random end of year

 

Today I’ve been catching up on some reading __ then jotted down some quotes in the front of my journal.

Later, I started a random sketch of a face mask hanging on our daughter’s key rack — a face mask seems to be a good commentary for this, the last day of a very strange year.

At first I drew with a conte lead but it bled when I added watercolor. So I finished with a regular graphite lead. Bill’s cousin Mike made me this lead holder out of a piece of “purple heart” wood.

Here’s hoping 2021 is a better year for us all!

bits and pieces

 

Just a few sketchy bits of Christmas . . . I found this galvanized washtub table to give to Bill for an outside patio table that could also store his birdseed. He decided that it works better as an indoor coffee table, storing remotes, earphones, and binoculars (he often spots falcons, woodpeckers, and bluebirds through the front windows).

Bill found this Texas Longhorn photo printed on barn wood to give me. We had been wanting some kind of longhorn art to put on this wall . . . The barn wood makes it perfect for living in a barn!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Yesterday the kids dropped by for a tamale lunch and I was busy cooking, but I found a few moments now and then to work in my sketchbook. The tamales were sold as a band fundraiser by granddaughter, Jayna, in Needville, TX. Made by a local band booster and they were delicious!

While still living in our log cabin, we found this distressed copper nativity that fit a very narrow space we had. It seems even more at home here in the barn. We bought a dwarf Alberta Spruce to decorate — that’s it, sitting in Bill’s grandmother’s old milk pail. Later, it will be in a pot on the front porch.

The 25mm Herend flat brush is a Christmas gift from my mom. I saw one used by Maria Coryell-Martin in one of her demos and had been looking for one. Turns out that Amazon now has them, though they come directly from Korea. It’s handmade with chipmunk hair and lays down a smooth wash beautifully. Can’t wait to really play with it.

getting to know you . . .

Mikala’s young cow, Sierra, now lives here on the farm along with 7 goats, 2 donkeys, a very large dog, and 6 cats between our daughter’s house and ours.

Sierra is a very sociable heifer who loves making new friends. She has her own private fenced yard attached to the new cow barn, but would love to roam with the rest of the beasties from one pasture to another.

Here, Tater and Tot seem to be sharing stories with Sierra — son-in-law Michael caught them on camera and I drew this from his photo.

This second photo was taken by Bill. Granddaughter Mikala was giving Sierra a bath after getting home from her part time job at a vet’s office. The scene reminded us of Bethlehem’s stable (though it was probably more of a cave). Our very own Christmas manger!

a brief return to Brenham

 

This past week we returned to Brenham for a doctor’s check-up. When we lived in our log cabin 12 miles north of town, I had always meant to spend more time in their old downtown sketching — but never got around to it. 

Then I happened upon a photo in our rural electric coop magazine showing one of the downtown Brenham murals. The town is full of interesting murals that I should have been sketching! 

I’m not sure the significance of a grizzly bear with a woman though. The local high school mascot is a cub, not a full-grown grizzly.

a bit of this and that

 

This morning I had a Christmas card and a bill to put out in our mailbox for pick-up (yeah, we are still old-fashioned enough to pay our bills by snail-mail, much to our kids’ chagrin). On the way back up our long driveway, I picked up this bit of ball moss sharing its twig space with a bit of lichen. Yesterday we had incredibly strong stormy winds that blew leaves and small branches all over the ground. It was almost like being back in Kansas.

the past 2 days

 

With this larger sketchbook, I may combine multiple day’s sketches on one page, like these. 

As part of our simplifying / downsizing, we wanted to trade in our 2 vehicles for one multi-purpose truck. Turns out that we had enough left over from selling our log cabin, buying a bit of land, and converting a small barn into our home that we could afford this Chevrolet Colorado. On our way to pick it up now.

And the fruit? A grapefruit and 2 oranges from our daughter’s newly planted trees. They are small this year but very sweet!

taking a break . . .

 

Not much sketching going on here, but I managed to draw the knitting basket on my footstool yesterday, giving my hands a break. Holding a fountain pen (or brush pen for that bit of cotton) is easier on my old hands than knitting needles and crochet hooks.

color chart . . . or stained glass?

Back in July of 2013 I posted a sketchbook entry and color chart based on an article I had found in an old issue of Artist’s Sketchbook magazine. The article mentioned the limited palette used by New Zealand artist David Barker in his sketchbook. He first used ultramarine blue and burnt umber to establish values and color temperatures and only added a bit of color as needed. I thought at the time that I would attempt to do something similar but color was too much of a lure to stick with it.

For anyone interested in David Barker’s palette, I had made a small color chart of his choices that I recently found in my stash. Some of the colors must have been student quality because the colors sure don’t look like my current colors of the same name. He used alizarin crimson, aureolin, phthalo blue, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber, and raw umber.

I went a different direction in color choices, with an earthy primary triad and a brighter primary triad (and one green) to go with the ultramarine blue and burnt umber. For the color chart, I blocked off the squares with a very narrow masking tape I found on Amazon. This paper must be made totally with paper fibers and no cotton rag; even with care, the paper tore as I pulled the tape up.

I could probably do fine with only the bright primary triad but I love playing with color.

new journal beginning

 

I just began a new journal, a much larger one (8.75 x 11.25’) than I have previously worked in. I don’t know what brand it is; the paper seems to be 140 lb. hot-press and the cover is plain black. It was given to me by a friend who had had it in her stash a long time and she couldn’t remember where it came from. All I know is that this paper is really good!

I’ve switched out my pocket palette to a simple triad plus neutrals. At first I only had one triad (quin. red, quin. gold, ultramarine). The color chart on the card showed me what basic mixes I could get from these plus burnt umber. I thought I would try using mostly grays mixed from the blue and brown, then add a bit of color for accent.

Then I went ahead and added an earthier triad (piemontite, monte amiata natural sienna, and cerulean blue chromium) plus perylene green because the pocket palette looked a bit empty. The demi palette I keep in my purse has just the first four colors in it.

Bill brought me the unknown plant clipping yesterday morning with frost all over it. I tried to capture the frostiness using a white grease pencil before painting. The plant is growing wild in one of our planting beds that have not been cleaned out yet.