remembering Lake Raven

For one of the final spreads in my tiny 2” square sketchbook, I tried painting from a 2022 from camping on the shore of Lake Raven in Huntsville State Park.

The watercolor seemed bland so I added a bit of colored pencil. Still not quite what I was going for . . .

an old stone house

For the first few years after moving to Brenham, Texas, we often drove around the small communities nearby exploring. This sketch is from a photo taken 7 years ago in Belleville, where we found several old historic homes. Just around the corner from this native stone cottage is an original dogtrot log cabin, photo shown below. It is currently being used so doors have been modernized.

De Atramentis Document brown ink, watercolor, and colored pencil in a Seawhite Travel Journal.

Merry Christmas!

I hope y’all are having a lovely and blessed Christmas! Today I did a quick ink & wash sketch between baking tasks. We saw this truck at our veterinarian’s when we took the wee beasties in for nail trims; I snapped a quick photo to sketch from later.

(Yes, the tree top was really tilted like this.)

Ink, watercolor, and gouache in a 140mm square Seawhite travel journal.

something different

Last week Bill took our corgi, Butters, outside to play ball. Across the yard and driveway, he saw this Great Egret over by the swimming pool. Not wishing to startle it, he took a quick photo from where he stood — a very distant, out-of-focus photo. 

I’ve been wanting to try less “representational” sketching anyway, so I painted this page using that fuzzy photo as a basis. Mostly granulating watercolors with some gouache patterning added on top. Not quite as I expected it to turn out, but an interesting direction to take my sketching while still capturing daily memories.

Nameless

We receive a monthly periodical from Texas Co-op Power full of interesting photos and articles of the area’s history. November’s issue included the photo that I painted this page from; the composition really caught my eye. 

The story is about a ghost town northwest of Austin called Nameless. In 1880 the growing community applied for a federal post office under the name of Fairview but the name was rejected because it was already in use. So were the five subsequent applications. After six rejections, the frustrated townsfolk replied “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!” The “name” was accepted.

I used watercolor, gouache, and a bit of colored pencil on this. Not sure I’m quite happy with the finished piece but it’s all a learning process.

✳️ UPDATE! Further reading about Nameless shows a complication in sketching from a photo a place where I’ve never actually been (the photo showed this area in shadow). The building in the distance in the sketch is actually a dog run structure, two rooms under the same roof with a breezeway between. Built in 1876 as a homestead to one of Nameless’ founding families, it was rediscovered in 2023 when the original site was being cleared for a subdivision. It has been relocated across the street to where Nameless’ restored schoolhouse stands.

just playin’

Today I made a mess of my desk and just played. Following along with Art Toolkit’s workshop, “Playing with Composition with Meagan Dew” (HERE), I made a bunch of thumbnail sketches from two photos of New York — and even added loose splashes of color to some of them. More than the rules of composition, I was learning to loosen up and let go of niggling the details.

another tiny sketch

Sketched from a photo, this shows the very beginning of our aloe vera flowering. Soon the whole length of stalk was filled with yellow “petals”, now gone.

The second photo is of a very tiny clipboard I found on Etsy — it helps hold on to these 1 3/4 x 2 1/2” pieces of watercolor paper. The craftsman sells this and other sketching paraphernalia under the name “bluestarcraftsmx”.

The last photo shows the plant as it looked 3 1/2 weeks ago.

Molokai

We have a new member of our extended family: meet Molokai, our granddaughter’s new dog. She is currently attending Texas A & M vet school and was told to practice on her pet — and if she didn’t have one handy, they had vet school animals up for adoption. Who could have guessed that adopting a pet was a classroom requirement?

Actually she has pets here on “the farm” but most of them object to examinations. Butters doesn’t mind, but corgis are just built wrong (so says our vet who was examining her for a joint injury). So this sweet 6 year old hound has moved in to Mikala’s apartment.

I took a couple of “process” photos of this sketch . . . but once I began painting, I forgot to take any more. Most of the time, I put down an idea lightly in pencil, then begin inking it in — often jotting down some text before moving on to the main sketch.

sketching with friends

After spending a week in the Wichita area, we headed up to Excelsior Springs, Missouri to visit our dear friends, Kate and Joseph. Sharing tea and cookies with us were some of her whimsical “Little People”. After returning home, I sketched Duran hugging his dragonfly from a photo.

The four of us (and my corgi, Butters) later headed to Isley Park where Kate and I used to sketch springtime wildflowers. There, I drew a wonky sketch of the shelter’s fire pit — and Kate snuck a photo of me when I wasn’t paying attention!

as we drove past . . .

Our daughter and son-in-law bought their first house many years ago in the same area of northwest Houston (Copperfield) that we now drive through on our way to my chemo treatments. We passed this old church many times when visiting the kids and I’ve wanted to sketch it for years but never did. Until now. 

I snapped a few photos with my iPhone as we drove by, then sketched from them later at home. Goofed on that copper steeple though — it should be taller.

To add the ink lines and text, I re-inked another favorite fountain pen that hasn’t been used for a while. This is the Pilot Namiki fountain pen filled with De Atramentis Document black ink. Writes so smooth with a flexible nib! A special gift from Bill.

a bit of Kansas

Sketched from a photo I took last December, we saw this sunset view during a drive from Manhattan, Kansas to Wichita.

another urban sketch that wasn’t

Over the years that we drove from Kansas to Houston visiting our kids, we often passed the Swamp Shack on HWY 290 in Waller, TX. Every time I saw the 25-foot long crawfish, ridden by a mannequin dressed as a cowboy, I wanted to pull over and sketch it on-site. But never did.

After moving to Brenham, TX we still passed it driving to Houston. The restaurant was no longer in operation and the building was turned into a temporary fireworks stand (Fireworks are BIG in Texas: New Year’s, Texas Independence, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July . . .). I still wanted to stop to sketch it, but my husband is not a sketcher and we were always on our way to somewhere.

Then this past December, the crawfish was gone. There seems to be some work going on to the building but probably for a totally different use. So I sketched it from a photo just to remember it by.

I found this photo online taken in May 2019 — the cowboy’s hat was mostly gone and the whole thing was badly weathered but it still made me smile.

a fun little waterfall

 

This waterfall display made up of old barrels sits outside of the Italian restaurant I journaled about in yesterday’’s post. I wanted to sketch it (from a quick photo I took as we were going inside) to remember how it went together . . . Perhaps we can make something similar when we redo the planting beds in front of the barn!

a cool old building

A few days ago we headed down to our eldest son’s in Beasley where I was to switch my iPhone 6 out for a slightly newer model. It turned out that my new phone, picked up the day before at Sugarland’s Apple Store, had defective software so I am without a phone until next week.

On the drive home, we stopped at Dairy Queen in Belleville for ice cream. Bill went inside while I waited in the car . . . and I noticed this cool old building across the street. I’ve seen this Mexican Cantina many times as we drove through this town south of us, but I had never noticed the original name on the stone building: “Dr. Pepper Bottling Co.”, spelled out in individual rocks on what looks like a stucco background. I like how the edge of the roof had trim made of small rocks standing on end. I drew the building in a water-soluble brown ink but later wish I had used a waterproof ink, as much of the cool details seem to blend together.

I used a photograph because it was quickly getting dark and we were getting ready to drive on.

Bardie bits

No, Bardie does not hold still for me to sketch him; I drew these from phone snapshots . . .

non-photogenic sketching

I have never been photogenic . . . and the same holds true of trying to sketch myself. But I wanted to record a few visual memories of our renewing our wedding vows this year so I drew from photos others took. Not happy with how this turned out -- almost didn't post it -- but time to move on . . .

Cheese and Crackers

One day last week we drove out to a friend's home where Bill was checking out a plumbing problem. While he was inside, I went to visit our pastor's donkeys, named Cheese and Crackers. Cheesey loves people and will even "snuggle" with us . . . except when there is barbed wire between us! He is smart enough to stay away from the sharp pricks.

Crackers, on the other hand, is people-shy and stays in the background ignoring me. I took some photos with my iPhone, then drew these from the photos while waiting for Bill as he was in physical therapy. The waiting area is not very interesting to sketch but my donkey pals are.

buildings, mice, and a lovely morning

We managed to walk the whole downtown of Fredericksburg several times, including a side street, admiring so many old buildings. I took photos rather than sketch on site since Bill is not a sketcher --- I didn't want to make him wait and we _were_ interested in getting the exercise. These are some of my favorite houses (plus one garage / carriage house). There were so many more downtown buildings I wanted to draw! This town really built them well, maintaining and repurposing them through the years instead of tearing down to make way for new.

We had an invasion of mice at church yesterday . . . of the chocolate-cherry-Hershey-kiss-almond slice species. Ms. B.J. has been playing with her food again and the kids loved them.

And this is my view as I edit and post these photos this morning. Not as many roses in bloom as we have recently had, but a lovely, sunny 59 degrees.

more from Angels Lodge

I was going to add watercolor to this two-page spread, but later decided that I like it this way. This was drawn with a Lamy Safari, XF nib, with a mixed sepia ink made from leftover black and brown inks.

From the road, the bed & breakfast could not even be seen. We drove right past the entrance without realizing it. This is right in the downtown area but staying here felt like the middle of the woods.

 To enter the 1 1/2 acre property, we drove over this low-water bridge over the creek. I suppose if the creek flooded, the inn might be temporarily closed.

Hard to believe we were so near downtown Fredericksburg -- it was so peaceful and quiet! We loved being able to walk everywhere we wished to go. There was an easy walking path from the lodge to the main street with several wildflowers growing among interesting grasses. I took some quick photos to sketch them later this week.

I would have loved to just sit and sketch so many places! But this was Bill's birthday and he is not a sketcher, so I just took photos to draw from later.

This is the stairway leading up to our loft room. To the left of the stair the path leads to a large outdoor patio with fireplace, pool, and several gazebo chat areas. This was a delightful place to stay!

a bit of volleyball

Last Saturday, we drove to Houston for one of Mikala's many volleyball tournaments. Unfortunately for her team, several team members were not present. They won the first game but lost the next two. I took a few photos, from which I later sketched these in my journal as a memory of the day.