comparing water-soluble inks

Recently I went through my art supplies with an even more critical eye, reducing them to "essentials". The cabin we bought is very small; I will have a "studio" upstairs in the loft but not a lot of room for extras.

On these pages of my art journal, I compared my Noodler's inks that are water-soluble -- meaning they "bleed" when watercolor is later applied. One is "la couleur royale" (purple) and one is red-black. I thought I would give at least one of them away . . . . but I still like the effects so I'll be keeping both. So much for lightening my load! (click on picture to enlarge)

This vintage Prang watercolor tin is refilled with artists' pigments and holds some travel brushes and a wee sponge. Very lightweight for a metal paint box and fits easily in my bag.

a Christmas cookie

Since we are decorating this year with cardboard boxes . . . LOTS of cardboard boxes . . . our Christmas cookies look a little different also.

A bit over-focused on moving to Texas???

an early Christmas gift

Our son, Matt, and his family won't be coming home for Christmas --- they will be spending the holiday at Disneyworld. So when we saw them on Thanksgiving in Texas, we exchanged a few gifts early.

This is one of my gifts, a necklace made by daughter-in-law Misty. Under the key is a tiny reproduction of my own pen and ink sketch of our 1920 apartment building we just sold. What a thoughtful gift!

Another gift they found for me: a gorgeous leather-bound sketchbook of hand-made paper! Our grandson, Quen, watched me draw this necklace and wanted to know why I didn't draw it in my new sketchbook instead. I told him that I like to completely fill one book before  beginning a new one. (The new one is so beautiful, I might feel a bit intimidated to actually use it!)

the original sketch

bigger on the inside?

For some of us, Thanksgiving was also an early Christmas. Our second son, Matt, and his family will be going to Disney World for Christmas. Since we won't see them then, we had an early gift exchange.

As part of his gift to our second son Jason, Matt hand-crafted this wooden box full of Jammie Dodger cookies. Jason is a long-time Whovian of the first order (a fan of the BBC series "Doctor Who").

I simply couldn't NOT sketch it. After all, I'm a long-standing Whovian also, having watched the show since the 4th incarnation of the timelord, played by Tom Baker.

little log cabin, deep in the heart of Texas

After a week of looking at lots of houses in 5 different areas, we ended up buying the exact house we first drove by last June when we first began looking at houses for sale in Texas. Very surprised that it was still on the market, since houses in the area usually sell withing 1 to 2 months. Even more surprised when they accepted our first offer, quite a bit below the asking price. We both love log houses --- never thought we would actually get to live in one someday!

A VERY tiny house, just right for the 2 of us, near a lake. No woodshop for Bill yet, but with such a large yard (3 lots) we can build one ourselves . . . with a guest house attached for visitors. There is additional sleeping in the loft but not everyone would be able to manage the steep stairs --- more like the stair-ladders Bill knew aboard a Navy ship.

Part of the loft has a balcony & windows facing north-east -- that will be my art space. Along with the whole outdoors, of course. There are a variety of trees on our lot, including a small treehouse for grandkids. And a small planting strip along the sidewalk leading to the front patio, perfect for an herb bed. Provided the deer stay away from it. Not sure if they come into this housing development or not.

autumn in Texas

I found a colorful autumn in this part of Texas after all. Though most of the trees are still fully green and there are flowers blooming everywhere, we found several trees and shrubs going through seasonal color changes.

Meanwhile, the house search continues. Many of the houses we found on-line where ruled out when seen in person, but there are 3 we are interested in. Lots to consider . . .

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.

a few more leaves . . .

When Bill had his heart attack, he said his goal is to go to Arkansas for his birthday . . . . and so we did, visiting dear friends in the woods of Mountain Home.

We took several walks everyday, enjoying the signs of Autumn, bird songs, and peace. Makes us look more seriously at properties in the country when it comes time to buy our next home.

Mostly the woods are oak trees. LOTS of varieties of oak. These are just a few of the leaf types we saw. No burr oaks though -- that's the most common type in our Kansas neighborhood.

In a way, we were celebrating the changeable beauty of Autumn, which we won't see much of after moving to Texas.

We chose a different path driving home, going through Bolivar, MO where a couple of our kids went to college. Later we stopped to eat in Fort Scott, where my great grandparents' home was. I have very fond memories of visiting my great-aunt Lucile there. I take after both her and her younger sister, my grandmother. Lucile as also my childhood penpal.

Autumn's whirlwind

It has been a real whirlwind around here lately. Today I paused to catch my breath and sketch leaves picked up on one of our many walks. Bill is walking as much as he can, slowly getting his strength back following his heart surgery. He is now cleared for traveling, so we plan on visiting our kids in Texas soon. While there, we decided to line up a realtor to look at houses. That led to us deciding to put our home on the market --- being a 1920 apartment building, it's a bit of an unusual listing and we had no idea what to expect trying to sell it.


One day after signing to sell, the sewer backed up. No problem . . . Bill can't do the work at the moment but a plumbing friend could ____ BIG PROBLEM. Turns out the outside line was broken and would need to be dug up and repaired. The sewer here is 20 feet deep and the city locators were no help at all. It was eventually found and repaired 8 hours later; now our backyard parking lot is a mud mountain. Hard to fit all that dirt back in when it had been compacted 93 years.

Meanwhile, we received an offer on the building, we counter-offered, and it was accepted --- sold in less than one week! As part of the deal they offered us 90 days from closing__rent free__to give us time to find a new home and move. Our heads are still spinning from the speed of it all.

color therapy

 

I have made many color charts over the past 6 or 7 years, and have a pretty good understanding of what pigments mix into what colors. But sometimes working a gridded color chart can be just plain soothing. Which is the main reason I did these primary palette charts in my new sketchbook.