speaking piffle

When I purchased those Dorothy Sayers Mysteries DVDs earlier this year, it was decided that we would save them to take on our next camping trip (set for the end of September). But that sprained knee of mine turned out to be a partially dislocated kneecap — it popped back into place on its own but it needs to be kept elevated, iced, and wrapped with a compression bandage.

So I went ahead and watched the videos. And practiced sketching faces. These don’t in any way look like Edward Petherbridge or Harriet Walter, but it gave me an excuse to jot down a few quotes. My favorite is Harriet’s reply to Peter after one of his many marriage proposals to her: “If anyone ever marries you, it will be for the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle!”

This is also the end of my Seawhite Travel Journal, begun in January. Here are the inside front and back pages where I tend to gather quotes.

practicing . . . in a moving truck

Practicing ears in a moving truck — and my Pentel Pocket Brush pen just ran out of ink. Bill ran out of alder wood for the barn’s interior barn doors (bathroom and closet doors — barn doors take up less room) so we drove to Lucas Cedar on the other side of Lake Conroe to pick some up.

face practice w/ pocket brush pen

I’ve been struggling with a commissioned sketch this week because it involves drawing people. Not something I’ve spent a lot of practice on. So Maria Cornell-Martin’s live demo on Instagram yesterday with Che Lopez was timely as they explored sketching faces (and mountains!) with Pentel’s Pocketbrush pen.

Of course, in our time zone it played while we were out running errands in the truck; at first my iPhone was able to play it but we soon drove out of a good signal. I’m so thankful Maria replays these demos on Instagram’s IGTV. She also posts her live demos on her art-toolkit.com website.

I just found out that the Pocketbrush pen also comes in sepia and grey ink, though they are currently hard to find. I just ordered a sepia one from the UK.

I’m also reading Lynne Chapman’s excellent book, Sketching People. I can use all the help I can get!

a few little sketches

When taking down a few notes at church, I distractedly draw what's in my line of vision . . . which much of the time is my own foot.

Or sometimes it's Macy in the row in front of me.

Yesterday it was my foot again, in a boot granddaughter Mikala gave me. 

weekend sketches

Thanks to our friends Jonathan and Tay, who were unable to use their tickets, we went to the Celtic Thunder concert in Houston Saturday. Awesome music! While we waited in line, an elderly man in a kilt waited in front of us. I drew him and the group's name on this page but nothing else that night --- it was dark and I was enjoying the show. But afterwards, I added loose sketches of the guys from Internet photos. 

Then I drew this bit in church Sunday morning . . .

practicing faces & this journal's end

One area of sketching that is pretty weak for me is capturing a person's likeness. Drawing faces in general is a challenge, and the chance that they will actually look like the person is very slim. So on this last toned page of this journal, I tried to draw from a photo I found online . . . and, no, it does not look like the person in the photo.

I would love to be able to capture my family members or friends in the light, seemingly effortless manner I see some of my artist friends sketching in. (Cathy Johnson comes to mind!) Why is it so hard for me? I know I tend to "niggle" it too much, but the likeness-thing always alludes me.

The inside cover's end papers were blank when I began this journal, except for the white strip with my palette choices. Bit by bit, as I work my way through a book, I add random quotes, this time in white gel pen since the paper was so dark. (That Field Notes book is covering my personal contact info in case the book is lost.)

And here is the back end paper --- the stickers are identifying the toned papers I included among the regular pages of Fabriano Artistico CP paper I used to make this book. I tested a limited palette and some inks on the white strip.

Macy

Before the service on Wednesday night, I began to sketch one of the young ladies of our church, but then the guy in front of me leaned that direction with his arm blocking my view. So I quit.

sketching at church

Wednesday evening I tried drawing a couple of friends at church --- capturing a likeness of friends and relatives is always hard for me! Maybe because it's so hard to put their personalities on paper, maybe it's simply a fear that the person being drawn might be offended.

This didn't get posted earlier due to unreliable internet and phone signals. We have recently had torrential rains here in central Texas. Our own cabin has remained above the flooding, though there was a 'river' running through our patio at one time.

a Missouri weekend

Visiting friends in Missouri over the weekend, we were able to stay in their new guest house next door. Actually it was a rehab project and is now an art gallery / meeting place / research library / guest quarters. A very comfortable, homey spot with lots of interesting bits to explore, especially the art and books! The bathroom is decorated with flamingos & palm trees so of course I had to sketch one. This cute car & camper salt and pepper set is from the kitchen

Saturday night, we went to hear The Copper Creek Band. We enjoyed this talented group, but the room was a bit small, making it hard to adjust the amps and speakers. Wish we could have heard the voices more -- they have a great sound!

Instead of trying to sketch band members, I tried to draw my husband, Bill, but he is VERY hard to capture.

Early the next morning, I drew the antique campaign table from the library; it forms a chair and has storage underneath for camping equipment. I thought that Bill might build one for our new tiny house since our dining set won't fit. The wonky sketch on the right are things that were sitting on the table.

date night

On Friday, we had a real date night . . . haven/t had one of those in quite some time. Good friends of ours have a Celtic band called Knocknasheega and they were playing at The Kiln.

The Kiln is a 501c3 organization, operated totally on donations of patrons. They are a Christian coffee house that also serves various teas, sandwiches, and desserts. All profits go to helping those in need. Those with musical talents are invited to share their gifts with others; a separate donation is given to the band when they "pass the pitcher".

Watching Knocknasheega perform is more like participating in an old fashioned Scottish or Irish ceilidh! Good friends getting together for a bit of song, story-telling and jokes (some groaningly bad) --- and they invite others to join them in their celebration of life.

This sketchbook is becoming a remembrance journal as I record different things I will miss when we leave Kansas. Good friends are definitely highest on the list.

family Christmas dinner

The Williamson family gets together each December for a Christmas dinner, normally at a home. This year it was Elaine's turn but her house is in a bit of chaos -- so she hosted all of us at her favorite restaurant.

It was lovely seeing everyone (we had an upstairs room all to ourselves) but Bill and I really don't like their food. The two musicians were good though.

on joining the gypsies . . .

If I run away and join the gypsies, I need to learn how to tie a decent scarf head-covering, right?

Actually, I was working out my tears and frustration in my journal over losing my hair. An eczema scalp-rash plus the trauma the vertigo put my body through the past 3 months is causing my hair to fall out. The dermatologist thinks it will all come back in, but in the meantime I'm pretty upset about it. Drawing some possible temporary solutions helps me deal with it -- an excellent reason to keep an art journal, I've found.

BTW, I have not had any more vertigo or dizziness for the past 3 weeks. Looks like it is gone, thank God.

*  For those interested or simply curious, the rash is called seborrhoeic dermatitis. It can spread other places, including the ear canal --- has me wondering if it is the culprit that started the vertigo, since it began behind and on my outer ear about 3 weeks before the vertigo.

practice with Pentel Aquash brush pen

I sketched this from a photo in a magazine -- the young girl had such a winsome expression on her face, which I did not capture. The washes didn't work well on this Niddigan paper and I missed the gorgeous radiance of her skin, but I liked how the stone wall turned out.

waiting room sketching

Bill hurt his back a couple of weeks ago. After several visits to two different chiropractors, there was still no relief --- so our doctor sent him in for an MRI.

His MRI took exactly three sketches, painting included. I'd rather measure waiting time in sketches than time. I was half-way into drawing the receptionist's face when the phone call ended and she turned around to talk to co-workers the rest of the time, her back to me.

This two-page spread was not planned well. The waiting area was long and narrow, a bit awkward for finding a scene to sketch. Most seats were along one wall, making it hard to sketch other people. In the upper right was a wall-mounted TV --- seems to be required in all waiting rooms, usually turned to FOX news.

And of course, every waiting room is required by law to have a peace lily in it, right?

family Christmas get-together

Early each December, the Williamson extended families get together, taking turns whose house to meet at. This year we were at Bill's baby sister Leanna's.

This is Bill's other sister, Elaine, and our niece Amy. Both moved before I quite captured their likeness. So I moved on to the snow people . . . being very polite, they held still for me.

a couple of grandkids . . .

. . . sketched from photos since they live so far away.

Since I would like to learn to draw people better, maybe I should start with all the photos our kids send us. It seems much harder to capture a likeness of those we love, so the challenge would be good practice.

Quen loves wearing button-down shirts, REAL ties knotted loosely, and cool hats. Don't know where he gets it but he has very distinct ideas regarding fashion, but it certainly fits his love of musical instruments. Maybe he'll be a cool jazz musician someday.

Jayna has had long hair "forever" --- she was born with a full head of it. But she wanted to give it away to Locks of Love, like her mommy did last year. So Carrie cut it off for her --- just in time to start gymnastics! Probably much easier without hair in her face.

sketching at church . . .

. . . while listening to the message. Drawing helps me concentrate on what is being said (rather than my eyes wandering around -- I'm such a visual person!) When I look through the sketchbooks later, I find myself remembering what was taught because I was more fully "in the moment".

(I add color later at home.)

Ours is a small, non-traditional church that started as a house-church. We don't sit in pews facing one way --- we sit in a circle. So everyone can guess that I'm sketching as I write down sermon notes.

Intimidating.

taking votes, anyone?

First of all, let's get one thing straight (besides my hair, that is) . . . . I am about as excited about self-portraits as I am about having my photo taken. In other words, NOT AT ALL!

That said, an explanation about why this pitiful attempt is in my sketch journal. For a couple of years, I have been protesting all those style police who say no one over age 30 should wear long hair (I'm 56). --- I also went along with those nameless people for years when they said no one with baby fine hair should wear hair below their shoulders. Mine is extremely baby fine but I have a lot of it. But I like long hair!

OK, so I'm ready to admit that the longer it gets, the flatter and straighter it hangs. Been thinking of cutting a few inches off. Want to vote on it? Leave a comment below!

I have never colored my hair and I actually DO have a few gray hairs finally. I guess it to be around 8 or 10 hairs; Bill says more like 4 or 5. I refuse to color it ever . . . . maybe I refuse to grow old as well.

BTW: I found out that burnt sienna plus a bit of purple makes a pretty good brunette (plus some sepia in the shadows).

Josiah makes a stand

His parents have been encouraging him to use a pacifier (he'll only take one made by Avent) . . . . at two months, Josiah already has a mind of his own and likes his thumb.

I quick-sketched this in a 20 minute challenge from a photo I took --- I've been a bit intimidated to try to sketch Josiah, so I forced myself to just jump in without time to niggle.