Happy Texas Independence Day!

Happy Texas Independence Day!

Be sure to VOTE!

I took this photo Saturday, during the 26th World Wide Sketch Crawl, at the Clara Mounce Library in downtown Bryan. The skies were blue, the sun was bright, and the flags were flapping in a brisk north wind.

Too cold and windy to sit outside and sketch. I took some photos of what I would draw outside, then I went inside and spent the day in the warm, comfortable library, drawing. It turned out to be a nice place to work. Warm, safe, comfortable, with tables and chairs, water, restrooms, and a lot of material to draw.

I planned to draw more, but they closed earlier than I thought, so I ended up with just a few sketches. There was a lady working at my table and she thought they closed at 9. She wasn't ready to leave at 5! I had planned to go upstairs and sketch the dollhouse, and the grandfather clocks, but I just quit when they announced that the library would be closing.

I did this Sketch Crawl by myself, but I hope that, one of these days, we will have a nice group!

I have posted some of my pictures on the Face Book group, Brazos Valley Sketchers. They are also on Flickr. I haven't figured out how to get them from Flickr onto the Sketch Crawl site, yet. I'm even having trouble getting the post, with pictures, to add on the e-mail that I send out. So, if you get a plain e-mail, without a picture or bold text, some of it in color, just click on the link to see the actual post.

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Go out and vote, if this is the day, where you are.

I may not go. I think I have sinus trouble, and an eye infection, but I don't want to risk passing germs around, in case I have anything more. Lots of sick folks these days. I've been spraying Lysol around, taking vitamins, etc. and doing all I can to avoid catching anything. But, it looks like the germs are winning!

Maybe they should let folks vote online to avoid passing around the flu and such. I can't get over going into doctors' offices and hospitals and they have hand sanitizer and masks for people to use. I just use soap and water to wash my hands frequently. Maybe I should try some of that hand sanitizer stuff!

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27th World Wide Sketch Crawl is Saturday May 15, 2010

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First Friday in Downtown Bryan should be fun. Always lots going on. See their website or the Frame Gallery website for more information.

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Happy Texas Independence Day

It' s Texas Independence Day!

I haven't heard a thing about it, but, over the weekend, they did show one of the newer movies about the Alamo with James Arness, over and over, on tv.

I thought I would just share a couple of photographs of some good old Texas land in honor of the day.

The top photo shows Sunnyside Road, one of the locations where we have been painting, just north of Calvert. The land to the left at one time was land that belonged to my great-grandfather. Everytime we passed by here, my grandmother would tell of the picnics they used to have by a tank or pond just beyond the trees. One time, someone in the party stood up and knocked one of the boys into the tank. The boy couldn't swim and almost drowned. Someone pulled the boy out just in time. I can't remember if that boy was my father or his brother.

My great-grandfather was one of the first business owners in Calvert and, later, built a home in town. Before that, they had a home on this land.

The bottom photo is of the pasture land on this same curve in the road. You can see the leading edge of a cold front coming in from the north. Not quite the blue norther I've been looking for, for years! But, again, it does show some of the land north of our Texas town.

You can click on the photographs to enlarge them.

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If you are interested in the plein aire painting and workshops, things like Sketch Crawl, in the Brazos Valley, you might join the Yahoo group that I started, Brazos Valley_ Sketchers. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrazosValley_Sketchers . I also started one on Facebook.

We're talking about another V.Vaughan workshop in Calvert in October. And, of course, Sketch Crawl is coming up April 11.

Maybe someone would like to get together and paint when the Bluebonnets start blooming.

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You can see more pictures from the workshop on Flickr and the Brazos Valley_Sketchers group. More to come on my blog later.

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