Monday, February 2, 2009

Tiring But Enjoyable

It's Monday but I am not fully recovered from the weekend. The first volleyball tournament of the club season. First let me state that this sketching my real life settings is squeaky new for me and it's super rough, but I am pushing on through it, continuing my effort to do some type of "art". I'm not even sure if I like doing it, but alot of that is because I am a perfectionist and yeah, it irks me for it to be so bad.....but I'm doing it. I also still haven't figured out how to get my posts layed out like I like. For example, I haven't been able to load my photos and place text in between them to comment on that particular photo. This irritates me to no end...........ok, I vented a bit, feels better.
For those of you unfamiliar with club sports, which is played during the school's sport off season, let me set the scene just a bit. Pack food, chairs, uniform, overnight clothes (this time), and me being team mom...utensils, napkins, plates, hand sanitizer, extension cords, etc. Since I made macaroni and cheese, I had it packed in a cooler and then brought the crock pot. We lived over two hours away from this one and they were one hour ahead of us so we went the night before and stayed over. The next morning (after sleeping poorly) we arrive at the location, secure a spot in the hallway, set up a table and camp out.
Arrive at gym at 8:30 and watch and play volleyball for the next 10 hours! The team doesn't play the whole time, they were referees, scorekeepers, line judges for some matches, sit out some (that's when they eat). There is alot of walking back and forth to the gym, stepping up bleachers, (I feel like an old woman between bad knee and back) cheering, standing around, sitting around and good visits with the parents. The girls have a great time, they all get along really well. They come from different schools in the area and I think it is good for them socially, not just athletically. This is her third year and I have made some wonderful friends. The team did ok, room for improvement, but no trophy. Proud of VolleyGirl, she never came out for any of the games, played the whole time!
The top photo is some of the girls, VolleyGirl is second from left, she will give me enormous grief if she sees I posted this, she wasn't prepared in it like a couple of the others! Then, I sketched the back of VG, the food table and my poor behind on the bleachers!

15 comments:

  1. Nice sketches!

    I don't think I could ever survive that marathon. Kudos to you.

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  2. I love those sketches-on the spot sketches are just so vibrant and get right to the core of the action. I got over feeling that they all had to be perfect and most of what I post are quick sketches.

    Here is something that I hope helps you when posting.
    1. Think backwards--put the last photo up first.
    2. When all the photos are up, put your cursor under the one you want to talk about. The cursor will probably rest on the side but just arrow it down or hit enter so it moves to a commenting position.
    3. Then do that for each photo.

    I hope this works for you.

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  3. Thanks for the comments CTD! Teri C, I do post the photos backwards and in the order I want but have not had luck with the text, thanks, I will try again!

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  4. Whew! Artist, you make me tired just reading about this! I used to be in the drill team when I was in high school, and I remember how much fun it was, but I don't think I'd have the energy for it now. Well, maybe, if I didn't work at an energy sucking job. Sounds fun.

    I was going to say the very same thing that Teri C said. That's exactly how I post my photos and text and I have blogger. You can also move your text around after you've typed it by highlighting and then dragging it where you want it to go. If you drag your photos, you won't be able to enlarge them by clicking on them, but moving the text is ok. (Make sure you leave enough space between your photos before dragging your text, if you do it that way.)

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  5. my kids really never went the sports route, but my son is a musician so instead of being a socker mom i'm a rocker mom, going to loud concerts, etc. ! really love your paintings alot......! do you want to swap links?

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  6. Wow. I was tired just from reading about all you had to do. Your drawings are fun and good. your table drawing is blurred tho so hard to see but looks good. I scan the ones I draw that are the size of the scaner, instead of photographing them. So they dont blur on me.
    Also when you do that about putting your cursor and pressing enter.. Just be careful that you dont get those dots around the photo and delete the photo. I have done that too.

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  7. 10 hours??? you are one dedicated mom.

    Teri has it right, you have to keep playing with blogger to get it to do what you want. I have the problem that when I put my cursor near a photo and start typing, I get everything as underlined. If I hit the "enter" key and go to a second line, the underlining disappears. Then I erase the underlined part. It's frustrating but what the heck!

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  8. My 4 kids have also gone the club route- one daughter played soccer and the other played basketball, the boys- ice hockey and baseball. There were long car rides (great for keeping the lines of communication open with the kids)sometimes travels by plane, a lot of packing and unpacking, sometimes bad food, some wins, some losses, but always fun- with our kids, other families, and the places we went! I wouldn't trade those days for anything.
    I give you credit for the sketching in public- especially since you aren't completely comfortable with your sketching abilities. I remember taking my pad and pencils away a couple of times, but being too shy and unsure of my abilities, I wouldn't take them out in public! Silly.
    Anyway, keep up with the good work, and enjoy the season. Good luck to VolleyGirl and her team!

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  9. never had this with my two sons, neither particularly sporty, 10 hours, gosh, you need a medal mom! keep on drawing that's what i did and still do, eventually my fussiness was overcome by the sheer fun of doing it. you go girl!!!

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  10. Wow, what a post! You know I love those sketches, don't be so hard with yourself, there's no such thing as "bad", it's really great to "train" yourself like that. They do volleyball, you sketch, and these sketches are fun!
    Thanks for sharing the picture of your volleygirl, she's sweet:)
    And wow, what a work that is, being a team mom.
    take care
    love
    Andrea

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  11. I agree -- nice sketches!

    http://racheteapaintersdiary.blogspot.com/

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  12. I have read some of your posts; and see your artwork. I liked the same and would like to revisit your website.

    If you like short stories and paintings, then a visit to my blogs would be an interesting one for you. I have posted articles reviewing some of my friends' artwork, too.

    Naval Langa
    SHORT STORIES by NAVAL LANGA
    PAINTINGS GALLERIES

    Another Interesting Blog
    BIG CITIES OF INDIA

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  13. Gosh, that's tiring!!!
    All I can say is practise, practise, my art teacher carries a small pad around with him 24/7 and is always doing quick sketches of heads, faces, hands etc. He says it's like writing, you've got to keep it up... Hmm, where's my sketch pad??
    I agree with Teri regarding loading photos onto your blog... always remember to go backwards.

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  14. Thank you for sharing and may you and your loved ones have a nice day. We had an earthquake the other night; the Ramapoo fault line here in Jersey.

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