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”.

succulents & prickly pear

I sketched these pots in our front garden on Monday — then non-art life stuff kept me from finishing until today. But then, I prefer my art slow and drawn out over time anyway . . .

The second photo shows only half of our mass of prickly pear cacti. All of this grew from three pots bought a couple of years ago.

some of the others

These are a few of the other mushrooms that have appeared in our pasture and back yard this past week.

Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen (De Atramentis Document brown ink), watercolor background, and gouache in a Seawhite Travel Journal.

missed opportunity

This creamy white mushroom on the left was spotted on Saturday evening. Then I forgot to go back and check on how it was growing and changing.

One of my favorites, a Shaggy Ink Cap, I missed seeing its transformation. The drippy sketch on the right was how it looked early Monday morning.

for the birds

These pages have been experimental, trying various methods of using watercolor and colored pencils. The background of the pigeon didn’t contrast enough so I added colored pencil. That still didn’t work, so I tried another wash of watercolor over the pencil — major failure! Giving up and moving on . . .

The quotes were jotted down after drawing the heron in colored pencil. Bill and I have been reading the Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries by Louise Penny.

in hope of leftovers

I snapped a quick photo of our granddaughter’s hound, Molokai, just before we sat down to eat Easter dinner. But I didn’t get around to sketching him until this morning.

This is the final sketch in this tiny sketchbook. My next purse-size sketchbook will be a bit bigger: a watercolor insert that fits the passport sized Traveler’s Notebook.