for the palette obsessed . . .

. . . these are a few other muted palettes I have put together. The top one is a neutral set I put together years ago. The upper two swatch cards are watercolor; the lower one, gouache.

In the neutral set from lower left: black current (Letter Sparrow), burnt umber, raw umber, perylene green, lunar blue, indigo, moonglow, volcano brown (Schmincke), sepia, titanium white gouache, buff titanium, grey of grey (Holbein), gray titanium, lunar black, and Jane’s grey. All Daniel Smith unless otherwise noted.

Click to see the paint names on the other cards.

tweaked again!

And of course, I have tweaked my new combo palette! I missed the lovely Ash Blue gouache. And living in this sunny climate, a brighter yellow might be needed — Titanium Gold Ochre is still muted, sort of like Naples Yellow. I removed the Sepia watercolor, as I can achieve its granulating brown by mixing “Random Grey” watercolor with Smoked Bamboo gouache. 

I also moved all the “browns” to one side of the mixing pan and all of the “greys” to the other — though Zoisite Genuine watercolor is more of a dark green.

Random Grey was my attempt at copying Schmincke’s one-time issue of a random grey that was a mixture of unknown pigments that will not be repeated. I stirred together Ultramarine Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, and Burnt Umber for its brownish grey tone. A spot of a cool red might have improved it.

The “Pale Green” should be a bit greener in color. I made it by stirring a bit of Perylene Black (which is a dark cool green) into Titanium White. My mixture of “Jane’s Grey” (or Payne’s Grey) could use a bit more Ultramarine to it.

By the way, the R20 short flat travel brush from Rosemary & Co has become one of my favorite brushes. My other favorites are the R13 #8 sable blend round, the R19 #12 pointed round, and a funny little flat brush from Herend.

tiny sketch challenge, done!

Leslie Stroz, an artist in the UK that I follow, began a “100 Tiny Treasures” art challenge earlier this year to create 100 tiny paintings during 2025. I decided to do 50 instead — less pressure and that’s all that would fit in my tin box! Today I did my 50th painting, the Nuthatch in the above group, from a photo prompt Leslie posted on her Patreon site.

The second photo shows the whole pile of my tiny sketches, and the third photo shows them inside my favorite plaid tin (yes, the lid will actually close if I place them in neatly). Many were done during short camping trips and hold special memories. My favorite has to be the one of my Corgi, Butters.  

I painted the Nuthatch in a different technique that I’m beginning to play around with. No ink lines; I used both watercolor and gouache from my large gold Folio palette (a Travel & Sketch palette from Traveler’s Company USA) and just a touch here and there with a colored pencil.

When I recently put the muted gouache & watercolor combo palette together, I mixed several of the colors myself right in the pans with a toothpick. I want to try painting directly with these colors with very little pre-mixing of colors except where they naturally mix on the paper.

I also splurged on a new gold Demi palette from Art Toolkit’ Christmas collection and filled it with gouache as a tiny companion to the Folio palette that I can carry with me when we are away from home.

new trees

We were able to have two new trees planted last week, another oak tree in the back yard and a sycamore in the front pasture. From photos I took of the leaves, I tried out my new way of working: loose watercolor in my new muted palette followed by a touch of colored pencil. No ink! (except for the words). This rough textured paper probably isn’t the best choice for the pencils.

Recently I purchased some stackable ceramic trays for mixing paint when I’m at home — mainly because they have a lid that covers all when stacked. I can walk away from mixes without the kitties nosing in the paint. I also found a collapsable water cup with a wavy edge that holds my paint brushes.

tweaking palettes, charting pencils

This week I’ve been changing out some palettes, both watercolor & gouache, and digging out my colored pencils. It began with placing every pan of gouache I own into a Folio palette, and making a color chart of them. Many are pans that will not be replaced when they are used up — eventually making room for adding a large mixing pan to the folio palette.

I want to do more mixed media sketching which called for gathering my colored pencils, most of which are watercolor pencils. I have never made a color chart of them before.

I’ve always loved muted, earthy colors most. Yet usually I put palettes together that included classic bright primaries — but why? If muted colors are my favorites, why not stick to them? So the two pocket palettes are both muted colors, one watercolor and one gouache. Maybe I should make a color chart of my small set of Neocolor II crayons as well? 

recent tiny sketches

These tiny sketches were done this past week — I drew the corner of the building, Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative, just today after we drove past it on our way to the Med Center (for Bill this time, not me). I snapped a quick photo because I liked the angles and curves. The iced tea and salsa are from yesterday’s late lunch while waiting to pick up our corgi from the groomer’s.

I have only four more to do to reach my goal of 50 tiny sketches by December.

final ink sketch

One last October ink sketch, loosely following an example from the library book “Pen & Ink Techniques” by Frank Lohan — I drew the tree directly in ink, letting the pen move a bit intuitively across the page. But you can still see faint pencil lines under the text that I didn’t bother to erase.

today’s quick sketch . . .

. . . sketched without any pre-planning. Today I was busy baking a birthday cake for Bill (his birthday is tomorrow), and gave no thought to doing a daily ink sketch. Until remembering this evening that I still have 2 more days of this self-imposed challenge.

So I drew the first thing I saw.

My mother always made red velvet cake with an old-fashioned boiled milk frosting, also known as ermine frosting, so that’s how I used to do it. But Bill grew up with a cream cheese frosting, and now our daughter says that’s the correct topping for red velvet. So I did it their way.

almost done . . .

My month of simple daily ink-only sketches is almost over, and I am ready to play with color again! Today, I was entering a deposit in my checkbook, took a look at the pen in my hand, and used it to draw my hand on the spur of the moment.

leftover branch

A few weeks ago we had our trees trimmed. Apparently a few small branches were left up in the live oaks — today’s high winds blew them down. I picked a few up to throw on th3 burn pile, but stopped to sketch this.

a drinking day

Part of the fun of post-cancer: regular CT scans to make sure it stays gone. With contrast dye. Which means a whole lot of drinking . . .

(Not complaining! I’m thankful to be healthy again!)

a neigh-bor

Today’s ink sketch was done from a photograph I took early last month when temperatures were still over 90°. This rescue horse living next door has a very white face; the fly mask is for protection from UV rays. The mask is no longer needed with our cooler days in the 70s, but the large horses have been moved away to a different area.

There was a wire fence separating my corgi and the horse but I chose to not draw it in. Whenever this particular horse saw her out in the pasture, he would run over just to be near her. He would calmly nibble the grass while she sniffed around. Maybe picking up on the gophers’ and moles’ gossip.

fallen leaves

In our part of Texas, we don’t see much falling leaves in the autumn. Even many oak trees tend to hang on to their green leaves until springtime. But today a thunderstorm blew through with high winds, leaving broken leaf tips everywhere.

art stuff in my bag

To go along with yesterday’s quick ink sketch, these are the current art tools in my small bag — aimed at doing tiny sketches. Sort of going along with Leslie Stroz’ “100 Tiny Treasures” challenge for 2025; I’m doing 50 instead of 100.

The short colored pencils are a recent addition in case I want to add a bit of detail on top of simple watercolor washes. There’s a brown, a white, and a soft blue-gray watercolor pencil. (My favorite well-used Blackwing pencil is a bit wonky!) 

 

non-art stuff in my bag

I was watching a few videos on YouTube today, including this week’s “Draw Tip Tuesday” from Koosje Keene — what to draw when you don’t know what to draw. She drew the items in her bag directly in ink in 15 minutes.

So I drew the non-art items in my bag, since I was planning on switching to a different bag anyway. Adding a suggestion of shadow and highlight took me over the 15 minutes though.

Maybe I’ll do the same with the art-related items in my bag tomorrow. Perhaps without the ink smears. 😂🖋️

Scottie Dubh’s rose

Today’s ink sketch began as a continuous contour line. Then I added a bit of white gel pen. Then I tried adding some shadow with the gray ink felt tip pen. Overworked maybe? 

We grew wonderfully fragrant antique roses at our cabin near Lake Somerville. I drew this from a photo taken 6 years ago. Scottie is still as inquisitive as ever, but also an independent “touch me not”, not wanting to be held in any manner. He sometimes has vocal arguments with himself in the middle of the night. Our vet jokingly said maybe he’s autistic.

Grandma’s vinegar cruet

I cleaned out my ink pen drawer today. Among the things forgotten is this refillable felt tip pen with Kuretaki refill cartridges in its body. It still writes, with a soft gray ink.

So I jumped right in and drew Grandma’s vinegar cruet — without pencil guide lines!

It would have been more impressive if I’d included those bursts of light in the shadows and on the bottle itself. But for a quick sketch without any fuss, this was fun!

(The text turned messy, even with previously drawn pencil lines,)

UPDATE: Ahh! Mystery solved! I found the pen on jetpens.com — it’s a Kuretaki Karappo that comes with empty cartridges. I had apparently filled these with Noodler’s Lexington gray ink.

Old Baylor

Today’s ink sketch, a very old wall from a photo I took in 2021 while on the hunt for bluebonnets. This wall was once part of the original campus of Baylor’s women’s college, located in Independence, Texas. Not sure I like how this sketch turned out but we have happy memories visiting the site.

The second photo shows a portion of the old college ruin that still stands on what is now called Academy Hill. Baylor University was founded in Independence in 1845; the men’s campus was located a bit further down the road on Windmill Hill.

new toys

I love to draw. I have since early childhood. For many years now, I have sketched in an illustrative style, matching colors to whatever objects or scenes I’m trying to depict and trying to make whatever it is look “real”.

But recently I’ve been inspired by the art of Natasha Newton to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. Instead of ink lines and transparent watercolor, use more multi-media — a base of either watercolor or gouache followed by colored pencils or Neocolor II crayons. Maybe a bit more “folksy” in style (if I can break out of my realism tendencies). Not working so much at mixing colors, but using them “straight” (even gouache) and adding a few pencil details on top.

Not sure where I might go with this but I hope to loosen up and have some fun.

The folio palette above shows all the gouache I’ve collected over the years, plus a few recent additions. (One empty pan is waiting for Dick Blick to send the tube of elm green they left out of my order). I’ve played around with gouache over the years but haven’t posted much of it, not sure what I was doing.

The unusual colors in the smaller palette are similar to one in Natasha’s small travel kit, which includes a lot of colored pencils and some fine liners. Four of them, I mixed myself from other paints I already had.

a tiny kitty

I admit it. Sometimes I can’t resist an impulse purchase.

We bought some books at the bookstore in Brenham, where I saw this tiny articulated Siamese cat for $3 — and got it. I named her Egret after our half-feral Siamese rescue cat.

more tiny paintings

These are some of the tiny sketches I have been doing this past week, using the muted autumn palette that I recently put together. Only one is worked from a scene that I actually saw: the foggy pasture in the upper left corner. 

a taste of autumn

This small glass once belonged to my grandmother. It’s semi-transparent amber glass has a few air bubbles, but they just add to its charm.

Depression glass may have been inexpensive in its day, but glass is so much nicer to drink from than today’s plastics. I drank some apple cider from it before sketching.

lunch in Brenham

Today’s ink sketch of half of my Panini Caprese looks a bit weird. And I had eaten part of it before realizing they forgot to toast & press the sandwich! But the large pieces of fresh mozzarella, ripe tomato slices, and spring mix lettuce were just to tasty to complain.

We were in Brenham for Bill to have PT at the clinic, but we also walked a bit of the downtown area like we used to do when we lived just north of town, visiting a book store and one of the restaurants we used to eat at.

just a quick line . . .

I’ve been doing some tiny sketches, so my daily ink sketch is a continuous line of the supplies. I “cheated” a bit by doing a loose layout pencil sketch first — working on such a small page, I wanted to make sure it all fit in.

an autumn treat

Today’s ink-only sketching question: is it still candy corn & peanuts without the familiar yellow, orange, and white?

remembering violets

Bill once gave me a beautiful African violet plant which was very special to me. But when we moved from San Diego to Bremerton, then on to Portland, I had to fly (being 8 months pregnant at the time) — our things were moved up by friends. The plant probably would not have survived so I gave it to a neighbor.

This is another drawing exercise from a library book, “Pen & Ink Techniques” by Frank Lohan. I chose to add a bit of purple watercolor. Ink lines were drawn with a Kaweco Liliput fountain pen filled with Noodler’s green El Lawrence ink.

no mail

No mail today. But then, we don’t get much “snail mail” these days anyway.

This is another drawing exercise from the “Pen & Ink Techniques” library book, with a bit of watercolor on the goldenrods — which doesn’t show up well on toned paper.

a different autumn palette

Recently I’ve been looking at the mixed media gouache paintings by British artist Natasha Newton. (see HERE). Her folk-art style in gorgeous muted colors really appeals to me! The colors look very autumnal — I wondered if I could put together a similar autumn palette of my own watercolor pans. It’s nearly impossible to mix a good purple or turquoise, but overall I like this combination very much.

UPDATE: I have decided that Jadeite is too bright for the muted look I was going for, so I switched it to Undersea Green.

thankful for hair

As I was taking care of household tasks, I wondered what I might draw in ink today. Then I spied the bottle of shampoo sitting on the shelf and I thought “why not?”

My hair’s post-chemo weirdness is gone now; it’s growing out at odd lengths but I’m thankful to have hair. A minor thing compared to being healthy again but it makes me happy. Still very dark though. At 71, I expected to be more gray but I take after my grandmother and her sister Lucille, who both also had dark hair until very old.

palette revamping

 

Today I was busy baking sourdough bread and cleaning these two palettes, so just a very quick ink sketch. I was liking the way it was turning out in black & white — until I added those stupid shadows. Oh, well . . . Tomorrow is another sketch.

remembering the Rockies

Today’s ink sketch is another exercise I did from “Pen & Ink Techniques” by Frank Lohan. It reminds me of the first time I saw the Rocky Mountains, in the summer of 1964.

reading in turquoise

Today I began a re-reading of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series. I first read them several years ago as ebooks checked out from the library, reading them on my iPad. Now I have the illustrated Folio editions of the actual books. I grabbed the first book and my iPad, which I’m reading “Pen & Ink Techniques” on — and was struck by all the turquoise. So I sketched them.

Later, I saw the yarn I bought to knit a simple tank top, just sitting on the shelf — not turquoise, but it is a muted grayish blue. So I drew it as my daily ink drawing. (A down side of working on lightweight paper is that when I erase pencil lines, I sometimes wrinkle the paper.)

ink sketching 101

Though I have drawn in ink many times over the years — in late April 2018 I filled a small book with Navy-related ink sketches for Bill — I still don’t feel a lot of confidence using the medium. 

So I checked out an e-book from a Houston library: “Pen & Ink Techniques” by Frank Lohan, originally published in 1978. Today’s sketch is following one of the exercises in the book.

daily tools

I was asked about the tools seen in the background of yesterday’s posted photo, so I sketched my current tools today. The toolkit is an older version of the pocket sized kit from arttoolkit.com — I have it loaded with everything needed for doing tiny sketches or a daily ink-only sketch.

On the left side are a Mono Zero stick eraser, a Kuretaki very fine brush pen, a white Gelly Roll pen, a tiny mechanical pencil, my Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen filled with water-soluble ink, a #2 round paintbrush, a short Aquash waterbrush with a small brush tip, and a small binder clip. Underneath, there is a discarded cap holding different sizes of tape, a plastic viewfinder, and a handful of precut pieces of paper for mini sketches.

On the right side are a tiny water spray bottle, three Kaweco Liliput fountain pens filled with brown, green, and black waterproof inks, a bit of kneaded eraser in a small plastic container, and a Demi palette filled with warm & cool primaries, a green, and several neutrals. Underneath is a sweatband to wear on my wrist for wiping brushes — this one is unused; the dirty one has been tossed in the laundry. Just now I see that I forgot to add the layer of transparent red oxide to the copper Liliput — oops!

After finishing this illustration in my sketchbook, I went ahead and drew the closed toolkit and my passport sized Traveler’s Notebook for my daily ink sketch. From a photo, since my daily ink sketches are _in_ the Traveler’s Notebook.

another tiny sketch

While I am doing simple daily ink drawings and trying new watercolor techniques in my regular sketchbook, I have not stopped doing tiny sketches now and then. This one is of a neighbor rescue horse. He has a mostly white face so on very hot sunny days he wears a face mask. He can still see through it; it just protects him from sunburn. When Butters and I walk out in the south pasture, he usually comes running to great her. It seems he really loves dogs.

today’s frustration

My journal sketches usually reflect some part of my day, so why not this month’s ink drawing challenge as well? This page represents today’s frustration.

I’ve been trying to paint a watercolor landscape in my regular sketchbook, bound with Aches rough 100% cotton watercolor paper — the exact same paper as the artist whose demo I was following. A portion was to be masked out so I pulled out my small jar of masking fluid. It seemed a bit thick but went on the paper okay. 

But after drying, I tried to remove it with fingers or soft eraser — it is thoroughly stuck! Some came off but many bits are stuck deeply. The last watercolor wash didn’t turn out well anyway, so I plan to start over. But on different paper and with a different brand of masking fluid.

no playing today

Today I’m brushing and bathing my corgi. She would rather play ball but she is walking a bit odd so we’ll be checking her out at the vet’s. She’s had joint issues in the past; she fetches her ball with such abandon that she can easily get injured. Or fall in the numerous golpher holes out there.

After drawing this, the room’s lighting changed, casting that interesting second shadow. Maybe I’ll add that.