rain or shine

Texas has had a very wet spring this year. My corgi, Butters, and I like taking early morning walks down the lane and I keep walking shoes on this knit mat, ready to slip on. And a pair of rubber boots for rainy weather when our grassy pastures become a soggy swampland. 

The absorbent cotton yarn of this mat has some history to it. Years ago, I knit a small bathmat for a second bathroom but no longer needed it when we downsized to a small cabin. So when I adopted a new kitten, I unraveled the rug and crocheted a round cat cave for him. He loved playing and sleeping in it but eventually outgrew it. So when I needed a small mat to place wet shoes between the cupboard and back door, the cat cave was unraveled so I could knit this small mat. Mighty sturdy yarn!

I used one of my favorite pocket palettes for this sketch, a Drawn to High Places limited edition palette purchased empty several years ago from Art Toolkit. It holds my favorite granulating watercolors. Their earthiness seems to go well with the scene on the front.

just playing

Yesterday, the big event was to take Butters, Bardie, and Scottie to the vet for nail trims. 

The rest of the day, I just played.

these boots . . .

Since moving to Texas 8 1/2 years ago, I wear sandals nearly year-round. I even have a pair of hiking sandals that I can wear socks with, especially nice for camping. But we are taking an unexpected trip to Kansas in early December — brrr! Winter in Kansas is something we left to avoid! So I dug out my leather boots.

Unless snow is expected. Then maybe I’ll take my rubber mucking boots.

morning footwear

Just a random sketch of our mucking boots on the back patio — Bill made the 4-pronged wooden stand to put our boots on after taking them off. Stored upside down, there are no more surprise scorpions or lizards hiding inside. Or rain blown under the patio roof during windy, heavy rains.

are we Texans yet?

 

Three of our four kids and their families live in Texas, and all five of our grandchildren were born here. Yet our daughter, who came here 24 years ago, told us that they aren’t considered real Texans until three generations have been born and lived here.

Our local electric coop had a different view in a recent magazine article: if you drive a truck, wear boots, keep livestock, attend the rodeo, etc., then you can be called a real Texan.

Last week we went to buy Bill some new shoes . . . and came away with his shoes plus a pair of boots for me. Now if I could only wear them to the Texas Livestock and Rodeo. Especially since our granddaughter is showing her cow this week. Only one person is allowed to go with her; we’ll have to watch it online.

mucking about . . .

I am thoroughly enjoying the donkeys and goats here on the farm. Such delightful personalities! But all the feeding, watering and mucking out stalls is distracting me from sketching. At the end of the day, I’m more likely to grab a book to read than my sketchbook journal.

Today I thought I’d rectify that with a quick, messy drawing . . . of my “mucking about” boots! (Of course they are plaid. What else would they be?)

Trying to keep it “messy and loose”, I used a Pentel brush pen. This pen has been in my stash for years; I can’t recall the last time I actually used it. I think it is called a Pentel Aquash brush pen with soft black ink — the ink is more gray than black.

One other distraction of late: we are in the final week before closing on the sale of our log cabin —  moving the ”staging” furnishings and woodshop stuff, and then cleaning and mowing. Meanwhile, today our carpenter is busy moving an animal shelter from the south horse arena to the north pasture. We will need to move the livestock out of their temporary home in the barn to the north pasture before starting on the barn conversion. We adopted the rescue animals right after signing with a new realtor and we honestly didn’t expect the cabin to sell this fast. So we thought we’d have plenty of time before moving the beasties . . .

a bit of church sketching

Too much running around running errands, looking at fireplace stone tiles, and lining up new realtors — not much sketching getting done.

But there’s always a bit of time to draw while listening to Pastor David in church.

J. Herbin Terre De Feu ink in Kaweco Liliput fountain pen.

playing . . .

Yesterday in discipleship class and church, I just played around with water-soluble inks — an Elegant Writer pen and my Kaweco Liliput pen with a brown ink cartridge. And a water brush, of course. A fun way to do a wash without paint.

yesterday’s sketch

I suppose I should be sketching something by now . . . We are at the hospital waiting for them to prep Bill for his heart catheterization. But it’s a wee bit too early to focus so I’ll post a sketch from yesterday (and a few of the lyrics from a song we sang in church).

a bit of church sketching

Just some random sketches and thoughts  . . .

Both days, I was using a Noodler's Creaper fountain pen. One is filled with a custom "sepia" mixed from leftover Noodler's Polar Black and Polar Brown inks. The other is a custom dark gray mixed from Noodler's Lexington Gray and a bit of leftover Polar Black.

random sketches, yesterday & today

Yesterday evening I mindlessly drew my foot __again__ while jotting down notes at church.

This morning, I ruthlessly cut back our roses, saving this wee bud to sketch. Some of our roses were completely de-leafed by wildlife grazing at night. Some had a bad case of black spot. And the old climber at the corner of our patio was completely dead, seemingly overnight. It was blooming just a few days ago!

I cut them back quite severely; because they had bloomed a full month earlier than expected, I had not had a chance to trim them back in early spring. Maybe we can save some of them. When we moved here, the whole front of the patio were planted with roses, plus two tall ones at the back door. We have had to replace several, mostly due to wildlife eating the leaves. We thought we had that solved by leaving 'fairy lights' on all night, but apparently they have decided the light was no threat.

yesterday, I sketched!

Lately, as Bill goes through convalescence from surgery, still with severe pain down his arm (the surgery was supposed to fix that), I have not felt like sketching as often. Bill's surgeon is mystified about the pain but the discs have to completely fuse together before another MRI can be done. 

But yesterday I managed to sketch the plants on the table, in my new "burnt sienna" ink mix. Messed up a bit with the quilted cloth pattern underneath since I was drawing directly in ink, no pencil. I will probably add watercolor later.

Then I drew my shoe during church, barely hanging on my foot. It reached 85° daytime high -- and my car's air conditioner is broken. Got a bit sticky-hot. Drawn with a Pentel Pocketbrush pen, gouache added later at home.

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. 

oops!

I drew my shoe while jotting down a couple of notes at church. It was simply what was in my line of vision so why not? After church we went to H.E.B. for a few groceries --- I walked all over the store in these same shoes. We drove home and, as I stepped out of the truck, I stepped down onto the gravel . . . and walked off of my shoe! At least the bottom half --- the top half was still on my foot. 

more random wonkiness

Drawing at church again . . . Even when I choose a subject that will  not move on me, I can't seem to escape it being wonky and out of perspective!

These leather Skecher sandals are about worn out but still so comfortable that I put them on first, without a thought.

and a few more EDM's

The next Everyday Matters challenge prompts . . . I think I'll leave the rest of the list for later. I find these are good to go through when I've skipped daily drawing for several days, just to get back into it. Sketching or painting is like most other activities: the more often and regularly you do it, the easier (and better) the skill becomes. Stop for a period of time, lines become a bit wonky and perspective gets crazy.

The tree above was over the center of our campsite during a recent trip to our lake (now closed again due to flooding). I took a photo of it as I was sitting under it. There was actually less leafing and more sky showing through but I got carried away. Wish I hadn't of!

This folding camp stool is what I used to carry on sketch crawls, with it's pockets to hold supplies and an easy carry strap. Now it stays in my "studio" at my art table. Maybe I'll sketch the studio space next.

more playing . . .

The grandkids are bringing me items to sketch into my granny-nanny book this week; this horse is from Josiah. All three of them stood around me like vultures as I drew this one but none of them wished to draw in my book themselves.

Upon arriving, the house was still decorated with leftover bits of Valentine's Day, including classroom treats and art brought home and forgotten. All of the decorations were put away over the weekend except these hearts in one window.

The entire quote from Yankel is:
"When you warm other people's hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage, and inspire others, then you discover support, encouragement, and inspiration in your own life as well. That, my friends, is Judeism 101."

And I chose to sketch Josiah's boots as they lay . . . he often puts his right shoe on his left foot and the left one on his right. Seems to me that it would make walking uncomfortable but he doesn't seem to mind.

I wonder if it's because he is left-handed? Maybe he thinks he is left-footed?

a bit more etegami-style

Continuing to play around with an Etagami-style of drawing, with very simple illustrations loosely drawn directly with a brush pen and ink, then a splash of watercolor --- these efforts show how I am still too tightly detailed but I'm having fun! Grandchildren are influencing what I choose to draw each day . . . this wee lamb and a matching white mouse belong to Josiah and Judah.

This itty-bitty lion was supposed to be sewn by Jayna . . . but when her mommy, Carrie, began to teach her how to make it, Carrie got carried away and finished it herself. Having way too much fun!! I drew my shoe to go with the quote from Facebook contact and artist, Jennifer Edwards, because they just seemed to go together good.

hand-me-ups!

. . . as opposed to hand-me-downs. Last year our 12-year-old granddaughter got these adorable boots from a clearance rack at a greatly reduced price. They just happen to be my size. I was told that they were the last pair available. Mikala left them on the stair step one day so I tried them on -- beware of leaving your things about! I teased her that when she outgrows them, I get "first dibbies" on them! (no, I don't know where that expression comes from).

On Sunday we went to Houston to go to see the new Star Wars movie with our daughter's family, and Mikala gave me her boots! Still in great shape but she has outgrown them.

They are sitting on one of the unique side tables Bill has made over the years, this one with drop leaves on both sides. Easy to pull out for playing games on. I used my granulating set of watercolors on this sketch, a collection of paints I put together specifically for the granulation effects. Seems to capture the look of leather with ease.

duck tape shoes

Bill has been working hard on a remodeling project for our church. His helper in the work is a whirlwind powerhouse in a small package, our pastor's wife Ms. BJ. She loves to "doodle", as she calls it, especially if there are power tools involved. One of the hardest-working helpers Bill has ever worked with!

So hard at work, it seems, that she hasn't taken time to shop for replacement work shoes . . . She just keeps replacing the duct tape holding them together. Last week Bill's old work shoes finally fell apart --- and he went out and bought new ones. Hint, hint, Ms. BJ?