Calmtober: oak

In just over three weeks, we will be camping underneath this Live Oak at Brazos Bend State Park — one of many gorgeous old oaks in the park. And yes, there are alligators among the abundant wildlife, though not usually near the campsites.

Calmtober: blackbird

Great Tailed Grackles gather in large numbers in our grocery store parking lot, strutting and hopping about like they own the place and are welcoming our visit.

I’m late getting today’s Calmtober sketch finished. We were on the road, returning from a short camping trip. This is an accordion-fold sketchbook, 1st and 2nd pages.

morning view, Lake Somerville

This is the view I woke up to yesterday morning, looking through a tiny window next to the bed in our RV. We are on a short camping trip, checking out the RV after it sat unused all summer. Texas summers are just too hot and humid to enjoy camping. Now that we know everything is running smoothly (and we remember those items we forgot that we needed to pack), we will be having longer adventures in the coming months.

This sketch is in my Traveler’s Notebook, passport size. The Demi palette I keep in the pocket holds watercolors from Marc Taro Holmes’ “Direct Watercolor” palette from Art Toolkit, 2018.

first & last pages, Calmtober

This week we are camping at a nearby lake, but I am also getting ready for Calmtober which begins on Thursday. 

I am using an A6 Hahnemuhle ZigZag book, both sides. This first page shows the palette I chose. Each leave shape is a variety of oak, several which grow on our property. We don’t see much color change in autumn in our part of Texas; some oaks even hold on to their leaves until spring.

For the last page, I copied Kriksis’ prompt list  to refer to, leaving space at the bottom in case I wish to add a note later.

When I decided to join this art challenge, I thought maybe I would try it in a new style. Maybe more like a children’s book illustration that tells a story? And maybe try using just watercolor & gouache? But what I am most comfortable with is ink & wash so I’m going to stick with that. Also, the subject matter in my regular sketchbook journals usually reflect bits of my everyday life, so this Calmtober sketchbook will as well.

For the curious, my palette was inspired by Deep Deep Light’s Autumn Forever set, put together by Kriksis. From the upper left, they are:

* my mix of quin. rose, yellow ochre, & transp. red oxide

*urban grey (Schmincke)

* zoisite

* my mix of burnt umber & raw umber

* lunar earth

* blue apatite

* my mix of shire grey (Schmincke) & lunar black

* raw umber violet

* yellow ochre (Winsor & Newton)

* buff titanium 

Unless stated, all watercolors are from Daniel Smith.

playing in ink

Here I was just drawing random things, using a brass Kaweco Sport fountain pen with a De Atramentis Document black cartridge, a gray brush pen, and a touch of watercolor. The old building (a stagecoach relay station from the 1800s) is built of a dark local stone, but I wish I had kept to lighter washes. I wrote on the page that it is located between Somerville and Caldwell, Texas, but I was remembering wrong — it’s actually between Caldwell and Milano.

my current sketchbooks

When I began keeping sketchbook journals (19 years ago! 🙀), I would normally work in only one sketchbook at a time. Sometimes, if the main book was larger, I might keep a smaller one in my purse for away-from-home drawing. Recently, that keeping to a single book at a time thing has become muddled up. I currently have FOUR sketchbooks!

In the photo above, #1 is my current all-purpose sketchbook — a Hahnemuhle 100% cotton A5 watercolor book. Fabulous paper! The pen pocket on the cover holds my heavy brass Kaweco Sport, the best fountain pen for controlling hand tremor.

#2 is actually the wallet that lives in my purse, a Traveler’s card size notebook, but it also has blank paper refills for drawing and a Kaweco Liliput fountain pen.

#3 is a regular Traveler’s Notebook, passport size. Hanging on the elastic band is a Field Mouse refillable fine liner pen from Tom’s Studio. Inside, there’s a zip pocket holding a Demi palette from Art Toolkit, a small travel brush, and folded tissue. The pen loop holds a small waterbrush. The paper refills are mostly watercolor paper, though one is Kraft paper.

And #4, the A6 Hahnemuhle ZigZag sketchbook I’m going to use for the Calmtober challenge during the month of October.

Calmtober, gathering supplies

It’s been several years since I followed one of the many art challenges that seem so prevalent online, especially around October. Inktober was one that I liked taking part in, but the pressure I placed on myself to keep up with the daily prompts kept me from fully enjoying it.

Then last winter I found out about Calmtober, hosted by UK illustrator and artist, Kriksis. Instead of 31 daily prompts, she lists 16 every-other-day prompts, which feels a lot less stressful. Today’s sketch is of the simplified sketch kit I’ve put together for Calmtober 2026.

These days, I am using waterbrushes instead of my favorite paint brushes. Our overly active kitten thought everything at my art table was fair game; all art tools have been placed out of reach for now. In addition, our incorrigible corgi found that she can squeeze through the cat door in the pet gate we installed to keep dogs out of the back room where cats are fed — food dishes are now on top of my art table. A water jar on a living room table is just waiting for a bouncy kitten running at top speed to knock it over! So my art space is “on hold” for a year or so. Eventually Luna will settle down into an adult cat, right?

The photo of the kit follows, including a pencil and a folio-sized bag from Art Toolkit to hold everything in. I added one of Kriksis’ stickers to the front of the sketchbook to remind me which is the front. It’s an accordion sketchbook and I’ll be working on both front and back, but it’s always good to know where to begin!

Kriksis can be found on Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon. Below is this year’s Calmtober prompt list.

just playing

When I was 6 years old, we lived on a farm in Illinois. The tiny farmhouse was on a hill; half-way down the hill was an old oak tree. I used to play tea party on a huge rock under that tree, using acorn caps for cups.

For this little painting, I was just playing around with Natasha Newton’s folk art style. She makes it look so easy but it is not at all easy for me.

late evening play

Yesterday evening I wanted to draw something. Didn’t care what, just wanted to draw. So I grabbed my two Lumos Duo pens and some colored pencils, and a photo of one of our succulent pots on my iPhone.

The pens hold gray, green, and peach colored inks. One of the tips is a fine liner and the other three tips are brush tips.

this week’s random sketches

Earlier this week, I painted all the small mushrooms I could see in our yard, directly in gouache. Then got lazy and didn’t even add the grass around them. Yesterday, I added someone I saw while waiting at the eye doctor’s for a routine exam. She was very intent on her book, pausing now and then to jot down notes.