this week’s random sketches

Earlier this week, I painted all the small mushrooms I could see in our yard, directly in gouache. Then got lazy and didn’t even add the grass around them. Yesterday, I added someone I saw while waiting at the eye doctor’s for a routine exam. She was very intent on her book, pausing now and then to jot down notes.

this week’s “adventure”

I’ve been a bit too distracted to sketch this week — except for one very long wait in a hospital waiting room where I did the above sketch (loosely interpreted leaving out a lot of the details). My husband went through a 5-hour lower back surgery, then we waited 2 more hours. Apparently there was an issue with another patient in the recovery room so we had to wait until he was taken to a room. The surgery was successful, he’s doing extremely well, and will be coming home tomorrow.

revisiting another old palette

In June 2018 I took part in Marc Taro Holmes’ 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor Challenge, filling this sketchbook with 30 watercolor-only sketches. I’m thinking of re-reading his book in the near future and maybe trying the same technique. At the time, I matched the Demi Palette that Art Toolkit put together for the challenge but I no longer have some of those colors. Instead, I put together the palette shown above. Instead of Perylene Maroon, I stirred a bit of raw umber and quinacridone red in a mini pan. Instead of Pyrrol Orange, I mixed quin. coral and nickel azo yellow. Then substituted a few other colors with those I had on hand.

The following photos are three of my favorites from 2018. Several sketches were removed from the sketchbook, the sketches either sold or given away.

when your subject leaves . . .

When your sketch victim subject gets called back for his appointment before you notice the color of his shirt, you make it whatever you want to.

I like the light, bright green against his ruddy brown skin.

I was at M.D. Anderson today just for routine follow-up tests, which show everything is great.

more waiting

Just a couple more waiting room doodles in my 2” ZigZag sketchbook — these are from last Wednesday but I didn’t get around to adding a bit of color until today.

more waiting

Another waiting room sketch, this one is from last month waiting to hear the results of my PET-scan. Not entirely accurate (I simplified quite a bit, including the quilt’s detail) but it sort of captured the moment.

I have colorectal cancer (no, I did not get that recommended colonoscopy— bad decision!), probably stage 3. There’s a suspicious lymph node near my neck which if cancerous would bring it to a stage 4 — but that is very near the port they just installed to receive chemo injections and it could very well be a pocket of inflammation from that.

Currently we are waiting for tests and consultation at M.D. Anderson that my daughter requested and my oncologist at Baylor, Scott, & White fully supports. But personally, I just want to get the battle started! It looks like I will be starting chemo next week in College Station. The plan is 4 1/2 months full chemo followed by radiation with reduced chemo, then surgery to hopefully reverse the colostomy they did February 28th. 

It looks like this year is going to feel very long and slow . . .

one final sketch from camp

We have been home from Lake Raven for several days, but I didn’t get around to finishing this last sketch until last night. This trip was for Bill’s 71st birthday and a new hammock was his gift — so of course I had to add a sketch of it in my journal!

The longest hiking trail, which neither of us are in shape for, takes you to the northernmost tip of the lake, across a marshy area, to the wilderness on the other side (the distant tree line in this sketch). It was there that a band of coyotes were spotted one evening during our stay, coming down to the shore to drink.

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.

earlier today . . .

My 6-month eye exam was this morning with a long wait-time. So I drew. I have glaucoma so eye pressures need to be checked regularly.

waiting room sketch

  

Waiting on Bill at the chiropractor. As I sketched this pretty lady, I had to wonder if her oversized leather bag was part of her aching back trouble?

 

By the time I finished, the doctor had called her back.

Matt in graphitint paint

For the final sketch in this sketchbook, I drew our son Matt from a photograph I took last August. I used a Duke 209 Fude pen, Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink, and Derwent Graphitint pan paints. Now I’ll close it and set it on the shelf for a while.  When I next open it, I wonder if the colors will look the same — or will some colors fade or change as Kate’s graphitint pencils did?

Anyone notice the feet of the ottoman and chair don’t match? The chair is a very comfortable antique from Bill’s maternal grandmother — it actually has springs under the cushion! The ottoman went with a chair that we gave away long ago. When we had the chair re-upholstered, we matched the ottoman to it. But there’s not enough room for it in our barn-home; now it sits in the woodshop for Stubby the shop cat.

cowboy? or bank robber?

I was sitting in my car waiting for an appointment to get my teeth cleaned when this cowboy walked by in front of me. Then he walked by again, heading the other direction.

With his big red bandanna ready to pull up over his face, he looked like he was ready to rob a bank!

(I forgot when I painted in a suggestion of the pavement that I had written the text with a water-soluble ink. Oops!)

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!

more testing on this grey paper

This grey toned Stillman & Birn Nova sketchbook continues to frustrate me. It’s not just the cool grey color that requires a different palette than my usual preference; the paper just isn’t the best choice for watercolor. It can take light, less juicy applications but I’ve been gravitating towards working with wetter washes than I have in the past.

I look at my art journals as a continuous record of my normal life, so completing each journal from beginning to end is important to me. I have considered leaving this one unfinished and moving on but that interrupts 13 years of continuous sketchbook habit.

For these pages I grabbed 2 brush pens, a white water-based Sharpie, and a water-soluble Elegant Writer. I’ve been reading Trevor Waugh’s ebook, “People in Watercolor” — so I copied several examples from the book on these pages. I’m not very comfortable drawing people (and staying at home with Bill working on kitchen cupboards in his shop means no models around); using these pages just for practice drawing people seems like a good idea. It is also a bit “freeing” to not expect to do a “good” sketch but just practice. Even if it’s from books and photos.

battle of the birds

On Friday evening we drove to Bryan __through Horrible Traffic due to Texas A & M hosting a home game in College Station on the following day__ to watch our granddaughter Jayna’s halftime performance in high school district playoffs. Jayna is not in high school quite yet but her band director wants her to play with the marching band.

It was very cold in the stands with the recent arctic front bringing winter weather to our part of Texas, but the band did great and the Needville Bluejays beat the Canyon Lake Hawks, 40 to 33.

I carried my sketchbook, a colored pencil, and a small Kaweco Liliput fountain pen in my pockets but my fingers didn’t want to play in the cold . . . So I took photos to sketch a few images when we returned home, to remember the time in my journal.

only in Texas!

Our car needed a refill on gasoline so we pulled into a station in Somerville. An extended-cab pick-up truck parked near the store and the family piled out, heading for snacks and cold drinks inside.

Except the driver — he reached into the back seat; we assumed he was unbuckling a small child from a child safety seat.

Uh, no . . . . He took out a small filly and proceeded to walk her about on a leash!

UPDATE: After comments exchanged with others, I’m thinking this is probably a miniature horse, possibly being trained as a therapy companion horse.

at Wright Dentistry

Even sketching quickly, if I start to draw a person in a waiting room, that person invariably leaves. This lady’s glasses were so very big and black, and she so pale and blonde, I had to give it a go!

After she left, I next sketched the building across the street. There was no other person in the waiting room left to draw — did someone warn them that a sketchbook artist was lurking about?

Aubrey

After our close neighbor, John, passed away, a very sweet young couple bought the house he had built for his beloved Bobbie. They would have been delighted to know this lovely young family!

Just before moving in, Thomas and Ashlyn had a lovely daughter born, naming her Aubrey. She has since captured our hearts — especially Bill’s! He often “steals” her away for a few moments of playtime. We keep a small container of toys for her at our place.

Now walking and starting to talk, she has a way of letting her strong opinions known! Later this year, she will be joined by a new brother or sister.

Sketch With Me: HOME

First of all, I admit that I absolutely CANNOT capture Bill’s likeness!

This weekend’s Sketch With Me virtual sketching event’s theme is “home”. My first thought was to sketch my husband.

We have lived in San Diego, CA; 1 month in Mesa, AZ; 2 weeks in Bremerton, WA; Portland, OR; one month in Wichita, KS; El Dorado, KS, and now Brenham, TX.   But none of them is “home” . . . What truly feels like home to me is this very special man.

never too old . . .

I sketched our friends Billie and Macy from a photo I recently snuck of them at church. 16 year old Macy, at about 6 ft. tall, is never too old to sit in her mama’s lap for a snuggle!

I only wish I had done better with the skin tones, and the ink began running a bit in Macy’s face and hand. Oh, well . . . It’s just a simple sketch.