camping, part 2

Stormy weather caught up with us on Tuesday afternoon, so we retreated inside the RV, where I sketched this. Butters, who does not like thunder, stayed under the table as I sat there sketching.

Next, I sketched the key fob — but I did not have turquoise or buff titanium in my palette. I did add 4 convenience colors to this limited palette; just not the ones needed for the camper charm. So I did some color mixing studies.

Trees sometimes take on very interesting forms during their lifespans. These two sketches captured two of them near our camp site.

camping along Lake Raven, part 1

Camping in Huntsville State Park in the Sam Houston forest, this was the view from our RV. This branch of Lake Raven has been set aside as a bird habitat; we saw lots of cranes, herons, and (of course) ravens. There is a large crane in this sketch — can you spot him?

our new part-time home

We had a chance to trade our 20’ camper in for this 25’ motor home — the deal was too good to pass up! This weekend, a camping trip in Sam Houston forest. Next month, we are heading up to Kansas!

new journal, updated sketch kits

Recently I began a new sketchbook journal — at least the first page which shows my full Folio Palette with a few pans of gouache. This time I chose Hahnemuhle’s 100% cotton watercolor book with 120# CP paper, A6 portrait size. Then I reorganized 3 sketch kits . . .

These are what travels with me in my small purse: mini-sketchbook, Demi Palette, tiny pencil, 2 Pigma Micron pens, kneaded eraser, waterbrush, #4 travel brush, a clip to attach palette to sketchbook, paper towel, and water in a contact case (a trick learned from Katharinacreates on Instagram).

I drag this small Art Toolkit around the house for whatever I’m sketching at the moment. Currently it holds 2 Demi Palettes: a limited palette of watercolor and one of gouache. The watercolor palette is switched out for any Pocket Palette depending on mood. It contains a mechanical pencil, gray Pigma Micron, brown fountain pen, white gel pen, waterbrush, small clip, kneaded eraser, tiny turquoise fountain pen, 2 travel brushes, a mini grid card for line spacing, paper towel, and 2 palettes.

My A5 Art Toolkit is loaded for traveling: current sketchbook, Folio palette, masking pen and stick eraser for removing it, mechanical pencil, Pigma Micron pen, white gel pen, parallel fountain pen, waterbrush, paper towel, mini spray bottle, three travel brushes, a Kaweco Liliput fountain pen (not shown) water refill bottle, and collapsible water cup. Also tucked under a flap is a larger waterproof grid card that can help space lines or be clipped to an opposite page to clip paper towel and palette on. 

Fountain pens and palettes are switched out regularly, depending on which ones I currently wish to use. Or to match the season or area we might be traveling to. I prefer using Blackwing pencils so they sometimes replace the mechanical pencils. 

As to traveling plans, more in my next post . . . 🙄

a wee hitchhiker

Yesterday we were leaving for an errand in Magnolia when I spied a green anole lizard on the side of our red truck. He didn’t seem too interested in moving on, either!

🦎🦎🦎

another meal out

 

We actually do have food at home . . . . but some days are so busy we just don’t want to bother. Yesterday the choice was Gabby’s, where I had fish & veggies and Bill had fajita nachos. I sketched the items on the table but our orders came quickly so I finished it at home.

The paper in this tiny sketchbook is very thick and great to sketch on, but the sizing is uneven in places and washes to do weird things sometimes.

my current fountain pens

Like nearly all of my sketch journals, the first page showed my current watercolor choices. On this, the final page of this Tumuarta sketchbook, I drew the fountain pens I’m currently using. (I almost forgot to include the Pilot Parallel pen, squeezing it in at the end — and misspelling Parallel while I was at it!)

This sketchbook’s cover seemed rather poorly made, with cardboard covers and the spine left looking undone with only some canvas glued to the book block. But it held up very well. The 140# cold press paper was great to work on, as long as I wasn’t working wet-in-wet — it didn’t seem to like that technique.

Bentley, a friend of Butters

Butters and I usually walk in the early morning before the “stupid humid” heat gets unbearable.

Some mornings, our neighbor’s dog, Bentley, walks slowly out to the lane to greet us. Butters sits and waits patiently, seeming to know that the elderly guy can’t move very fast.

Painting his graying coat was a bit tricky!

testing a skinny nib

It is extremely hard to sketch family members! This is supposed to be Michael, our son-in-law, as we went to look at a used RV in Katy. We are considering an upgrade from small camper to small motor home.

I was testing a fountain pen with a very skinny nib, the Meister by Point slim liner from Jet Pens, in my tiny sketchbook. I’m also testing a new-to-me brown ink: “Jule” from Rohrer & Klingher. Even though the nib is a medium, its lines seem fine enough for tiny sketches. The only down side I can see with this pen is that the cap will not post when using it.

cleaning bookshelves

This past week I spent a lot of time cleaning the bookshelves in our back room, sorting through books, grandkid toys, and games to donate what is no longer wanted. I also found my own stash of Legos . . . and decided to place them among the books. This artist dude is with the books on drawing and painting, a wee bagpiper guards some Scottish & Irish books, and I just put together Frodo and Gandalf with their pony cart full of fireworks to go in front of the Tolkien books in the above sketch.

But what do I do with the Mini Cooper that Jason gave me? Or the micro-brick flamingo from Matt? No books to match them. 🤔

Grandma’s snack set

When my brother and I were children, our grandmother would sometimes serve us snacks on her set of glass plates with ruby-red colored glass cups, made by Anchor Hocking in the 1950s. And we never dropped or broke a piece!

Later she gave the set to me — and sadly I lost it. When we moved from the 1913 bungalow we once lived in, we forgot to check the tiny cupboards in the kitchen near the ceiling. After all, they were only hiding some vent work, right? Wrong! Years later I remembered that these dishes had been stashed up there when I needed room for something else. For all I know, they may still be hidden up there. And I don’t know the buyer’s name anymore. That was well over 20 years ago.

I looked them up online to sketch this memory page from the photos.

a little “fatty”

Just for fun, I recently bought this chubby wee fountain pen with a fude nib — and it is surprisingly comfortable to sketch with! It has a fude nib but a regular nib is included. It needs no cartridge or converter — the whole barrel holds a huge amount of ink, filled with an eye dropper, also included.

Since it is an eye dropper pen, I rubbed a bit of silicone grease around the threads as an added precaution against leaks. It is filled with a “burnt sienna” ink that I mixed from red and black De Atramentis Document inks.

Also just for fun, I gave this pen a name: “Lugg” for Magersfontein Lugg, who was valet to fictional sleuth Albert Campion. Lugg was once a burglar but “lost his figure”, becoming too fat to burgle any more.