our falcon

Over the past few weeks, we have had what we at first believed to be a Peregrine Falcon visit our pastures. The first time we saw him, he sat quietly on a fence post up near the ranch house — we kept watching him through the binoculars, with no thought of grabbing a camera or sketchbook.

He has returned several times but now perches up high in one of the north pasture’s oak trees, too far for a decent view. Sometimes we hear his cry, which sounds a bit mournful.

Since I couldn’t get a good sketch from life, I drew these from online photos*. And found that we were wrong — apparently he is an Aplomado Falcon, a breed that once was prevalent across Texas but had gone down in numbers for a time. Texas Parks and Wildlife and the nonprofit Peregrine Fund have worked since the early 1990s to restore the population of these gorgeous birds.


* The two photos I used were attributed to the following:
   Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Los Fresnos, TX
   Peter K Burian, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

feeling a bit tweedy

Even though I might use this wool bag any time of the year, for some reason I tend to grab it when the weather is cold — along with my tweed cap. Our daughter bought the bag for me when she was in Scotland nearly 7 years ago. The hat came from Ireland via The Celtic Ranch, a cool import shop we often visited in Weston, Mo. It turned really cold with snow flurries during one of our B & B trips to this old Irish town so I grabbed the warmest hat I could find.

a different view

Our wee log cabin is on the market again, listed with a new realtor. Her photographer took some overhead shots using a drone — it’s interesting to see our first Texas home as the Crested CaraCaras and Great Blue Heron do!

The large pond to the center right is one of several ponds at the ranch across the farm road, home of the Longhorns, horses and donkeys we love watching. At the horizon is a portion of the lake.

That’s our cabin with the darker colored roof and covered patio seen in the lower center in this second shot. The building with the metal roof is Bill’s woodshop, and the new carport can be seen under an oak tree left of the cabin.

what I’m reading

When I am reading a book, I sometimes pause and think about what I have just read. That’s what I did after only one chapter of this book — and I sketched the book in my journal as I was thinking. My friend Kate (Cathy Johnson) mentioned this book a few months ago and I was able to find a used copy of it. I haven’t read very far into the book yet but I already totally agree with where the authors are coming from!

People often tell me that they wish they could draw. Often my answer is to ask them if they can sign their name. Then tell them that is a form of drawing a line. And ask if they could do it right away or did they have to practice doing it over and over? Lastly, I ask if their signature looks like someone else’s or is it uniquely their own?

So it is with drawing: we learn by doing, and our art will never look like anyone else’s, it will be uniquely our own.

a bit of daily sketching

Some days are without any real inspiration in choosing what to sketch but that seldom stops me from a simple drawing. One day we received a phone call from our friend Eugene, who would be driving through our new area — so we met for lunch. The napkin holder reminded me of playing with my brother’s wood-burning tool as a kid.

And the wee Scottish Fold kitty in a box? I was ordering some things from jetpens.com but hadn’t reach the magic $25 limit to qualify for free shipping . , . . So I bought this silly sticky note pad rather than pay for shipping. Too cute to write on and throw away; they may be used as bookmarks.

updated Gansai palette

Last month I received this Kissho Gansai Japanese watercolor set and I’ve finally tweaked it to where I want it. I normally paint out a color chart, or map, for my palettes to remember the arrangement, but  I decided to do one in my sketchbook journal this time instead. It is very hard to differentiate between some of these colors in the pan so a color chart is a necessity.

Some of the colors that came with this set seemed redundant, so I removed them and added three of the Kuretaki Gansai paints I previously had. Then I added two smaller Akashiya Gansai pans — I already had a metallic gold so why not a silver? And of course I had to try the turquoise!

I grabbed my neglected Pentel Pocketbrush pen (I use this rather than buying the traditional sumi ink), restocked some Etagami postcards from jetpens.com . . . . Now I’m all set to make more Etagami cards. This Japanese folk art is a simple way to warm up before more demanding sketches, and an easy way to make art when I don’t seem to have time or patience.

Deborah Davidson (dosankodebbie) has been a great source of information about Etagami, with her book, blog, and Etsy shop. All are highly recommended!

Tater and Tot

My first attempt at sketching our new donkeys, from the first photo our son-in-law sent us.  I think I actually did a better job drawing our pastor’s two donkeys three years ago:

and just a few more . . .

. . . just because they are so darned cute! We visited the FFA barn yesterday to meet our girls. They love carrots and cucumbers, and are very open to new friendships.

for Larry

My sketching friend Larry, who loves to draw animals, commented on my previous post that he was hoping for more donkey photos . . . So here are a few more for now!

These were taken by our son-in-law and granddaughter; Bll and I are currently on our way to Houston where I may get to meet the girls in person!

Sunday morning tea

The building we meet in for our discipleship class on Sunday morning was C*O*L*D yesterday! My large cup of hot tea was very welcome . . .

Meanwhile, our son-in-law, granddaughter Mikala, and Mikala’s friend Bree drove to Bastrop to pick up two new members of our family. Meet Tater and Tot, the jennies who will be guardian protectors of the goats we will have at the farm in February:

mindless drawing

It’s been several days since I’ve sketched anything, so while we watched an old episode of Murder She Wrote tonight, I drew the keys and thumb drive we had gathered to hand over to our new realtor. Just a bit of mindless sketching directly in pen, just for the sake of drawing.

The thumb drive holds the photos our daughter took the first time we listed our cabin for sale. The new listing will use some of these along with new ones to be taken Wednesday — including some cool aerial views using a drone!

Instead of one lock box, this new realtor uses two — one that can be opened by a smart phone app and one that requires a pass code for other realty companies who wish to show our cabin. We had to dig up an extra set of keys for both cabin and Bill’s woodshop . . . meaning I had to fork over my own plaid key. It’s silly, I know, but I am quite fond of this green plaid key!

When the time comes, perhaps I can find a key blank for our barndominium with a cow on it (longhorn, of course) or a goat or simply a key that is “barn red”?