Gifts from the Kids

When the kids gift me with trinkets and whatnot, I love to sketch them.  These are from last month I hadn't posted yet.  

Seems I'm getting a bit lazy these days blogging my work.....LOL.  I really need to get back in the habit of blogging as it is a means of a personal art diary for myself and to print for the family.

This first trinket is one that Travis got me years ago from Universal Studios here in Florida.  This first one is a Family statue representing parents and three kids.  I decided to draw it and then use ivy to decorate it.

Mother's Day gift (2024) from Madison.  Again using ivy plus flowers to decorate the trinket that has a significant meaning to Madison.

This next one is a plant and water vase from Madison and Jonathan they picked up on one of their trips to Orlando.

Ivy Plant in Pot and Glass

This is from an ivy plant growing in my bathroom.  The section I drew is what is draping over the pot onto the edge of my bathtub.  I first drew the plant and then on a separate layer, created the pot.  Then I decided to work yet another layer for the glass.

Catching Up With Latest Drawings Plus Other

A lot has been going on the last few months but I have still managed to get some artwork done...two of which were therapeutic in nature.  

Have also been busy with completing several diamond art kits and playing with Legos.

Birth of a new family member....Miss Sophia (nephew's first born):

Personal Challenge...to illustrate the first things that come to mind living in Florida that differs from living up north and that I have seen/experienced:

Birthday gift - recording the growth of lily buds that were in the arrangement Travis sent to me:

From a section of one of my diamond art kits.  Madison loves bees and I thought of her as I did this:

Learning a new technique called Dispersion and as a therapeutic means to unload some emotional/mental turmoil I've chosen not to bog me down:

Portrait of daughter-in-law:

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Darlene, I learned about botanical Legos.  

Birthday set from hubby:

My husband and I, as old as we are, still love building with Legos.

Magnolia Seed Pod

It took a few years before this tree would bloom.  Then we would miss the blooms and only find evidence that the tree had indeed produced a few flowers by finding dried up pods.  This year I was able to follow the blooming process of about half a dozen flowers from bud to pod with seeds.  

We were down to two pods remaining on the tree after hard rains and high winds knocked the other pods off prematurely.   One started popping seeds while the other still has a few days to go before it does (probably due to it being in a shadier area).  

I cut the pod off the tree while only a few seeds were popping out.  It's been sitting on my desk and each day more and more seeds emerge.

This was quite a challenge for me due to the complexity of the pod itself....especially those areas where seed had not started showing.  Part of the pod was a light tan to a pinkish tone to brown.  The flesh was still somewhat soft when I first cut the pod off the tree.  As the seeds emerge, the pod changes to brown and hardens.  My drawing is at the earlier stage showing the color variation when still soft.

UPDATE:  I thought I would remove the writing and date to print off as an ATC as well as adding another leaf to the left corner.  I haven't quite decided which I like better....with or without the added leaf.  (Fortunately, I can always revert back to without the added leaf if I need to.)

Playing With Color - Ink Drawing from Jan 2021

Taking a break from a couple major projects I'm working on, I decided to play a bit with color.  I chose to use a pen and ink drawing I had worked back in January when my youngest son sent flowers to help brighten my day after a major family upset.  

I decided to make a print of the original on Stonehenge watercolor 140 lb cold press paper so that I could apply watercolor while maintaining my original as a pen and ink only drawing.

Once painted, I decided to play with some paper I had added only watercolor swatches to for possible backgrounds.  One with the original pen and ink and one with the watercolor version layered overtop for comparison.

Hibiscus

Was in the mood to sketch some flowers and I chose the sketch what's blooming right outside our kitchen window.

We have several hibiscus, most of which have the orange flowers.  Also have a Hawaiian Hibiscus my youngest son gifted me with and also a double peach hibiscus.  What I love is the fact these flowers basically bloom all year long.

Fabriano old stock Hot Press watercolor paper with TWSBI 580 (EF) and #41 Brown ink.  QoR watercolors.

 

Grapefruit Buds and Early Formation of Fruit

For ink and watercolor this month, I chose to do these two pages first showing the initial buds and early fruit on our grapefruit tree.

Worked in handsewn journal using old stock of Fabriano Hot Press 140 watercolor paper, TWSBI 580 with new EF nib and #41 Brown.  I decided to use other than Sap Green for my greens...all Daniel Smith pigments.

Note about the TWSBI 580:  After working with the 580 and a F nib for a while, I purchased the EF replacement nib and definitely prefer the EF nib.  The TWSBIs I have all feed wet compared to other pens and the F nibs were feeding ink that took too long to dry.  With one sketch I worked even after 20 minutes smudged when I went to erase the pencil lines.  

Ibis, Dessert, and Orchid

After the big disappointment with the Magnolia, I decided to redirect my interest in other things to sketch.

One of the days I went out to check on the Magnolia, these Ibis were in the back near the tree.  I was able to move around a bit without scaring them taking pictures.  These guys seldom come to the back yard so it was a surprise to me to see them there.

Terry went to get some ice cream for us and knowing I'm trying to watch my calorie intake, he found these mini cones.  Nestles makes mini drumsticks and I have always loved their large cones but Publix was out of them.  So he decided to get these from Blue Bunny for me to try. 

Last month I worked a watercolor sketch and a digital sketch of my orchid at the bud stage.  I wanted to work another digital with it in full bloom and got a bit carried away.  This took me hours starting yesterday morning at 10 a.m. and worked it off and on until 4:30 this morning.  Then I picked back up on it at around noon and finished this afternoon.  Today's work was fine tuning after a few hours of sleep and fresh eyes adding deeper values, blending and smoothing edges.

Big Disappointment - Magnolia Flower

So far I have seen and monitored two buds that opened and went through the stages up to all petals turning brown.  There was another bud ready to open as of last night I was so looking forward to seeing as there were no limbs or bunches of leaves to hinder the flower from opening completely.  

When I woke up, I went outside and took a picture of that bud and knew that sometime through the day, it would definitely open.  And I was right.  UNFORTUNATELY, sometime during the day, something attacked this flower leaving petals on the ground exposing an entire side of the center.  Chances are it may have been squirrels as we have an over-abundance of them this year eating up our growing avocados and causing havoc at our bird feeders.  Neighbors are also complaining about how bad the squirrels are this year.  One neighbor in particular has already trapped over two dozen (just from his yard) relocating them to the National Forest near us.

Last page in journal from Fay.  TWSBI 580ALR w/#41 Brown / QoR and DS watercolors.

Watching and Documenting Growth of Magnolia Flower

When we moved into the house we first rented and then purchased, we cut down all but about 6 feet of trunk of a scraggly looking magnolia we didn't think was doing well.  Our plan was to place a bird house on top hoping to attract Blue Birds.  We never got around to building the bird house and the next thing we knew, we had new growth growing from this trunk to include side branches.  Here a few years later we have a nicely shaped magnolia tree.

The type we have is an evergreen variety (Southern Magnolia??) that is showy with dark green leaves on the front or top surface and a gold/bronze color underneath.  The leaves are large and waxy.

We noticed the last two years the tree had actually produced a few flowers only because we saw the seed pods.  We kept missing the flowers themselves.  This year I was determined to see them and starting around mid April, I started locating a few flower buds.  At first I could only find three but have since noticed several others...mainly up higher.

At first it was hard to distinguish between leaf buds and flower buds but didn't take long to notice the difference.  The flower buds are fuller at the base looking like a bulb compared to the leaf buds.

Over the weekend we saw our first flower open in a cup shape.  Come evening I noticed the flower closed up.   Next morning I found the flower was wide open spilling stamens that would catch on the cup shaped petals.  By evening, the petals were turning a Burnt Sienna like color of brown.  My understanding is that the flower life is basically two full days before turning brown and petals finally dropping leaving a cone shape that continues to develop into seed pods.

As of yesterday we had two fully opened flowers - both at the point of petals turning brown.  There is one bud that is getting close to opening and have found several others at the point in this first sketch.

First two using sketchbook with Fabriano Hotpress paper.  TWSBI 580ALR (F) w/#41 Brown ink.  QoR and DS watercolors.

This one using same sketchbook but using TWSBI Eco (EF) w/Urban Grey ink / same watercolors.

Didn't feel like messing with watercolor so I worked this rough sketch in Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook using mechanical pencil .7

State of flower as of last night.

Pen Versus Paper

For my goal to work at least one straight pen and ink sketch for the month, I started sketching these simple flowers.  I started in one of the hand-sewn books I made year before last using up old stock of Fabriano Hotpress paper.  I've not had issues before but I sure did with this page.

Using my TWSBI 580ALR with fine nib, I felt this drag like I would imagine trying to sketch on waxed paper.  The ink went down very light almost like it had been watered down.  Going back over those lines, the paper then grabbed the ink making areas super dark.  

Not real happy with the results but then I really didn't feel like putting much more effort into this due to the way my pens were behaving on this particular page.  The following two pages didn't give me trouble so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I won't run into this again with the remaining pages in my sketchbook.

Something Totally Different

No idea what prompted me to look into family crests but I spent awhile looking at those, wedding crests, and mono crests.  I was intrigued by those not traditional with shield and armor and started thinking about what I could come up with that fits me.  And rather than designing all new content, I decided to go through my previous sketches and paintings and use some of my favorites.

This would be classified probably as mixed media digital since I used both digital and watercolor sketches to make this up and designed it in photoshop elements.

This represents my favorite bird which is the hummingbird.  It includes my favorite colors which are greens and golds.  Green represents nature and life and golds represent warmth and comfort.  This "crest" represents my love for art, fishing, gardening, and includes my favorite sketching model, Opal.   And the quote is how I live. 

Printed and placed in a magnetic acrylic block using old stock of Arches Infinity Museum Quality Digital Art printer paper (I found another box I hadn't used yet).  My go to for ATC cards before Canon partnered with Arches and that particular paper is no longer available.  This was always my favorite before finding Red River papers.  The one thing I like about the Arches was the texture of the paper.  Red River Aurora that I purchased is more like a hotpress surface but is bright white and makes your prints pop.  Arches Infinity is a softer white with a coldpress like texture.

Off Day - Watercolor Sketch Failure vs Digital

After working on my Ipad, I wanted to do some work in my journal.  This started out with a pencil sketch which was off a bit on the two right flower buds.  Instead of doing what I normally do by going over the pencil with ink (correcting proportions or lines), erasing pencil, and then adding watercolor, I proceeded to add color first..........BIG Mistake.

Working right to left, as soon as I laid down some color over the graphite, I knew I was in trouble.  The graphite muddied the paint and I tried to over compensate resulting in the two buds being over worked.  Then thought maybe adding the ink lines might help.  Nope!!!  I didn't have those two sketched in correctly and the ink lines magnified that fact.

The two left flower buds I took my kneaded eraser shaping it like a rolling pin and rolled across the pencil lines picking up excess graphite hoping that might work better, and it did.  My state of mind was already "ehhhh" with what I was working on but pushed through it and finished painting.  Then added the ink lines.  I do not care for ink and wash with ink after color because it's too stark looking to my eyes.  If I'm going to work ink and wash, I want the ink lines down first.  I also prefer to "slap" on color to give life to ink sketches as I don't tend to over work my watercolor.

Being totally dissatisfied with how things turned out, I decided to work this again in Procreate.  The results for me were much better.  I love the ability to stroke and blend like one would using oil paint.  

With this digital, I worked differently than I normally do.  Instead of working multiple layers, I only worked on one.  It worked out OK but I prefer stacking layers working each color on its own layer as well as individual components.

My Orchid as of 04/11/21.  It didn't flower last year after being repotted in 2019.  This year it's flowering but flowers are deeper in color and smaller.  I only ended up with four buds with one appearing it may not open.  While the buds were forming, I lost two leaves.

Watercolor Sketch in Journal:

 

Procreate Version:  The color is better with it leaning towards purple.... not as pink as the watercolor version.  I never have liked mixing purple watercolor as it always looks dingy no matter the mix combination I choose to use.  Gouache brush tool was used exclusively for this to include smudging.

The pencil sketch I had worked in the journal was scanned before adding color.  I uploaded that scan to my Ipad and used it as my reference for the digital version.  At the same time, I had the photo on my computer for reference which helped with how off I was on the two right flower buds in my sketch.

As much as I have enjoyed watercolor in the past, I am finding myself feeling really hesitant in wanting to use watercolor anymore.  This is one reason if I want color, I find myself grabbing my Ipad instead.  I am also finding I prefer NOT to mimic ink and wash but instead leaving ink out altogether when painting on my Ipad using Procreate.

Another Rose from Neighbor

Yesterday our neighbor gave Terry Tai dumplings, Tea Eggs he makes, and a cake of some sort made from tea with a cream center.  The cake is green and you can definitely taste the tea.  The cream center is mildly sweet.  

Along with the food, our neighbor's wife cut a rose off their rose bush and gave to Terry to give to me.  These roses have a heavenly scent but do not last long once cut.  I like sketching these roses as this is my way of keeping them alive.

Procreate / Gouache brush tool

As a way of thanking them, I printed off the vase I painted that they gave me last year along with a painting of Bougainvillea that represents a memory of our neighbor's father before passing.  Thomas used to come over and tend to our Bougainvillea training it to climb the Oak tree that was out front.  I used one of the square acrylic photo blocks with the Bougainvillea showing on one side and the vase on the other.

Our Neighbor's Amaryllis

Across the street at the left corner, grow these beautiful Amaryllis beneath our neighbor's tree.  These beauties circle the trunk and extend out about 2 to 3 feet.  One was cut for me and Terry was told he was welcome to come dig some up if we wanted as they need to thin them out a bit.  He plans to do so come Fall.

Procreate - Painting / Gouache brush tool.

This was quite a challenge to work.  The flower not so much but the vase was a bit tricky as I didn't want it to be too detailed taking away from the flowers.  The vase has a multi-ridged body and with this I only wanted to suggest that rather than render it in true form.  With the results, I'm on the fence and may re-visit after several days.  I kept going back and forth and finally got tired messing with it.

I am happy with the flowers, however, and decided to include a cropped version leaving out the vase altogether.

Full drawing:

Cropped Version:

Trying a Different Brush Tool - Gouache Brush Tool

An art friend who is using Procreate has been working on portraits and I've been amazed by her results.  Curious to which brush tool(s) she was using, I learned she was using the Painting / Gouache brush tool.

Normally I go for the Waterbrush but decided to try the Gouache to see what I could do with it with subjects I enjoy sketching.

For my first attempt, I went outside and clipped a few stems from one of our Azaleas to produce this quick sketch.  The initial line drawing was using the BJD Standard Ink brush tool and then switched over to the Gouache to add color.  This was just to play a bit and get a "feel" for how this brush tool applied color and also using it for smudging or blending. 

Next I decided to use my ballpoint pen sketch of an old fashioned rose I drew last year and scanned and uploaded to my Ipad to be used in the Procreate app.  I had worked this particular sketch into a digital drawing in September using different brush tools.  This time I wanted to use the Gouache brush tool creating a softer color version of the rose and without the pen and ink with wash look.

Various Fruit Blossoms Budding

Right now we have lemon and orange blossoms showing on our trees.  We discovered our young grapefruit has also developed buds nearly two years after being planted.  The grapefruit we will not allow to fruit this year but look forward to next year when we can allow it to do so.

Another discovery is the avocado tree that sprouted near the one we had to remove due to a disease it developed soon after moving here has sprouted buds.  

Daniel Smith Watercolors - Fr Ultra Hansa Yellow plus Cad Yell, Bt Sienna, Bt Umber, Cer Blue

TWSBI 580ALR with Lexington Grey ink

Fabriano Old Stock in handmade journal by Fay

Using the same sketchbook and pen and watercolors plus Quin Rose.

Although not flashy like the buds and flowers of other fruit trees, it's a big deal for us being this is the first budding and flowering of our Avocado tree.  Flowers are a whitish/Green and very tiny.  The only color that stands out is the yellow in the centers.  These little flowers do stand out against the green of the huge leaves but chose not to include in sketch.  I was primarily recording the new buds and flowers that have developed.

Same sketchbook, pen and watercolors as mentioned in previous journal sketches.

Monthly Theme - March 2021

For March, the number chosen ended up being, "what's in your bathroom."  What is in mine can be anything from your standard bathroom items to bookshelf, free standing wood cabinet, books, stuffed animals, plants, and even my pet bird.  Plenty of variety to sketch.

To start out with, I decided to sketch a few standard items and chose to work in pencil.  This also takes care of my "one graphite" sketch for the month.  Worked in the Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook using a Graphgear 1000 / .7 mechanical pencil.

This next represents where I moved plants from the sunroom to the bathroom when we thought my oldest son and his family were going to move to Florida and stay with us for awhile.  After family deciding not to move, I decided to leave the plants in the bathroom.  

There is a very large window over a garden tub I never use that has a ledge around it.  The sunlight is from the south and not as harsh as it is in the sunroom due to the thick hazy glass (can't think of the proper word for the type glass).  I find the plants are liking it better in the bathroom.  I lost almost all of my Lucky Bamboo plants but after cutting way back and placing in the bathroom, they are showing hope for revival.  My other plants appear to be happier to include the succulents I grow.

Sketchbook with old stock of Fabriano Artistico paper / TWSBI 580ALR with Lexington Grey ink / Daniel Smith watercolors.

Takes care of my pen and ink plus watercolor for the month of March.

This next is my digital for the month of one of several Beanie Baby Bears I have on hand.  The shelving unit (Secretary) is in the bathroom which holds bears, DVD cases, and books.

Procreate using BeeJayDel's pencil brush tools 2B, 4B, and 6B

Good thing my bathroom is large.  Another subject in my bathroom is Mango who's cage is quite large on a wrought iron rolling base.  I have it sitting near the Garden tub I never use with plants lined up all around the ledge of the tub.

Mango seems much happier although it took a few days for him to adjust to being moved.  Eventually, I'll return him to the sunroom but as long as I have wood burning projects going on, it's best I leave him where he is.

Procreate using Painting / Waterbrush brush tool and BJD's Standard Inker

Although I have a lot more I could sketch from my bathroom, this more than fulfills my monthly theme goal.  I may do more during March that fits the theme but for now I can relax knowing all my goals have been met.

Pen and Ink - Late Night Sketching

One of those nights where I just wasn't tired enough to sleep, so I sketched and caught up on a few TV recordings.

Things we find when out walking I often save (if possible) for sketching subjects.  This one is of a cluster of leaves and acorn caps still attached that have dried but still in tact.

This takes care of my one pen and ink for the month of March.

TWSBI 580ALR with Noodler's Lexington Grey ink worked in Fabriano journal made by Fay

Honeybell Oranges

One of the sweetest oranges we've ever tasted and by far the juiciest is the Honeybell.  It's surprising the time of the year they are ready to harvest starting around the end of December / beginning of January.  And even after a couple freeze warnings we've had, they are still going strong.  What is left remain inside the tree canopy and they are huge and very orange.  

We have several neighbors we share these with so not to go to waste.  One lady uses them in her fruit cakes, which is the best we have ever had.  Terry bags several for Madison's bus driver and neighbors who are unable to come pick their own, Terry will bag and take to them. 

Honeybells are a cross hybrid of tangerine and grapefruit.  They are very easy to peel and only have minimum seeds.   The one tree we have is very productive and here soon fruit will be replaced with an abundance of flowers.

QoR Watercolors / TWSBI 580ALR w/Lexington Grey ink / 6x8 Journal with old stock of Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.