home again

While camping along Lake Conroe this past week, I ended up reading more than sketching. When we weren’t walking with Butters, that is. She is a very social corgi and there were new people and animals to meet!

I only managed to draw this tiny building just off of an intersection in Montgomery (seen on our way) and a couple of berry varieties found in the forest. 

this year’s oak leaves

This spread of autumn leaves was begun on Saturday — but with early-week appointments and getting ready for our camping trip, I didn’t finish it until today. Each of these is from a variety of oak tree on our property.

exploring . . .

We just arrived at our campsite on Lake Conroe. As Bill took care of the RV hookups, Butters and I headed down to our own private lake view . . . then climbed back up the live tree root steps. (It’s steeper than these photos show!)

83° (feels like a muggy 86°) with thunder in the distance.

when your subject leaves . . .

When your sketch victim subject gets called back for his appointment before you notice the color of his shirt, you make it whatever you want to.

I like the light, bright green against his ruddy brown skin.

I was at M.D. Anderson today just for routine follow-up tests, which show everything is great.

lavender’s uses

A few days ago, I posted a sketchbook page telling of a free tube of lavender watercolor that Amazon inadvertently sent me. Many sketchers commented on my Facebook and Instagram accounts with suggestions for how they use this lovely color. 

On this next journal page, I did a few quick thumbnail sketches to remind me of those suggestions.

elusive fog

This morning’s ephemeral early-morning fog laid thinly on the ground. Yesterday, it hovered in a narrow band about 15 feet in the air. I regret not having my phone with me yesterday to capture the above-ground variety. It was beautiful and mysterious.

sleepy morning

I tend to wake up very early, before dawn. My corgi, Butters, joined me on the loveseat yesterday morning but fell right back to sleep in this curly-Q position, as I read my book.

free lavender!

This time, a true Monochrome sketch . . . except for that pop of lavender.

I ordered a replacement tube of Nickel Azo Yellow from Amazon; they sent it in one of Daniel Smith’s 3-division boxes and by mistake it included a tube of lavender that I did not order. It’s too much bother for the company to have me return it.

So how do I use this color? It would’ve been good for the far distant Flint Hills of Kansas but we no longer live there.

seasonal color changes

Recently, Art Toolkit’s newsletter included a feature on creating a Monochromatic Palette with artist Jill Gustavis. Her palette inspired me to put together one of my own using some unused pans of paint. But with my love of color, I still managed to find a simple rainbow range in these “neutrals”! Then sketched an old salt & pepper set from Bill’s grandmother. Technically not monochrome since I used both brown and blue, but I love the subtlety of this palett’s combined colors!

My triple-whammy of flu, strep throat, and Covid is gone now, but I’m still a bit tired (or is it laziness?) — sketching palettes is undemanding. And it’s past time to switch to using my favorite autumn palette, full of earthy granulating watercolors. I should’ve chosen to sketch something that really shows the granulation off, but this wee mouse house was handy, on a shelf next to the salt & pepper set.

a moonrise

Last night our daughter caught this lovely site of the moon rising to the east of our wee barn-home.