switching my bag’s palette

For away-from-home sketching, I carry a Traveler’s card-size notebook (also using it as my wallet) with regular Midori paper refills. Eventually I’ll bind my own but first I’m using what came with it. Watercolor doesn’t work so well on this lightweight paper, so I’ve been carrying a Demi palette filled with gouache.

But recently I found Lauren Fairweather on Instagram, showing how she filled her Pocket Palette with Gansai Tambi (click on her name to see her video). These Japanese paints are like a cross between watercolor and gouache. So I dug out my set and gave it a try. Here, I swatched out a muted gouache palette, a bright mixing gouache palette, and the new palette. I think I prefer the Gansai for being both muted and bright.

I put together the Gansai set, one color at a time, to get the muted colors I prefer. The plastic case they are in was found on eBay years ago, with square pans of Gansai in it. Those have been either given away or stored away for now. I had to lightly sand the outer edge of the rectangular pans in order for them to fit but I love this case for painting at home. The lid opens flat and has several divisions for mixing washes.

Calmtober: horse

This horse lives on a corner property just down the lane. His distinctive dark markings on legs, dark mane and tail, remind me of a Siamese cat.

We are nearly surrounded by properties with horses, though we just have two donkeys and a few goats.

Calmtober: campfire

 

Knowing the upcoming prompt list, when we were camping in September I planned on taking photos of the campfire. Unfortunately, a burn ban was in effect so I made this sketch up.

The unknown vine with red flowers was really growing near the lake. Mature blossoms had this stalk thing emerging from the center. Leaves tended to curl up.

The rocky fire pit is the style at campsites across the lake; our campsite had this ugly steel fire pit.

Calmtober: crescent moon

For years we have enjoyed listening to this Barred Owl but had never been able to see it . . . until early Sunday morning when Bill saw it flying between two of our oak trees.

I painted the crescent moon from an online photo taken in Texas a few years ago; every time I tried to see a crescent moon these past two months, it was cloudy.

Calmtober: mug

Or two mugs, in our case. Years ago, I found these hand-thrown pottery mugs at the Spice Merchant in Wichita, KS. Bill drinks his coffee every morning and I drink my hot tea. I don’t like my mug used for coffee, which smells lovely but leaves a bitter taste in a mug even after washing. These mugs match, yet are visually different.

After doing a light pencil layout, I ended up totally ignoring the pencil lines and drawing this loosely and quickly in ink. Then adding watercolor just as loosely.

Calmtober: wheelbarrow

When either of us go outside, the only reason has to be to play ball with our corgi, right?

Below, a photo of the double spread combining the previous prompt with today’s.

Calmtober: moss

Our home was once a small pole barn. Yet even when it was a barn, there was a small cement porch in front. On either side of the porch were these two enormous rocks plus several lantana plants. After reconstructing the barn into a house and woodshop, we planted prickly pear cactus instead of the lantana, which had been trampled by the workers. The most beautiful green moss grows on portions of the big rocks.

The pencil ghosting is part of the next sketch prompt. These two sketches each share a bit of its neighboring sketch’s page in this accordion sketchbook.

Calmtober: drizzle

This was a challenging challenge! First, trying to capture photos of some of our late-migration hummingbirds. Then trying to indicate a light drizzle falling as they feed.

just playing

Today I ate the last of these yummy vine-ripened little tomatoes . . . after a quick ink & wash sketch using my green Kaweco Liliput (with green ink!) and a Demi palette of Da Vinci watercolors.

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.