a mini Travelers Notebook

Last month I heard about Travelers Company issuing a card sized limited edition notebook . . . only to find it sold out. But a Japanese seller on eBay listed one at a reasonable price so I ordered it, and it finally arrived this week.

Years ago I bought one of the company’s regular notebooks but was never happy with its dimensions. Eventually it was passed on to a granddaughter and I replaced it with their passport size, which I love. But this even tinier one seems like just the right size for tiny sketches. It can also double as a wallet, having pockets for ID and credit cards and a zip pouch for cash. It came with four extra inserts but I plan to make my own out of watercolor paper. The page size allows for a single page sketch as big as 2 x 3.5” (plus margins) or two sketches per page approximately 1.5 x 2”.

prickly poppy

Bluebonnets get the most attention of the vast variety of Texas wildflowers, but my personal favorite is the Prickly Poppy. It begins blooming in mid spring and lasts through late summer’s heat, a bright pop of white in the green pastures and along roadsides. I drew these from a photo taken at our campsite in Bastrop State Park. I especially liked how the flowers looked next to the Bastrop ironstone.

State Farm acted quickly after our car wreck two weeks ago. We received our claim payoff and yesterday we were able to buy another Trax, this time in a new color called “cypress gray” — in some light it looks dark earthy green and some light it looks gray. Once we add a tow package, we can get back to camping adventures.

prickly pear bloom

Our prickly pear cacti are slowly putting on a show this year. Most years, we might see only one or two flowers. I used watercolor, gouache, and a touch of colored pencil in this sketch, which turned out duller than planned.

the sketching I didn’t do

I planned to do lots of sketching during our week at Bastrop State Park. But there was plenty of time so first I finished these first pages of my new sketchbook, an A5 100% cotton watercolor book from Hahnemuhle. The mushrooms were from our back yard; the two front ones are a different variety of inkcap than the one previously sketched — these are smooth rather than shaggy. I also did a lot of reading under the beautiful trees and a bit of knitting.

Then our week was changed drastically. We tow a small car behind the RV on longer trips. Tuesday we drove into Bastrop for lunch at Maxine’s (I had a great fried green tomato BLT!). Then headed to H-E-B for a few items. But we had an accident instead. Both of us are fine, though pretty beaten up by airbags and extremely sore. As I told the ER nurse, I guess that hike we were planning to take is cancelled. The car was totaled. After making arrangements and dealing with accident reports, we decided to head home early.

We had managed to get several walks in, enjoying the campsite’s peaceful beauty. There was a CCC shelter with three separate areas, each with its own fireplace; like all the CCC structures in the park, it was designed to fit its specific location using river rock and planking harvested from the park itself as the park was built.

home for this week

One of the views we are waking up to this week, camping in the Bastrop forest . . . This immediate campsite was untouched by the devastating fires of 2011. The vast acreage that did burn is making a strong comeback.

yeasty smells

Every week or two, our place takes on such a lovely aroma! And sometimes I just have to sketch it. Keeps me from slicing the sourdough loaf before it’s cooled.

Next, I made a new batch of granola from the discard.

fiddlin’ around

I’ve been playing around with a tin of watercolor graphite, which I bought recently on a whim. No idea how I’ll use it.

Also, I woke up this morning and realized my brother’s birthday is one week away. So I painted a quick card for him, shaky hand and all.

an unexpected find

As I was heading out to the car the other day, I was dive-bombed by a medium sized bird — it happened so fast that I couldn’t even tell what type of bird it was. Then I looked up and found a nest being built under the back patio roof.

Both fountain pens hold De Atramentis Document inks: the Sailor Fude de Mannen has brown ink and the Wancher PuChiCo mini fountain pen has turquoise ink.

abandoned cemetery

While camping at Fort Parker State Park last month we visited an old cemetery on the park grounds, maintained by park employees. There were several interesting headstones, three of which I drew directly in ink, wonky lines and all. Dr. Brookins’ stone especially caught our eye with its intricate details and untold story — slain for gold by Mexican Violence in 1854, one phrase reads “He suffered much through life and remembered not”. 

transition

This past year has been a time of transition in many ways, not just art related. But I actually used my sketch journal as a thoughts journal this week. 🙀

I’ve been exploring muted palettes rather than bright pigments, as well as trying underdrawing with brush pens and adding colored pencils. As I’m nearing the end of this sketchbook and choosing a new one, I’ve slightly tweaked the paint colors and pencils carried in my Mini Sendak. The Pocket Palette holds granulating watercolors and the Demi Palette holds gouache.

Other transitional areas include learning to cope with my “new normal” diet changes following cancer and finding non-medicated ways of dealing with essential tremors in my hands. But as a Julien of Norwich quote I recently found in a Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery says, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”.