information about the Austin Pastel Society on the website.

iPhone sketch for Hunt 151

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

I sketched for Scavenger Hunt 151. One of the challenges was to do a digital sketch. Yes! I borrowed Gene's iPhone for about 45 minutes. I'm not nearly as fast with the iPhone as the pen. Whew. I had to learn all over and tried a stylus to see if I was better at the straight lines. I don't think so. You have to press harder and that takes away the quick line, brush stroke effect. Maybe I will get used to it.

Number 1, what is directly in front of me. My new hard drive for storage and the silver stylus for the iPhone, I was using the red one.

I used to sketch on my computer with a program called Dabbler and before that I sketched with the graphic tools on Appleworks which was Clarisworks when I started. I can't open those old sketches here, but I will look on my old iMac and get some to post later. That was fun.

Here are a couple from the Dabbler days. Dabbler had brushes, pastels, oils, pen, spray paint, etc. You could add texture and more.

Photos in Peru

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:32:00 +0000

I posted the photos in Peru on the post from the other day. I don't know if it reposts or not for you, so here is the link.

Non Toxic Fix for Pastels

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:07:00 +0000

I posted way back when about fixing pastels. Well, really about fixing pastels to look like an oil painting and frame without glass.

Old Pets
Fixed Soft Pastel
9 x 12 inches

I had a couple of comments asking more about the technique. There isn't much more to tell. The boots took about 30 layers. You just put on the pastel, spray with the PVA/water mixture, let dry and continue. You can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying. On canvas, at the end, the painting looks like an oil painting. It does not look like a regular pastel painting.

As mentioned, I saw the technique at the International Association of Pastel Societies, IAPS, Convention. Bill Creevy also put some watercolor on and let it run for texture. His style is much looser than mine. His book is outstanding with lots of info. He also used acrylic medium with pastel.

His mixture for this demo was 1 teaspoon PVA Size to a cup of water, you could probably use more but would have to experiment with that. It might get shiny or be more translucent. I never tried adding more. I did try the technique once more on a still life of fruit for a demo, but never finished it. I am much too impatient as you know.

For newer ideas on fixing pastels there is a new item, Spectrafix. It sounds wonderful. There is a very good discussion on wetcanvas.com among artists that have been trying it out. Most comments are very positive and enthusiastic for using the new non toxic fixative. You do not have to join wetcanvas to read the articles, only to comment or start a thread of conversation. WetCanvas is free and has a world of information on every art subject you can think of. You can set up your profile to have e-mails with the replies to your questions or just a reminder to look at the thread. I have learned so much there ... and met so many wonderful artists.

Let me know if you try these ideas, I do like sharing info and learning about new products. Spectrafix is added to my wish list.

End Scavenger Hunt 150

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:39:00 +0000

I got a few sketches done this afternoon for Scavenger Hunt 150. It is the last day and the start of Hunt 151. We shall see how the new one goes.

I sketched in the small hard back reflexions 4 x 6 book, one page each sketch, with Micron pens of various colors.

Number 1, green fruit or veggie - apple. Then for the challenge I drew three things in three colors. The apple, a tomato and some of the reddish brown/green lettuce in spring mix. I have no idea what kind it is.

Number 2, cheese - and unopened Neufchatl Cheese in the box.

Number 3, nature - the last lantana in the back yard. Barely any flowers.

Scroll down for earlier post today.

Memories of Another Moving Adventure

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:38:00 +0000

After unpacking more today and trying to sort out our mess, I took a break and sketched. I was "talking" on the Scavenger Hunt about shipping things and it reminded me of our arrival in Peru in 1983. I was not thrilled to move to Lima. Every time we had been at the airport it was foggy, humid, gloomy and dusty. Yes, dusty in the humidity. Lima is on the desert seacoast. It never really rains. The city sits in a bowl and the fog hangs in and it mists. The streets and plants are wet but the dust blows in from the surrounding sand hills. It was the only place we lived where I had dusty mildew.

The temperature was about the same all year round as I recall. Around 65 degrees in the daytime and 50 at night. I could be wrong, but that is what I remember. (I looked it up and I'm not to far off considering my memory. ) I'm getting ahead of myself though.

We arrived in August. We found a house quickly near the school. It was a two story house that touched up against the houses on either side with a small backyard and tiny courtyard in the front with iron bar fence. It faced a park and the security officer lived catty-corner across the park. There were quite a few robberies in the area including the security officers house a couple of times. We didn't have bars on the windows and never had a robbery. That irritated him! They did steal all the tires off Gene's office vehicle once, just left it on the ground. We only had one space to park behind the fence and our van was there. Another time they took his car and tore it down. When found, it had just the frame. All the parts were gone. The thieves used to take their stolen items to the "Thieves Market" where you could go and buy back your things.

I'm drifting off track again. We stayed in a friends apartment while we were house hunting and moved in to our house with just the welcome kit from the Embassy. We had a card table and chairs, beds, cooking utensils and bedding. I think we borrowed a TV from the office for the kids to watch and a carpet so they could sit on the floor. Our car (a conversion van) came in about 3 weeks. No air freight came which included important household items to tide us over until our furniture and all would arrive. It usually comes in a couple of weeks. Well.....

One of Gene's working buddies came to Lima from La Paz, Bolivia. He came to stay with us and slept on the extra bed we had which was for a maid. After dinner we went out to the van for wine, coffee and to listen to cassettes. The van had four captains chairs and you could turn them to face each other with a little table in the middle, so it was very comfortable and accommodating for our "living room". Gary always joked that he came to visit and we made him sit in the car after dinner and sleep in the maids quarters!

We lived that way for about three months. Finally we got word that the air freight was to be delivered. Ah, we would be able to make flour tortillas and have our own bedding. Then, a big surprise, the big shipment arrived at the same time. It came in a huge metal container like they use on trains or eighteen wheelers. It was all sealed and everything looked great as it was unloaded. The kids were happy to have their own "stuff".

At the end of the day, we were looking for the cushions for the sofa .. uh oh .. there were the cushions, relief. But wait, no sofa! We received the love seat and chair but not the sofa. We were missing things ... a whole crate full. We had the top of a cabinet but not the bottom, one speaker for the stereo but not the other, etc. It was plain that the things had not been stolen, the big container was not opened.

The moving company in Lubbock could not find it. Much discussion by phone and cables. Finally, after about six months later, Gene went back to Lubbock for business so he paid a visit to the moving company. They showed him the rest of our storage, but none of the missing items were there.

The supervisor walked around the warehouse with Gene discussing what was going to happen. Gene noticed a big crate off to the side with nothing stamped or printed on it.

"What's in there?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, " stated the supervisor.

Well, they opened it and it was our crate -- hiding in plain sight! The company wanted to send the crate by boat .... another six months?? Finally, they agreed to send it air freight, but the sofa didn't fit in that container so we left it in storage. We lived for the three years in Lima with a love seat and chair and cushions for the floor. We moved to another house in a safer area that had a huge living room. We did add some of the leather/wooden chairs made in Lima and we managed quite well.

Our stay in Lima started off a little shaky, but we enjoyed the tour there. We made visits to Machu Picchu and many excursions to the beach and other areas around Peru. Lima has hundreds of restaurants and museums, etc. We visited Iquitos, Peru, on the Amazon River, and Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side, and many more interesting places. Even Gene's mom came to Lima with Joanna.

A local fellow at the dock in Iquitos, Peru.

Larry, Jennie and I on our tour boat. They put about 30 people on with about 20 life jackets. The river is a mile wide and deep enough for huge ships ... not where I wanted to be!

Gene and I out in the jungle about 4 hours downriver from Iquitos.

Larry at the beach, probably Paracas looking at the seals.

Larry helping to unpack or pack the van.

Me and Joanna in the "big" living room. We still have the same love seat, you have seen it on the Scavenger Hunts. :) It was near the Christmas holidays as Joanna is there. She has short hair, that is unusual. I look like I have had too much wine. My foot is broken, I broke it playing bridge. Ah, that is another story.

As I write about this, I am reminded of so many other stories ... well, another time.

I dug out some photos from way back then, but my scanner and computer are not speaking to each other, so will post the photos later.

Let's Bring them Home .. Missing Adults

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:19:00 +0000

You may remember that after hurricane Katrina we went to Arizona to help with the hot line for the missing victims. Gene is a volunteer consultant with Project Alert for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and they were working in Phoenix with the National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA).

I did not know about the NCMA before that. As with most non-profits, funding is short at this time. Please take a moment to look at their website and consider a donation to the National Center for Missing Adults. I cannot imagine the trauma of having missing family members .. children or adults. Thanks.

Kreativ Blogger Award

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Rosemary Sexton awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award the other day. We were in the middle of our move from New Mexico back to Texas so I haven't acknowledged it. Thank you, Rosemary. It is always nice to receive compliments from my peers.

Rosemary works mainly in oil. I'm not quite sure where we first crossed paths. I have enjoyed reading her blog and sharing information. She is another artist that doesn't stay put. They winter in Florida and summer in North Carolina. Maybe we will meet in person one day, hope so.

I'm supposed to tell you seven things about me. I have told you almost everything about me here on my blog already. Something new ...... hmmm.

I like most food, nothing new there. I do not care for black eyed peas, they taste "sandy" to me. Sort of like clams or oysters, which are not favorites either.
I like word games and card games. Most puzzles, too.
I grew up riding horses, but haven't been on one since 1972.
My first paying job was dishwasher at the Gopher Court and Cafe in Magdalena, New Mexico.
I was the valedictorian of our high school graduating class of 15 -- 10 boys and 5 girls. Gene was salutatorian.
I've known Gene, my better half, since we were 2 and 3 years old, respectfully. I married him to get even. :)
I'm a procrastinator and lazy. Oh, you already know that!

I will bestow this award on to a few of my artist/blogger friends that are not obligated in any way to pass it on. I am just doing this to point to some great artists and great blogs.

Regina Calton Burchett, great pastelist and art buddy. We met about 1997 or 1998 in Bastrop. She is multi talented and we have had a great time sharing art and painting together. Regina shares and helps others in many ways. I'm looking forward to painting with her soon!
Jeanne Grant, a dedicated sketching friend from wetcanvas.com. She has not missed a Scavenger Hunt and has improved her drawing skills tremendously over these few years. She takes part in many areas of wetcanvas and is always an inspiration.
Lou Baggett, an artist that found my blog somehow. We have corresponded for a few years and finally met in Oklahoma last June. We have so much in common that we may be related. She tells a great story and does wonderful artwork.
Rose Welty, one of my Fine Art Friends. We haven't met in person, but I hope to soon. She is dedicated to learning and teaching and inspires me. She shares her knowledge and I rely on her for researching and reading up on techniques and artists. :)
Tom Christopher, a pastelist I "met" on wetcanvas, too. He is wonderful with light and pastel techniques.
Teresa, Blueberries, Art and Life, works in acrylics, watercolor and colored pencil. I visited her blog because of the "Blueberries" and have really enjoyed reading her blog. She was an English city girl and now is in North Carolina in the country. Great writer, too.
Johanne Morin, pastelist and more. I met Johanne through the Austin Pastel Society. She has mastered pastels, wood carving and burning and oil painting in the few years I have known her.

You can always find more artists and bloggers in my sidebar. They all deserve awards, right?

Home Again .. Photos from the Road

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:20:00 +0000

We made it back to Bastrop yesterday afternoon. It is good to be home, but what a mess to straighten out. Maybe, as Gene says, we should get rid of everything and start over. We have too much "stuff".

Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Sandia Mountains

Here is a link to our road photos. I have taken photos on this trip sooooo many times that it is hard to find new interesting things. Maybe they will be new to you. I hope you enjoy them. You can click on Jo Castillo's Gallery here or above the album and see other photos I have posted on Picasa if you missed them earlier. I hope to get more balloon photos up soon. Unpacking takes priority I suppose.

Apple Challenge Results

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Jeanette Jobson has posted the results from the Apple Challenge. There are some wonderful sketches, paintings and artists. Because I love to paint apples, I wish I had not been so busy and finished more. Go have a look at all the apples.

Star Spangled Banner Video, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:34:00 +0000

I am very slow in getting the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta photos posted. I will give you a little preview with the National Anthem video from October 8. I don't know who was singing, besides me. I forgot you could hear me. When I remembered, I became a spectator. I have hundreds of photos to sort. Until then, you will have to settle for this little movie on YouTube.

I posted it in Mobile mode. Hopefully this way you can see it on your iPhones. I'm not sure that works, but we shall see.

Here are a few photos from later that morning.

Filling up a balloon.

Jennie near the famous bees.

The famous bees sharing a kiss.

Moo and friends

Albuquerque to Magdalena Photos

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:02:00 +0000

We went to Magdalena today to pick up some of my paintings from Peppers Gallery. It was a quick trip. I always take photos out the window and today was no exception. I have taken these same photos over and over I am sure. I especially like the Ladrone Mountains as you can see if you put Ladron Mountains in my search box.

This is the Ladrones from I-25 near the Rio Puerco with the salt cedars for color. You can see some of todays photos on my Picasa albums.

We are spending the evening washing clothes and will be packing tomorrow. Exciting stuff for my blog. We will be on the road on Thursday heading back to Texas. I'm happy and sad about that. I imagine you understand that, right?

Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians!

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:59:00 +0000

I forgot it was Canadian Thanksgiving today. It is late now. Sorry. Hope you all had a fantastic day!!! Lots of family and food.

I hope Papi Jim is doing well and all of you that I blog and have fun with on wetcanvas.

We used to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with Papi Jim and Nino in Bolivia. Then they would come over and celebrate our Thanksgiving with us. I miss that!

Apples in iPhone

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:26:00 +0000

I did another quick sketch on the iPhone with Brushes. It is fun, remember this is just a sketch. I like the colors and the "paint brush" look it has. I decided that I should post it on Jeanette's Apple Challenge even if it is a sketch. I have posted on her challenge already with my acrylic apples, Ivy's Apples.

Apple 2
Brushes in iPhoto

This is so loud you can hear it before you see it. Hmmm.

Maggie is Great with Advice

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:42:00 +0000

If you need some advice and encouragement, Maggie Stiefvater is dishing it out on her writing blog. It can certainly apply to art as well. Something to think about until I post again.

I'm off to lunch with my working buddies from Continental Airlines in the 60s. Wow! That is ages ago. We will see how much we can remember!