our own canned pears

This past summer Bill canned the pears from our newly planted pear tree — 6 small jars in total! And we hadn’t expected any fruit the first year. I took a picture before he took 3 of them over to our daughter . . . then never got around to sketching them. Until today.

Only one more sketch and this journal will be filled (and only one more day of this unusual year). Maybe tomorrow I’ll choose a new sketchbook and draw it.

I found the quote on Instagram or Facebook last August and saved a screenshot of it. Another delayed bit that finally made it into my journal.

a confused tree

Trees around us are confused by the warmer-than-normal temperatures. Yesterday it reached 82° F. — a large magnolia tree nearby is covered with blooms! I drew a branch of an unknown tree in a drugstore parking lot with what I thought at first were flower buds but they turned out to be white berries. (the fountain pen had water-soluble ink, so I used watercolor pencils to add a bit of color — then forgot the colors would muddy if I touched it with a damp brush. 🥴)

earthy granulating pocket palette

Just in case anyone was curious as to what colors of watercolor I placed inside my latest Pocket Palette . . .

I left one of the large mixing pans in the palette (it came with 2 of these large mixing pans and 12 tiny mini-pans) and added 10 standard pans filled with my favorite granulating paints (filled from tubes). I bought this coppery gold palette because it was not silver or black like my others from Art Toolkit; I can easily tell at a glance which of my palettes is the granulating one.

Before posting this, I wanted to paint a simple landscape on the opposite page using this set of colors -- but I am so fed up with the paper in Stillman & Birn sketchbooks that I changed my mind. Not that the paper is bad -- it is wonderful paper for sketching in pencil and ink and a bit of watercolor for color. This is one of their Beta books which is heavier paper better suited for paint.

But I want to apply wet washes of watercolor and allow them to mingle on the page together -- paint just dries too quickly on this paper to do that. Also, the smooth finish does not show granulating pigments off to their best affect; for that, I need cold press or even rough watercolor paper.

Only a few pages left in this journal anyway; hopefully I will finish it by the end of the week, then start off the new year with a new sketchbook journal.

wee bits of Christmas

We had a very low-key type of Christmas, as Bill is under orders from his cardiologist to take it easy and not over-do. He’s been experiencing questionable symptoms; a new heart catheter showed the bypass grafts to be working great so it’s just a matter of finding the right combination of medications at this point. A work in progress . . .

Earlier, most of our kids and grandkids got together and had this crazy kind of gift exchange. Everyone took part, including all the grandkids. The gift theme was “big, fat, or hard to wrap” and each person may choose an unwrapped gift or steal one that’s already been opened by someone else. Hilarious fun! I ended up with this big bag of assorted gourmet popcorns and a stack of chocolates, a gift given by our youngest grandson.

The right side of this journal spread shows a few of my other toys. Our youngest son recommended the new computer mouse that Bill gave me — much easier with the tendinitis in my wrists. Technically the new iPhone is not a gift — my old one iPhone 7 needed a battery replaced and AT&T had a bunch of these iPhone 12 Minis that they wanted to get rid of . . . 

With gift money from my mother, I bought a replacement squirrel mop brush (my old one had the quill & wire wrapped ferrule and bristles were shedding) and the new “Drawn to High Places” Pocket Palette from Art Toolkit. I just got the case without the paints, to put a set of earthy granulating paints in it. Now it’s easy to see at a glance whether it’s my regular set or the earthy one.

time for a good read

A bit wonky on the angles, but this is another reason I haven’t been sketching much. The 9th main book in the Outlander series is out _after a 7-year wait_ and I have been reading. Actually I have it on my Kindle app so I had to look online for a photo of the actual book.

This one is not as good, in my opinion, as some of the others. My favorite has been the 8th book, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, but I enjoyed it still.

While I love the depth and “realness” of these books (in spite of the time-travel), I have come to absolutely detest the TV series. They began well enough . . . then kept making changes from the books that were unnecessary, unrealistic, and at times even silly.

borrowing other artists’ ideas

Sometimes I scribble ideas in my journal that I find online, usually ideas from other artists of their chosen palettes or sketching setups. I found this very portable setup on Art Toolkit’s 23 November Instagram post, highlighting artist JC Little (@theanimatedwoman). It looks so doable, I jotted it down — and am posting it here in my blog to remember in case I forget which journal it was in.

It uses a small acrylic support with a 2” square ZigZag sketchbook held in place with a Cross Band (available from arttoolkit.com) and magnet clips around the edge holding a Demi Palette, extra mixing pan, and water. The water container is a regular prescription bottle with a quarter attached to the bottom to be held by the magnet. Overall BRILLIANT idea!

Yesterday I received a postcard from Art Toolkit featuring their new Drawn to High Places Pocket Palette, a collaboration with artist Nikki Frumkin. Many of the pigments are not in my stash so I played around with similar ones I do have. It seems strange to not have any earthy neutrals, but I may play around with these colors sometime. I keep a Demi Palette and ZigZag sketchbook in my purse — but with Covid-19, we just don’t go anywhere so it never seems to come out to play!

unknown colorful mushroom

I walked the south pasture recently to see what the donkeys were eating (it turned out to be some Spanish moss they pulled off an old oak tree). On the way back, I found this bright bit of red — but is it a Stalked Scarlet Cap or the poisonous Emetic Russula?

Either way, the goats and donkeys were leaving it alone.

Annie the musical

From last week: our granddaughter Jayna was in a stage production of Annie and it was fabulous! Too dark to sketch on site and photos were not allowed due to copyright — but these bunk beds were on the stage before the musical began so they were fair game, right?

During one of the songs, champagne bottles were uncorked shooting confetti and tiny $100 bills everywhere; this is one of many our grandsons Josiah and Judah gathered.

Bradley wants to go!

When our granddaughter Mikala was packing up to head back to college following Thanksgiving break, Bradley jumped into her car . . . and stubbornly refused to get out. He loves car rides, and he loves all “his people” to stay in one place so he can guard them and keep them safe.

Lately I get ideas of memories to sketch in my journal but I may take a week (or even two) before actually getting them finished. 

just a few oak leaves

We live on the edge of the Piney Woods with mostly loblolly and longleaf pines. But there are also many varieties of oak trees — I sketched fallen leaves from just a few growing near our barn-house. The paper in this Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook is not the right texture to show off the granulating pigments.

remembering Aunt Lucille

When I was a child, I had the most wonderful penpal ever. Aunt Lucile was actually my father’s aunt, older sister to my grandmother. She was also my friend. Even through those impossible teen years when it was not cool to write letters to elderly aunts, she was patient with me and persevered — and I continued to write her through the rest of her life. Even when dementia changed the content of the letters.

For many years of her adult life Lucile remained single, taking care of my great-grandparents and teaching. In fact she began her teaching career in a rural 1-room schoolhouse! Later on, she married a widower and helped raise his 3 sons.

Though I take more after my grandmother in looks (she’s also where I get the ability to draw), I like to think I’m a lot like Lucile in curiosity and varied interests.

Among so many hobbies (and she was good at everything she tried!), she also made sock monkeys. Sadly, I did not end up with one of her monkeys, but when I saw this little guy I bought it to remember her. There are a lot of different facial expressions on sock monkeys but this one looks quite a lot like hers did.

good intentions, but . . .

I had every intention of doing several sketches last week. After all, we had 4 1/2 days camping in this beautiful forest alongside Lake Raven. But the day we headed out, I discovered that I had indeed caught Bill’s head cold (he was over it quickly). And let’s just say it was bad enough to go through a new box of tissues per day.

I loved experiencing the peace and quiet (interrupted by my hacking) but had no energy for hiking the many nature trails or sketching anything at all. Even with the Huge Alligator nearby as a “model”.

On the day before leaving, I was determined to get at least one sketch in . . . and the above is the sad result. Totally failed to capture the beauty around me.

I was leery of camping so close to alligators at first. But I came to love this old geezer of a ‘gator after listening to stories from the park host and a couple of fishermen. He hangs around the pier as people fish, sometimes stealing their catch as it is pulled to the water surface — hook, line, and all. It’s an added challenge for the fisherman to get the fish out before he nabs it.

About 14 feet long, he has scars on his back from people throwing bricks at him. I saw a family sitting near the bank throwing branches at him, trying to get him to move around. If he had wanted to, he could have easily pulled one of them into the lake. Other visitors have been known to throw whole chickens to him, not realizing that ‘gators who look to people as a source of food have to be destroyed. This old guy does not come on shore (possibly being so heavy?) but there are a couple of younger alligators northeast of the pier who have been seen out of the water. The host moved some tent campers to a safer location for now; she said they will need to be captured and relocated in a non-public area.

People visit this park but it’s home for the wildlife. We all need to respect that and leave these creatures alone.

Lake Raven

Last week Bill was extremely sick with a headcold. Our reservations for this campsite were made over a month ago and was already paid for; I was concerned that he’d feel too bad to enjoy it.

But no, Bill is feeling wonderful and is enjoying the area to the fullest! For which I am grateful.

I’m Not so grateful for his having given me his cold.

Hence, posting photos instead of sketches . . .

Oh, and those ‘gator warning signs? They weren’t kidding!

our temporary home

We are camping again this week, this time at Huntsville State Park on the north finger of Lake Raven. Nearly every campsite in this immediate area is set on an incline, so leveling the camper is challenging. And here there be alligators, year round.

But the views are extraordinary and I can hear water birds calling across the water.

Wilbur

One of my morning buddies . . . I spelled his name wrong in my sketch journal but he doesn’t mind.

doggy daycare

Sometimes when our daughter and son-in-law are gone Bradley, a Great Pyrenees-golden retriever mix, hangs out at our barn-house. I guess he prefers human company to his 3 cats.

The kids took the camper for a few days last week and poor Bradley was beside himself, watching and waiting for their safe return. Maybe he prefers the barn because we have bigger windows and the best view of the driveway?

live oak branch

We have live oak trees lining our long driveway, and they are heavily covered in acorns this year. So much more than the local squirrels can gather, though they work steadily at it.

I’ve been lacking in sketching inspiration __ or any other type of activity __ during recovery from oral surgery. Then Bill brought me this snippet off one of the trees and I just had to draw it. I used a Kaweco Liliput fountain pen with a Graf Von Faber-Castell carbon black cartridge, drawing a bit of shading out with a waterbrush.

Texas live oak trees grow to such a majestic size, yet they have such teeny tiny acorns!

time to grumble

I had gum surgery on Thursday and while I am at least up and sort of eating (the usual “soft” diet of mushy, gloppy stuff), I am still feeling grumbly — so a grouchy page in my journal! 

Three times the nurse asked if I wanted Tylenol 3 — I kept telling her I was allergic to one of the ingredients! I had told the dental surgeon that I have very bad reactions to anesthesia and drugs, yet he proscribed a strong one that kept me nauseous and added an anti-nausea pill after my husband called to tell him that I couldn’t even keep water down, let alone his stupid pill! I eventually gave up and grabbed an over-the-counter pain killer instead.

My face is just now starting to lose the swelling, though the bruising is quite colorful! (And no, I do not choose to post photos or a self-portrait, Bill — thanks anyway!)

Okay, grumps are all out of my system now and I’m good. 😜  On the positive side, our daughter has made 2  fabulous homemade soups for me to eat: wonton and squash!

Liliput time

I’m not really participating in Inktober this year, but my wee Kaweco Liliput fountain pens are just fun to play with! I have never found an ink converter that works well with them so at first I just used water-soluble ink cartridges in them — like the J. Herbin ‘Terre de Feu’ used here. Easier than trying to refill the tiny used cartridges with a syringe!

De Atramentis Document ink also comes in these short cartridges, giving a water-resistant ink option. But I kind of like the fuzziness the water-soluble ink gives a sketch.

At first the extra-fine nibs were a bit stiff. But with use they are becoming more flexible — and the lines are more and more variable!

continuous contour line . . .

Wonky as it is, drawing something directly in ink in one long continuous contour line can be relaxing. (tiny bits in blue bands and watercolor added later)

bits picked up on our walks

 

During one of our walks in the woods, we found this odd seed pod with brilliant red seeds growing through one of the American Beautyberry plants. Not sure what it is.

I found several wildflowers but not sure what they are. The pinkish lavender one looked like an orchid. I sketched these from photos rather than picking them.  

Cagle Recreation Area

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Beneath the trees in this section of Sam Houston forest, we found plenty of American Beautyberry growing in huge clumps. Native to the US South, it is a natural mosquito repellant! Between these plants and the numerous dragonflies, we had no problems with mosquito bites. 

The berries are eaten by birds and deer, the roots used in herbal tea, and Native Americans used it in sweat baths to treat rheumatism, fevers, and malaria. Some people also use the berries in jelly.

Also growing in the understory we found palmetto, dogwood, and magnolia.

into the woods . . . again

 

We spent this past week camping in our travel trailer again — this time in part of the Sam Houston National Forest on the northeast corner of Lake Conroe. I sketched a bit on-site and took photos to sketch from later. Mostly I just wanted to enjoy being there, taking several walks on the nature trails and enjoying the peaceful quiet.

As Bill leveled the trailer and hooked up the utilities, I wandered around our camp site and found this plastic dinosaur and Velcro uniform patch. Somewhere out there is a Marine with a very sad child who lost 2 dinosaurs — Bill later found another one. This one’s name is Henry.

Our truck is actually a brighter red but I had my muted watercolor set with me.

palette cleanup and tweaking

My palettes were getting a bit messy, and I wanted to add a color or two . . . 

As long as I was at it, I filled a Pocket Palette with earthy autumn, granulating pigments. But the smooth paper of this Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook does not show granulation to its best advantage.

Might be a good paper for Derwent Graphitint paints though.

a bit of shopping

I recently found a Facebook post from artist Leslie Fehling about the Sketchliner she designed for making text lines in her own sketchbook, sold at Cheap Joe’s art supplies. Previously, I’ve used this grid paper I made, placing underneath papers that are more see-through or using it as a ruler grid on top of thicker papers. I like lightly pencilling in lines that are later erased after text has been added.

As long as I was placing an order anyway, I added a tube of paint I was out of, a postcard-sized sample of Kilimanjaro watercolor paper, and a bottle of Noodler’s ink — which came with a free dip pen. The paper sample says it’s bright white but the Very White label sticker makes the actual paper look more of a cream paper.

I love sketching with “not black” neutral colored fountain pen inks — this El Lawrence is a very dark khaki color named for Lawrence of Arabia. Very subtle in sketches and matches my savanna Lamy Safari pen!

earlier today . . .

My 6-month eye exam was this morning with a long wait-time. So I drew. I have glaucoma so eye pressures need to be checked regularly.

sketching tiny . . .

 

I bought this wee Hahnemuhle Zigzag accordion watercolor book well over a year ago, sketched a Demi palette, waterbrush, and fountain pen on the first 2-page spread, filled the next 4 pages with wildflowers . . . . and then I just stopped using it.

It has been in my bag most of the time; I just had no motivation to draw in it.

Until today. Bill brought me our very first berry from a variety of bushes planted this year. Not sure if it’s one of the raspberries or an under-ripe blackberry but it definitely fit the page!

Even if I got the color wrong.

revisiting old journals

I was introduced to Webkinz in 2009 when our oldest granddaughter, 6 years old at the time, gave me a White Terrier — the closest match she could make to my Wheaten Scottish Terrier, Maxwell. She wanted both of her grandmothers to play the online games with her. At the time, all of her grandparents lived in Kansas and she’s a Texas girl.

The above sketch recorded this surprise reverse-birthday-gift. I would have named this first pet after Max except for that pink bow — my dog was not a froufrou type! So I named her Annie Laurie after one of my favorite Scottish folk songs. I remember hearing Alex Beaton singing it in person at a Scottish Festival years ago.

A year later I was acting as “granny nanny” to Mikala, and of course we went shopping for more Webkinz! That’s her Peppermint Puppy in the sketch below, a gift from her other grandma.

This month, that same granddaughter started college . . . and I have returned to playing on Webkinz, this time with our 2 youngest grandsons, Josiah and Judah.

 

weekend sketches

Yesterday morning we drove to Needville where 2 of our grandsons were baptized. I scribbled down some sermon notes in pencil, cleaning it up a bit later in ink. Afterwards, we ate out at a Mexican restaurant — one of the final points made had been on the meaning of verses 34-35 of Luke 14, so I sketched the salt shaker and bits around it. 

From the previous day, I cleaned up all my fountain pens, then refilled just these 3 Lamy Safari pens. I have fancier pens and a few that are more expensive — but I always return to Lamy pens for sheer dependability. The charcoal one is filled with De Atramentis Document Grey ink, the red one (with a “fude” nib I made from sticking a regular nib in Bill’s vise and gently bending it) has a “sepia” ink I mixed using Document Brown and Document Black, and the new terra color pen is filled with Document Brown.

I wish I had left this alone after painting in the pens. I grabbed blue and black crayons to color in the sketchbook but it looked better before.   😒

last sketches from Ratcliff

One last journal entry from our time at Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area in Davy Crockett National Forest — I took my time deciding if I would add watercolor or not and if so, how much. Finally I decided to leave this mostly ink sketches.

This cool old log shelter was built by the C.C.C. in 1936 and is a very popular rental area for family gatherings. Sadly, our camp host told us that it will be torn down. The forestry department simply doesn’t have the necessary funds for repair and maintenance on it.

Next month, we’re heading out with our travel trailer to a western finger of Sam Houston National Forest on the northeast edge of Lake Conroe.

through the trees

 This is one of my views, looking up above our heads. I love these tall trees❣️

random camp sketches

 

I don’t like marshmallows as much as Bill but when you have a campfire you gotta toast marshmallows, right? I like them lightly golden; Bill incinerates his.

We were a bit further north than home and I found a leaf turned red, even though it is not yet autumn. The campsite address was Dogwood Lane so I’m guessing this is a dogwood leaf?

extreme sunlight filtering through the piney woods

 After setting up camp with our travel trailer, Bill cooked our dinner as I sketched. We are surrounded by the piney woods yet the hot sun trickled through to light up the surrounding trees with bright yellow!

We only have one close neighbor in this camp site, and he’s the local campsite host. Mostly shady in spite of this sketch. No motor craft are allowed on the lake so it’s very quiet.

no straight roads in Texas

 

Coming from Kansas with its normal east-west / north-south road grid, both in city and country, Bill has always complained about Texas roads. None of them go east-west or north-south. None of them are straight, as if road crews thought “the curvier, the better!” Many in cities go in a complete circle. Then there are the names! One highway can have as many as 3 or 4 different names!

Somewhere in this inaccurate tangle of a map is the route we drove to Davy Crockett National Forest. We had considered camping in the Sam Houston National Forest but I didn’t like the likelihood of alligators there . . . . Only to find out there’s a current warning upon entering Davy Crockett to watch out for alligators. 😬

decisions, decisions . . .

After taking a wee break from sketching, I decided to plan what I might take when we go camping in our travel trailer later this week. 

First, I was going to take my new (and larger) Folio Palette. But we’re packing light and I may or may not sketch while exploring the Davy Crockett National Forest. So I decided to load a regular Pocket Palette instead.

I filled it with lots of mini pans of color, especially greens and browns. Then decided after drawing it in my sketchbook that I needed to simplify. So I switched to fewer colors in regular size pans, still heavy on greens and browns.

Now maybe I’ll even be motivated to sketch . . .

(I absolutely LOVE how easy it is to switch pans of color in and out of these pocket palettes from Expeditionary Art!)

random ink drawings

 

These are some of the bits we have gathered for our wee travel trailer. We added the spice racks on the wall behind the stove, then found shorter handled utensils, etc. to hang from the hooks. The problem with the refrigerator is now fixed (it wasn’t connecting to propane due to a circuit board issue) and we have booked a stay for next month in the shady Davy Crockett National Forest.

I drew the first sketch using the things scribble-drawn in the second sketch. I thought the Diamine Earl Grey water-soluble ink would bleed a bit more than it did when adding water; I guess it will have a more subtle effect so I can also add watercolor washes to it. BTW, I drew the second sketch in De Atramentis Document Black ink with a Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen and lunar black watercolor wash.

Bill's tomato sauce

In the early spring, Bill went to buy a grape tomato plant from the farm supply store. He doesn't actually like eating tomatoes but he knows Kristen and I both love them. He came home with SIX plants as they only sold them in 6-packs.

We could not keep up with the exuberant harvest so he made tomato paste out of the overflow. And it tastes wonderful! In recipes we add additional herbs according to whether we are going for an Italian or Mexican flavor; my absolute favorite is to warm the sauce up in a pan with milk added -- Best. Tomato. Bisque. Ever! He put it in glass jars without processing; it will keep several months in the freezer.

I like to lightly pencil in a sketch before drawing in ink; this time I tried a Caran d'Ache non-photo blue pencil instead of graphite, eliminating the need to erase. I would normally just sketch in a few basic shapes for placement but we were watching an old Murder She Wrote and I got carried away! I still used graphite lines for the text placement area. The next day I added ink lines and text. Then let the ink dry before erasing the text lines and adding watercolor.

To make the sauce, Bill tossed the grape tomatoes with jalapenos in olive oil and roasted them in the oven. Then he sautéed chopped onions and fresh garlic in a large pot before adding the tomato mixture with all the juices. He added oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper and brought to a low boil, letting simmer 30 minutes to an hour. If the batch was too sweet, he added a bit of lime juice. (None of this was measured -- that's just the way he cooks.) Finally, he pureed it all with an immersion blender and put in jars.