what’s in front of me

This is what I see sitting in Bill’s Grandma’s old overstuffed chair in our wee barn-house. A bit messy (and I didn’t even include the tracked-in grass and pet hair on the floor!) but such a comfortable space to live.

Sometimes Bill’s chronic nerve pain keeps him up at night, though it has improved in recent months with an adjustment in medication. He’ll come out here to watch TV, using those earphones on the table to avoid waking me (he hasn’t learned that just his being gone from the bedroom wakes me up). The quilt folded on the back of the couch and pillows end up all over the place.

Inside the hinged cover of that table is a pair of binoculars to go with the bird field guide laying on top. We enjoy watching and identifying the birds outside the French doors and windows. Even in the midst of winter we have quite a variety, including the brightest bluebirds I’ve ever seen.

the goats’ new friend

Our neighbors to the west are not very good at keeping their animals at home. Their two Great Pyrenees roam the roads on a regular basis (avoiding our long driveway after our donkeys warned them off). Last month their rooster found himself in our front pasture — none of us went near him as he can be quite mean. He eventually left.

This past week, one of their hens wandered into our yard where she was chased by our Pyrenees-Golden Retriever mix, Bradley — losing a few tail feathers in the encounter. She tried Sierra’s pasture, where she was ignored by both cow and her cat buddy, Egret. Later I found her in the south pasture with our goats. Occasionally one of them would nudge her, then go back to grazing. She seemed perfectly happy to be in their company.

Happy Valentine’s . . . Anniversary, Birthday, etc

I recently had 2 unexpected upgrades in mobile devices. First, my iPhone 7’s battery needed to be replaced. A new battery only cost $50 but our son Jason found a really good deal on an iPhone 12-Mini, so I decided to get that instead.

Then I accidentally dropped my iPad Pro — facedown on a very hard rough stone floor. The screen was shattered and a replacement would cost $380, more than a brand new iPad; I don’t need a “Pro”, it was an older hand-me-down from Jason. I still had my old iPad 4 Mini so I chose not to repair or replace.

Until last week when my iPad Mini’s battery stopped holding a charge. I suddenly had to recharge it twice a day instead of every 1 1/2 days. It gets used a lot, for reading multiple books, email, texting doctors’ offices, moderating posts in a private Facebook group, using crochet or knit patterns, blog posts, shopping, and playing the odd game or two. The device is over 6 years old and has been used well.

I decided to just live with it for now, keeping a power cord handy. But Bill conspired with Jason — this past weekend I was given a new iPad 9th generation, trading in my old iPad Mini for much more than we had expected it to bring.

Bill told me it’s for Valentine’s Day . . . and our wedding anniversary in May and my birthday in July. They got me the larger capacity one (256 GB) so maybe even Christmas by the time I add a more protective case!

looking forward to warmer days, camping

We had to cancel our camping reservations for early December due to Bill experiencing re-occurring heart problems. After trips to doctor, cardiologist, hospital and labs, they have determined that the issue is medication-related. Several weeks trying one drug, then another followed and he now seems to have the right balance and has been released to resume all normal activities as before.

Great news! Except for that frigid weather rapidly heading our way. But we sat down and made three reservations for camping in March, April, and May at 3 different parks — two in area forests and one prairie along the Brazos river (at Stephen F. Austin’s Texas homestead!).

Area State Park reservations for travel trailers are filling up fast; the one we booked in May only had 2 sites available for the number of days we wanted. Covid-19 has made camping in travel trailers and motor homes the #1 vacation for families, and used campers of all kinds are hotly in demand around here.

The above sketch is one style of fire pit at area parks, though sometimes there are burn bans preventing their use. We usually just cook on a small charcoal grill we carry with us.

trying something new

My previous sketch (of Egret, the cat) was an exercise in doing watercolor first, then ink — as presented in Mike Daikubara’s new book Color First, Ink Later. I have always been more of a pencil or ink sketcher, just adding watercolor to “color it in”. I love color; I just think more in terms of line.

So jumping in with watercolor first is a bit of a stretch for me. My normal style is also very controlled, so the “dripping” step is new for me. It worked somewhat on the sketch of Egret but my paint dried too quick to have anything left to drip on the above sketch of my tools.

In the book, Mike gives a list of his chosen tools; I gathered what I already owned and substituted where needed. I went ahead and used my Namiki Falcon fountain pen for the ink step above; for the cat sketch I used the felt tip brush pen. On some papers the fountain pen would tend to make much broader strokes than usual when used over watercolor, so the felt tip is probably the better choice.

My Pentel brush pen with “light black” ink (looks gray; can’t remember the precise name of it as I’ve had it a very long time) is a bit on the dark side. I’ve ordered some lighter gray pens like those Mike uses.

Overall, I think I’m going to love this color first, ink later method — as long as I can still use a little pencil first for my lines! It would be much better for capturing landscapes and forest scenes; I never know quite where to begin when drawing them in ink. And I love how watercolors mix together on paper, though I need to be sure I’m using more water than I usually do.

That older Pocket Palette behind my regular one has been set up with 2 sizes of large mixing pans and a bit of sponge in between them, for dabbing a brush on. I’d like to let colors mix more on the page (usually I pre-mix for exact colors) but these pans let me mix juicy amounts of washes.

Egret . . . and Sierra

I haven’t felt much like sketching the past week. Last Friday, our granddaughter’s sweet cow Sierra went into premature labor, ending with the stillbirth of a beautiful deep red calf.

Instead of drawing Sierra, I drew Egret yesterday. This feral Siamese has lived in Sierra’s cow shed since a feral rescue group brought her out to our farm to hunt rodents. Still mostly wild, she bonded with the cow, following her around just like the white birds who follow cattle in nearby pastures — hence her name. She helps control rats who get into the animals’ feed, sometimes leaving her victims for our inspection as we come to leave her a bit of cat food.

As Sierra struggled with contractions Egret kept a close eye on her, circling us and being very vocal (as only Siamese cats can be). She seemed to show deep concern for her friend but didn’t want to get too close to us humans. 

The following morning, as Sierra slowly walked over to a feed trough built between the 2 pastures, our 2 donkeys came over to share the fresh hay with her — in spite of high winds which the donkeys detest. As soon as Sierra left, they returned to their own shelter out of the wind but it seemed as if they shared Egret’s concern.

I love how Egret perches on fence posts, looking very much like the Aplomado Falcon that also hunts rodents in our pastures. There are plenty of rats, mice, gophers, and moles to share.

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.

scrapple . . . with an R

I drew this earlier this week -- then didn't get around to adding the watercolor until last night. Then thought I'd add as a header the word "scrapple" this morning.

Apparently it is too early in the day for spelling skills -- I forgot the R and had to squeeze it in.

After Bill and I got engaged, his family invited me for a visit to meet them (he was on his Navy ship in California; I was in Kansas). I stayed overnight with his father, step-mom, his three youngest siblings, and his grandparents.

That morning, his grandmother set this stuff on a plate before me and told me I'd need to learn to cook it because Billy loves it! I'd never heard of scrapple before. It's actually cornmeal mush with bits of ham in it, molded overnight then fried, and you eat it with butter and maple syrup. I wasn't so sure about it back then, but I love it now.

Our oldest son Jason asked me to make some for him and our granddaughter Jayna recently; it had been many years since we had made it! But his request made us want to make up some of our own. Yummy!

a beginning

Yesterday’s journal entry wasn’t much, but it’s a beginning.

I simplified my favorite 21 pigments (those in my larger Folio Palette) to this set of 15. The other 6 colors can be mixed with these; I just keep the others in the larger palette for convenience.

For those interested, these colors are:

quinacridone red

quinacridone gold

Hansa yellow medium

apatite green genuine

cerulean blue chromium 

ultramarine blue

indanthrone blue

raw sienna 

transparent red oxide

piemontite genuine

raw umber

buff titanium

titanium gray

lunar black

Jane’s Grey

All from Daniel Smith, most very transparent. Some may wonder why 2 whites and 2 blacks — I’m a bit fascinated by having one cool and one warm of each (especially interesting to play with on statuary or rocks) plus they are good mixers.

The paper in this Seawhite Travel Journal is 200gsm (94 lb.) and curled a bit in the corner with the wet watercolor. But it dried flat so I don’t think it will be an issue.

UPDATE: I tweaked this set a bit further by removing the cool white (titanium gray) and warm black (lunar black), increasing the buff titanium to a regular-sized pan. This gave me space to add mini pans of Potter's Pink and Cobalt Turquoise -- just because I love these two!

closing 2021, new sketchbook chosen

Last day of 2021, final sketch in this Stillman & Birn journal: a watercolor travel journal from Seawhite of Brighton. This brand is new to me, having heard about it from artist John Harrison. Though it is not my favorite 100% cotton watercolor paper, it is cold-press. I had this A5 (5.8 x 8.3”) and a smaller size sitting on my shelf, purchased last year from Amazon.

The actual journal is black but I thought I would leave part in ink only, as John does in most of his sketches. Oddly, no matter how much blue I added to the color band, it photographed more green than aqua.