Monte Vista Plantation Home

My Aunt and Uncle started renovating there new home, Monte Vista Plantation in Port Allen. I decided one day to perch on the levee overlooking the house and sketch this beautiful structure. A little history behind the plantation. If was built in the late 1850's by Louis De Favrot to house soldiers during battles. Many people have enjoyed residing in the house. It has a couple of outer structures I would like to capture, including a cottage house. The Architectural Style is Greek Revival. I plan to add foliage next time I visit and I will update the picture.

Another rainy day

Once again it was raining in Louisiana. I felt the need to sketch, so I looked around my house. Since my house was primarily decorated by the Aunt, there was plenty of things to capture. I seem to have an oriental theme amongst my house. I found this mirror at hobby lobby along with the statues. I'm fairly new to drawing light, so I wasn't quite sure how to capture the lamp being on. It became a quick sketch as it was getting late and I needed to get ready for bed.

Antiques in the Living Room

I was babysitting my two cousins one afternoon, when I had the urge to sketch. It was raining outside so I was stuck with looking for something indoors. My aunt is one of the people who has a museum like house with tons of antiques and beautiful things, so I didn't have to look far for inspiration. I was simply sitting on one of the leather chairs in the living room. The problem became having too much to draw. I started to focus on the armoire that contained some of her collection of blue and white Chinese porcelain. Next I found myself drawn to the simple carvings in the mantle above the fireplace (probably because the TV is located above and F.R.I.E.N.D.S was on). At this point it had stopped raining, but it was around 9:00 pm and it was pitch black dark. My Aunt wasn't home yet, so I moved on to the other side of the room. There she has placed above a small chest of drawers a gold framed mirror that has a glass grape garland. By the time I finished my drawing, my Aunt and Uncle were back. I'm sure there will be more sketches from her house to come. Plus they just bought Monte' Vista Plantation, so there definitely potential there.

Hilton, Downtown Baton Rouge

On one of my adventures downtown, I was looking for a shady place to stop and sketch (cause you know it gets to easily 100 degrees with humidity) when I stumbled across the newly redesigned Hilton Hotel. A little history on the Hotel, it use to be the Heidelberg and Capital House Hotel and has been fully restored. There still exists the secret tunnel that Governor Huey P. Long used to keep his whereabouts uncertain and the press guessing. The Tunnel remains open as a wine and private dinning experience. I decided to capture this building because of its beauty and historic significance to the city.

Louisiana State Capital

One of the more beautiful and taller buildings in Downtown Baton Rouge is the Louisiana State Capital. I happened to find the perfect spot off in the distace, pearing through the bushes. If you every get a chance to visit Louisiana, the State Capital is a must. Is located off of the 3rd street and is has free admission to the public. I use to work in the building so a here is a tip: Don't visit when the LA Legislature is in session(April-July), parking is a nightmare and they limit the rooms you can visit.

Port Allen Levee

The beautiful thing about living in Port Allen, is the view of Downtown Baton Rouge Sky Line. For those of you who seem to think Port Allen is so far, all the way across the Mississippi River Bridge, you are missing out. Its nearly a 5 minute drive over the bridge to exit at Hwy 1. If you go two lights down and take a right on Court street, you will run into the levee by Port Allen City Hall. Our city board has redone the landing on the levee to provide the perfect spot to capture Downtown BR. Here I was sitting on one of the benches, pearing through the lamp posts. The orginial plan was to capture the detail of the city but I couldn't seem to get past the lamp posts; therefore, my drawing took on a more closer view.

Hello Everyone!

To anyone who is reading this, thank you for visiting. My purpose for the blog creation is to post my recent art work for the world to see. Right now the only admirers are the family members that come by for a visit. I don't claim to be an professional, skilled artist of any kind. I am merely a beginner hobbyist. I welcome any comments, criticism or suggestions. My knowledge soley consits of checking out every book the local library has to offer in Art Instruction. I am limited on funds; therefore, pricey art lessons are not a priority. If you know of any inexpensive instruction in the Louisiana area, I greatly appreciate the suggestion. Another topic discussed here will be the books I have reacently read. As a young child I loved reading. Once school started forcing me to read summer reading books that I could not choose, I pushed it off as something that was a burden. I recently refound my love for reading. I believe a good book should get the praise it deserves. So to accomplish this, I will posts current books I am reading. I mainly read bestsellers or books with covers that happens to catch my eye as I stroll through Barnes and Noble looking for the Moleskine rack. Let me know what you are reading. Once again thanks for visiting, please enjoy.

Apple Moleskine Hack

As a technology geek by trade, I recently purchased the new Apple iphone. Yes I was one of the ridiculous people who stood in line for hours to be one of the first to have one. I didn't get an iphone the first time around because of the price. So I spent the week before it came out doing all the research to make sure I was eligible to get one. 9 Hours later, spread across 2 days, of drama , I walked out the store a proud new owner. Since then I have become a Mac fanatic. Being the computer geek I am, I considered buying a Mac laptop the last two times I bought new laptops. For reasons of compatibility with school and work, I always said "next-time". Well now I want one. Spending those hours in line at the store have showed me the ways of Apple. What else are you suppose to do in line, but play with all the fun stuff.

So I started researching into whether a Mac laptop was a good buy and if I could do my everyday job tasks on it. I hacked one in a pack of three Moleskine Ruled Notebooks into my very on Mac Handbook. I started by numbering all the odd pages, so I could reference all my findings in the Index. Page #80 was made into an continuing Index.

Next, I made Page #79 a quick reference page of common commands. Remember I am a tech person, I use a lot of shortcut commands, instead of taking the time to point and click through a bunch of menu options. Page #1 consists of local retailers who sell Macs. Page #2 consists of the pricing of the MacBook I intend to buy with a list of options I have. The rest of the pages consists of my research into all the differences between a PC and a Mac . I found great articles on Apple's website that help you convert from a PC user to a Mac user. To finish it all off, I made use of those pretty little apple stickers that came with my new iphone and slapped one right on the front. It makes it officially an Apple Manual and helps to distinguish between all my other black moleskines. The next step for me is going to actually find the money to buy one. MacBooks aren't any more expensive then a decent Dell laptop, but I just have to justify in my mind the fact that my current laptop is merely a year old and could last another year or two. So for now, I am going to continue researching in my Mac Moleskine and save up the money to get one.