R's rue

(...rest of the year meaning sketching when I want to not have to because of some weird notion I had that I could do this everyday and stay inspired.) I'm kind of not having fun doing this daily sketch thing that i thought WOULD be fun but isn't.  Most days I sketch something just to get it done but nothing that is inspiring to me at all. So, I'll take the weekend off and see what happens. Do you have any fun plans?  If we do anything at all it will be to get off this mountain and go down where there might be warmer temps and no snow.  It's the weekend so a lot of traffic will be coming up for skiing and we will time it where we can get down and then come up late enough not to hit traffic upbound. I really need to see some color - maybe that will lift my mood which is pretty dreary lately. Hope  you all have a nice weekend. Oh yeah, this is some kind of warbler.

A flower in "remembrance" of spring (or summer).  

I was out today so didn't get my sketch done until late. This trail we were walking that day several years ago,  goes through Mill Valley in Marin County,  along the water in San Francisco.  I love this area and even though they have now moved to Washington in a small town outside of Seattle - I still hope to get back to San Francisco some day.

Hello - and not much news to report other than we got out and drove around a bit today and it felt good.  Snow was powdery that fell during the night so it covered up the icy road and with our 4 wheel drive jeep we made it around town pretty good. We have a 2 day break and then another snow storm coming in Thursday.  Seems like weather news is the only updates I have lately.  I need some warm and fuzzy news - anybody have some!

Today's sketch is a squirrel  who appears cranky about the lack of peanuts I have been throwing out in between snow storms or ..maybe he is just cranky over the frozen ground which is having a hard time thawing out. 

Once again, I was waiting to get motivated and it didn't happen.  I finally decided I had to get a sketch done whether I wanted to or not.  I had trouble with her body - she was kind of skipping and I couldn't translate this to the sketch.  Also I couldn't draw her hand correctly so I put a long stem flower in it.  This sketch I didn't enjoy doing - but I did it. Did you have a good weekend?  - I am told that we will have some snow on Monday I believe.  Can't wait - I'm so excited (smirk)...lol

Night time Snowboarding.  Long day and no time to sketch until tonight - ..more snow on the way...

I can't get over the HUGE amount of rain the mountains are getting.  There is flooding all over the roads and rock slides.  I'm so glad we are home today.  The people that live on the mountain but need to travel down to their jobs are posting pics on FB of all the slides around here. Anyway - ... I think this shorebird has met his match - this worm is not going down without a fight. A couple of summers ago I saw some shorebirds that normally I don't see unless I'm at the coast.  It was exciting to think that they came to visit our lake.  I stalked this one for awhile getting many photographs.

This frog is going to be very happy in the next few days.   Over the last few years because the lake had been lowered so the dam renovation could be done, we hadn't seen any frogs.   With all the rain we have been getting and the lake level rising and coming alive again with all that good stuff that lives in the lake and eventually becomes food for the frogs, this frog and others of his kind should be bringing the croak back to the lake. Spring is going to be beautiful this year - wildflowers all over the place.  I read that to get wildflower superblooms, its' best if the rains come early in winter to make for a beautiful spring bloom in So Cal and the local deserts.

Got it done in time - wasn't sure I would.  Western Bluebirds like to sit on the chain link fence over at the old ball field at one end of the lake.  After the rains that are suppose to come (Pineapple express they call it) starting Thursday and with all the snow we have yet to melt I'm kind of thinking this couple will be sitting on the fence just to keep dry.  I hope ALL the snow melts before the next snow event which might come in next Sunday. And that's my weather report for today.

Several years ago one of the times we visited up in San Francisco to babysit our grandkids I took Holly out for a walk.  When I knew we were going to drive up there, some of the things I packed included about four different hats because i knew I would want to have fun playing dress up with her and taking photos. A blogger friend, Connie, just had a granddaughter recently and that brought to mine my own grandkids.  I then thought why not start sketching them for my daily sketches.  I have a whole series of Holly in this outfit and will probably sketch more of them. This was mostly done in pen and colored pencil with some paint used on the background in my paint program online. 

Another house sketch.  If I keep going I'll eventually sketch my whole neighborhood.  Anyway, this house,  anytime we are driving home from town is one we pass by which is just down the road from us.   It sits close to the street - so close that cars can only park basically on the road as they don't have any specified parking for this house and 3 more  houses on this very narrow road. And that's it for this cold snowy day.  I finally sat down and got a sketch done and now I'm going to go play Mahjong online while I wait for dinner.

We  passed this house yesterday over in Blue Jay as we headed towards Lake Arrowhead to check out the snowy areas.  This was one of the houses I photographed along the way but because it was turning out really crooked in my sketch so I just emphasized its' crookedness and called it done.    Do you have some nice plans for the weekend?  Around here because so many want to come up and play in the snow we stay home and wait for the crowds to leave before we venture out.  Is your area a tourist area where you deal with lots of people and traffic over the weekend?

I wasn't sure what to sketch but saw this image on the net of a blackbird so decided it will be a quick sketch to do tonight.  We did get out as the ice melted enough on the road today to take the jeep out.  I enjoyed being out and seeing what the latest snow storm did around the mountains.  It was a beautiful day.

I was so busy today watching it snow and taking pics and... watching our local guy who goes out in his truck and takes videos ...which I was watching for a long time....but..finally got a quick sketch done. Anyway - we did get snow and maybe more coming tonight.

 For today's sketch I chose a perspective that would give me a little practice with angles of houses which I have so much to learn about because I find it really hard to sketch perspectives like this. We have had rain basically for more than 24 hours straight - with very little breaks inbetween and most of the time very heavy downpours.   We still have two more days of storms that are suppose to turn to snow even down to 2700 feet or so - We are about 5000 feet so we can get up to 6" or so with this next one coming tonight through the night and through tomorrow and into Tuesday -.  ugh.....................  I will be stuck inside for the most part so I'll have plenty of time for my sketches. We finally went out yesterday to check out the lake and some of the roads around the mountain and the lakes are really filling up.  It's going to be a beautiful spring when it gets here. Most of the roads are narrow and in the rain you can watch the streams of water run downhill wh...

I always think of parakeets as usually the birds I like to sketch more than any other species.   I got my sketch done for early posting so I can not think about sketching the rest of today. Happy Super Bowl Day - I know what will be the focus at our house today. I will watch the half time show but that's about it.  Go Rams!

Rainy - torrents of rain all day - ...finally made myself just sit down and draw.  Lots of rain and wind in our area - a few blocks away about 900 people lost power because of the wind and rain.  Ours went out only for a minute and came back.  Hoping we keep our power tonight.  We have about three days of rain ahead and possibly snow on Monday.  Oh well.. spring is just around the corner, right ?!!  Even this bird looked cynical when I said spring is coming.

I throw peanuts out every day for the squirrels.  The last time it snowed this poor squirrel looked everywhere and never could find a peanut.  "Life has two rules.   1.  Never quit. 2.  Always remember #1"

I really enjoyed doing this house sparrow sketch.  I love remembering every day to release fear from my life.  The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.   Aung San Suu Kyi