Month: April 2019

The Vet… And urban sketching set up.

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To be honest, Emmett and Clara like going here. They just don’t like getting weighed (!?)

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Travel palette I used:

(although I’ve created one I like even more since this sketch, which I will show you soon)

My colors here are all daniel smith: lemon yellow, perylene red, ultramarine (which I rarely use), cerulean blue chromium, phthalo turquoise, green apatite genuine, and lunar red rock. I really enjoy playing with phthalo turquoise and lunar red rock together! And the case is a pill box I found on ebay for about a dollar, using little empty makeup pans with magnets beneath them, for mixing areas. (Wait till you see my next palette, though! Stay tuned!)

I clipped the journal to a dollar tree clipboard for sketching and painting, and attached a heavy magnetic clip to the board, which held the paint palette and a water cup (also with magnets)

and I used this little bag, made for a mini iPad and its cords etc, to carry everything.

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It is $15 right now on Amazon. I love it. I got the next size up, too, which was on sale that day for $9!! I love the color, it holds what I need, and I attached a shoulder strap from another bag to it (it comes with a wrist strap) If it held my clip board too it would be PERFECT. I’m working on that. It has two separate zippered compartments… the front has elastic and pockets, and one larger zippered mesh area. PERFECT for holding my water brushes, pen, ruler, clips, and even a thin palette. The back has a pocket that exactly holds my moleskin or pentalic journal, then two mesh pouches in which I put my two large magnets. Here I show it with the palette and my terry wristband (I use this like a paper towel) but the day I was out painting I actually had those in the front zippered mesh section,  and this bottom pouch held my water cup.

This is NOT a great bag if you want to take a ton of stuff, but it is perfect if you need pen or pencil, eraser, sharpener, travel or water brush, clips, phone or charger, and medium sized journal. The shoulder strap I added from my own collection really makes it convenient.

(Disclosure: I’ve included an Amazon Affiliate link to the bag… if you purchase through the link, it supports this blog, but costs you the same amount.  However always shop around for deals. I generally find my best prices on Amazon and buy many of my supplies through them, however their prices can fluctuate daily.)

(I’m going to add one more link because it is (Currently!) such a good price…this set of 6 Daniel Smith Primatek paints… The primates are made out of minerals ground into paint, and most of those I’ve tried I really love. This set is $23.98 right now… Even at $30+ to me it would be a good deal for 6 -5ml Primatek tubes! It contains Mayan Blue Genuine, Rhodonite Genuine, Hematite Genuine, Jadeite Genuine, Piemontite Genuine, and Amethyst Genuine (which has the sweetest little glittery sparkle to it!) I haven’t tried some of these, but just added Piemontite and Rhodonite to my newest travel palette, I love them so. Good luck, if you try them! Let us know what you think!)

So… what suggestions do you have for an urban sketching kit?

Bee and cherry blossoms

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Cherry blossom feast, Chesapeake, VA, (my front yard!) April 5, 2019. Daniel Smith watercolor paints (phthalo turquoise, lunar red rock, piemontite, quinacridone gold, and a bit of bloodstone added to the bee. I also used lunar blue as under-shadows. Sketched and painted (without a pencil, yay me!!) in my handmade journal of Arches cold pressed paper. These colors are sweet together. Play around with piemontite or lunar red rock, phthalo turquoise, and quin gold. Really fun.

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Urban sketching in my neighborhood, part 2

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My house, this time.

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I’m really proud of myself for not using a pencil at all on these!

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(The brick wall curves around.)

A closer view, from March 31st.

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Newfies and cherry blossom days

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Emmett (white chest, cherry blossoms sticking to his drool) and Clara, our newfies, under our beautiful cherry trees. She looks smaller here but isn’t really, not much. I love the cherry-blossom-snow-days best of all days in our yard, I think. And they are so few!

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Emmett in back, Clara up front, playing in the cherry blossoms. I know this isn’t art related. I do plan to sketch some blossoms, though! IMG_7939

A lot of sloober, yes, but how can anyone resist those faces? (Okay, anyone without a newfie may not appreciate them. They are a mess here)

Urban sketching in my neighborhood- part 1- 4/4/19

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It’s funny how perspective is seen in a photo vs in person. I never would have realized how different it is if I weren’t doing this urban sketching so often lately. I will finish drawing the scene, take a photo, look at it, and think “Huh. That isn’t what I saw!”

Anyway, here’s a little piece of my neighbor’s house. There’s a brick wall on one side of it, and the brick pillar is part of the wall in front of the house. This particular house is very long, the two car garage you can see in the photo behind the tree, then there’s a little breezeway type room, then the full house with another two car garage.

I guess it’s really a sketch of a pillar and a tree, with some house in the background, since I didn’t didn’t draw much of the house!

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Ostrich Mail Art on Swap-bot, April 2, 2019

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Swap-bot.com is a site I’ve been active on for years and years… I swap art and handmade items (and other random fun packages) with people around the world. This is a swap for random ostrich mail art, basically anything we feel like making. I purchased an ostrich sticker and tucked it inside the envelope I painted (the paper was too thin for painting, but I did it anyway), then decided it wasn’t enough and painted a strathmore watercolor card (yeah… if I’d realized I was going to do that I could have used the envelope that went with the card, which would have actually handled the watercolor a little better! This is my level of organization and planning…) Then I enclosed the whole thing in a vellum envelope, so everything can be seen through its sheer sides, and my partner can re-use the ostrich envelope herself… and finally I added two artsy bird themed postcard stamps. I didn’t get a photo of the completed project because I had already added the addressed, which is too bad, because the whole thing looked great! It looked much better in the very slightly hazy envelope than out of it. I hope my partner enjoys it. I certainly enjoyed making it.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about Swap-bot over the years is the challenge. Without swap-bot I don’t think I’d be doing art now. I wasn’t really doing anything when I started, and didn’t know what I COULD do, or what it would mean to me, although I enjoyed drawing and crafting. I often joined swaps that were outside my comfort zone, trying artistic creative things I’d never tried before, some that I’d never even heard of, and wouldn’t have  dared to try on my own. It’s also been a great place for a little inspiration if I get stuck, because I can find a swap with a theme (paint a cat on a postcard… create a zentangled page of animals… collage a journal page with a bird theme… sew (yes sew!!) a bottle cap pincushion… write a poem about the leaves…send a package based of only pink items… and on and on) The swaps don’t have to be at all artsy or creative, but those are generally the ones I prefer.

If you enjoy creating, and mailing things out, you might enjoy swap-bot. It takes a lot of time, and planning (regardless of how poorly I planned my card and envelope combo this time), but I’ve met some really lovely people throughout the years. It is a free site, but you really have to be someone who is happy spending a lot of time on details, and also not irritated if you send something nice out but get nothing back yourself (or get something someone put no effort into). I almost NEVER get “flaked” on, but I swap pretty exclusively with people I’m familiar with now, who have developed great reputations on the site. It takes a while to make those connections.

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By the way, an ostrich isn’t as simple as you’d think!!