Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Originally uploaded by sketchalina

I've been digging through my collection of sketchbooks, looking for images that would make good lino cuts. This one is from a sketch I did in Puerto Vallarta a few years ago. Happy memories - I so remember sitting on the steps up above the street, listening to the music below from the cathedral, the shops and from the passing car stereos. This is one of the things about sketchbooking that sticks with me - memories of a place are so much deeper after observing things closely enough to capture them on paper. I'm happy with the way this cut came out. I still need to figure out how to print them well, but that'll come.

Dick and Betty Go To The Game

I was torn last night about whether to go to my drawing session or join the whole family at the Old Timer's hockey game.  This was my compromise.  First we had a big dinner together.  Brother Greg came with his whole family, and my Greg brought his boys and nephew Brady.  I made sausage lasagna and a ham, a couple of big salads.  I love big family dinners.

Hockey bores me, so I sat and sketched instead of pretending to watch it.  The final score was something like 17 to 3 for the firefighters.  I saw the first goal and after that was looking elsewhere.  I'm sure there were players on the ice, but I didn't really see them as I was looking at everything else!

New Lino Cut - No Minors

I got out the carving tools and made another lino cut yesterday.  I love the planning and carving part of making these.  I need to learn more about how to pull good prints, but there's a group session tomorrow night - I can ask the people there what I can do differently to get bettter prints. 

Just as I was pulling this first print, Rob, MaryEllen and the girls showed up at the door.  We had a great day snow shoeing, sledding, hot tubbing, cooking, watching Super Bowl and having a great team dinner involving risotto, mushroom pork chops and champagne.  I love Sundays!

16 Things About Me (or how I was tagged)

I was tagged recently by the lovely 'Fiddlestix' from my flickr world.  I have to post a photo of myself and 16 things about me.

Here goes:

1. I love to play my guitar and sing.  I'm not amazing, but the people who love me like it
   
2. I have a beautiful son, 19 now, who's away at University
   
3. I live in the mountains with my man (who I love).  This is us at the Salvia in Cancun earlier this month.  There's a sketch of that rock behind us here on this blog that I painted from this deck.  That's the wind blowing us around; not some weird style requiring copious amounts of hair product and styling tools!
4. I like it here on the mountain, but I miss the city life.  I suspect we'll move back in the spring
   
5. I have a birthmark on my calf that is exactly the shape of Italy
   
6. I think it's a sign.  There it is in this old sketch from my PV book
7. I love Indigo Girls music
   
8. I've done a few triathlons
   
9. I was a cheerleader in high school.  Don't tell anyone
   
10. I speak Spanish pretty well and just enough French to get into trouble.  I've done language immersion courses in France and in Puebla, Mexico, and have lived and worked in Mexico a couple of times and in Quebec for a little bit.  I like studying language.  There are loads of good language learning podcasts on my iPhone that I listen to when I'm at the gym or in my car  
    
11. I was a regular on a TV exercise show a million years ago.  I was one of the girls in the back row.  Kind of a throw back to my cheerleading days I suppose
    
12. I've been married
    
13. Twice
    
14. I have a cat named Truman.  He's trying to sit on my hands right now as I type
    
15. I graduated from design school.  That's where I developed an interest in art and rendering
    
16. I'm a bit of a Scrabble addict.  My mom is my favorite challenger
    

Bonus item: We have hair salons and beauty stores that sell copious amounts of hair product and styling tools. ;-)

Thanks for asking, My Fiddlestix!  Sorry it took me so long to respond.

 

There's No Place Like Home!

I had so much fun making this book on our trip.  It's kind of nice to be home now though.  If you want to read the text just click on the page - it'll open up bigger.  

Things I'm looking forward to now that I'm home:

• Seeing my son and my mom and dad (missed them)
• Using our theatre tickets 
• Going to life drawing on Wednesday
  
• Oddly enough, going grocery shopping and eating at home - it was one day too many at the all inclusive buffet

And even more Cancun/Playa Sketchbook

More Cancun/Playa Sketchbook