Ceilidh sleeping . . .

. . . changing her position three times as I sketched this. Adding the plaid background was just silly fun.

I thought I would sketch her more often than I do. But now that she has finally decided naps are OK, she usually takes them underneath whatever chair I'm sitting in at the moment. When awake, she's way too active to capture a sketch of.

Maybe I should have named her 'Tigger' for her bouncy ways.

bits from Excelsior Springs

On Saturday we drove to Missouri for a sketchcrawl at the historic Elms hotel, where they were hosting their yearly dog retreat. Arriving a few minutes early, Bill and I took a walk around the area --- no time to sketch before meeting the others, so I took photos of the above to sketch from later.

It was impossible for me to even capture sleeping dogs! As soon as I would start, something would distract them . . . . most actually moved away down the path out of sight.

I wish I had tried to do a sketch of the overall scene instead.

misc. purchases

--- some purchased on line, others picked up while doing regular grocery shopping. I found the little travel sketchbook, "The Artist on the Road: Impressions of Greece" after connecting with Richard Sheppard's Flickr site. Enjoyed it thoroughly!!

Not only are the illustrations and travel memories wonderful, but it also contains some real wisdom for anyone wishing to create sketchbook art.

Another Flickr contact, Debo, told me where I could find an empty Schmincke travel palette --- I have a similar one sold by Kremer with only two mixing areas in the lid. This one is much more usable, having three large areas. (I know . . . . I'm a real palette junkie!)

With a 40% coupon, I decided to try the Indanthrene blue / PB 60 that Roz loves. Schmincke paints are not available here so I got one by Winsor & Newton. Then I saw these brushes for half-price; I'm using water-brushes way too much --- I'll shorten this flat brush to fit in a travel pack for brushes and pens.

still fascinated . . .

. . . even though I can't see them close enough to identify them -- I don't have any binoculars and the tree is 3 stories high.

I took our cat, Bearcat, to the vet today --- he may have a UTI. He stayed overnight so they could try to get a urine sample from him. He's so laid back, he's probably taken over the place by now -- not much fazes him. There is an office cat named Licorice to keep him company.

While there, I described the raptor living in our elm tree --- she thinks it is probably a sharp-shinnned hawk, which she has seen a lot around town. So I sketched one from a field guide, along with the other "suspects". I think it's a Mississippi Kite.

Noodler's sepia ink and watercolor pencils

knitting bag . . .

. . . full of Someone's Christmas sweater. After finishing up on knitting one evening, I sketched the bag while waiting for a program to end.

Later, I measured how it was coming and ended up starting all over. The pattern I'm using is for a 12 mo. toddler and uses a bulkier yarn. I'm making this to fit a 3 - 6 month old (I hope) and using a lighter yarn. I have a perfectionistic nature and often start all over on projects. Good thing that this is very small --- I've already nearly caught up with where I was before. The shape is much better too.

Speaking of perfectionism, I also added to the above sketch . . . then wish I hadn't added the background color. When will I ever learn to stop with a sketch before I "ruin" it?

Argh!

Most of my sketches of this wee dog, Ceilidh, have been from photographs because she would never be still for a moment. Too easily stimulated, I've had to put her in a more closed kennel for "down" time or she'd never take puppy naps and get too wound up.

Now she is growing up (6 months old) and chooses to take some naps on her own. Finally! I thought --- now I can sketch her from life!

But no, the places she chooses to nap are hiding under furniture where I can't see her.

So . . . just a caricature of her today. Pentel pocketbrush pen and gouache.

mini palettes for pencil pouch

Thanks to a recent post by "CaptElaine", I found this pencil pouch on an elastic band at WalMart. My current journal is a bit smaller than I usually bind, but the pouch will fit my normal size perfectly (approx. 5 1/2 x 8").

Though my W & N Bijou palette will fit, I'd like a smaller palette for it so I can fit several pens & pencils, an eraser, and sharpener inside. So I put leftover half pans in these teeny mint tins --- one for watercolor and one for gouache. There's also a white WC crayon in the gouache tin. I've painted the insides of the lids with white enamel paint for mixing paint.

Since these were left-over half pans of paint that I did not use, I made color charts to see if they work together. Besides, making color charts is a relaxing thing to do.

munching cicadas

This event took place on 22 July, when Mikala came to visit us overnight. But I didn't get around to journaling it until this week.

When I took Ceilidh out early in that morning, I noticed this cicada struggling to move around in the grass. It had been injured in some way.