very slow growth

My post-chemo hair growth has been very slow and sporadic. I never lost all my hair, just 60-70% over 8 months. Several months after the daily handful of lost hairs ended, fine sprigs of new growth started to pop up. First only the top of my head, then the back started filling in. Getting tired of the wispy “mullet” it became, I had what there is cut into a short “bob” this week to give the rest a chance to catch up before growing it back to my normal length. The sides still haven’t begun to fill in yet.

I don’t like my photo taken, so why would a “self portrait” be any different? Ink scribbles are so much more fun! 🫣

no walk today

Butters and I headed out for our morning walk. At the end of our long driveway, we were turning onto the country lane . . . and saw a skunk leisurely wondering around on the other side of the mailbox.

Er . . . Never mind. No walk today.

 

taking a sketchy break . . .

Why finish washing dishes when I can sketch?

My father’s mother, Grandma Stanley, loved color. She owned a set of original Fiesta dishes in various pastels. I  take after her but I prefer my Fiesta dishes in deep, bold colors.

She painted with chalky pastels, mostly still life. I’d rather just sketch the everyday things around me with ink and watercolor. But in so many ways we are alike.

triad study from 2020

Four years ago I learned about making a triad pyramid rather than the usual color wheel. This is my attempt in a sketchbook using both a bright and an earthy triad — I love how jewel-like it turned out!

remembering Grandma in triads

This past year, my mother moved into my brother’s home to recover from an injury . . . and was asked to stay permanently. They are clearing through her house and belongings, getting ready to sell.

These items are some of the treasures she sent to me that had belonged to her mother. I remember the vinegar cruet sitting on the dining room table, and I have long loved the flapper-style half doll. My grandma was a “flapper” in her youth! Half dolls were often sewn into pin cushions and Grandma was a very talented seamstress, as is my mom. Maybe I’ll do that with this doll some day.

Grandma also collected salt & pepper shakers. This bumble bee set from the 1950s is more correctly a condiment set but online sources say they were sometimes used for salt and pepper. That thing sticking out the back is a tiny spoon.

Bill was thinking they’d be great for holding mustard and horseradish. Other sources say jam and honey.

I wanted to use the “winter” triad from my new Triad Palette for both pages as the colors seemed “antique” to me, but I ended up using the spring palette for the half doll to mix the delicate skin tone. The bees were done in the winter colors — I found out that indanthrone stains when I didn’t move quick enough on the front bee’s back!

triad color play

Yesterday, Maria Coryell-Martin of Art Toolkit and Lisa Spangler, co-designer of the Triad Pocket Palette and Triad Template, did a live demo on YouTube. These first two pages from my sketchbook are what I did as I followed along.

The template is especially useful in exploring triads in general. This morning, I filled a third page with some of my favorite colors.

Before the new palette arrived, I painted a double color wheel just for fun, using a cool triad for the inner ring and a warm triad on the outer ring. Fun playtime!

a Pocket Palette in TEAL!

Inside yesterday’s sketched box? Art Toolkit’s latest limited edition palette, of course. 😁 The deep teal Triad Palette has got to be the most beautiful palette in existence!! I sketched it using a “warm & cool” palette setup currently in my “Grow Untamed” palette because it has two types of turquoise paints. Today at noon Pacific time, Art Toolkit will be having a live demo with co-designer Lisa Spangler exploring the seasonal triad paints and Triad Template included with the new palette.

 

These are my favorite palettes. The brass colored “Travel & Sketch” folio holds a collection of paints specific to our central Texas location. The deep gold “Drawn to High Places” palette holds my favorite granulating pigments. I removed the handmade paints from the red “Grow Untamed” palette because they were too opaque — maybe I should think of them as gouache instead? In their place, this palette holds a selection of warm and cool pigments plus two neutrals. I filled the extra space with small pans of turquoise, buff titanium, and lunar black.

Another configuration I sometimes use in this red palette is to add a mixing tray that holds 3.2 mm colored pencil leads to fit in a Koh-I-Noor clutch pencil. I got this idea from #rothrockart on Instagram.

it arrived early . . .

With new housing developments springing up around us (and Amazon often using the post office instead of delivery trucks) our local post office has been overwhelmed, causing local mail service to be sporadic at best.

Making it such a lovely surprise that this item I just ordered arrived two days earlier than expected.

But what is it?

rain or shine

Texas has had a very wet spring this year. My corgi, Butters, and I like taking early morning walks down the lane and I keep walking shoes on this knit mat, ready to slip on. And a pair of rubber boots for rainy weather when our grassy pastures become a soggy swampland. 

The absorbent cotton yarn of this mat has some history to it. Years ago, I knit a small bathmat for a second bathroom but no longer needed it when we downsized to a small cabin. So when I adopted a new kitten, I unraveled the rug and crocheted a round cat cave for him. He loved playing and sleeping in it but eventually outgrew it. So when I needed a small mat to place wet shoes between the cupboard and back door, the cat cave was unraveled so I could knit this small mat. Mighty sturdy yarn!

I used one of my favorite pocket palettes for this sketch, a Drawn to High Places limited edition palette purchased empty several years ago from Art Toolkit. It holds my favorite granulating watercolors. Their earthiness seems to go well with the scene on the front.

new succulents

This large container once held a small bay leaf with several years strong growth — until an unexpected cold snap killed it. This year we replaced the bay with three new succulents.

The gray pedestal was found in front of our barn, completely hidden by an overgrown lantana. Seemed like a good spot for this container when we replaced the lantana with prickly pear cactus.

today’s sketching

This morning we headed to Houston: a routine port flush at M.D.Anderson West, a search for I-Cap eye vitamins (can’t find them Anywhere), and a grocery store run. I wanted to sketch something but nothing inspired when I had sitting-still time. So I drew my new tiny purse in the tinier sketchbook that lives inside it.

The small crossbody purse replaces my old worn out one bought over 12 years ago at the Kansas State Fair. Real very soft leather, lightweight, and holds a lot. I love this bag! 

a fond memory

Last night I pulled out my gouache palette and an old photo on my iPad — this little study was the result. The photo was taken on a family camping trip on Mustang Island nine years ago.

I think I’m going to enjoy gouache for landscapes (or sea scapes in this case).