Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Windmills, Water Towers and Beehives: A Peek inside my Sketchbook

Last weekend I traveled to California's central valley to take my son Henry to a soccer tournament. All kinds of images filled my head and made their way into my sketchbook. These are all common sights in the valley, but not very common around here. Well, the old fashioned windmill came from my imagination, not the valley!  But I did see lots of windmills, and I did a larger, more realistic windmill based on the ones that populate the valley:
I also looked at some stylized bee images and came up with my own version:
Are any of these common sights near where you live?
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A few blog notes:
1. Yesterday, I posted this asking for your vote. If you didn't get a chance to check it out yesterday, please do today. Thanks!
2. Tomorrow, April 5, I plan to take place in Abi's "Operation Speak Out" and pledge to comment on all the blogs I visit. Are you playing along? You can read more about it here.

12 comments:

  1. Your drawings look great! I can see your sketchbook filling up quickly! Those huge windmills always fascinate me. We don't have many of them here, almost none, really. Too many mountains around. I really love your bee. It's gorgeous!

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  2. I love your sketches, and especially that you drew what was around you. Too early for bees here (we have an unseasonal seven inches of snow today!) and the nearest windmills are out at sea about forty miles away from here, but I do actually like them. Looking forward to more glimpses ...

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  3. We don't have beehives round here, but the wind turbines are proliferating. They are built in the shipyard here

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  4. Love your bee. Just placed my vote - you must have lots of internet friends because you are in a very strong lead right now!

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  5. We have some of the wind turbines about 5 miles from here and there is a real windmill about 5 miles in the other direction! http://www.stanstedmountfitchetwindmill.co.uk/
    All the farm shops round here sell local honey so I guess there must be beehives nearby but I've never found one on my travels!
    Your beehive is my favourite sketch by the way!

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  6. No windmills in Houston. We do have a lot of Texas size mosquitos. Voted yesterday for you. I love reading your blogs and seeing your sketches. You make me want to buy a sketchbook.

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  7. No windmills of any sort around here..but the bees are about!
    Alison xx

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  8. We have wind turbines and bees!!!! I like bees in theory....just not near me!!

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  9. What fun to have your sketchbook to use while you travel! We have more and more wind turbines showing up around here.

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  10. We do get bees, just not yet and we do have lots of bee farmers in rural areas. There are no Turbines near us, but the southern part of the province has lots!

    Was thinking of you yesterday Rinda with the shooting in Oakland. Very sad to see.

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  11. Your sketches are wonderful! I love watching windmills- they are so magnificent - I just stare at their huge huge huge blades.

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  12. We don't have any windmills of any type around here but we have everything else. In fact the folks a couple miles up the road started bee keeping last summer & I just saw them moving their hives last week.

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