domino cactus

The above sketch is how our small domino cactus looked on Saturday and the next photo shows how it looked the following day. Blooms are so exuberant but only last one day. I simplified the sketch by leaving out the small garden rocks and the shells imbedded on the pot. The last photo is of a sketch I did of the same plant earlier this year, with the beginning of a couple of blooms. Flowers repeat sporadically from spring to autumn.

early this morning

As a child, I was told “a watched pot never boils”. It actually _does_ boil . . . if you wait long enough. Seemed to take forever this morning as I was fixing a mug of my favorite tea, Taylor’s of Harrogate Spiced Christmas Leaf Tea. Currently no longer available; I hope it returns at Christmas time.

lost and found

Luna takes . . . and Luna gives back. Sort of.

Apparently our kitten stole this Lumos Duo pen from the bookshelf and chased it around in the middle of the night. Yesterday, we saw her trying to reach under the loveseat recliner — Bill lifted it and there was my pen, along with bits of pet hair and dust bunnies.

I saw a dragonfly perched on a wire fence and snapped a quick fuzzy photo. It was holding its wings strangely. It flew away as I stood there — as we came back from our walk, I noticed it had returned to the same spot.

a pen thief among us

Apparently, this blog post from last week never posted and stayed in the “draft” statis. Curious . . .

After baking a loaf of sourdough earlier this week, I drew a continuous line sketch using my black Lumos Duo pen from Tom’s Studio, currently filled with the non-waterproof ink that came with it. Today, I added a bit of watercolor and colored pencil, pleased to see that the ink doesn’t bleed much.

I just wish I knew where that pen _was_ at the moment. It was used yesterday morning, and is now missing. Our 4-month old kitten, Luna, has probably stolen the pen from whichever surface I laid it down on.

With Luna in the house, my art space has been streamlined: the various postcards, color charts and notes usually hanging on the wall over my desk have been put away for now, and my pencil / tool carousel is covered up when Luna is not napping. I have actually caught her lifting a colored pencil held between two paws and then dropping it to the stone floor to play!

The upper note in green ink was jotted down using a Wren pen, also from Tom’s, which I immediately smeared before the ink dried. Today is a messy day.

new palette colors

Recently I watched a YouTube video from Natasha Newton of her current favorite art supplies, including the “Elements” palette of handmade watercolors from A. Gallo. I love the combination of colors but (a) I prefer using Art Toolkit magnetic palettes and (b) I already own so many tubes of paint!

So I put together this Folio palette with paints I already have. Six of the pans of color, I created by mixing two tubes of paint directly in the pans using a toothpick to stir. I can see that I needed more green gold in the warm green, more shire blue in the cool green (jadeite is a very strong pigment), and some blue in the cooler gray. But they’ll be fun to play with as is.

The birds were seen on our front porch, at one of the feeders and perched on the arm of a rocking chair. There was only one titmouse; I drew him in two poses.

This is the page of notes I jotted down, listing the original A. Gallo pigments plus which of my existing colors came closest in color match.

Luna in pencil

I’m not very good at drawing cats in general, and Luna’s face is different than Maine Coons I’ve had in the past. Where they each had what is called a “sweet face”, hers is more of the wild lynx look. And her body, legs and tail are so very long!

The smaller line drawing was of Luna bird-watching out of one of our front windows. Bill designed them to be about 10” from the floor just for cats and dogs to have a great view.

a time to read

As with every summer since I was around six years old, my head has been stuck in a book. This sketchbook page was just a bit of playing with my Lumos Duo pens from Tom’s Studio: a fine liner tip in dark grey and brush tips in lightened grey, lightened El Lawrence green, and Peaches & Cream inks.

it’s about pear time

While recently walking in the south pasture with our Corgi, Butters, we noticed that the pears on the two pear trees are almost ripe. Soon we’ll be making pear butter and maybe some pear chutney.

I’ve always loved the mostly-ink Yorkshire landscapes of John Harrison’s, with a bit of watercolor in selected areas. I decided to try a similar style for this botanical, drawing with a Lumos pen from Tom’s Studio. The 0.5 fine liner tip is loaded with De Atramentis Document Grey ink, full strength, and the brush tip has the same ink thinned with De Atramentis Dilution liquid for shadows on the branches.

Luna’s toys

I had forgotten how truly rambunctious a tiny kitten can be. When not eating or sleeping, Luna plays. With her kitty toys, dog toys, coasters, window blinds, a shoe, a rock tracked in by the shoe, postcards hung above my art table, used paper towel, fountain pens, pencils, erasers, paint brushes, a small water container left out for sketching, the elastic band on my sketchbook . . .

Kitty-proofing is a thing.

a new companion for Scottie

Since our 9 yr. old cat Bardie MacRuadh died unexpectedly in May, his brother Scottie Dubh has been a bit lost. Needing lots of reassurance and extra petting, he has continued to cry at night. After a lot of thought back and forth, I decided to get him a new feline buddy. He just wasn’t built for life as an only-cat.

Today we brought home Luna, a 3-month old Maine Coon kitten. Wary of each other at first, Scottie discovered that with Luna came new toys! He now happily accepts having a new baby sister.

Butters is totally ignoring the kitten and Luna, having never been around dogs before, is being extremely cautious before getting too close. But I’ve had Maine Coons before — I am sure that her outgoing, accepting nature will eventually overcome any reservations re: The Dog.