Galapagos Islands

I wish everyone could make this trip.  It was fantastic, amazing and a trip of a lifetime.  These are just a few of the sea lions on Espanola Island.

Marine iguanas, albatross, and blue footed boobie.  The post office barrel has been in place since the early 1700's. Now it is leave a letter and take one that you can hand delivery in your area or to a place you are going to.

The giant tortoises are amazing,  400 lbs. and some are over 100 years old.  There is a great program in effect that is raising the populations on the different islands.  Visited the Darwin Center.

I was fascinated with the land iguanas.  There are different kinds, all beautiful in their own way and great posers for some sketches. Sea lions sleeping under a cactus, what can I say?

One more iguana, sea lion and a red footed boobie.  The emblem is for the National Park Marina Reserve.  They say you can leave the islands but the islands never leave you.  A wonderful memory forever.






Robert Bateman 6" x 9" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Tom's and Miss Penny

Look Penny, they are finished!  My dear friend, Penny bought a pair of cream colored Tom's for each us to tangle.  She finished hers way before me but I finally finished mine.

It was a little tricky but we took our time working with the micron pens over the bumpy surface.  Surprisingly enough I had a better time filling in the initial darks with the 01 as it could get the sides of the threads.  Signed and Scotch-guarded of course.

I wore them today for the first time, sadly it was at the memorial gathering to celebrate this cherished woman. Every time I wear them it will be in honor of her spirit which I will gather with me and carry on.  Thank you my friend, I know you are smiling down on me with that approving look from heaven.

Another Visit to Irvine Park

Wow, another beautiful and fun day at Irvine Regional Park. The sun was out and there was a wonderful breeze again today.  After Yukun and I took our little walk, I took my chair over by the Zoo and sat to sketch this scene. I took it back to the group to paint it and picked up some little treasures along the way.  There were seven of us today and we all enjoyed the outdoors and a picnic lunch with each other.

5" x 7" Robert Bateman Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

There was a group of kids at the park with Peace Camp.  Three years ago while sketching at the park a group sat in front of us to eat their lunch.  I loved their logo and sketched it my book.  When I saw another group of Peace Campers today I shared my page from 2008 with them.  One of the camp leaders asked if I could send him a copy which I did.  I took that as a nice compliment!

5" x 7" Robert Bateman Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

More Playing Around

Here's....Tripoli! It was introduced as the new grid in town.  This is as big as I have gotten with the grid as I am having trouble keeping it even.  Beside that little problem it is very fun to play with.  Once you get the grid of triangles you can fill in the triangles with other patterns and get wonderful secondary patterns. I will just have to play more to get the grid pattern down.  Gabby and I figured out the center cluster needs to be even to start.

Pepper is fun, they look like peppermint candies.  I really need to push this one a little more and see where I can take it.  I like flipping the stripes in an elongated area.

Rick's Paradox is a must to play with.  So cool!  When adding an adjacent triangle you have a choice in which direction you start in that triangle.  Go one way you get the first cluster, go the other way and you get the second.  There are six triangles in each cluster.  The square looked really hard but nope it's not.

This is the first one I've done!
skinny, skinny, skinny, fat

9" x 12" Sketchbook
Pen

Playing with Mooka

 My friend, Sharla, recommended to our ZenFriend group to work in a bigger sketchbook to explore tangles.  So I took my 40% off coupon to Michael's and got a new sketchbook just for zentangles.  My first two pages are playing with Mooka, which is a continuous line pattern.

It amazing how just "playing around" can produce some pretty fantastic stuff if I do say so myself.  It really helps to build muscle memory so the pattern becomes easy to do.  When you don't have to think about the way to do the tangle your creativity is unleashed and allowed to run free.


Zentangle Sketchbook
9" x 12"   Pen

Summer Painters at Irvine Park

Our little summer painting group met up again today.  This time we went to Irvine Regional Park.  It was a most glorious day with sunshine, shade and a great breeze.  Sharon and I started with sketching part of the stone walls and then I found lots of interesting bits and pieces of the park.  The one little insect decided he liked my little paint palette. Ann worked on a upo watercolor and Yukon made up a landscape composed of different elements including Ann! Sack lunches and lots of laughter made for a great day, so much so we are going back to the park in two weeks.

Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

Playing in the Dirt

I try to do a little art everyday.  Well, yesterday I played in the dirt making some dish succulent gardens. A zen kind of art thing, so I thought I would post them.
This silver rimmed crystal cut bowl has a big crack running through it, now it is a new kind of vessel.  I like the juxtapose of the elements.

I received some thank you flowers in this little bowl and thought the shape was nice for another little garden.  I placed a little pine cone from my studio in the middle though I am not sure where I picked it up maybe in Alaska.

Sarah and Pedro gave me this little treasure for Mother's Day but two of the plants grew too big for the orb so I replanted it which was not an easy thing to do.  Thank goodness for chop sticks!  As you can see one of the plants is blooming so I pulled the bloom out the little hole on the top.  Hopefully I won't have to replant it very often.

Painting Group at the Arboretum

It was a very warm day at the Fullerton Arboretum but a few of us braved the heat and humidity for art.  There always seems to be a breeze and lots of shade but silly me, I ventured out to the cactus garden to capture a few of these beauties.  In two weeks on July 20th we are meeting at Irvine Regional Park.


Robert Bateman 5" x 7" Sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor