Scavenger Hunt from Life #179: Dec 28 - Jan 9, 2026

[Jo Castillo]

Ai, great sub for cupcake. Your sketch of the ironworks is spectacular.

Robin, excellent sketch and cool to find the fungus on a tree. I like you tea pot... Fun jar with the mung beans. I didn't know I had eaten mung beans, as I didn't know they were bean sprouts before they grew. Ha. The quilt will be so cool. We need progress reports once in a while. I've seen one of those but it was just small, maybe a hanging or pillow cover?

Fletch and Joan, thanks. Joan you show the warm and cool in the snow paintings so well. Happy Fletch took notice. I'm smiling, Fletch.

Ai, take care going back to work. We look forward to your sketches when you have time.

I couldn't focus today. I sort of vegged out and did puzzles and ???? It was a beautiful day.

See all y'all tomorrow.

 

[AiArts]

Jo: Thanks... take some needed R&R for yourself too

 

[Joan T]

Fletch, glad to provide a snowy look on Long Island for you to enjoy from the warmth of Florida.

Ai, it sounds like you found a good instructor for Iris to follow. Thanks for your comment about my snow painting. Good luck with the new semester. I hope you still find time to be creative.

 

[jmfletch]

Ai - who was the instructor you chose? If Miss Iris looks for more info Gemma Chambers has lots of good post on cp on You.tube. Also Phil Davies. I took his course online DrawAwesome a few years ago.

Joan - We are getting back to proper Florida weather but has almost a week where daytime highs were barely breaking 60°!

 

[AiArts]

Ai - who was the instructor you chose? If Miss Iris looks for more info Gemma Chambers has lots of good post on cp on You.tube. Also Phil Davies. I took his course online DrawAwesome a few years ago.

Fletch: Thanks for CP artist on SkillLane tip. The cp instructor that Iris was taking her workshop was a Thai lady artist (popular among Thai FB) that I like her style. So I bought the course for Iris. Iris, is not looking for any serious art course at the moment. It was my treat to give her as an alternative X'mas present.

 

[jmfletch]

Ai, I thought we may have found another cp artist. We know she has art in her blood.

#3 Kazoo - Sub mouthpiece from a broken plastic recorder. Multiple grades of graphite in Strathmore Sketchbook.

Keep sketching and learning
Fletch

 

[Robin Gillis]

6 useless..an am.ost squashed bow

 

[Joan T]

Fletch, I'll happily take the high of 60. Good thinking with the mouthpiece of the recorder.

Robin, your almost squashed bow looks like still has some life in it.

I stopped for lunch at Shrimpy's Burrito Bar today. I had been there before and thought it would be a fun place to sketch. It was hard to resist my shrimp taco long enough to sketch it.
14 - doodad (holding the hot sauce bottles) - watercolors and ink
15 - emblem/logo for Shrimpy's
16 - habaneros (I assume there are some in the hot sauce)

 

[AiArts]

Robin: Love the useless blob... cool hatching.

Joan: Oh wowza on the habanero field to the place. I could stop by for a drink and a basket of yummy treats. Love it.

 

[Pine Cone]

1 - “pinnacle” — birds in a row on the very top ridge of an A-frame roof

— non-virtual sketch
— sketched in my mobile studio
— freehand

— Pentel mechanical pencil (0.5)
— graphite pencils (5H, 3B)
— Pentel Clic Eraser
— pocket sketch pad by Artist’s Loft
— 60 lb (80 g/m2)
— 3.5” x 5.5” (8.8cm x 13.9cm)

— My Re-Learning to Draw Program - Phase 3 (bits of buildings and structures)

—————————————-

tl;dr (tooooo long, don’t read)

Yesterday, in my mobile studio, I was eating a Subway Personal Pizza (with spinach, onions, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., etc., etc.) I was parked on a side street, and looked up and saw the cutest row of little birds along the very top edge of an A-frame roof!!!

So I pulled out my mobile sketching sack, which I had with me even though I’ve been too sick and cold recently to use it. And because of the rain on my windshield, I turned my car sideways to the birds, and rolled the window down. I was cold inside before, and now, I was freezing and getting a bit of rain on me, while I tried to hold my sketchpad in the dry But I did it!!! I did this quick little sketch of the bravest, cutest birds ever

I added darks and toning later, inside. After my hands thawed

I don’t understand why these birds were here, instead of maybe on a beach down south somewhere, but I hope they survive the winter. There were several more birds than shown, and I hope they’re all okay. It was cold and the sky behind them was flat, uniform gray, and it was raining on these little guys, and probably turned to snow after I drove away. Good grief they’re brave little treasures.

 

[Pine Cone]

Everyone - I’ve missed commenting lately I’ve been a bit under the weather but hopefully, am well(ish) again. Meanwhile, I’ve been lurking, and living off your wonderful sketches and talk. Hope to be back soon to comment Thank you all for everything you post

 

[Joan T]

Pine Cone, it is good to see you posting and hear that you are feeling a little better. Please take care of yourself! I love your sketch of the birds! I like that you did them as silhouettes and shaded them with pencil. I smiled that you turned so you were facing them out the side window. It is hard to sketch from the mobile studio in the rain. The windows get foggy and if you open them you run the risk of getting yourself and your sketch wet. I'm glad you met with success. It is beyond me that those tiny creatures can survive the cold temperatures and not freeze. How do they stay warm enough?

 

[Robin Gillis]

good morning art buddies…we are doing inventory at work……

Just picked uo a newsprint tablet and saw this on the front cover, which to me perfectly conveys one feeling of what it feels like to be into art.
I hope we all get to sketch a little something today.

 

[jmfletch]

Pine Cone - Excellent work! But still recovering and sitting in cold getting wet is not the brightest move. Have to tell you when I look at you supplies photo I thought that was a photo of the birds. Then I noticed how perfectly the drawing matched the ‘photol’ and laughed. I think the relearning is pretty much done. You are back.

Robin, I love how dynamic your hatching is.

Joan - What really caught my eye was how busy the sketch was and all the text! A bit of. It I recognize as pen but most of it looks like you painted that tiny text with a brush??

Morning Jo, Ai, Jade, Ned, and lurkers.

 

[Jade]

Everyone - I’ve missed commenting lately I’ve been a bit under the weather but hopefully, am well(ish) again. Meanwhile, I’ve been lurking, and living off your wonderful sketches and talk. Hope to be back soon to comment Thank you all for everything you post

Take good care PineCone (and all). I've been lurking too PC - I hope you feel better soon. Love this thread.. beautiful work all. From me and Bob xx

 

[Jo Castillo]

Ai, Phil Davies used to have free demos. I did one there on pastels.
Hi fletch, Joan and the rest.

I sketched on the footstool in the large Canson Mixed Media Sketchbook with a Micron 02
Number 4 kazoo - subbed some pottery whistles from Bolivia or Peru that have the designs mainly burned off so not much color, now just muddy terra cotta. The gray dirty looking areas in the photo are wrinkles in the paper as there is watercolor on the other side. Not as noticeable in real life. It might have been better to scan it but the sketchbook is a little large for my scanner.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Well, I did the kazoo sub yesterday and didn't hit send. Luckily it was still here.

Fletch, looks like you found the closest thing to a kazoo. Nice graphite work. You do that so well. Applause.

Robin, awww, clever useless bow. It is always hard for me to throw away the wrappings. Love the tablet cover!

Joan, you found a great place to Hunt. I love the taco, sauces and signs. You make me hungry .... of course!

Pine Cone, oh, the birds are so sweet and well done. You have a gift. We miss your comments but hope you stay warm and well. We are happy to "see" you and "listen" any time. Hugs and wishing you a great New Year.

Jade, hi there. You are welcome any time as well. Bob looks interested in our thread, too.

My day out was cancelled so may get a sketch in at home. We shall see. We do have to go out, maybe I can find a mansion.