Here are a few more tiny paintings, done over the past week. I found that a fine Mark’s Tous Les Jours ballpoint pen works better for me in tiny work than finepoint liners or fountain pens.
The tea tin next to the cup and saucer is one of my favorite teas of late: Justea Purple Chocolate, a loose leaf purple tea with cacao shells and rose petals. Great with a splash of milk and very low caffeine. Each tin comes with a hand-carved wooden spoon to measure the tea.
This sketch is an composite of two different views near our campsite. I especially liked the strange sculpture-look of those oak burls. Another tree full of them is in the second photo.
A sketch begun before we left home and finished just now, this is one of the recent distractions that have kept me from sketching. When we upgraded from a pull-behind camper to an RV, we knew we’d eventually want a small car we could tow behind it for longer trips.
Many advised getting a Jeep so we test-drove one. Nope. Not happening. Even with the added running board, I could not easily climb into the thing. And the salesman was extremely PUSHY! We told him it would be a cash deal and he said they would require us to finance at least 4 months so they could recover some of their “loss”. Uh, huh? At these ridiculous prices, what loss? Since when is cash not welcome?
We headed to another dealer where we found that this Chevrolet Trax would also be easy to add a tow package to and cost MUCH less. More cooperative salesman too.
All this happened the past couple of weeks. And this morning, Bill again got a phone call from that pushy Jeep dealer. No! We are not interested, thank you very much!
I did the tiny continuous-line sketch of my keyless key fob right after we brought the Trax home. It seems weird to have to carry it around but not use it. Hence, my “new car key that isn’t”.
*️⃣ a friend just asked me what the car’s name was; Bill immediately replied “Bluebell!” But is it for a favorite wildflower or his favorite ice cream?
I began this journal page a couple of weeks ago . . . then kept putting off adding color. Drawing images in ink comes easy but, even after all these years, applying watercolor can feel intimidating.
Our daughter Kristen has been experimenting with pickle recipes. The carrots, with peppers, onion, and garlic, are very hot — just the way she and Bill like. The pickled onions are especially good on fish tacos! Since the surgery that removed what was left of cancer (and a good chunk of my colon), I have trouble eating certain foods. But when they are pickled (or “soured” like sourdough and sauerkraut) I have no problem. A favorite Tex-Mex restaurant serves pickled onions on their fajita salad and I love them — so I asked Kristen to make some.
