waiting room sketch

  

Waiting on Bill at the chiropractor. As I sketched this pretty lady, I had to wonder if her oversized leather bag was part of her aching back trouble?

 

By the time I finished, the doctor had called her back.

some wonky dishes . . . and friend

 

It’s dark and cloudy this morning making it a bit dark inside so I went out to the patio to snap a photo of this sketch. One of our many wee snails decided to join in.

Yesterday I had a beastly headache that would not respond to meds, hot tea, or darkening the room. As a distraction, I drew the pile of dishes waiting to be carried out to the travel trailer in a slow continuous line.

Our daughter Kristen and granddaughter Mikala were shopping to stock a college dorm when they found these plates, bowls, and glasses - 50 cents each! So they got some for both dorm and camper. Kristen also found a collapsible bowl and colander, easy to store in the camper’s limited space. I added a couple of ceramic mugs — hope the vintage one can go in the microwave!

Lately I’ve gone back to using my old Lamy Joy fountain pen with a medium nib and black ink. I had forgotten how very reliable Lamy pens have always been for me.

the one we bought

 

Bill has been looking at travel trailers online regularly since we decided to get one, but we had pretty much decided not to actually buy one until autumn when used ones might be more available at lower prices. Then as we drove north towards Kansas he received a phone call from Desi at Toppers RV’s in Waller, TX — a used one in extremely good condition had just come in and he thought it might be just what we were looking for.

So after returning home, we went to look at the 2011 Coachmen Apex. Other than the bed not having walk space on each side (we’d prefer not having to crawl over each other to get up) and not having larger windows, it did fit what we had in mind. Not as cute as Casitas or Vintage styles, but a great buy. 

The short-queen mattress has been replaced with a real queen mattress. The free-standing table that originally came with it was missing but Bill can build one. Topper’s was already replacing the awning and the tires are nearly brand new. So Bill and son-in-law Michael decided we would buy it.

Topper’s is a great dealer to work with! They went over the trailer in great detail — tightening, replacing, checking for irregularities, then added new propane tanks and battery. A week later, we drove it home where Bill is now testing all the systems out while Kristen and I are gathering supplies to make it livable (bedding, kitchen stuff, etc.) Now — where shall we travel to?

my new Folio palette

My new Folio palette from Art Toolkit arrived on Monday, something I’ve been looking forward to since Maria first gave a sneak preview months ago. Unfortunately, a bad chest cold and sore throat prevented me from doing much with it for a few days. I’m better now and ready to play!

The Folio came out in perfect timing — I just had a sale on Etsy that nearly paid for it! My Etsy shop has been ignored lately so I’m doubly thankful.

I prefer these flat paint pans because my brush bristles can pick up a lot of paint without the tips being ruined digging deep in a regular plastic watercolor pan. This much larger version of the pocket palette allows me to carry lots of color choices with the most used ones in the larger double pans.

This is the first configuration that I came up with. However, I have another one in mind that combines regular standard and mixing pans with space to add a flat sponge for brush-wiping plus a few of these very tiny colored pencils. The sponge idea came from Mike Daikubara; I think I saw the tiny pencils idea on one of Art Toolkit’s Instagram posts.

I found these tiny pencils on Amazon — about the size of a credit card, the case includes a wee sharpener and eraser.

 

one final sketch from Kansas

 

We spent our Saturday in Kansas visiting friends and family in El Dorado, starting with Ron and Sharon who live in a log cabin near the lake. Sound a bit like us when we lived in our own log cabin here in Texas? Ron is also a very talented cabinet maker; his woodshop makes Bill’s look like child’s play!

I was very surprised to see this tin-man! Standing between 9 and 10 feet tall, it had been at the city library (one of my favorite places — I have not found another library quite like it) as long as we had lived in El Dorado. What I did not know was that Ron had built it as a senior in high school, some 49 years ago. When the library was going to get rid of it, Ron was able to save it.

the old Orpheum theater

 

One day in Kansas, we missed a turn and ended up driving through downtown Wichita. At a red light, I quickly snapped a photo of the old Orpheum theater to sketch from later. My brother and I saw many matinee movies either here or the Miller, also in the downtown area.

Just beyond the building is what I thought was a castle when I was growing up: the Wichita Masonic Lodge. Couldn’t get a photo of it, though.

(I just noticed that I forgot to paint the roof. Just imagine those ceramic tiles are undersea green!)

more sketches from trip

This sculpture sits in front of LakePoint, the nursing home my father lives in. Covid-19 restrictions have been overwhelming for the residents here. For over a year, my dad was restricted to his room 24/7 and allowed NO visitors, even my brother who is his primary care person. Today they are relaxing some restrictions so I was able to visit him in his room -- for only 30 minutes. But first they took my temperature, made me wash my hands and fill out a recent history form -- even though I brought my card proving I have had my vaccination shots. It's a bit over-the-top for those living here.

These little pottery vases were in the dining room of the AirBnB we stayed at.

 

an airbnb and my parents’ high school

 

While visiting in Kansas, we stayed at a very economical Airbnb — a transformed trailer house in a small RV park. Simple, quiet, and comfortable with everything we needed; so much better than a hotel or motel!

I was able to my dad a couple of times at the nursing home he lives at, in spite of their overly strict COVID rules.

On the drive there, we passed what has to be the most beautiful high school in the country, Wichita North. My parents went to this Art Deco / American Native styled building, and I have sketched it before. It’s located near the Riverside neighborhood where I first met with others as we learned about watercolor and sketched together.

The nearby Minisa Bridge matches the motifs on the school building — something else I have sketched in past years. I love that bison!

seen near Waco

As we drove through Texas on our way to Kansas, we were able to see just how far-reaching the recent rains have been. The over-large “ponds” in this sketch are actually not ponds at all — pastures on both sides of the highway are half covered with standing water. All those tiny black ink spots in the distance are cattle who sought higher ground to graze.

In the area we live, where the piney woods meets the post oak savanna, we’ve had over 2 weeks of rain every day and most nights. This has been the longest springtime I’ve seen here — usually spring seems to last about a week and a half before summer heat kicks in!

Just 30 minutes into our trip, a passing SUV threw a rock at the truck’s windshield. The resulting spider-crack was the size of a quarter — we hope it can be repaired rather than having to buy a new windshield.

packing the essentials

Because of Bill’s chronic pain issues and the lack of good sleep it causes, we don’t drive long distances on our own anymore. That is one reason we’ve been looking at travel trailers — we could just stop whenever driving gets too tiring.

Our son-in-law Michael is playing in a golf tournament in Kansas this coming week and has invited us along. We can visit friends and family in the Wichita / El Dorado area without having to make the long tedious drive ourselves.

Today I need to be planning what to pack . . . Got this part covered! (Not shown in the above sketch: a kneaded eraser, ink refills for the Liliput pens, and a small water container in my bag.)

I drew this with one of the only fountain pens currently filled with ink but not in the sketch — a Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop pen with turquoise ink.

daddy-bird watching

 

Early one morning last week, Bill called me into the kitchen — where we stood watching a male woodpecker feeding his fledgling from the bird feeder, one tiny bit at a time. They were perched on the cedar posts supporting the back patio roof. Being backlit from a very bright sun, we couldn’t really see much detail but I drew them anyway.

Bright sun itself is a bit rare these days. We’ve received so much rain that we “slosh” walking across the pastures. In fact, we were visited by a little blue heron in the front pasture — no doubt  mistaking it for swampland.

my brother’s card

A full month ago, my brother’s birthday seemed to sneak up on me. My mind was drawing a complete blank as to what I should draw for his card this year, and it needed to get in the mail ASAP.

He loves to fish, leading my thoughts to fishing boats I’ve seen out in the Gulf. So I googled a picture of one to sketch in ink.

A few quick brushes of blues across the dried ink sketch and done.

I hope he liked it.