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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

"Leftovers?"

A holiday luncheon aftermath!
Just another food aftermath sketch. We are really enjoying our stay here in SoCal, and eating way too much. One free ranging SoCal patron at breakfast was taking no chances on her organic, vegan start of the day. There wasn't any egg omelet left unturned. She wanted to know just about everything about the birds habitat, the origin of the spinach and whether the blueberries were seasonal or frozen.

And, I thought, vegans didn't even eat eggs.

With a straight face, she asked the waiter," How are these grilled hash browns cooked? With vegetable oil, canola oil or with animal fat?"

The waiter, assuming the customer understood the grilling process, very professionally replied, "No mam... all of our potato dishes are grilled!"

Regardless, I almost exploded with laughter at the thought of this woman asking good old Gus,  Folsom's master chef, how the hash browns would be cooked!

Ya gotta love SoCal!

Copyright 2012-2013/Ben Bensen III

Thursday, December 20, 2012

"Parked There For A Year...And Then, It Was Gone!"

It was there for a year off LA 25 and three days after my last sketch, it was  gone!

This sketch is about four, maybe five months old. The car, under a bunch of trees just to the right of the driveway for over a year and on the well traveled Louisiana highway 25 south from Folsom, seemed to be just begging to be bought... or, at the very least, sketched. I must have passed the rusted and leaf covered 1949/50 Plymouth a hundred times and each time I sped by the junkard, it bugged me. I was just dying to sketch the auto and finally decided one day, to do just that. I checked the review mirror to see if any cars where bearing down on me and then, quickly pulled over and parked on the soft shoulder across from the driveway where the car laid.

I drew this auto three different times, twice from across the highway about thirty or forty yards away, but this rendering was done much closer and on the apparent owner's property. As luck would have it, someone drove up in a beat up white Toyota pickup. I guess the man wasn't so concerned about me as a buyer as he was about my car being parked on the property as I was using it as a drawing table to sketch from. He stopped in front of the gate and asked me if he could help me with anything. I responded.

"No man, I said, "I just wanted to make a sketch of this old car. I keep driving by it and..."

He interrupted my explanation with this droll reply, "You standing in poison ivy, man!"

"Oh wow! Sorry, thanks,"I said as he drove off pass the gates and deep into the heavily wooded property.

I stared a moment and, while the dust settled from his departure, all kinds of scenarios popped into my head. When I came back to reality, of sorts, I looked down and sure enough...

He was right!

Copyright 2014-2015/Ben Bensen III


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

"I'm A Slow Eater... But, Not That Slow!

A Water Glass Doodle...
Got up early, before dawn to help my wife get her day started. Today, is the annual Christmas Show starring all the second graders. Her class is performing,"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and she seemed to need breakfast and a little early morning encouragement. And then, I had to wrestle with the VA office about my mother's benefits.

No need to go there!

I promised mom breakfast afterwards and we had a nice one within walking distance of the VA office. Of course, being from the south, I enjoy lingering awhile after the meal and most restaurants are prepared for that eventuality, but, when my mother is involved, it seems to take a millennium or two. So, I sketch on paper table cloths, if I don't have a sketchbook. In a way, I kind of like it like that because it becomes a mindless doodle with no responsibility to the pen, the paper or my psyche!

This is one of the two tablecloth doodles!


Copyright 2012-2013/Ben Bensen III

Monday, December 3, 2012

More Doctor Visits and Sketches...

It was a long wait... here are four awaiting their turn.
More sketches of older folks. At least, they look older than me, awaiting their turn to see the doctor. One guy was reading Motor Trend, the other seemed he was having sweet dreams as he stay asleep for quite some time. The dude with the shades and the close to the head baseball cap seemed to be the most interesting since he never moved and just stared like as if he was hiding from everybody and everything.

The other guy was rather verbose and couldn't shut up for a moment. Must have been a Navy veteran because he had one of those caps that designate what ship he apparently served on and his cap was in tip top shape as if he had it dry cleaned and ironed!

He was here the last time I took mom for a checkup, ha!

Copyright 2012-2013/ Ben Bensen III