"Scooter" completed.

Enjoy!

Day 2 of the "Scooter" project.

Take a look below at what I accomplished on day two of my new hobby, painting!

My Art Project

I have always felt, in the back of my head, that I wanted to be an artist. Specifically, a painter. I admire all art but painting to me seems so magical. I have never really had the time to pursue this craziness until now.  I have thought about taking art classes but that just never felt right.  I think art should come from inside the artist.  Thoughts, experiences, ideas should be original and just flow naturally from within.  With that said, I wanted to share with you what I have decided to do.  My first project is to attempt to paint one of my favorite pictures of my dog Scooter.  As you know, I left him behind when I retired and moved to Ecuador.  

My first step was to sketch an outline on canvas.  I printed the picture and then traced it using carbon paper.  Here is the result:

After studying the original picture, and contemplating the next step, I sat down today and started the actual painting.  Here is how that turned out:

When you compare it to the original photograph I must say it's not so bad actually:

I am looking forward to adding additional colors and fine tuning the outline of his face.  I'm not sure that I can capture his personality but I will certainly try.  I will post more photos as I continue the painting process.  Not sure how long it will take.  I'll only paint when I am in the mood and feel that I can give it the proper attention it deserves.  If this project works out, like I hope it does, my goal is to produce original paintings.  Not sure in what style though.  I'm thinking abstract.  Stay tuned! 

    

Catedral De La Immaculada Concepcion

Friday, Joe and I toured "The New Cathedral", as it's known in Cuenca, and were able to climb the winding stairs up to the top.  The view of the historic center was amazing.  Enjoy!

This post is a minor milestone for me ... my 100th post!  Thanks to all for reading!!

Joe's visit comes to an end.

Joe's visit ended today.  He is at the Cuenca airport awaiting his flight to Quito and then on to Atlanta. We really enjoyed having him.  He was our first guest since moving to Ecuador in January of this year. He is already talking about visiting again in January to escape the deep freeze of Winter. Before he left we had a chance to visit a shopping center and then Mall del Rio for lunch. We then walked around the city for last minute souvenir shopping and we ran into a familiar face ... Ronald McDonald!

A few highlights of Joe's visit ...

Panama Hats

Today we visited the Panama Hat museum. Fun had by all!  FYI, Panama hats are from Cuenca, Ecuador...not Panama!

"Raw" bleached hats. 

Tres sexy amigos!  (Three sexy friends)!

Glue has been added so the hats hold their shape. 

Various stages of weaving...all by hand!

Molds used to form the shape of each hat. 

Joe Christley models his purchase. Looking good Joe!!

No telling what trouble we find tomorrow. 

Joe's Visit

We are really enjoying our friend Joe's visit. We spent two days in Quito, showing him all of the tourist highlights, before flying to Cuenca. Here are a few pics from our time in Quito. 

This was taken after climbing up to the top of the spire at the Basilica. 

Panoramic view from the spire. 

The party district ... Foch Plaza. 

Lunch at Fiambre's ... We did not eat cuy!

Joe took this beautiful picture of the sunset as we flew to Cuenca. 

Yesterday we explored Cuenca, by foot, and enjoyed the sites from the tour bus. 

For dinner, we met Dennis and his friend Pablo for dinner at Santorino's. Afterwards, we stopped by a local bar to celebrate Pablo's birthday.