a bit of random drawing

Easing back into sketching with a bit of randomness . . .

A young girl at church gave me a turkey feather to draw. A rafter (yeah, I had to look that one up instead of calling them a flock!) of wild turkeys wonder around Somerville, TX and Kathleen swears they have it in for her, stalking her and chasing her whenever they get a chance!

I had already jotted down the quote and Bible verse a couple of weeks ago, from an ebook I’m reading.

Today, I put together this minimal sketch kit to keep in the car . . . so I might as well draw it too. The brush part of the waterbrush is stored inside the water chamber, reducing the water volume. I guess that’s why it came with the little yellow water bottle. Inside the little mint tin, a cut piece of silicone miniature ice cube tray holds the paint.

taking a break . . .

For several weeks, I have taken a break from regular daily sketching. At first it was due to sewing a birthday teddy bear — the bear is now finished except for a small cat appliqué I ordered to sew on the bear’s sweater. Judah loves cats, stuffed animals, and “the dark side” of Star Wars — I chose to limit the dark side to knitting a black sweater for the bear and giving him his own stuffed kitty.

Then “life stuff” kept distracting me. Our cabin and woodshop needed painting and it’s been in very small increments due to 100+ degree days. Usually this part of Texas (at least in the country away from all that pavement) sees a few 100° days interspersed with more comfortable 90s, but this year has been extremely hot. Limiting work time outside. Bill had moments of feeling completely wiped out, which is unlike his work-a-holic character.

Meanwhile his 5 year struggle with chronic pain (due to pinched or damaged nerves, or so we’ve been told) led us to seek out an acupuncturist. We found a highly experienced, reputable one originally from Vietnam (Dr. Tam Khai Thai) and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, because of Bill’s neck surgeries (which Dr. Thai agreed with the spinal surgeon was supposed to fix this), he is unable to help. The fused discs in Bill’s neck prevent treatment from being possible.

The most recent pain killer Bill has been on doesn’t help anymore and it’s one of those that cannot be stopped “cold turkey”. So he made an appointment with our regular doctor to begin coming off of it. As long as he was there, she did a full exam . . . and his recent shortness of breath and weakness alerted her to possible heart trouble. So, with his having had a major heart attack 5 years ago, she sent him to a cardiologist. Who totally agreed with her — he said it’s as if Bill had a list of warning symptoms and checked off every box. (We had thought it all due to overworking in the extreme heat).

So now we’ll be heading to College Station on Monday for a catheterization and possible stints.

Oh, and that palette in the first photo? While I haven’t felt much like sketching lately, I did tweak my granulated palette a bit, switching the previous muted earthy colors to a few brighter colors. I may still remove the burnt umber to make room for lunar black, which has wonderful granulation. I was also trying out my new favorite paint brush, an Escoda Aquario Petit Gris squirrel hair, size 8. Love the brush!

this morning’s random drawing

This s what might come of a need to draw something and needing to get to church . . . as soon as my cup of tea was brewed, I began sketching what was in front of me . . . or to either side of me as we sat together at tables in our discipleship class. My brush pen filled with diluted Lexington gray ink did not work as planned in shading one gentleman’s hand.

beginning a new purse-sized journal

For years, my normal habit has been to work in only one sketchbook journal, finish it from start to finish, and then move on to the next. Except for short-term interruptions due to a special trip or an online class.

Yet this year, I have juggled multiple journals simultaneously — a class, a vacation, a month-long challenge, and simply wanting something smaller to carry in my purse. Most of my bags have room for the journal size I usually prefer, about 5 1/2 x 8 1/2”, but I tend to change purses quite a lot! Sometimes I just want to carry something tiny and light-weight, and it just seems WRONG to not have a sketchbook with me. Even if I don’t actually do anything in it.





So, even though my current regular journal (a Stillman & Birn Beta softcover) has several more pages to fill, I went ahead and started this new smaller (3 1/2 x 5 1/2”) one to carry with me. The pages are a warm beige tone and the paper lighter weight than I normally work on.

I wasn’t sure how watercolor would look against this beige tone, so I tested both watercolor and gouache. I was pleasantly surprised that both look equally bright! Being lighter paper, I did use less water in my brush — loose washes would probably make the paper cockle.

I also tried out several inks to see how the tone affected them, if at all. One big surprise was that J. Herbin Lie de Tie, which is normally a light golden water-soluble brown, appears much darker when washed out on this paper. Also, De Atramentis Document black ink appears as a richer black than Platinum Carbon black.

As long as I had to refill several pens, I decided to take a reference photo of each of my current inks and which pens they are in. I forgot to include my Duke 209 fude pen, which is filled with document black ink. Apparently I also forgot the 2 Kuretake brush pens — the one filled with a diluted Lexington Gray ink will probably be used often on this paper for tonal sketching.

What used to be De Atramentis Document red ink has been altered to my own blend of “burnt sienna” ink by simply adding a few drops of Document black ink to the red. The “sepia” is a blend of leftover Noodler’s polar black and polar brown. The dark gray is the result of several inks; whenever it’s used up, I probably won’t replace it. The same goes for the Noodler’s red-black and the De Atramentis dark blue — I just don’t use them enough to warrant replacing.

almonds

A while back, I had jotted down this little bit from a study of the book of Jeremiah. The verse is from the Bible version I most often read, the International Standard Version, but the notes following the verse is from the NET Bible. Both translations are available as digital Bibles only — I have both downloaded in my Olive Tree Bible Study app, which I’ve used since my PDA of long ago. The advantage of these Bible versions being in digital form is that they are periodically updated as new discoveries in translation are made (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls). The NET Bible is full of archeological or cultural notes, which I love!

Anyway, as long as almonds were mentioned in the verse, I decided to sketch an almond branch or two, from online sources. As I was snacking on almonds . . .

I was also trying out the De Atramentis Document purple ink I just filled my dark lilac Lamy Safari fountain pen with. I like its subtlety under the watercolor wash!

time out for bears

Once again we have a grandchild turning 7 years old, so I am sewing a teddy bear. I used to make handmade jointed mohair teddy bears to sell, back in the 1980’s before mass-produced cheaply made “collectible” bears flooded the market. Now I use up my leftover supplies to make one for each grandchild when they turn seven. Because of details such as antique shoe-button eyes, these bears are not safe for very young children.

Scottie Dubh wants to help. Not safe!