final sketch of 2017

Last night, I wanted to draw something. But it was dark and I wasn’t particularly inspired by anything at the moment — I just drew the things on the side table next to me, mostly in continuous line. (The sermon notes were jotted down previously; no relation to the sketch.)

walking thru the neighborhood

We live in the country, about 4 miles from one tiny town and about 12 miles from a slightly larger town. Our small lake community of about 30 houses sharing a common water well is just off of a busy farm road with lots of curves and no shoulders to walk on __not safe for walking__ so when we walk, it’s generally around the circle of homes.

The location of these two homes were at one time a busy path for local deer. We often saw them run through here if we walked early enough in the morning. But since moving here, more new residents moved in with loud barking dogs — the deer have decided to move on.

Yet, at the nd of December, we still have wildflowers! In fact, as we drove to Houston this past week, we saw huge masses of them along the roadside.

Bardie making peace

When we arrived at our daughter’s home, Bardie got a hiss or two in upon confronting her dog and three cats. All very well-behaved, friendly animals but Bardie is a spoiled “only child”. We closed him up in the guest room while we ate out. Two of the cats, Pumpkin and Reece’s, were especially interested in establishing friendship with this strange, round cat but Bardie was a bit stuck up.

Later, we left the bedroom door open and just walked away. Eventually Bardie came down the stairs on his own and staked his position behind my chair, sitting on the low fireplace ledge. At least he no longer growled when cats came up to greet him.

I think Bardie prefers their scratching post to his own, even if he has to get on tiptoe to reach the top.

By yesterday evening, he came seeking them out, wanting to play. That’s him peeking up at them in the above photo. Pumpkin, a gorgeous red Maine Coon, is in his favorite spot above Mikala’s head, part-Maine Coon Mocha is giving himself a bath to the far right, and Reece’s the rescued street cat is ready to play with Bardie. Later, each of them took turns chasing and playing together, while ignoring Bradley, the Great Pyrenees / golden retriever mix. Bardie even got to where he didn’t flinch as much when Bradley barked Very Loudly.

on the road

Bardie Mac is perfectly content to go for a drive with us. Little does he know that there is a large dog and three cats at the end of the journey. 🙀

more Liliput fun

When I first received my brass Liliput fountain pen, I tried it out with the blue water-soluble ink that came with it. Fun to use to break in the pen but the color ran too much to use with watercolor, and I’m not that fond of sketching in blue ink.

I tried a couple of international-size short converters but neither one worked well with this particular pen, so I used a blunt-tip syringe to clean and refill the cartridge that came with the pen. I filled it with a dark gray ink that I had mixed of leftover Noodler’s Polar Black and Polar Brown, making a slightly more subtle color for standard sketching than using a harsh black ink.

Then I began looking at what refill cartridges are available for this pen. I love the “antique” feel of sketching in a water-soluble brown ink and watercolor. So I ordered three shades of brown ink from Jet Pens: Terra de Feu and Lie de The from J. Herbin, and a brown from Colte (this brand is 10 cartridges for only $2.80!).

I have tried the Lie de The before and love the subtle golden cast, something like a raw sienna. The Terra de Feu is a bit redder than the coppery brown I was looking for. But surprisingly, the very cheap brown cartridge ink from Colte is perfect — a burnt sienna / coppery color (Hmm . . . would be lovely in a second Liliput in copper, wouldn’t it?).

I tried each color ink on this 2-page spread, then had to leave it before getting to test watercolor. So the ink actually had all day to dry before finishing the test. When I came back to it, the ink on its own bled quite a bit with a waterbrush. But when I added watercolor to the quick apple sketches, there was very little bleed — just a subtle effect. I like all three colors, so will have fun with them over the next few weeks.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift!  2 Cor. 9:15

Have a richly blessed Christmas, dear friends!

continuing to play with Liliput

I am still playing with my new fountain pen, a Kaweco Liliput — finding any excuse to write or draw with it. On the left side of this spread, I sketched my favorite hair clips. These beaded wire clips are based on those old leather and wooden stick things we wore in the late 1960s - early 1970s, designed by Lilla Rose. I found them at a local Bluebonnet Festival the year we moved here.

Then I drew my minimal sketch kit. Because the Liliput is so tiny (easy to lose) and rolls off surfaces, I bought a wee leather sleeve to store it in. There’s also room to store a travel watercolor brush next to it, in case I come across a glass of water while out sketching.

Basically: a small soft-cover Stillman & Birn sketchbook, the Pocket Palette, a waterbrush, my Liliput and travel brush, and a folded paper towel.

autumn’s last hurrah

Though it is now technically winter, we spotted these last jewels of autumn during a walk this week. A bit more color than is usual in our mild climate where even some of the oak trees are evergreen.

Shirley’s hand

Our friend Sandie is dealing with some very tough stuff. Her mother Shirley, a good friend of both Bill’s and mine since we were teenagers, is living with dementia. Her husband George is also on the downward slide, but not as deep as Shirley. And hers is a “mean” form; she says cruel things to her daughter that she would never say or mean if her mind was lucid.

Sandie recently posted a photo on Facebook that I used to sketch this memory in my journal.

at Macy’s game . . .

Yesterday we went to our young friend Macy’s basketball game in Caldwell — she’s a freshman playing on the junior varsity team. While watching the game, I sketched a nearby parent who was watching her phone instead of the game.

Macy’s team won, 53 / 10!