Best Birthday Ever

That's right guys! Today marks my 24th birthday and boy what a birthday it was! Not only did I have awesome cupcakes and a deliciously big lunch, but I also got a GREAT game!


Astros vs Phillies - 09/05/09
On this page: Berkman, Bourn, Pence, and Valverde
I don't think I've ever actually drawn Valverde before! I especially wanted to get a bit of his ritualistic pitching style. Does he have OCD or is that just a pitcher thing? lol
And it's true. Brad Lidge is our favorite "Close-er" ever. Mom and I shall never complain about how close the Astros relief like to make the games ever again.

Meanwhile, the greatest gift I could ever get (and had been waiting for since Spring Training!)...


And all it took was a poster telling him it was my birthday and all I wanted was a photo with him (and for the Astros to win of course!)
It could stand to be a clearer photo but who's going to complain when they finally get what they want?!

Thanks to all the fans who saw my poster and wished me a happy birthday and to the guys working at the creamery near Hunter's Lodge for being friendly and a blast! Not to mention flattering (sort of?) by thinking I was 17 lol

And to help celebrate, here's a shot after the winning RBIs by Kaz...

FYI; I can't turn my hat into a rally-cap. All the pins on it make it impossible. Doh!

Next game should be the last home game of the season though I wouldn't mind going to Sept 12's and getting the Valverde bobblehead. But I doubt I'll be able to make it.

More Than Half-Way Through

Oh wow it's been a while hasn't it? I did the first two months worth of weekday games thanks to fan appreciation coupons from the end of last season. But for whatever reason I didn't draw during those games.

However when we finally got to go back in July I got some sketches in!


Washington Nationals @ Houston Astros - 07/10/09
On this page: Junction Jack, Roy Oswalt, and center field
This was a game we went to in desperation. It'd been over a month since we'd last gone to a game (May 21 I think?) so my mom and I were having withdrawals.


Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros - 08/18/09
On this page: Bud Norris, Berkman, Gervacio
This was mom's birthday game. Do you know how rarely they play a game at home on her birthday? Or mine for that matter?! So we knew since the end of last season that we were going to this game.
I got a lot of great little sketches out of this game. I also have a lot of new players that I haven't drawn before... Norris, Coste, Gervacio...

Also, before the Nationals game in July, I was bustin' my buns to get a poster done only to have it finished in time for the Marlins game instead. Oh well.


Jeff Keppinger really impressed me at the beginning of the season. He really helped out the team a lot in several games. He's not much of a starter though and has only been pinch hitting every so often so it's sort of rough having a poster for him. Especially with how infrequently I've been to games this year.
The banner behind him and the text should be a very light gold but it never scans all that well. Especially when I have to scan posters in pieces since they're so big and then piece them back together on the computer.

Next game will be September 5 for my birthday! All I'm asking for there is a photo with Hunter Pence (and maybe Jeff's autograph on the poster). So wish me luck and at the very least I hope we have a good game.

Opening Day 2009, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Dodgers oh my!

Hey guys! Opening Day!


I've been busy so I've got a few games worth of updates to share with you guys!


Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros - Opening Day 2009 04/06/09
On this page: Matsui
Poor mom was in Hawaii of all places so she trusted my brother, my buddy Nyssa, and me to have a good time at Opening Day for her. It was my first one actually as I'd been in school for the previous four at least. Sadly it wasn't a great game but we still had a blast anyways because that's the way we do it at Minute Maid!


Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros - 04/07/09
On this page: Wandy, Matsui, the conductor
This game marked the start of two months straight of weekday home games! We managed to scoop up a bunch of certificates left behind at the last game last season so we have tickets to all but one game that they were valid for! Go us!

Here's a shot of me and Nyssa down by the fence before the game!

She had so much fun and was so impressed with the stadium and fans! And she caught on to how the game works so quickly! The Phillies are her closest team and she's already contemplating going out to one of their games when the 'Stros come into town! How's that for a conversion?!


Cincinnati Reds @ Houston Astros - 04/20/09
On this page: Matsui
I was focusing on keeping my score card this night. It's tough to follow the game and draw the sketches at the same time. But I decided to study Kaz some. I have my reasons.


Los Angeles Dodgers @ Houston Astros - 04/22/09
On this page: Matsui, Keppinger
I always forget to draw them stretching! Granted I'm usually down at the fence when they're stretching and it's not an atmosphere that's conducive to drawing. But this time I was up in the stands with mom and took a few moments to get some in. I was happy to see Kepp back too! He's been impressing me so far and I hope he keeps it up.

I've got a couple of posters in the works so hopefully I'll have some work to show for those. More presently I've got a game tonight! So I'll see you guys there and lets hope that we can sweep the Dodgers! Woo!

Until then, I'll leave you with a shot of downtown that Nyssa took.

Fan Fest 2009

You guys may have noticed that I'm quite the Hunter Pence fangirl. But what might be more subtle is my one true love... Jeff Bagwell. He's been my favorite since childhood and while as I don't have the crush on him that I do Pence, I was ecstatic to find out that he would be present at the Fan Fest 2009 and worked out a way to be there myself at 4 am to be in line for wrist bands and vouchers.


My wrist band of glory!


My friend Nyssa was visiting from New Jersey and we and some of the other line goers were taking photos for each other. Normally I have my socks up and my Hunter Pence shirt on but this was a special day to wear my Bagwell jersey!


This is my rubber duck I was intending to have autographed.


I loved my voucher!


Super Bagwell!


Nyssa loves Bagwell too!


I'm not sure what he was listening too.


Later we went inside to wander around and we found Darin Erstad and Hunter Pence's autograph session. Darin was thirsty. Apparently signing autographs is tiring work.


The guy in line behind me was kind enough to snap photos for me since they wouldn't let me bring Nyssa in without a voucher for her. Here I've given Bagwell the art I've done of Biggio and asked if he'd be kind enough to give it to him for me since I couldn't go to his autograph session this morning. He was nice and said sure :3 <3


And here he's got my duck in his lap trying to figure out how he's going to sign it. I think he was a little more confused than Pence and I almost suggested he sign the side of the duck the way Pence did his but instead I explained that the duck had been waiting 6 years to get his autograph lol


The now autographed duck found himself up the sleeve of the Bagwell statue.

I had a blast but didn't do any art while I was there. However I did come across Isaac "Ike" Rodriguez in the home run alley working on some wonderful acrylic portraits of the players including one of Carlos Lee that I was really fond of. Check him out at Ike's Art Studio

See you guys for opening day! :D

Spring Training Extravaganza!

Wow what a blast! My mother, aunt, and I attended 8 games over the course of the week and I've got a lot to show for it!

Before we left, I drew up Oswalt to celebrate Pitchers & Catchers day...

I have to make a point to print this one out in case I happen across Roy O during the regular season.

The first Friday of Spring Training we went to Fort Lauderdale Stadium to see the Washington Nationals play the Baltimore Orioles.

Washington Nationals @ Baltimore Orioles - Spring Training 03/06/09
On this page: Scott, Pauley
It'd been so long since I'd been able to sketch like this and it was fun. I'm particularly fond of Casto's sketch. I need to be challenging myself with more of the action shots as you can only draw batting stances so many times before getting too comfortable with it.

I took note that Ty was now with the Orioles...


And got a great shot of Luke up close!


Saturday we went to see the Orioles yet again, this time at the Roger Dean stadium against the Florida Marlins.

Baltimore Orioles @ Florida Marlins - Spring Training 3/07/09
On this page: All Marlins
I'm not entirely sure why I didn't draw a whole lot at this game. Possibly because I'd just drawn the Orioles the day before, so all I did was a few Marlins.


Hey look! It's a school of fish! lol

We didn't take in another game until Monday when we went to Tradition Field to see the New York Mets host... uh... the Baltimore Orioles. If you didn't know better you'd have thought we were following the O's around but it just turned out they were playing at the first three games we decided to go see.


Baltimore Orioles @ New York Mets - Spring Training 03/09/09
On this page: Freel
I took in some stretching sketches which were fun. Again, I'm somewhat trying to draw stuff I haven't drawn so much. A lot more goes on than batting. However it was particularly hot and sunny that day so I spent a good deal of time hiding in the shade without my sketchbook in hand.

That night we went out to the Space Coast Stadium to see the Washington Nationals host none other than the good guys, the Houston Astros! :D

Houston Astros @ Washington Nationals - Spring Training 03/09/09
On this page: Blum, Quintero
Paulino's pitching was awful this day. I hope that he can warm up and do better during regular season. However Quintero and Pence seemed to make up for it with some runs and awesome hits. This was also my last set of sketching for the week. I puttered out quickly and ended up spending the rest of the games just watching and/or getting all manners of autographs.

Tuesday we drove out to Kissimmee to see the 'Stros host the Atlanta Braves. I managed to get many many many autographs on my blank sheet I had started towards the end of last season.
This was it at the end of the '08 season...


And this is it after only two games at the Osceola County stadium...

Brocail was particularly friendly and chatty. He talked to us about the heat and about his arm and eventually after he changed he came back out and chatted with fans some more. In fact, I rather miss him now.
Blum was also very sweet and knelt down to get on the same level as a very little girl next to me while signing her autograph book.
At one point Tuesday, Matsui came out and signed for fans including a pair of Japanese girls, one of which was celebrating her birthday. He told her happy birthday and shortly afterwards he handed over one of his batting gloves to her!

Pence stayed in for the whole game however so I had to wait until the very end to get his autograph yet again. You can never have too many right?

I've had a pair of Astros rubber ducks for about 5 or 6 years now. Originally I had intended to have one signed by Bagwell and the other signed by pretty much anyone. Well since then I've become fond enough of Pence to decide that he was the one who deserved my second duck (the first one is still unsigned but is still held specifically for Bagwell should I ever find him somewhere). Pence gave me a bit of an odd look when I handed the duck over and I suppose I should've explained that my nickname is Duckie so these rubber ducks are perfect for me. But he simply obliged and signed it as you can see.

At the same time, I had a couple of prints of the "sock fiasco" comics I drew last season:
http://astros-artfielder.blogspot.com/2008/08/theyre-like-racing-stripes.html
http://astros-artfielder.blogspot.com/2008/08/no-really-they-make-you-fast.html

I asked if he'd like to have them and sure enough he accepted them and stepped back to read them. I clarified that I drew them after he nearly ran over Mark and Brad at home plate in a couple of games last season and he laughed and thanked me for them. I was excited and shaking so I was too preoccupied to notice just how much he might've liked them as other fans told me that he seemed to really really enjoy them. And truly that's better than anything I could ever get from any player.

At Friday's game, my buddy Nick joined me and helped cheer me on in getting Carlos Lee to finally sign my BLT+P poster!

So here it is with Pence, Tejada, and Lee's autographs! I'm thinking I'll go ahead and retire it even without Berkman's autograph. He's proving difficult to get and all the rolling and unrolling I've done of the poster is taking a toll on it. Plus I'm ready to move on to a new poster for the new season. Perhaps a "Kaz-manian Devil" one as Nick suggested.

At one point Friday, Wandy Rodriguez was walking by. I waved and said "hi!" rather than trying to get him to sign anything since I'd gotten his autograph Tuesday. Surprisingly he tossed me a baseball! It's my first MLB ever! I never did see him come back by so that I could get him to sign it for me too but I did manage to walk up to Milo Hamilton's window after the game.


Here he is chatting on the phone while holding my ball as I wait patiently.


And here it is all signed up! I'm just as ecstatic to receive this autograph as I am to have received Lee's on the poster finally! My family and I are big fans of his and listen to him on the radio when we can't watch the game in person or on TV and mom even puts blue stars on good plays in her own score book. :)

Anyways, I know that was a lot but there you have it! Opening day is only 22 days away! I'll be seeing you there!

Happy Pitchers & Catchers Day!

If I were from the North, I'd complain that these guys are lucky to get down to Florida or Arizona and out of the snow. But I'm not.

Spring Training '09 Countdown!

Hey guys! It's getting to be that time again! I can smell baseball in the air!

With only two days until Pitchers & Catchers and the purchasing of both my tickets to Florida for Spring Training and Opening Day for the 'Stros I'm obviously very excited! So I whipped up a quick portrait of Hunter tonight and thought I'd share.



I'll be spending a whole week doing Spring Training this year and we'll be hitting up various teams, not just the 'Stros, so expect plenty of sketches and even some photos! I'll also be taking the BLT + P poster with me in hopes that I can get Berkman and Lee to top it off and put it into retirement. Wish me luck!