not camping this week . . .

Bill and I had made reservations for a Christmas camping trip this week. Average lows for our area are around 45° with daytime highs in the 70s, and our camper has a good heater. But this below-freezing weather that has gripped the nation quickly changed our plans — who wants to deal with a frozen camper? So we winterized the camper instead. 

And tonight we went with our daughter and son-in-law to their church’s Christmas Eve service. I did a quick sketch of the altar’s art before the service began and painted it later at home — with a too-large, clumsy brush. 🫣

Have a blessed Christmas, everyone!

Christmas pinch pots

In addition to the collection of pinch pots on my kitchen window sill, these special Christmas pots have now appeared. All of the pots and pottery dishes were made by our children when they were in school. The barbed wire star was a happy surprise from a dear friend in Kansas.

a parallel fountain pen

I recently bought a Pilot Parallel fountain pen along to play with. I knew the ink would not be waterproof, but I thought it might give a subtle gray wash when touched with a waterbrush. Wrong!! The ink in this pen is very wet and very intensely black! Just a light touch of a wet brush tip releases a strong black wash. Still, I was determined to see it in action with a quick sketch — I had to really work to keep areas of this Flint Hills farm scene in lighter washes.

The nib shape is similar to my Lamy Joy pen’s calligraphy nib, but the Lamy nib seems to dry and clog if not used daily. The flattened nib makes for interesting sketching lines. Packaging that this pen came in warns to not refill the empty ink cartridge with other inks — which was exactly what I had planned to do using my waterproof fountain pen inks. There is a converter sold that fits the pen but I’m curious as to why I couldn’t simply refill the cartridge with a syringe?

The Spice Merchant

We are now home from Kansas but I had one more sketch to finish and post. As long as we were in Wichita, we decided to do a bit of shopping at our favorite coffee / tea supplier, The Spice Merchant. The business has expanded since we moved to Texas, into the adjoining building. They roast their own coffee beans in the center of the main floor and the aroma is amazing, even for a non-coffee-drinker like me! There is also a Huge Selection of loose-leaf teas, something I’ve been unable to find in Texas. So many new choices to try!

The business is located in the historic Mentholatum building, one of my favorites of Wichita architecture. Silent film star Louise Brooks also ran a dance studio here at one time. 

an unexpected trip north

We had told ourselves that we would never return to Kansas for a visit in the winter. Weather can be too unpredictable, and for a man dealing with some level of chronic pain 24/7, cold weather can be especially brutal.

Yet here we are, sitting in an AirBnB in Wichita, Kansas.

Several family members are dealing with life-threatening medical issues and we decided that we really needed to come see them in person. There was a family reunion of sorts held in Manhattan, KS yesterday. Today I visited my father in a nursing home — he has Covid so I was masked, shielded, gowned, and gloved to nearly be unrecognizable. But we were able to have a wee bit of time together.

On Friday we had a lovely visit with my mom and brother, then met some dear friends for dinner later on. Tomorrow we head to Baxter Springs to check on another friend who was like a second father to both Bill and me when we were in our teens. And finally we will head home to our much-warmer though very wet home in Texas.

The AirBnB we are staying in is a tiny home in an old RV park. The owner is, bit by bit, building up a small community of tiny homes and a small trailer home to rent out at low prices to those needing lodging for a few weeks to several months. This one has an old Wichita Cowtown decor that fits right in with Texas as well.

new sketchbook

Another sketchbook, another sketch of my tools . . .

This time I’m using a small book I bound using a vintage book cover and Nideggen paper which is no longer made. This lightweight paper is made for printing, not watercolor, so it will take a bit of adjustment after using 140# watercolor paper!

After sketching out my currently chosen tools and inking them in, I already made one adjustment. I’ve been using a squirrel mop brush and a dagger, both travel brushes from Rosemary & Co. But the squirrel brush held way too much water and paint for this paper — so I switched it out for a #8 sable blend round brush.

The tiny pencil sharpener is not my favorite for Blackwing pencils which are great for holding elongated points, but we are traveling this week and this one fits in my Art Toolkit.

The large pan of white gouache is cracked but still usable. Recently I heard that if you add a drop or two of glycerin when filling the pan, gouache will not crack.

a Charlie Brown tree

One more sketch from Ratcliff Lake in Davy Crockett National Forest: one of several Charlie Brown Christmas trees we found growing from a stump. Many trees, when they die, are allowed to rot in place giving habitat to insects and small animals. But some trees endanger something nearby, requiring them to be cut. Out of several stumps in a tent-only site down near the lake, new growth has begun.

Painted in a 2” square Hahnemuhle ZigZag sketchbook.

two fellow campers

I haven’t had a Scottish Terrier of my own for several years now but I still dearly love the breed. These two charmers, owned by fellow campers, dropped by our campsite for a visit. So I sketched them on this, my final two-page spread of this Etchr sketchbook.

autumn leaf color!

Davy Crockett National Forest is a bit further north than we usually camp. The autumn leaves are still not as colorful as we had in Kansas, but we found some color here which I painted in my journal.

We bought this Apex camper used. The slide-out contains a couch but the original table was missing. So Bill built one with folding metal legs the same long narrow dimensions as the original. It’s beautiful, made with vintage cedar — that’s the table my sketchbook is laying on in the photo.

But while providing more work space for the kitchenette, it seemed to get in the way of sitting easily, turning the couch into a diner booth you had to slide into. So we now use that table outside and Bill designed a new one for inside. This one can be used two ways: as a divider between seats — great for sharing a movie on my laptop! — or with another set of long legs, it becomes a free-standing table to be moved wherever we want it.

forest floor

My 2” Zig Zag sketchbook came camping with us, sneaking into my regular Art Toolkit. This time we have returned to Ratcliff Lake in Davy Crockett National Forest, and my first sketch was a wee view of the forest floor.

Bill, who never hangs lights for Christmas at home (leaving that to our always festive son-in-law, Michael) has hung lights around the camper’s awning and is now sitting outside quietly listening to Christmas music. ‘Tis the season!