just because . . .

Technically, this small sketchbook is for nature or botanical sketches. But sometimes I just want to play. Our daughter brought over a plate of goodies on one of her new dishes and I love the color and pattern. So I drew some of the design, slightly scrunched up to fit a rectangular spread instead of a round plate.

— fountain pen, pencil and gouache —

Merry Christmas!

I hope y’all are having a lovely and blessed Christmas! Today I did a quick ink & wash sketch between baking tasks. We saw this truck at our veterinarian’s when we took the wee beasties in for nail trims; I snapped a quick photo to sketch from later.

(Yes, the tree top was really tilted like this.)

Ink, watercolor, and gouache in a 140mm square Seawhite travel journal.

something different

Last week Bill took our corgi, Butters, outside to play ball. Across the yard and driveway, he saw this Great Egret over by the swimming pool. Not wishing to startle it, he took a quick photo from where he stood — a very distant, out-of-focus photo. 

I’ve been wanting to try less “representational” sketching anyway, so I painted this page using that fuzzy photo as a basis. Mostly granulating watercolors with some gouache patterning added on top. Not quite as I expected it to turn out, but an interesting direction to take my sketching while still capturing daily memories.

one rescued leaf

Kristen brought me two pretty red leaves to sketch, knowing how I miss the colorful maple trees we had in Kansas. I set it aside until after washing dishes — and then heard small crunching noises. Turned around to find our mischievous cat, Scottie, beginning to eat this leaf. The other one was nowhere to be found.

He often snatches up leaves and pine needles that get tracked in on our shoes, usually throwing up later. Thankfully, he was not sick this time.

I drew this in ink & colored pencil on toned paper. How weird is it that both fountain pens currently filled with black ink ran out before I finished?

sourdough prep

Just a simple continuous contour line and wash sketch . . . preparing to make another loaf of sourdough bread. My kitchen scale looks a bit wonky.

Nameless, revisited

Learning that the distant building (in heavy shadow in the photo this was painted from) was a dogtrot cabin, I decided to correct it in the sketch. Then darkened the grasses behind the foreground flower. 

I had never heard of dogtrot cabins before moving to Texas, but I love the idea of them! Old ones can be found all over the area — some with only two rooms like this one and some four rooms or more. We’ve even found a two-story version, now an antique shop.

Nameless

We receive a monthly periodical from Texas Co-op Power full of interesting photos and articles of the area’s history. November’s issue included the photo that I painted this page from; the composition really caught my eye. 

The story is about a ghost town northwest of Austin called Nameless. In 1880 the growing community applied for a federal post office under the name of Fairview but the name was rejected because it was already in use. So were the five subsequent applications. After six rejections, the frustrated townsfolk replied “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!” The “name” was accepted.

I used watercolor, gouache, and a bit of colored pencil on this. Not sure I’m quite happy with the finished piece but it’s all a learning process.

✳️ UPDATE! Further reading about Nameless shows a complication in sketching from a photo a place where I’ve never actually been (the photo showed this area in shadow). The building in the distance in the sketch is actually a dog run structure, two rooms under the same roof with a breezeway between. Built in 1876 as a homestead to one of Nameless’ founding families, it was rediscovered in 2023 when the original site was being cleared for a subdivision. It has been relocated across the street to where Nameless’ restored schoolhouse stands.

a bit of organizing

I haven’t been doing much sketching lately, but I did manage to straighten up some art supplies into a more workable arrangement. Partly because I just bought a rotating caddy that keeps tools easy to grab. (HERE).

Bill made me the taboret on casters years ago when I used a matching smaller oak desk. The large flat items in the back are held by a napkin holder one of our kids made in high school. A box holding inks once held my grandfather’s type for his antique printing presses.

I started a sunflower sketch in my sketchbook over a week ago — left it to allow paint to dry and haven’t gotten back to it yet.

a bit of late autumn color

Just over the west fenceline there grows one tree with leaves that actually turn red in the autumn. At least, I thought it was a tree, being nearly 12’ tall. Apparently it is an oversized Red Chokeberry shrub.

(gouache and a touch of colored pencil on toned watercolor paper, hand sewn sketchbook)

tweaked yet again

One could say that I’m obsessed with the flexibility of these palettes. After using two separate pocket palettes in my mini Sendak, one watercolor and one gouache,  I decided that one large folio works better for me. But how to combine watercolor and gouache in a useable way?

This is what I came up with upon returning home from our camping trip yesterday. The watercolor pans are placed horizontally and gouache pans are vertical — all except that perylene black gouache but its placement was unavoidable. I’m trying to keep color groups together.

UPDATE: the Transparent Red Oxide watercolor was supposed to be a brownish color but it was too similar to the Venetian Red. So I replaced it with Lunar Earth. Being transparent, I was able to lift it with a wet stiff brush and tissue before applying the new paint choice.