just playin’ around . . .

I used double-stick tape to attach the bit of toned paper to this 2-page spread (after jotting down the poem last night), and I had planned on a larger, much looser continuous line sketch. But once my lines began, it reverted back to my usual tighter style. 

Oh, well — I still had fun. 

fire ant bites . . . again

Bill called me outside to ask my opinion on part of the barndominium construction. I had already been out to feed the donkeys some hay and turn the goats out to pasture, wearing my rubber mucking boots. After going inside, I switched to some slip-on sandals I wear inside — the farmhouse floors are tile over concrete slab and walking barefoot on that hardness makes my feet hurt.

Anyway, I went outside with Bill, forgetting to change shoes. And was bitten right away by those nasty, scheming fire ants lurking in the damp grass. As I knocked them off of my toes, they turned around and bit my fingers. So back to the house for antihistamines and to wash the bites with apple cider vinegar. Most of the time, the vinegar takes the burning sting out and helps reduce swelling — if it’s applied right away.

And Bill’s question? The front porch awning is held by 2 rough cedar posts. He wanted to know if I’d like the support beams painted white to match the window frames or faced with cedar. I chose the cedar facings. Our large back patio will have the same.

If you stretch the photo, you can see Switch, the adorable dog that accompanies the head carpenter each day. He is very loving and well behaved . . . until it comes to cats. He hates them and wants to attack any and all he sees. Since our outdoor cat Stubby is roaming free, Switch has to be tethered while on the job. He loves to feel like he’s contributing to the workload.

today’s random sketch

Mother’s Day was over two weeks ago — I don’t know why I didn’t sketch these earlier. Our youngest son sent me this big muslin bag full of tea samples. At first I saw the other side with the company logo on it; a few days later I happened to turn the bag over . . . and found it had an ink & wash sketch on it! (The mug is an old one of Bill’s)

Three of our grandchildren (and their mom) painted these rocks to give me; Judah painted a paintbrush on one side of his and a paint palette on the other! My new kitchen will have a huge triple window over the north counter — I think I’ll make a miniature rock garden on the window sill. Maybe add some miniature succulents.

a potato

We recently bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes . . . and found this large heart-shaped potato inside. Seems like a good thing for dinner today since it is our 48th wedding anniversary. Due to the lock-down, we are spending it at home, grilling steaks outside.

I think this is the first time I ever drew a potato. There are actually many unusual peaks, valleys, and distortions on the rough surface. The brown paint was supposed to be more all-over but it was applied in a very wet wash and that’s where it decided to settle.

Our son Matthew once had what we termed a “personal land yacht” he named Potato — his first car that he bought from Bill’s grandmother with a specialized license tag he added. It was years before I learned the story. A friend in high school called him Mateo, which somehow morphed into Potato, and became his nickname.

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I used to be a bit of a Bible snob. I would only read versions that were translated from the ancient languages by a team of scholars, never one man’s paraphrase version. Which is ironic given that the first time I read the whole thing, Genesis to Revelation, it was in fact a paraphrase — The Way paperback popular in the 1970s that my mother had sent me.

Our dear Pastor John in El Dorado, Kansas often quoted from Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible — the quotes always fit his sermon but the words seemed a bit fanciful to me. But in recent years I’ve been listening to Wayne Jacobsen’s The God Journey podcasts; he too quotes often from The Message. I finally downloaded a copy on my Olive Tree Bible Study app — and I’m actually enjoying reading it, writing particular verses that really speak to me down in my journal. One more prejudice bites the dust.

contents of small sketch kit

Following yesterday's post, I was asked what I currently carry in my small sketch kit. This, of course, is subject to change on a whim just as my selection of paints. 😆

From left to right, there's a wee mechanical pencil, a Mark's Inc. Tous Les Jours ballpoint pen, a Pentel mini waterbrush, a small bit of a white eraser, two Liliput fountain pens (one with brown ink, one with a turquoise-like ink) and an extra refill, a mini spritzer, a contact case holding water, a plastic ruler, a mini sketchbook (this one, Hahnemuhle's ZigZag) , a Demi paint palette, a clip, and two Rosemary travel brushes (a squirrel mop and dagger).

The turquoise ink is not waterproof, as shown by the smear in the upper right. I use cartridges in these pens, as I've never found a converter that worked well.  My turquoise choices are Kaweco Paradise blue (a very light turquoise) and Graf Von Faber-Castell Deep Sea Green (a deep teal). The brown is waterproof, DeAtramentis Document Brown.

During the COVID-19 shutdown, I have watched several art demos online, including Maria Coryell-Martin's weekly demos and Barbara Luel's daily confinement journal sketches (both can be found on YouTube). From Maria's chat with Katharina Stoll, I learned about carrying water in a contact case. From Barbara, I heard about the Tous Les Jours pens, which are waterproof.

My small case came from JetPens.com -- It's called a Lihit Lab Smart Fit Compact Pen Case. I've tried several small kit cases; this one seems to fit in most bags and easily holds just the essential tools.

This card is tucked in as well, showing my current limited palette.

And for a serious sketch time away from home, I carry lots more in my Art Toolkit from art-toolkit.com -- I bought this case as a "factory second" at a reduced price during the company’s moving sale because the lower right pocket stitching was too tight to fit a regular Pocket Pallet. So I removed the stitching and added a temporary safety pin to make the two pockets holding two Pocket Pallets. I plan on stitching it at some point; I'd just rather get out and sketch rather than sew!

how my mind works

On Monday I wrote a blog post about putting together this almost neutrals only palette after seeing a similar selection of colors on a previous post on Suhita Shirodkar’s Instagram feed. I played around with this palette a bit, exchanging one primary color for another. Currently this one has pyrrol scarlet instead of Suhita’s transparent pyrrol orange and cerulean blue chromium instead of her cobalt blue. I often use the back pages of my journal to test pens and paints. But I missed my wee Demi Palette!

And I was once again distracted by another artist’s limited palette. Róisín Cure recently posted what she calls her “Extreme Limited Palette” of only 4 colors: indigo or Payne’s grey, burnt umber, yellow ochre, and Venetian red or transparent red oxide. I copied the above sketch from Róisín’s blog but can’t find the direct link to it any more.

So I combined the basic ideas of both palettes, tweaked my color choices once more, and switched them to my Demi Palette. The lower row has my version of Róisín’s colors — instead of burnt umber, I mixed transparent red oxide and indigo; this can be tweaked by either to be more brown or more gray. My red is now lunar red rock and my 2nd blue is cobalt turquoise, an unusual choice but it’s made of the same pigment as cerulean blue chromium and I just love it! I added 2 pans of titanium white gouache — one for mixing and one to stay clean for highlights. This set will definitely be fun in a toned paper sketchbook!

testing a new toy

After little activity since last June, I sold three large prints from my Etsy store. So I decided to treat myself to a new toy. For years I have deliberated on whether to give Art Graf water-soluble graphite a try. I already have all the watercolors that I love and don’t really need more. But this is actually not watercolor, right? It’s highly pigmented cakes of colored graphite. Recently I found THIS REVIEW from Teoh Yi Chie of  Parka Blogs  — and it sold me.

First of all, I’m not really crazy about the cork tray packaging, but I expected that ahead of time. So I found this hinged plastic box to put the discs in. There is room for one more color I can add later (they are also sold individually); I attached each with a bit of Blu Tack to keep them from shifting. The lid opens flat so I can make mixes in the lid.

It’s hard to believe this is graphite — the color is very intense! Each color mixes mixes together well. I expected a certain graininess but there is none, unless you count those tiny particles floating in the water after cleaning brushes. I had to use more water than with watercolor to get the colors I was after in the tiny flower sketches. They also dry very fast, making it more challenging to a color wet-in-wet or when trying to wash out a hard edge. These work best for quick, bright pops of color added to an ink sketch.

sketching with Suhita and Maria

I was very much looking forward to Maria Cornell-Martin’s latest live demo with Suhita Shirodkar on Friday, but a dentist appointment interrupted my plan. Instagram’s recent update seems to have changed where to find these events when they are no longer live — or it takes me longer to figure out how internet things work!

Anyway, I was finally able to watch this demo and it was wonderful! A reminder that I am sketching first of all to have fun! In the demo, they both sketched their cats on toned paper. I found a small scrap of kraft paper and attached it to my journal page to play along . . . I sketched Mikala’s new calf, Sierra, instead. She is a blue roan short horn and not as intensely dark as my sketch turned out, but I had fun trying. (It looks like the left page is toned but it’s only in shadow.)

Looking back in Suhita’s Instagram feed, I found a post about her mostly-neutral palette with a primary triad. I once played around with something similar, using ultramarine and burnt umber, but hers uses transparent red oxide instead. The large pan where she mixes both together is supposed to be a gray; mine turned out more of a sepia. But I can add ultramarine to this for a variety of grays. Instead of her transparent pyrrol orange and cobalt, I chose lunar red rock and cerulean blue chromium. Then I added a large pan of titanium gouache plus mixing pans. This set would especially be fun to use on toned paper . . . Maybe that will be my next choice after this journal is filled.

BTW, this pocket palette is an impostor, though it is still filled with pans from Maria’s Art Toolkit. This is a Wellspring Flip Case I found at a used bookstore. I added a business card magnet and attached white contact paper to the inside lid.

temporary studio

Looking around for a subject to sketch — it’s either very hot and humid outside or pouring down heavy rain — and my art space is in front of me. This is my maternal grandfather’s old table that came from his barber shop. An old antique cash register sat on this table which was painted red at the time. There’s a back raised edge that Grandpa drilled holes in to hold his pencils.

The two drawers are stuffed with art tools and travel palettes. When we used the table as a work station in the center of our last kitchen in Kansas, it had an added butcher block fitted to the top. That’s when I added those hooks on the side, to hold our kitchen towels.

The Winsor chair is also a family piece, having come from Bill’s grandmother, the same one who gave me her sad irons. In both our families, we tended to be the ones interested in holding on to these old pieces. They are full of memory!

triad pyramids

Today the electrician had our power turned off while they upgrade the meter, which meant the water from our well was also turned off. However, they are out of Houston and don’t seem to know how rural electric cooperatives work — and they had failed to line up someone from the co-op to be onsite to unlock the box.

So we waited and waited . . . . I spent the time painting this new-to-me pyramid form of color chart, which I learned about from Greenleaf and Blueberry’s blog. I can’t afford to buy their gorgeous handmade watercolors but the blog is full of great information.

It’s a good thing I had just refilled the teapot because I had to change my water a lot!

everything but the kitchen sink

Yesterday our new kitchen sink arrived. A bit early, as the walls are still going up; it will be a while before Bill can build the cupboards and install tile countertops. But with COVID-19 affecting delivery times, we went ahead and ordered what we could. 

The sink is still in its protective packaging but I had to sketch something! So I removed the drain and stopper and did a quick (i.e. wonky,) continuous line drawing. The turquoise lettering is because I will have accent touches of turquoise in our new wee living space — the living room and kitchen are all one big room, divided by an eating bar.

Stubby

We were in search of outdoor “barn” cats to help control the gopher problem, as well as mice which the former owners had a problem with. Since the barn will be our home, we’ve set up a cat shelter attached to the nearby shed.

This very young mother cat and her 2 feral kittens were adopted through the Next Door app; a lady found her but couldn’t keep her. She called her Stubby because half of her tail was missing — she wags her tail like a puppy when excited!

Stubby was once cared for — she is very open to being petted or picked up and often purrs. But the 10 week old kittens were totally feral, needing to be caught in a trap to be moved to our small farm.

I nicknamed the black kitten with white markings Patches and the all black kitten Fraidy Cat because it hid all the time — quickly shortened to Fred. This caused lots of laughter when our granddaughter declared “I am NOT explaining why I bring “Fred” in to be spayed”! We don’t know what sex either kitten is because they stayed hidden; Mikala works at a vet clinic where we had Stubby spayed.

Sadly, Fred disappeared soon after arrival; we had only seen him once. Then this past week Patches also disappeared, possibly by hiding under the truck’s hood as it was driven off. We were trying to be careful about checking before driving, but it’s easy to miss such a wee mostly-black kitten.

Stubby has settled right in, patrolling the pastures and checking in with the goats. She visits the porch to join Bill drinking his morning coffee. And this morning, Bardie MacRuadh and Scottie Dubh got to know her through the back screendoor.

turquoise

I used to jokingly tell people that my favorite color is plaid. As in a classic Scottish tartan, which I really do love. I did not really have one favorite color — I love them all!

But this past couple of years, I have been drawn to turquoise in its many variations. Especially when paired with rich brown — a friend at church had a leather handbag with touches of turquoise that really captured my eye.

So my one extra “just for fun” paint is turquoise. Actually I currently have three: a leftover cobalt turquoise light from Winsor & Newton, and cobalt turquoise and phthalo turquoise from Daniel Smith. Yesterday I wanted to play with this Japanese bamboo brush so I painted the three different turquoise paints side-by-side. Then tried making a turquoise using cerulean chromium, which is made of the same PB36 pigment as cobalt turquoise. The mix with Hansa yellow medium had a mesmerizing separation of green and blue. Cerulean chromium mixed with perylene green made a lovely teal which looks much darker in the photo than it really is.

a birthday card

Today is my brother Dave’s birthday — this year, I painted my sweet donkey girls for him. I’ve been sketching a one-of-a-kind card for him for 10 years now.

Tater and Tot are rescue donkeys, their former owner having died and them needing a new home. We needed protection from area coyotes so they fit right in. But we suspect that they were never “peopled” at their former home, just being turned out to pasture.

The task of peopling them fell to me — and it’s been a very slow road! My goal is to eventually get them to accept halters and to allow me to groom them. At this point, both jennies easily come to me, eating carrots or hay out of my hand. Tater allows me to stroke her forelock and sometimes the side of her face down to the withers. Tot is a bit more shy. Both of them like to go “nose to nose” with me at times, as sort of an affectionate greeting. Their whiskers tickle!

Meanwhile, walls are being framed up in our barndominium this week. The east side of Bill’s shop is now enclosed and area for a garage door in place. Inside are doorways into a short hall (leading to bedroom and bathroom) and office / studio. And there is now an interior separation between our little house and the woodshop. This wall will be heavily insulated for a sound barrier.

time to swim again!

Yesterday our son Matt drove out from Pflugerville to help Bill block out the locations for windows, mechanicals, and other details in the barn, while grandson Quen tested the pool. It does not have a heater yet and has been too cold to swim. But recent sunny days have warmed it up — eventually, Mikala, Kristen, and I joined Quen and the water was great! Mikala and Quen had a fierce water battle with the new noodle water shooters, Mikala from her favorite floating donut.

The carpenter and crew begin framing the interior walls of the barn tomorrow. Windows are on order but the company has closed for a few days — we aren’t sure what’s up with that, or what kind of delay it might cause.

more wee bits

While the local roadsides are full of Indian paintbrush, pink primrose, and blanket flower, the farm’s wildflowers are a bit smaller. Some not even 1/4” in diameter — but the yard and pastures are full of them! The largest, crimson clover, has now gone to seed but last week I saw a tiny gray hairstreak butterfly enjoying their nectar. In the sun, its gray wings looked more lavender.

I thought I’d sketch a page of a few of the smaller unknown flowers . . . and got a bit carried away.