more remembering

In the 1980s I designed and sold handmade teddy bears, under the label “Victoria’s Waifs”. (This was before companies like Boyd’s and Beanie Babies flooded the market.) This “Veiled Lady” was one of my first and she ended up with my mom, who later began to collect bears as a hobby. Several of her favorites now live on a shelf at my brother’s home. In the same location, this 3-headed turtle bowl can also be found — my brother made it in school and Mom always displayed it wherever she lived, alongside a giraffe sculpture he also made.

Jeremiah, journaling

I seem to be sketching more this week — making up for not being able to last week due to shaking hands, I suppose. This time I was joined by my wee teddy bear, Jeremiah, who has a book of his own.

drawing with tendinitis

Having tendinitis in both hands which sometimes causes my right hand to shake uncontrollably (I’m right-handed), I find things like measuring ingredients, carrying a full glass, eating a spoonful of soup — or drawing — challenging at times.

I drew the ink lines of this sketch with a Pentel Pocketbrush pen which has an actual brush tip instead of a nib. Fun, unpredictable, and very difficult to control! I was amazed at how nice the ink lines turned out, and I’m a bit sorry that I added watercolor. Especially those crazy too-dark shadows.

a wee Maine Coon

A couple of weeks ago, we drove to Sealy to see granddaughter Jayna perform with the Needville marching band. Arriving WAY TOO EARLY (Bill always says if you are 15 minutes early, you are late!), we checked out an antique store (high prices, nothing interesting to us) and ate at the local restaurant, Tony’s.

Still had time to kill, so we wondered in to Tractor Supply, looking at pellet stoves. We may put one in our barndominium. Just before heading to the stadium, I spied a Maine Coon cat figurine!

My last Maine Coon, Beorn Bearcat, was this same “blue” color with those huge feet, though Bear had a classic tabby pattern on his sides. Our other granddaughter used to collect Schleich figurines, mostly horses, but I doubt she ever found a Maine Coon (even though she is claimed by 2 of the breed). So I decided to buy it as a pet for my wee mohair teddy bear, Jeremiah.

The ink sketch was done at the cabin as I waited for the laundry to finish. Then I added color today at the farm. I’m still not sure which I prefer: sketch in ink only, ink with watercolor cat, or watercolor wash on everything.

taking a break . . .

For several weeks, I have taken a break from regular daily sketching. At first it was due to sewing a birthday teddy bear — the bear is now finished except for a small cat appliqué I ordered to sew on the bear’s sweater. Judah loves cats, stuffed animals, and “the dark side” of Star Wars — I chose to limit the dark side to knitting a black sweater for the bear and giving him his own stuffed kitty.

Then “life stuff” kept distracting me. Our cabin and woodshop needed painting and it’s been in very small increments due to 100+ degree days. Usually this part of Texas (at least in the country away from all that pavement) sees a few 100° days interspersed with more comfortable 90s, but this year has been extremely hot. Limiting work time outside. Bill had moments of feeling completely wiped out, which is unlike his work-a-holic character.

Meanwhile his 5 year struggle with chronic pain (due to pinched or damaged nerves, or so we’ve been told) led us to seek out an acupuncturist. We found a highly experienced, reputable one originally from Vietnam (Dr. Tam Khai Thai) and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, because of Bill’s neck surgeries (which Dr. Thai agreed with the spinal surgeon was supposed to fix this), he is unable to help. The fused discs in Bill’s neck prevent treatment from being possible.

The most recent pain killer Bill has been on doesn’t help anymore and it’s one of those that cannot be stopped “cold turkey”. So he made an appointment with our regular doctor to begin coming off of it. As long as he was there, she did a full exam . . . and his recent shortness of breath and weakness alerted her to possible heart trouble. So, with his having had a major heart attack 5 years ago, she sent him to a cardiologist. Who totally agreed with her — he said it’s as if Bill had a list of warning symptoms and checked off every box. (We had thought it all due to overworking in the extreme heat).

So now we’ll be heading to College Station on Monday for a catheterization and possible stints.

Oh, and that palette in the first photo? While I haven’t felt much like sketching lately, I did tweak my granulated palette a bit, switching the previous muted earthy colors to a few brighter colors. I may still remove the burnt umber to make room for lunar black, which has wonderful granulation. I was also trying out my new favorite paint brush, an Escoda Aquario Petit Gris squirrel hair, size 8. Love the brush!

time out for bears

Once again we have a grandchild turning 7 years old, so I am sewing a teddy bear. I used to make handmade jointed mohair teddy bears to sell, back in the 1980’s before mass-produced cheaply made “collectible” bears flooded the market. Now I use up my leftover supplies to make one for each grandchild when they turn seven. Because of details such as antique shoe-button eyes, these bears are not safe for very young children.

Scottie Dubh wants to help. Not safe!

 

a bit more whimsy

I no longer collect bears, I’ve never collected Boyd’s treasure boxes, and I don’t collect ceramic boxes. But when I saw this wee mouse house years ago, I had to buy it. Just because.

The larger bear was a souvenir from the Hays House, a restaurant in Council Grove, KS that has been continuously run since covered wagons came through town, which was at that time the edge of civilization (the Last Chance General Store is a bit west of the restaurant).

The wee ceramic bear came from Scotland, a leftover from when I used to collect and sew vintage-style teddy bears. The itty-bitty mouse reading the newspaper came inside the house.

And just how do you spell “whimsy” anyway? My dictionary app says with an “e” but spell-check says no “e”.

Jeremiah's new baggage

My wee mohair bear, Jeremiah, now has his own art tool kit . . . complete with a hand-sewn leather-covered journal with decorative end papers. All kept together in his own suitcase -- designed and crafted by artist Andrea Joseph and sold in her Etsy shop. The perfect little journal was made by Holly Serjeant of Scrivener's Books, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK.

Andrea's attention to detail is amazing! She even includes 2 mini ink cartridges with instructions on filling the tiny cork-stoppered glass bottle. The "pen" is a sharpened stick. The case is lined with "scraps" of some of her ink sketches. I no longer see these in her shop -- they possibly were a limited production. With the packing, she included encouragement to fill the sketchbook with drawings and post them online. So far, I'm still thinking about it . . .

coming down to the wire . . .

. . . but Josiah's bear is almost finished. I took a sketch break yesterday and drew what I've been slowly working on since my sewing machine was repaired. Joints and stuffing are done, just two openings to close, then his seams get brushed (to free hairs caught in the seams) and I sew the ears in place. The last thing I add is the facial expression and maybe some claws on his paws.

revisiting Jeremiah

My dear friend, Cathy "Kate" Johnson, recently reposted a watercolor study on Facebook that she did a few years ago of her wee bear, Traveler. Then did a new sketch of him. So I decided to do some new studies of my own wee bear, Jeremiah. One of the few teddy bears in what's left of my collection that I did not sew myself, I found Jeremiah at a teddy bear artists show during the 1980s. The Lord had been speaking to me through some verses from the book of Jeremiah --- when I saw from this bear's hang tag that his name was Jeremiah, I bought him on the spot.

Seemed like a good subject to sketch while lazing around, getting over this stupid headcold. Besides, it goes with the cover of this small child's paint set from England. I previously removed the cakes of paint it came with, replacing them with tube paints of my own choice.

taking a break from sewing . . .

I've been spending my free time laying out, cutting, and basting together a vintage-style teddy bear -- not much sketching going on. But today I gave my hand muscles a break long enough to do a quick sketch. This pile of bits will be a small bear styled like early Steiff bears.

In the teddy bear craze of the 1980s, before companies like Boyd's Bears flooded the market with their mass-produced products, I was a teddy bear artist, designing jointed antique-style bears sewn of German mohair with authentic antique shoe button eyes; I sold them under the name of "Victoria's Waifs". Now as each of our grandchildren turn 7 years old, I use my leftover mohair to make them a bear of their own.

while they are away in Greece . . .

Not much concentrated sketching time this week. Our eldest son Jason and his lovely wife Carrie are out of the country, leaving their three very active young children with us.

This past spring, Jason was informed that his contract with the private school he taught physics at for the past 15 years was not being renewed. There are many ongoing problems with the administration; teachers, students and parents alike were enraged that Jason was being let go. But the Lord showed that He was in control --- a week after getting this news, Jason was informed that he had been selected as one of only 20 science teachers from the United States to attend a science conference in Greece, all expenses paid. And very soon after, he was quickly hired by another school system closer to home --- no commute time via freeway! And they had the extra  money for Carrie to go to Greece with him; while he attends the daily sessions, she goes on long relaxing walks by the shore, takes photos, and sketches. Later, they see the ancient sites together.

Keeping up with Jayna, Josiah, and Judah is a bit distracting for me! Too busy with them to get much drawing done, but last night I just started sketching a few things from the shelves. The wee tea cup belonged to Bill's grandmother as a child; one of the metal Scotties is from our first Monopoly set. The Lego artist figure "paints" a Toulouse-lautrec poster on a box a friend once gave me. They stand in front of a few of the books I have by other artists.

yesterday's sketches in the country

Yesterday I went with Bill as he continued working on a small remodel project for our pastor and his wife. They live in an RV on some land out in the country; they are building an "outhouse" that will be a full-sized bathroom and a separate laundry room -- much roomier than the cubbyholes in the RV!

At one time, Pastor Gary and Ms. B.J. were known as B.J. and the Bear; This wooden bear carved from a tree stump sits in front of the patio. And the tiny bear sign hangs on the new outhouse.

I wandered around the area a bit, sketching wildflowers. Last time I was here, the large field east of their land was filled with an ocean of yellow -- the wildflowers that are either Butterweed or Texas Ragwort, I'm not sure which it is. But heavy rains Tuesday night beat down much of the foliage. Even the tiny flower of the Texas Bull-nettle was beaten up, though it still looked pretty against the deep green leaves. Extremely prickly though! I looked but did not touch. Early morning moisture still beaded up on the Woolly Plantain stalks -- looked like beads of glass, which I could not capture in a sketch.

ordering tea & other tea tales

I have not found a local source to purchase one of my favorite teas, Earl Grey Green. The absolute best of this blend is the loose leaf variety made by Taylors of Harrogate! In Kansas, the "local" source was actually about a 3-hour drive to Kansas City, but we were passing through on our way to sketchcrawls with Cathy "Kate" Johnson anyway.

In the Kansas City Plaza there was a cheese shop called The Better Cheddar which carried a large assortment of Taylors teas, both loose leaf and tea bags.

While tea bags are handy to pop in my purse and go, the full flavor of the tea is usually better when brewing loose leaves. I have amassed several infusers for the purpose.

 

 (An exception would be those tea bags generally shaped like pyramids, like this tea bag from T2 that Australian artist Liz Steel gave me. She was on an extended visit to the United States and made a stopover in Kansas City for a quick sketchcrawl with Kate and me.)

I used to steep loose leaves of tea in this spoon-shaped infuser, but Liz taught me that it is too "cramped", not allowing the leaves to expand for the best flavor.

 So I now own several infusers that allow leaves to expand. Including the glass infuser that fits in its own glass teapot that my daughter gave me for my birthday.

Anyway, I began ordering tea on Amazon, being unable to find what I want in local stores. I was specifically looking for Taylors loose-leaf Earl Grey Green but could only find it offered in teabags. So I also tried a loose leaf of the same flavor from The English Tea Store. After sampling both, with and without a bit of milk added, I've come to the conclusion that Taylors, even in a teabag, is way better than English Tea Store in loose leaf!

 Even wee Jeremiah enjoys a good cuppa as he sits on my kitchen shelf.

wee Jeremiah

We are back home from the beach, having been forced to leave a day early by an unusually high wind advisory and above average incoming tides. As we were leaving, tides were reaching the edge of our camp, two hours before "high tide"! And the winds had already collapsed two of our tents with much higher winds expected after sunset. Awesome adventure, though!

It will take a few days to finish my other island sketches. Getting rid of the excess sand alone is a huge job, being sand-blasted as we were! The park rangers had never seen it this bad before.

I forgot to post this little sketch I drew the day before our trip --- This handmade mohair teddy bear has been my favorite bear for many years. He stands 6" tall but prefers to sit. The tea cup is one Bill's grandmother played with as a child; someday I should sketch the others in her mis-matched set.

Quen's birthday weekend

We celebrated Quen's 7th birthday over the weekend at the lake . . . with intermittent rain and fog. Quen and I painted in our sketchbooks together, then ran into the tent when the rain got too heavy, then back out to paint some more. Not surprising that this turned out so gray.

Had lots of fun anyway, spending time with Matt & Misty (they and Quen camped out for the weekend in spite of the weather), playing, watching white pelicans, laughing, taking a little walk . . .  . Matt took some great photos:

Bill teasing me as Quen danced along the shore.

On Sunday, everyone met at our cabin for cake and homemade ice cream. Quen also received his birthday bear --- he put my black beret on so he could match his artist bear.

 

bear-making . . . again

When our first grandchild turned 7, I made her a hand-made teddy bear with antique shoe-button eyes and real mohair fur. I used to make these to sell in the 1980s/1990s. So I made it a tradition by doing the same for each grandchild on their 7th birthday.

This year, it's Quen's turn. Because he loves wearing button-down shirts with real ties, and loves to sketch and paint, the style was obvious --- a wee artist bear. I only need to sew the ears on and he will be finished. And then sew a tiny sketchbook bound in leather for the bear (or Quen) to fill up with drawings. I used leftover bits of paper from binding regular sketchbooks for the pages, which will measure just under 2" when done.

I'm in more of a mood to sketch, so I took time to do so instead of finishing the bear yesterday.

Jayna's birthday bear

In a hurry to sketch this before posting it to Texas, I grabbed a pen with red-black ink. I knew it would bleed some . . . but didn't think how it would turn a pale gold bear into a pinkish one. Oops!

Finished just in time to post it UPS to Jayna, along with a birthday gift for her brother Josiah. Their birthdays are this Monday and Tuesday. Hard to believe it's been 3 years since I spent a few months as "granny nanny" to both of them when Josiah was born! That's when I was sewing a bear for their cousin Mikala's 7th birthday. Jayna watched me, wanting one herself, so I promised her a bear when she turned 7.

These fully jointed bears are of imported mohair with antique shoe button eyes, like I used to make and sell in the 1980s. A sketch of this one in-process can be seen in my blog post of 16 January.

distraction

I've neglected my sketchbook of late . . . . too many other things requiring attention.

The end of the year means closing out books for our church, where I am treasurer / secretary, and preparing tax forms and giving receipts. I've been keeping our records on a Quicken program that is long out-of-date --- time to update to a new version and set up the categories again, tweaking small changes here and there.

My printer has been troublesome as well, being at least 10 years old. I bought a new one, capable of wireless printing, but haven't had time to set it up yet.

Two grandchildren have birthdays at the end of January; one of them will turn 7 and I make a hand-made mohair teddy bear for each one of them upon turning 7 (I used to be a teddy bear artist), one with antique shoebutton eyes that is more of a collectable friend than a toy, though they are very sturdy for play also.

Other life-distractions: doctor's appointments, re-potting plants in dire need, knitting clothes for the above bear . . . . so why in the world did I start reading The Outlander book series?

nighttime sketching

I woke up around 3:30 or 4:00 am, unable to get back to sleep. Coming into the living room, Jeremiah seemed to be watching me --- so I sketched him with his wee companion!

On a funny note . . . Bearcat stood nearby as I took a photo of this page to post. But the photo had a strange blue cast. The photos I took after Bearcat left were fine. Then it dawned on me that the paper was actually reflecting the bluish color of my cat!

His official coloring is actually called "classic blue tabby".