Jo Castillo Art Blog

Happy Birthday, Joanna!!

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:34:00 +0000

It is Joanna's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Joanna!

Does it fall to the oldest to be the responsible, caretaker child? Joanna has been the person we call on for taking care of our house, money, other children, etc. She took care of Jennie during Jennie's Junior and Senior year of high school and our house. And much, much more. She takes care of friends and co-workers, too.

She is our tech support and adviser in our computer world. We started out with hand me down computers from Joanna. We can complete each others sentences. I can't say enough good things about her.

She is also a great photographer as a hobby. One of my favorite photos is one she took here in the back yard when we first moved here, so that is about 12 years ago, right? How time flies.

Our Backyard
Photo and copyright, Joanna.

You can see a baby photo and some fireworks from her birthday last year. Another thing that is fun is go to her home page and click on her photo on the upper left of her page. I love it! And, I love Joanna! I hope her day is so special.

P. S. It is also Cody Castillo's birthday and Jerry Rawdon's birthday, a couple of nephews in the family. I hope they have good birthdays as well. Happy Birthday!

On the road again.......

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:20:00 +0000

I was hoping to get a collage up of the paintings for the show. Oh well, all good plans, etc. We went to dinner with the girls last night and with Larry tonight. We hoped to all get together for Joanna's birthday tomorrow, but it didn't work out. We had a round about celebration and now we will have to celebrate all our birthdays when we get back.

We will be on the road tomorrow, in Magdalena on Monday, then Albuquerque, then back to Magdalena for the show next weekend. Whew! It will be fun to see everyone and then arrive in the cool mountains of Angel Fire for the summer and relax! And be cool!! It is still 93 degrees out at 11:30 p.m. here.

Our internet is fixed now that we are leaving, sigh. We don't know what kind we will have in New Mexico, but I will be posting one way or another.

See you down the road.....

Wendy Jones, Sad News

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Lilly at Peppers

Our trip to Magdalena and Peppers will include a very sad part. Marky's wonderful daughter, Wendy Jones, passed away. It was such a shock as she was very young. We will all miss her. Wendy was warm and sharing and fun to be around. She was very instrumental in getting me started at Peppers and taking care of all of us there at the gallery. Her daughter, Lilliana (Lilly), is a delight and Wendy encouraged her talent in art, both painting and acting.

We will go to Wendy's memorial service on Monday in Water Canyon, one of her favorite places. I'm glad we will be able to be there to share the good memories.

Wendy enjoyed the bustle at the gallery especially during Old Timers, so the show will go on. It will not be the same this year. Our sympathy and thoughts are with Marky, Lilly, David and all the family at such a sad time.

Magdalena Catholic Church - Acrylic Painting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:13:00 +0000

I was putting together my painting list a couple of days ago and realized I only had one small painting for Magdalena. I took the two small paintings to Austin for the Scarbrough Show as you recall, so I decided to get with it and do one more for Magdalena.

Buildings and perspective are not easy for me, but I am pleased with the results on this one. I chose acrylics for their quick drying time and ease of framing for Gene. I painted on one of the little boards that I prepared with the Colourfix Medium for pastels. It works nicely for acrylics as the paint seems to stay wet for a few minutes longer. After drying, I finished it with Kaymar varnish and it looks great.

Mary Magdalene Church
Acrylic, 5 x 7 inches

It is framed in a coppery plein air frame.

I have all the paintings labeled, in their packages and ready to go. I am taking 21 paintings for the show. Some have been in Magdalena before, but that is OK. There will be some new guests and new opportunities.

I am now going to pack my studio .. I take most of my art supplies. Thanks to Gene for the help and encouragement to drag it all along. Hopefully I will get many paintings done and we will have a great time in the mountains.

Maggie Stiefvater and Shiver

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:09:00 +0000

You probably thought I had forgotten about Maggie. She is such an inspiration, super artist, author, mother, wife, etc. I haven't kept up with her writing blog like her art blog, but I still check once in a while to see how she is doing and have a smile for the evening. She is such an entertaining writer..... The books are aimed towards teenagers, but very entertaining. They keep you riveted.

Here is the trailor she made for her new book.

This is amazing in itself. You can win lots of things connected with the book. Just hop over to Maggie's blog or live journal and check it out.

Here is a link to her oooolllllddddd art blog. You will find inspirations, how to's, WIPs and so much more. Even a kick in the butt to get you motivated. Just search in the box at the top of the blog. I cannot imagine the energy this one person has combined with talent and good sense. Well, maybe not that part about sense! She writes to me, after all. Heh, heh. She can budget time like no one else and still is a procrastinator, too.

I so wish her well in her work. She is a musician, music writer/composer, too. Whew!! Congratulations, Maggie!

Telephone and Internet Rant and Pastel Painting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:13:00 +0000

It has been an interesting few weeks with such intermittent telephone and internet. I usually write my blog on-line but today I will write it and post whenever I notice the internet is on. If Time Warner doesn't get this fixed before we leave, how will we check messages? We will have to give our cell phone numbers to people to run up our minutes. Not good........ We have had problems for at least three weeks and maybe more. It started with the TV cable and now it is the internet and telephone. The internet and phone come and go, a few minutes, an hour or off several hours. Argh.........

When I first started blogging, I wrote each blog in my journal on my Mac. Looks like I will have to do that again .. I cannot look back to see the last blog I finished or if I posted my last painting. My memory is not good, so can't rely on that. Sometimes I plan to do something so intently that I imagine I have done it. So here we go, back to the journal:

The Austin Pastel Society had an in-house competition for the meeting last Sunday. Rae Andrews, Vice President, came up with the idea of categories to make us think and paint. (you can see WIPs on her blog) Each artist could paint a variety of faces or shapes in the same painting, with overlapping or a bird's eye view, looking down on something, or an ant's point of view, looking up at something, or something to do with the arts. The paintings could be for sale with the money to go to the scholarship fund if the artist wanted to donate. I chose the ant's view because we have all the tall trees in the yard. I took a photo .. I didn't want to lie on the ground and draw .. and worked from that. I also took the "Stacked" apples painting, just as a sample of shapes.

Looking Up
Pastel, 9 x 12 inches

The entries were varied and fun. There were faces, birds, dancers, cactus, flowers, chairs, and more. There were some nice prizes which I hope encourages more participation the next time. :) I won one, some pastels, Pastelbord and a mechanical eraser. I don't need the eraser .. I don't make mistakes, right?

Sketches, Pen and Ink - Plaid, stack

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:22:00 +0000

I worked on painting cards, inventory, mailing list, etc., today. I have a tired brain. :) I made homemade flour tortillas for Gene. I hadn't done that in a long time except for breakfast. Must have been a shock for him. I also made tortilla soup with beef and green chile.

I sketched a bit after dinner with a Micron 05 pen in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook for Scavenger Hunt 136. Short sketches as usual, freehand. Nice to rest the old brain.

Number 4, plaid - the couch cover and Number 5, stack of something - books on the bookshelf. The bookshelf is part of the entertainment center, so it is not lopsided and shaky like the drawing.

Now we shall see if the internet stays on long enough to publish this. It went off when I tried publishing about an hour ago and lost the last paragraph. Drat.

Internet and Phone Problems

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:45:00 +0000

We are having internet and phone problems. We have a bundle with Time Warner and things haven't been going well. First it was the TV so they came out and re-wired everything. Then the internet and phone started going out. It will probably be this way until next week, so I will answer e-mail and post when I have the green lights.

We are spoiled people, I feel like I am cut off from the world when the internet and the phone are down. We do have cell phones, but they don't work well here at the house. Sigh.......

Baseball .. All over but the crying .. or not.

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Congratulations to the Texas Longhorns! I guess most of you know that the Longhorns lost the last game of the College World Series and the LSU Tigers won. LSU has a great team and had been number one for most of the year. They are deserving champions. The Longhorns had a great team spirit and they should be so proud of their accomplishments .... we are!! It was the two best teams playing for sure. Both schools have such a history and devoted baseball fans. The players were amazing and the way they played as a team was super.

This is a photo from a game in May. I just like it. And.. of course, I don't have any from Omaha!

The Longhorns played their hearts out and we had the most exciting end of a season that I remember since we have been here .. well except for the times we won the College World Series, of course! Some were calling them the Heart Attack Horns. They were amazing in their feats of courage and talent. I'm pretty sure that the team will be back in the heat of things next year as most of the pitchers and players will be back. The team should be so proud of themselves for persevering and making it to the last game. I just hope that they know that the fans were all there in spirit if not in person. Best of luck to the seniors and the drafted players.

You can read a great commentary and all about it on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page, the official Horns page and all the other stories you can Google up about the games.

It said in the paper that we will play a weekend series with Rice next year. That should be very intense and fun. I am already having withdrawals and cannot wait for next year. Go, Horns, Go!

Flag Day Revisited

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:09:00 +0000

I didn't post about Flag Day, June 14, this year. Shame on me. Teresa, over on Blueberries, Art and Life, wrote a column for her local paper. You will find it interesting and touching. It makes me proud to be an American, from the USA. Thanks, Teresa.

The last time I posted for Flag Day was in 2007. That is a long time. Charlie, our dear friend mentioned in that post, died last year. His birthday is always a reminder of Flag Day. We did talk to Gen and we called Crystal for her birthday. I should have posted. I will try to do better in the future!

I love my flag. I was telling Teresa that when we were in South America I would get a catch in my throat when I would come around the corner toward the Embassy and see Old Glory. The Fourth of July celebrations were so special when we were away from the United States. My eyes get teary when the National Anthem is played, even at the baseball games. I always think of all the great people before us that kept our country free. I just hope all of you realize what a special country we live in and are a part of. God bless America!

Sketches for Hunt 136 - Baseball sketch of sorts.

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:41:00 +0000

I sketched today for Scavenger Hunt 136. These Hunts are going by so quickly. Whew! These are done with a Micron 005 pen in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook.

Number 1, Hand or fingers making a statement. Hook 'em Horns! for the game tonight. Number 2, pinecones. These three large cones are from Chile and still stuck to the branch.

Number 3, fruit and vegetable. I liked the onions. They were lonely with just an apple so I added the grapes.

The Longhorns play the first game of the College World Series Championship against LSU tonight. It is two out of three. The Longhorns strength is pitching and the Tigers strength is hitting so it will be interesting. The Longhorns have had so many surprises and exciting finishes that tonight should be special. It is on ESPN at 6:00 p.m. central time. Go, Horns, Go!!!!!

Finish on Sandias, Oil Painting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:57:00 +0000

Hope all the Father's have a good Father's Day. We will be having Mexican food and Jennie, Larry and Joanna will be here.

Happy Father's Day, Gene!

I finished the Sandias on Thursday, I think, but with baseball and other things going on I'm just now getting it posted. I didn't change too much on this landscape in oil, you can see the first post here.

This is the start of the painting.

Sandias, oil on canvas panel
8 x 10 inches

I like the way it turned out. I still want to paint the longer, larger version one of these days.

Scavenger Hunt 135 - Heat, Flat, Light

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:19:00 +0000

I sketched a little tonight while fixing dinner. These are for Scavenger Hunt 135 on wetcanvas. com. They are in my 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with a Micron 05 pen and colored pencils.

Number 5, emits heat. Toaster This looks like a 4 slice toaster, but it is only a two slice one. Sigh. About a 10 minute sketch with the coloring.

Number 6, lies flat- place mat on the counter. Number 7 - emits light, the light on the microwave over the stove. About 20 minutes or so with the coloring for both.

We are watching the College World Series. Tonight is Arkansas and Virginia. It is tied in the ninth. The games have all been interesting. Hope the Horns can win one more on Friday to get into the Championship Series. Read about it on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page. Last night's game was so exciting. The Horns came back from being down 6 - 0 to win 10 - 6. Wow! Hook 'em Horns!

Free Pass to Procrastinate .. too.

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:49:00 +0000

I was looking for my list and suggestions for doing a show or exhibit. I am trying to find a list and time line to see how far behind I am to get ready to go to New Mexico in July and to see if I am ready for my show. I'm pretty sure I posted about that way back when. While searching my blog, I ran across this post from 2007.

Free Pass to Procrastinate

This post is soooo true. It is easy for me to find any excuse to procrastinate. (I stopped looking to post, right?) One of the interesting things I saw on that post was a first comment from Bag Blog, Lou. Is that cool or what? We have been internet buddies for about two years now. We got together in Oklahoma City at the Big 12 Baseball Tournament recently and hope to get together this summer in New Mexico.

Rats, now to quit procrastinating and go look for that list............

Oil Painting, Sandias

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

I worked on an oil painting yesterday. I have been wanting to paint the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque with the cottonwoods along the Rio Grande in their fall colors for many, many years. I hope to do them in a larger long format, about 12 x 24 inches. I think it would be cool.

Here is the start.

Sandias
Oil Painting, 8 x 10 on canvas panel

I have a few adjustments to make. I did a reddish and purple under painting with thinned oil paint. I should have used acrylic paint for that so it would be dry, but I didn't think about it. Anyway, the sky is a little dirty in color from picking up the under painting, more than it shows here. I think the paint is set enough so that I can clean it up today. I also want to break up the horizontal line of the bushes in front of the house, even though it is really there. That will help the compositional questions.

This composition is difficult. Something you are always told is to not have the horizon line in the middle. This painting has several horizontal lines that are not necessarily the horizon or eye level, but still divide the painting. The most obvious to me was the bottom of the trees, so I put it lower than the middle. This makes the tops of the trees about the middle. If I pull it down then that leaves a small amount of foreground and the sky would be the most important part. If I push it up it makes the foreground too much.

I'm hoping that in a large painting the length of the painting will help minimize this effect. If I change these lines too much, then it is no longer the place I want to portray. I think in the larger painting I will have it be a little later in the day so that the mountains look a little more purple than blue to contrast with the complement, yellow.

Sometimes the painting takes over and comes out different than the plan entirely. We shall see......

And a blog for today, hmmmm. How about Katherine Tyrrell, Making a Mark. Her blog, sketches, pastels, colored pencils and information go way beyond what I can keep up with. I'm not sure how she researches and shares so much information and still draws and paints. Whew. I discovered her sketching blogs and from there went on to explore all her blogs and Squidoos. She writes about art happenings, her travels and sketching and research. She has a Squidoo for colored pencil and one for pastel. There is so much to learn on her site. She is my art encyclopedia covering business, blogging, sketching, and so much more.

Most of you already know about her. Her blogs are some of the most popular art sites around. If you haven't been by her blog in a while, go check things out. She does a weekly post, "Who's Made a Mark This Week", and the current one is a review for the year she has been doing that. Get a cup of coffee, you will be there a while.

Sketches for Hunt 135

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:52:00 +0000

These sketches for Scavenger Hunt 135 were done while watching the NCAA College Baseball World Series. Can you imagine me watching college baseball? The Horns play tonight and we are rooting for them as you know. You can watch on ESPN, 6:00 p.m. Central time. Go, Horns, go!!

The sketches are in my 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with Micron 05 pen and colored pencils. The coloring always takes much more time than the sketching.

Number 1, from the earth.

Number 2, it smells - garlic. Number 3, blue - the garlic canister.

Number 4, from the sea - I chose this bottle opener fish. It is about 6 inches high and made of mother of pearl and brass it seems. It is jointed so flops down or can stand on its tail. It is glossy and looks more golden, but I covered most of the highlights with the other pencils. I needed to save the light areas. I will have to practice that. Of course, I don't do colored pencil much as it is slooooooow. I get bored and cover the highlights. Right? Right.

Yesterday at golf, I caught this cottontail by hole number 12.

We don't see as many animals as they have cleared more underbrush. But we did see a lovely snake on number 17. I didn't have the camera and it moved away very quickly. It was a blotched water snake about four feet long. Gene looked it up on the internet. They are not venomous but will bite you and draw blood. Not good, eh? When I Googled this to get a link, there was a photo of one eating a toad in Austin. I did not link to that for Joanna.

Pastel Painting, Kelly Church Again

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:59:00 +0000

I have painted San Juan Church in Kelly, New Mexico, several times. That link has pictures of the church a long time ago. It is interesting as it is the last building standing in Kelly. (There is another photo of the church on this page.) Mass is held there on June 24, St. John the Baptist Day, every year. Church members from St. Mary Magdalene Church in Magdalena, New Mexico, take care of it.

Kelly is just south of Magdalena in the mountains. It was a booming mining town at one time. The Juanita mine there was named for my Grandmother. Many area citizens worked in the mines including my Father.

I notice that in the first painting I did, there was no patio cover on the side. I don't have a photo of this painting, it is in Albuquerque with Gene's Mom. I think because the church sits all alone, the many photos of it look much the same. The trim and door have been painted differently over the years. The steeple was white when I painted it a few years ago and now it is brown again.

At any rate, it is a popular landmark, so I decided to paint it again.

I worked on white Richeson hardboard, Premium Pastel Surface. It is on Gator Foam so it is lightweight but stiff. This will be a good surface to frame against the glass, which I prefer. This board has a very toothy surface which holds a great deal of pastel. I didn't want the white to show too much so I painted an under painting with watercolors.

I wish now that I had made the under painting considerably darker. This pale covering still allowed a great deal of the white to show. It is not all bad, but I would have preferred less. The painting doesn't have as many white flecks in real life. I suppose the digital camera emphasizes the white along with the blue. You can be the judge. I attempted to leave out unecessary details. I do like the end result.

Iglesia de San Juan, Kelly, New Mexico
Pastel on Richeson Hardboard, 9 x 12 inches

The sky always looks so blue in the mountains. The elevation there must be about 8,000 feet above sea level.

This pastel landscape will be for my show in Magdalena in July. You can purchase it ahead of time, but I will show it there. You can take delivery after the Old Timers Reunion. Send me an e-mail if you are interested or have questions.

Scads of Sketches, Pen and Ink

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:26:00 +0000

I sketched for Scavenger Hunt 134. This is a couple of days worth of sketching. The Hunt ends today. I never have finished the twenty six items in nine days.

I am beginning to enjoy sketching more. It is close to becoming a habit. Thanks to Sue Modrak for her encouragement and sketchbooks she has given me. Well, forceful encouragement. She sketches all the time and it shows. She draws well and it seems to me .. effortlessly. (Sue doesn't have a blog or website .. I am forcefully encouraging her in that regard. Ha.) Regina has also given me sketchbooks and art related gifts, too. She and I have painted quite a bit together and rely on each other for critiques and support. If you are new to my blog, you can read more about why I sketch on the scavenger hunts here.

These sketches are all in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook with a Micron 05 pen. I sketch freehand.

Number 1, portly - a little ceramic monk playing cards. Number 2, elevated - the ceiling fan and wall hangings in the living room.

Number 3, celestial - an angel sculpture from Gene's Mom a few years ago. It is quite elaborate and doesn't quite fit in our house but I guess it is the only angel we have.

Number 4, negative - several poor negative sketches, horse sculpture, vase and cup.

Number 5, serene - Gene watching TV and working on his computer. I told him I could sketch him again today for "caustic", he chuckled at that. Number 6, earthy - A plant in a pot and the challenge of doing it like a puzzle. I do think there is a piece or two missing, these wouldn't quite fit together!

Number 7, scarred. My hand where I cut it with a table knife while separating sausage patties many years ago in Bolivia. Number 8, diminutive - another of the little portly monks.

Number 9, exit - the screen door on the porch. Number 10, old fashioned - a meat grinder sitting on a window sill on the porch. Could have done a self portrait, no?

And a photo of the little monks that are playing cards. One is putting a card up his sleeve or taking one out! One is peeking at the other's cards. I think one is asleep and the other is very innocently playing his cards. I received these as a gift during my bridge playing years.

Using Colourfix Medium with Pastels

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:02:00 +0000

I received this in a comment from Sue Wiley on my post of yesterday:

"I was interested to read that you use Colourfix on Masonite, which I do, as well, on occasion. Do you ever have a problem with pastel wearing the grit down after you have worked on an area for a while and then not adhering in just one spot? I have had this happen twice in paintings, and haven't had much luck in fixing the spots; wondering if you have a solution?"

I have not noticed this problem. I did have some trouble with Colourfix paper when I brushed too much alcohol on it for an under painting. I use water more often, now.

So I checked out the Colourfix site and found a couple of PDF files you can download.

A few tidbits I found interesting:

To correct and remove pastel they recommend packing tape. You can lift one layer at a time without disturbing the layers below. Use a clean piece of tape for each layer.

They recommend sanding down to a smooth surface and reapplying Colourfix if a spot becomes unworkable due to too much fixative or whatever. It dries quickly so shouldn't interfere with painting time.

They do not recommend brushing pastel off. As we all know, you can breathe in the dust. They recommend using a damp cloth to keep the dust level down. I brush very carefully and outside if I have a lot of pastel to remove.

They did say you can wash their Colourfix paper with water and a brush, just lie flat to dry, weight it down if necessary. This means you could wash a board as well.

They recommend it for collage and many other craft ideas, too.

I learned something new and I hope this helps Sue and others. Thank you, Sue, for the question.

Windmill at Sunset, Pastel Painting

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:21:00 +0000

I finished up this small pastel yesterday, too. I waited most of the day to take photos of the paintings. It has been so hot but overcast so I have a few minutes of sun now and again for the photos. I have to be paying attention and have everything ready for the short windows of time for photos of my pastel paintings. It is difficult to get the blues to read correctly, but this is pretty close, at least on my monitor. The yellow is not that strong either. Perhaps a new photo tomorrow. Hmmm.

Windmill at Sunset

Pastel on Board with Colourfix, 6 x 12 inches
Gold Frame

Preparation for this painting was to put Colourfix Medium on a Masonite board. I paint the back of the board with any latex paint. This seals it and helps keep it from warping. Of course on this small size, that is not a problem. I wipe the surface with alcohol to remove any residue and then painted on two or three coats of the sanded medium. I used a maroon colored medium. Board prepared this way has a rougher surface than Pastelbord which gives the painting more texture which was desirable for this scene.

This landscape pastel was painted for the show during Old Timers in Magdalena, New Mexico, in July. Most of my work will have a Magdalena and New Mexico theme to it.

The Old Timers Reunion is fun. They have a parade, Queen Contest (Must be over 65, I think and a permanent resident), rodeo (must be over 50 or if two are roping in team tying, must add up to 100 or over), street dances, barbecue, cowboy breakfast, arts and crafts, kids rodeo, food booths both Mexican and Navajo and much more. My Dad and Mom were instrumental in getting it started. Mother was the second queen. We used to go to see who the old timers were. Now ... we are the old timers, sad to say. The reunion has always been a time for class reunions and to see old friends. The classes at the High School were small, so reunions usually cover 3 or 4 years. I hope to see lots of family and "old" friends there this year, too.

My blogger read today is José Carrilho, a Portuguese artist in Lisbon, Portugal. I found José in the pastel forum on wetcanvas.com He paints well. His blog is an information blog so check it and his website, too. The link on the blog is to a contest to win a studio makeover. Who wouldn't like that?

The pastelist is Tom Christopher. He posts a WIP (work in progress) or short demo dated June 10, of a road in the trees. It is very pretty and I like how he uses the under painting in the background. I have written about Tom before, but I think his work is nice and worth a look once in a while. :)

Pastel Painting, Homestead, Finished

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:24:00 +0000

After several passes I finished the painting, Homestead, that I have been working on for a while.

Homestead
Pastel on Pastelbord, 24 x 18 inches

I changed it quite a bit from what I had. It is interesting how the process works. The plan was to find a scene that I liked in my reference photos. I am painting New Mexico scenes for my show in July and I am in Texas so there is no plein air and painting on site. I found a couple of photos with hills and adobes. I cropped and did a couple of thumbnail sketches and came up with the homestead with the trees all around. This looked great in small 4 xx 6 sketches, but in large size it left a lot of empty space.

I wanted the houses to be more prominent and the foreground to be less prominent so I removed some trees and bushes. Then it was so empty. I added the two horseback riders and I am pleased with it now. I debated on making the riders closer and larger, but decided I still wanted the houses to be most important in the painting. Hopefully you will agree with me.

Pastel Miniature Show at Scarbrough Building

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:43:00 +0000

The Austin Pastel Society (APS) is having a miniature show in Austin, Texas, from June 21 until July 19, 2009, Scarbrough Building, Congress Avenue and 6th. Street. (101 West 6th. Street) The exhibit will be open during office hours in the building. There will be a great variety of styles and techniques available by the APS artists. Most of the art will be on sale giving you a chance to purchase original art are reasonable prices by some great pastelists.

My entries are the still life of the apples and a landscape painted plein air in our back yard of the loblolly pines.

Serve "Em Texas Style
Pastel on Pastelbord, 5 x 7 inches

Yard Art 3
Pastel on Pastelbord Plein Air, 5 x 7 inches

Here they are in their frames. They are $85.00 each, framed. You can buy now and I will get them to you after the show. Send me an email if you are interested. I can send you a PayPal invoice. Free postage included in the price.

You will not be disappointed in the show. Drop by the Scarbrough Building when you get a chance and look it over.

Horns Win!! Final Photos

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Yep, the Horns won their Super Regional and are off to Omaha to the College World Series! It seemed like a given when we arrived at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. On the way to the game, I mentioned to Gene that the adrenaline needed to be pushed up some way after the flat feel of the game yesterday. Not to worry, the stadium was alive, the crowd was great from the beginning and so were the Horns. I will let you read the nitty gritty on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page and the official Longhorn site where they have great photos.

I will share these last photos for this season. We will not be in Omaha, so will rely on TV for our images. The Horns play their first game against So. Missississippi, Sunday June 14, at 6:00 p.m. You can watch on ESPN2.
(Deleted comment about Old Miss .. not the right team, ha.)

(Sorry for the half circle shadow in the photos, my camera is giving out. I ordered a new one, with a case this time, so it won't have such rough treatment. This shadow is from being dropped or from being in my pocket all the time!)

The winning feel was in the air for sure. Even the wall in right field looked gold while Austin Wood was pitching.

These fellows brought a good luck charm. They said it was from Central America. It caught my eye as it looks just like an Ekkeko from Bolivia. Whatever it is, did it help?

Austin has a reputation for being weird. There is a slogan around of "Keep Austin Weird" and it is found in all sorts of places and on t-shirts. The baseball crowd picked it up and changed it a little for the Horns. "Keep Omaha Weird" and "Keep Austin Wood".

The weather cooperated even though it was a bit warm. Beautiful skies.

The scoreboard tells it all.

Taylor Jungman, the starting pitcher, waiting and Kevin Keyes being interviewed on TV.

We are all hopeful now of the big win in Omaha. Go, Horns, Go!!

Sad State of Affairs .. Baseball Photos

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:40:00 +0000

The Longhorns couldn't quite pull it off last night. Lost to TCU 3 -2 at the Super Regional in Austin. Drat. It means they play again tonight and the winner goes to the College World Series in Omaha. Read about it on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page. There is a short review on the official Longhorn page, with some great photos. Surely the Horns will win! After the week of excitement, maybe they were just a little flat. The fans seemed to be as well. Need to get the adrenaline going again this evening!

There was one moment of excitement for us. This Brandon Belt foul ball headed right for the seat between Joanna and I. Luckily the gentleman in the seat in front caught it and saved Joanna's camera! Of course we didn't get a view as it was coming up toward us! Joanna's photo might be better, we shall see.

The team going out between innings.

Cole Green and Brandon Belt

I'll be back a little later with some art stories and photos.

Pastel Painting, Saguaros - Baseball Note

jo@jocastilloart.com (Jo Castillo) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:20:00 +0000

I finished the commission of the saguaros and sent it off to Massachusetts. It was received and the purchaser was very happy with it. She is having it framed there. I thought you would like to see it before I put it on my website in the archives. The purchaser requested the colors which are quite different for me, but I am pleased with the results. Thank you, Cathy!

Cathy's Saguaros
Pastel on Colourfix Sanded Paper
9 x 15 inches

Baseball note. The Longhorns won their first game of the Super Regional. They won 10 - 4 over TCU. One more win and they are on the road to the College World Series. You can read about this on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page, the Longhorn official website (the story there isn't much, but excellent photos and 31 of them!) and the NCAA Website where you can see Gametracker, video and all. ESPN is carrying the games. The Texas game will be on ESPN tomorrow (today, Sunday, its after midnight) at 2 p.m. central time.

The overflow. There were UIL softball games going on across the street. You can see fans there watching the baseball game. :)

Conner Rowe making a spectacular catch agains the wall. You can see a much better photo of this on the official page under photos at the top of the article. Wow! (link to official page above)

Michael Torres, #9, after his first homerun!

Michael taking his curtain call after his second homerun. This makes four for the year. How much fun is that to double your homeruns in one day?

Chance Ruffin pitched a full game today. Yay, Chance!

The last TCU batter strikes out, Horns win!! Go, Horns, Go!