tweaking my current “winter” palette

 Maybe it’s the “mid-winter blahs” but I was feeling a bit bored yesterday . . . so I started playing around with my current sketching palette. It was based on ultramarine blue and burnt umber for mixing various grays, plus a bright primary (quinacridone red, quinacridone gold, and the ultramarine). I also added an earth primary (piemontite genuine, monte amiata natural sienna, and cobalt turquoise) and potter’s pink (all are from Daniel Smith).

Yesterday I tried making some changes to the earth triad, starting with the turquoise — an old leftover pan of manganese blue hue, which looked a bit “icy”, and raw sienna because it’s a bigger difference from quin. gold.

I like piemontite but it didn’t mix very good orange tones so I compared other earth reds: quinacridone burnt scarlet (too autumn-like; I was after “winter”) and lunar red earth. Then I came across an old pan where I had mixed the last of a tube of Indian red with lunar red earth. They are both PR101, but I hadn’t liked the heavier opacity of Indian red. Somehow, mixing the two together made a slightly more transparent version that makes a better orange so that’s what I decided to use.

Then, since I’m not sketching people (potter’s pink is great for flesh tones), I exchanged it for undersea green just for fun. It may be winter but we are still mostly green here in Texas.

treasures in the mail

 

With all the activity of looking at properties, selling our cabin, Bill’s cat bite, Covid-19 interrupting everyone’s lives, building our new barn home, and Bill’s neck surgery . . . my Etsy shop has slidden into the background. I’ve often thought that I need to create some new sketches to sell but lacked the energy or time to do it.

Yet I continue to get “favorite!” notices __ one small bluebonnet sketch alone had 15 interested shoppers! And recently I sold 4 original sketches, all within one week. My shop does not bring me any real income; I only make enough to pay for my art supplies and that’s fine with me.

A recent purchase from Etsy proceeds are these 3 new sketchbooks. I love to bind my own and I have papers set aside for new ones, but I also like to try various brands of sketchbooks that others are using. The Seawhite Travel Journals and Khadi Paper watercolor sketchbooks were recommended by John Harrison — his website, Drawn in Yorkshire, can be found HERE.

pine cones, lichen, and a bit of bark

Just a few bits I picked up between the pasture and home . . .  (Silly me — I wrote acorn instead of pinecone in the side text. Duh!)

remembering San Diego

 A few days ago I was looking through an online sketchbook put together by Leslie Conklin Fehling on Facebook. She included sketches of the Point Loma Lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, California — that made me wish I had been sketching back when we lived there in the early 1970s. I took photos at the time with an old instamatic camera; unfortunately the photo album was destroyed when a basement flooded.

Just one week after we got married, Bill first took me to Presidio Park. I had mistakenly believed that the structure now standing there was a reproduction of the original mission church. While this is the actual location of California’s first mission, this structure is a museum building built in 1928-29 by a local businessman who wanted to preserve the history of the site. Nothing remains of the original mission or presidio (one thing that fascinated me at the time was the archeological dig going on just down the hill).

The presidio (Spanish fort) was begun in May 1769; Mission San Diego de Alcala was established on this site July 16 (my birthday!) of the same year. But in 1774 the mission was moved a few miles away up the valley (where it continues as an active Catholic diocese today).

We sometimes bought lunch and ate it on the lovely presidio grounds. Bill carved our initials in a heart on a tree down the hill — when we took our kids to California on a vacation years later, we found that the tree had been removed, possibly for more parking.

Presidio Park’s Junipero Serra Museum, 1929

This is where I began my love of old Spanish missions. During a trip to San Antonio in 2012, I was able to do several mission sketches; someday when traveling is back to normal I hope we can take the Spanish missions trail from San Xavier to Corpus Christi.

a clever horse bench

 

We sometimes like going to the little nearby community of Field Store (or Fields Store according to some signs) to eat at Gabby’s Grill. Next door there is a small Mexican convenience story with the coolest carved bench outside! Both ends have horse heads; at one end it seems to rise right out of the tree trunk while the other end is squared off.

An artist friend in Austin, Lisa Spangler, gave me this cool Texas template that her husband made, to add the location to any sketches made while exploring our new home state. (Thanks, Lisa❣️)

With COVID-19 keeping us a bit more isolated these days, it will be used close to home for now — but someday we hope to see more of this beautiful place we call home!

recent random sketches

Lately it seems that I am always distracted when it comes to sketching in my journal. I might find time here and there to jot down a quote or even draw a few lines, but I never seem to do a complete sketch from start to finish. (😂 I just realized that I forgot to add the white “CRAFTSMAN” letters to the red drill. I meant to!)

So here are several random bits thrown together, influenced by the Danny Gregory quote on the upper section of the first page.

The room drawn on the right side is my Library / Office / Studio / Laundryroom / sometimes Grandkid Zone. A very little room with a lot going on in it. 

The top row of the bookshelf is almost filled with my sketchbooks, which I have been keeping since 2007. The baskets on the lower 2 shelves are full of Legos, stuffed toys, art supplies for grandkids and games. That big wooden antique toolbox holds my paints, pencils, pens, and extra palettes. Bill built me that taboret next to my art table — I forgot to draw the wheels on it that allow me to roll it to wherever it serves the best purpose. The other side is built-in shelves with an edge lip to keep stuff from flying off. He also made me that table easel in front of the west window.

simple triad play

 

Simple triad play — I’m a bit late to the “party” challenge Maria @arttoolkit gave over the weekend on Instagram, but I was in the mood to play today. These are the main colors I’m sketching with this winter — as in the color chart I stuck in the back of my phone.

Decades ago when the fad was to “dress to your season’s color” I was told I was a “winter” — meaning I should wear rich jewel tones. I actually do look best in those, black, and white; I chose these colors for a winter palette following that line of thought.

just one of those days . . .

 

. . . or rather, two of those days. With Sunday’s winter storm (we actually had snow!), I went out mid-day to give the goats and donkeys some additional hay under their shelter.

First they trapped me in the storage shed, goat feet firmly pressed against the gate which swings both ways — I had to latch it coming in and could not manage to unlatch it against the goats’ weight with my arms full of hay.

Bill came to rescue me eventually (note to self: don’t forget to put my cell phone in my pocket!). As I was handing off the half-bale of hay to him, two goats jumped my back trying to get to it — OUCH!

Yesterday continued our streak of small annoyances. Our grocery story is about 20 miles away so we try to make as few trips as we can. We pushed the loaded cart out to the truck, transferring all to the truck, and drove on to other errands, then home. As I was cooking a sauce, I reached for the milk . . . and found it missing. Yes it was listed on the receipt; no, they did not load it into our cart. So back to the store today . . .

Since last Friday I have been trying to get a refill on prescription eyedrops (I have glaucoma). Complicating things were (a) our supplemental insurance changed and says we need to change pharmacies and (b) the drops I needed had run out of refills and required a doctor’s okay. But she is typically in surgery on Friday . . . and she has a new office lady who apparently doesn’t check the messages.

No eye drops and it was now Monday. I phoned the doctor’s office to get the prescription sent to our new pharmacy, telling the same office lady that I did not need the Timolol but I did need Latanoprost (She seemed distracted, perhaps because it was a typical Monday). The pharmacy later sent a text: it’s too early to fill the Timolol. She had misheard me and filled the wrong eyedrops. So back to the phone . . .

Anyway, I drew out my frustrations — and today will be a better day!

hangin’ on the vine

 

Years ago I was commissioned by a small church to do some sketches to be used as backgrounds for an overhead projector. Placed over these images were prayer prompts that would be up during a noon voluntary time of prayer. I recently came across four of these original images that I particularly liked. Especially the grapes.

The very first thing I ever tried to paint in watercolor was a bunch of grapes (a sketch that was never even finished because I niggled it too much!) in an informal group of friends in Wichita, Kansas. We called ourselves the Riverside Watercolor Society.

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.”  — John 15:5, The Message

tweaking colors

 

Recently I painted out a chart (actually two charts — there were 8 colors I don’t use as often that didn’t fit my normal grid of 20) of all my watercolors. And typical for me, I later began to rethink some of my choices.

I have loved Monte Amiata Natural Sienna for a long time now, but it is very close to Quinacridone Gold. So I switched to the slightly darker Raw Sienna — both are transparent and both work great for adding a bit of warmth to a sky without it mingling with blue to become green. 

After several online friends praised Piemontite genuine, I bought a tube to try out. But it is so similar to Lunar Red Rock that I think I’ll stick to the latter because it is cheaper. Meanwhile, I have both to play with.

A last-minute switch was my warm green choice: For several years I’ve used Serpentine genuine but it is so easy to add a bit of yellow to any green (or cool blue) to achieve a yellow-green that having a grayer olivey-green made more sense, so I am switching to Undersea Green.

Many, of course, are purely convenience colors (for example, Undersea Green is Ultramarine + Quinacridone Gold). But I like having them ready to paint with without the need to pre-mix.

a fun little waterfall

 

This waterfall display made up of old barrels sits outside of the Italian restaurant I journaled about in yesterday’’s post. I wanted to sketch it (from a quick photo I took as we were going inside) to remember how it went together . . . Perhaps we can make something similar when we redo the planting beds in front of the barn!

dining out

 

Just on a whim, we went out to eat last Saturday, but I didn’t finish this sketch until yesterday. (I drew it from a photo — I didn’t take my sketchbook with me.)

We tried an Italian restaurant in Hempstead and it was very good! The simple yet elegant dining room was in gray with barn lights and barn doors.

Maybe today I’ll sketch the fun little waterfall in front of the building (also from a photo — unlike some online sketchers, I have no problem capturing memories in this way).

other wall stuff . . .

I’ve been a bit too distracted this past week to get much sketching done — or to finish sketches already begun. Among other things, Bill and I rearranged our furniture to fit our new space a wee bit better. 

To go with yesterday’s embroidered picture of our favorite Arizona mountain, here are some of my favorite pieces of art now hanging on our walls.

These two original watercolors are by our much-loved friend, Kate — aka Cathy Johnson. I bought them for Bill years ago while still living in a vintage apartment because he loves old barns and farmhouses.

The next two are by our friend David Krenzer from Kansas. He gave Bill the original oil painting of cows knowing how much he loved it. The print of sheep and shepherd is from an oil painting he did onsite during sheepdog trials in Utah.

Anyone detecting a theme here?

when I wasn’t sketching . . .

During the 30+ years after high school that I was not sketching, I couldn’t help myself — creativity found other outlets. One of which was embroidery.

Bill and I were married in Apache Junction, Arizona under the looming Superstition Mountains. In the early 1970s, they practically seemed to be in his mother’s back yard with only desert between her house in the outlying parts of Mesa and the mountains’ beginning. The last time we were in Arizona we were saddened to see how much development was allowed not only up to this iconic view, but also up the side of the mountain itself.

I cross-stitched this scene (using a purchased pattern) as a gift for his mom. Years later when she died, it was returned to me and it now hangs on our bedroom wall — a memory of both our times hiking the Arizona desert and of his mom.