A very memorable moment on the bike tour was accidentally competing in a road race. Competing is a bit of a stretch. If I recall on day three of the bike tour, I hurt so much and the hills were so steep that I walked my bike for a third of the day. Originally Posted February 03, 2007
Jucumba - 37 milesI'm typing out from Andre's house here in the border town of Jucumba. It's at the bottom of a hill 300 yards from Mexico in the neighborhood of Patron's roots. Once again some amazing hospitality meeting us at the end of a long day. We were giving Andre a ring from the pay phone and we rode to his house in the dark. We're his first warm showers guests since he moved here in November. We feel pretty special and he hooked us up with laundry and an air mattress. The good news is that the climbing is pretty much over. We have a little tomorrow, but it is nothing like yesterday or even today. Along our travels today since we left the ranch we ran into a bike race. We were definitely a little out of place loaded up as hundreds of men... and a few women with tiny butts whizzing right by. However, they did give me a nice shout as I went across the finish line. I did put in a bit of a push at the end. I think I even passed one of the racers. After the race ended, the day drifted away from us as the miles flew past down the huge hill. Afterwords I heard them saying things like "Did you get him in the gap or did you break away." This post isn't really organized, but I'd like to get to sleep sometime tonight and let John use the computer.
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Originally Posted February 01, 2007
Lake Jennings - 25 miles
Originally Posted January 30, 2007
The TrainWhen I woke, there was a palm tree. The sun had risen and breakfast was no longer being served. I pull out my ziplock of almonds and begin splitting them apart with my teeth revealing their smooth inner flanks. The train is stopped again as we wait our turn to get past the work gang. The snowy countryside of Oregon is now long gone. The bilingual boy of two years and six months is telling his mother incessently that his teddy bear nees to go to sleep. This is shortly after he dumped his dixie cup of water on the floor. I wake again. The rolling hills echo one another. Through the mist the cattle graze over the sparsly green grass at dusk. As we snake along slicing through nature, the hills give birth to lights and a city. The shuffly heterosexual male walks by commenting on my state of consciousness. And then on my journaling with scarlett ink..."hott stuff"...I don't have a red pen. And then have I read The Scarlett Letter. And then a joke about Hester Prynne's actions because everyone needs a hobby. Again, the shuffling by... his finger touched his lips and he leaned in as I kept my water bottle firmly in my face. "There once was a song...the sound of silence" Squakity-squak-wak-6:45 dinner reservations-squakity-squak-wak. "God-damn" Earlier he pegged me and Jew as a non-Christian because we didn't get a vague hymn reference regarding a cross-eyed doll. I'd consider moving if I thought it would help me avoid him. I recently picked up this tiny little sketchbook just 3.5 x 5.5". I can really keep it in my purse and sketch something fast. I added the watercolor later when I was back at my desk. My kids were very excited to be in the sketch and even held still a bit for me. We've been huge fans of Manchester State Park lately listening to the California Sea Lions and watching all the water fowl. I even spotted some Surf Scoters. Originally Posted January 22, 2007
Manchester State ParkSpoiler alert! My brother is just in China. However, with various COVID restrictions we haven't gotten to see him since early 2020. Hats off to his girlfriend who seems to bring so much joy to his life. Plus that kitten of theirs is so cute! I always like to find ways to connect with him so far away and I do need more practice sketching people. My apologies go out to them, but at least my poor likenesses will protect their privacy. Originally Posted January 05, 2007
whole new meaning to "getting in my pants"
It is hard to make a post about a cemetery at the end of 2021 upbeat. Fraola Cemetery is still a modest resting place. There are still grey beasts departing from the earth here. I am still surprised at how far you can get on a bike in a short period of time. However, we've just had snow and it is hard for my 36 year old self to imagine going for a bike ride on New Year's Eve. The sketch above was done with Diamine Inkvent Ink: Ash. Originally Posted December 31, 2006
August and the first half of September really felt like a weather yo-yo. Now, we have now finally transitioned into autumn and it is wonderful. The spring and summer are really the best time to do Urban Sketching in western Washington. Now that the rain is here, I'm not sure how much I'll get out and sketch about town. These begonias were so gorgeous and while I like the sketch, the flowers were so much prettier in person. I've had this mosquito-netting-equipped-hammock for 15-20 years and it is still amazing. We took a couple weekends this summer to assess our camping gear situation. There were two tents that have reached the end of their lives. My back disagrees with sleeping on the ground and all of the air mattresses/pads can't seem to hold their air. I'm thankful that hammocks make camping a possibility again and I can retreat to the mountain to have some quiet creative time. I wasn't intending to do this, but my eye is really drawn to the seagull on the top of the shelter. I drew it first and then later on the seagull was replaced by a crow. We really have some great birds here. I like how I drew the cars and the people in the shelter. I was acknowledging that they were there, but not giving them much attention. This is a 7 1/2" gauge track up in Skycomish that gives free rides to the public in the non-winter months on the weekends. They have some beautiful small scale engines and because it was raining, this one was sitting still long enough for me to sketch it. There are big trains around to sketch and if the sun comes out there would be some gorgeous mountains in the background. Almost as equally entertaining is Tommy, the employee who runs the gift shop in the depot. I snuck out in between rain showers to sketch the little cabin that we rented out. The mountains even peeked out a little bit and they make a very sketchable dramatic background. I highly recommend Hwy 2 / Stevens Pass as a sketching getaway. More cursive... and a frightening trip into my imagination...It is not always possible to get out and sketch the nifty things in our community. I did start to fill the pages of my sketchbook with cursive. It was a great way to use up some ink in pens I wanted to clean out. Much of my writing was just snippets of conversation, notes from watching Netflix, or just recordings of mundane life events. Then, because I never intend to re-read the journal pages, I paint on them. I pull things out of my imagination and hope that the paint will do most of the work for me. It is a great way to get the paint brush onto the paper and just see what happens. What's next?I also spent a chunk of time crafting a planner traveler's notebook style set-up. I am loving it and I'm going to share it in a video with you soon. I think as the weather cools down more I'll be doing more of this cursive business and also working on some Winter Projects. I'm honing in on a book about Train Days and a werewolf/there was an old lady who swallowed a fly style story. Wish me luck!
I was just sitting down to write my reflections and my kitten wanted to curl up inside my shirt. This is the most adorable thing ever, but this time it alerted me to her need for a bath. You'd be proud. I didn't get any large gashes this time. This has been the story of July. It has been all kitten baths and meltdowns over breakfast cereal. It has been a challenging month and I would ordinarily be hard pressed to remember the good moments. Thankfully, I can look back at my sketches and remember some really amazing moments... some with my kids and some without. My sister and I got out (no kids) and met up with the Bremerton Urban Sketching group #uskbremerton. This group is filled with wonderful, talented, and encouraging sketchers. They all have great stories to tell and this street even had its own story to tell. I wish I'd captured the seagull that made an unusual noise or the skateboarders that were constantly streaming down this one-way section of street. Our church services moved back inside this month. It has come with its own set of challenges and you can see I've illustrated the hybrid zoom/ in-person service we've done. As a sketcher moving inside has been tough and i've struggled with picking a subject several times. This was really the most amazing fourth of July. I met up with some family and our kids ran around and played on the beach and even got themselves pretty wet and salty. I didn't know that there would be an airshow with the Tacoma Narrows Bridges in the background. Such a treat! The next day I went with my kids and husband to a park on the other side of the Narrows and started to sketch the bridges. Immediately and randomly my TWSBI Eco with Noodler's Ink Rome Burning started burping/blotching ink. I tried to make the best of it, but it took forever to dry and I even had to blot it the next day. Noodler's Ink bonds with cellulose and some of the thick spots didn't have any cellulose to bond with. Thankfully on Goulet Nation's Facebook page someone was having a similar problem. Air was getting into my pen and the suggestion of reseating my nib and feed unit did the trick. I love our new house color! I might get to painting our exterior doors this weekend. The bubblegum pink color I picked out will hopefully be an amazing pop of color. We would kind of be cheating if we called this an urban sketch. The cross wasn't really in the background of the flowers. It was in the room, but much farther off to the right. The mess of keyboard, microphones, speakers, and cords directly behind the flowers were not what I wanted to sketch that morning. I do like what I did with the stems under water. I used fountain pen on a wetted spot of paper. We don't have the most architecturally interesting church, but I believe it was designed to be reminiscent of a barn. This is Sally's house. It had more rooflines than I had anticipated when I suggested we get together and I sketch her house. I let her keep it after I took a picture. Then because I still wanted a sketch to bring home with me from the trip I did this fast sketch of Sally. It doesn't do her justice, but she did have a really cute hair flippy thing happening that day. There was a fun story behind her necklace. It was a souvenir that she had wanted, but didn't get. Years later she happened upon it second hand and snatched it up for a fraction of the price. Also, her lips are not large and red... but I thought large red lips would be fun. This was another Bremerton Urban Sketching outing and I opted to do this plaque really close up. This month I demonstrated that I really need to practice sketching people more. I sketched my StablO portable easel for a review. Check that out here. I posted it up on instagram and I even recieved comments from StablO in France. They hadn't yet seen anyone use it with a spiral notebook the way I had. Very fun! This church and the trash can below were both done at Kiwanis Park in Bremerton at another Bremerton Urban Sketchers meet up. I hadn't meant for the reliefs on the end of the church to look like music notes, but they look like they are. Also, the power lines look like a disorderly music staff. I finished the month with a bang. I had day to myself and after I spent the morning screen printing, I headed out to downtown Port Orchard. Our family loves this clock tower on the town hall. The clock is partially broken and it is going to cost way too much to fix, it was all great to sketch. In order to get this view I had to set up on the sidewalk: lots of car traffic, but not much foot traffic. On my way to find a rueben I spotted a couple of unusual masts in the distance in the marina. The Lady Washington was tied up! It was an amazing view for my dinner and it stayed long enough afterwards to sketch. I got lucky!
June was a busy month for me creatively, but I didn't get in as much sketching in June as I did in May. However, I do like to focus on the 3 W's (What Went Well).
I have found taking random notes in cursive and then adding a bit of a random sketch on top to be quite fun and relaxing! Ducklings are always really cute! My son turned 7 in June and he did this sketch at church. He also changed his tune from "I don't sketch, I draw" to "I am good at sketching"... one of our greater achievements this month! Microphones really are fun to sketch! I met up with the Urban Sketchers Bremerton group @uskbremerton in downtown Bremerton at the marina near the giant propeller. I didn't feel like tackling the propeller and there was this great cluster of giant planters nearby. It was so great to chat with other sketchers and find all of the other things we also shared interest in. My husband is very active in this local club that gives train rides to the public for free. So there is often a line and it was very fun to sit and watch all the parents and kids waiting. I was able to sneak this sketch in while our littlest one took a nap in the stroller. My cousin really enjoys meeting up with my while I sketch and she knits... so we went and checked out the cool old buildings at her alma mater, Pacific Lutheran University. The campus was extra dead for the summer + COVID and there was a nice warm rain (something we don't get much of here). I've done a lot of sketching during outdoor church services and I mixed it up by trying to do the beautiful rose. The windows behind the rose are actually kind of special to me because they belong to the office my mom used for many many years. Gateway Park on the Key Peninsula in Gig Harbor was a blast for our family. After we enjoyed the splash pad, I tucked myself up on the hill and sketched. For some reason I wanted to do a really really good job because it was the last page in my sketch book. I am really happy with it. I especially like all the dandelions on the bottom left. We had a second meet up with the Urban Sketchers Bremerton group in June. This was the Saturday morning of a very hot weekend. We had record setting temperatures the following Monday. So we sketched from where we could find shade to sit... a bit of a limiting factor, but I think it worked out great. The group can be found on Instagram @uskbremerton. Megan @heythere.chickadee has been doing a great job of organizing the meet ups! Looks like I was using my Kung Te-Cheng Ink on the 26th and I did these last two sketches indoors where it was cooler.
I had a busy May which left me with will little free time. However, all of the extras had me really needing that creative therapy. The first half of the month I only made time to sketch while I was at church. This is a practice I've been enjoying because it forces me to sketch quickly and I have captive subjects. Sketching people feels less intrusive than photographing them during a church service. It has also given me something to post on our church Facebook page. The kids and I popped over to Bremerton on the foot ferry. We walked in the direction of where I'd heard from my husband that there was an Urban Sketching meet up flyer. After I sketched this sculpture we were able to find the poster and get the details. The Urban Sketching group in Bremerton is just starting up. I love sketching microphones! Dare you to try it! I always find it a little confusing that the Port of Bremerton has a park in Port Orchard. There are these interesting lamps along the waterfront that I never notice unless I'm sketching them. I also really like how the blue and grey roof detail turned out on the shelter on the left. The second meet up for the Urban Sketching group was at Evergreen Park and it was an extremely blustery day. There was also some bold intermittent sunshine. Apparently, the event was canceled due to said unpredictable weather. I met Justin who also came to sketch and he was subjected to some pretty wild 6:30pm behavior from my son. I doubt he was prepared for the feelings that come from a child who doesn't get to bring the abandoned gosling home. The night was capped off with a fantastic rainbow the whole drive home. Last weekend I had a day to myself and I decided to try bicycle sketching in Seattle. I know what you are thinking and no I did not sketch while I was pedaling. It is a faster way to get to different sketching spots and I refuse to drive to Seattle. My feet thanked me for not making them walk 5+ miles on pavement. It also made it easy for me to drag my sketching (camp) chair along. I'm actually running a little low on space in my Stillman & Birn Beta Square sketchbook. They are not super available right now... so I have decisions to make about what else I want to try. I thought I would buy myself a little extra time by working in the Stillman & Birn I devoted to cursive and watercolor. These are not considered Urban Sketches. There are specific rules for those sketches, especially if you are posting sketches up in a group. I love driving up to Green Mountain Horse Camp, but I struggled to find something I want to sketch up there. The last of the horses, mules, and donkeys just headed out after the holiday weekend. Just a bunch of green foliage and peaceful bird sounds... Naturally when surrounded by glorious nature, I chose to paint a car.
A couple days ago, my aunt was looking at my work and she said that she can’t draw like that, but she wants to. Now aunts come in all shapes, sizes, and wills. This aunt is artistic, independent, hilarious, well traveled, forthright and retired. She wants to spend a whole year traveling Europe and she’ll do it. I could not understand what was standing in her way. I hear it all the time, “I can’t draw.” It is something adults will often say when they mean “I can’t draw like that and I don’t care if I ever learn.” That’s cool. We can’t all do everything. We certainly can’t do everything all the time. However, some of you actually mean “I want to draw, but I don’t feel like I have the capacity or talent to be able to.” I believe that you just need to start practicing. It takes time and my own artistic path is in its infancy. So if you always wanted to draw/paint/write/whatever here is the advice I give: 1. Pick one thing to do over and over. I kept drawing bunnies for several months and you know what? I got better. My bunnies started to look less stupid. They took on little personalities and they made me laugh. I didn’t have to waste time deciding what to draw. I just did it and with limited time in the evenings I was still able to make headway. Liz Steel warms up by drawing her coffee and tea. What would you draw every day? 2. Don’t get hung up on the materials. One day I’ll take my own advice. Use what you have. You don’t need the perfect art supplies. In fact less is probably better. 3. Share with others. You are going to need encouragement and advice. My husband will look at my stuff, but the 6 year old will give me more feedback. I enjoy the network of Urban Sketchers around the world. Also participating in a class will give you the support you need too. There is always social media. 4. Try to listen to only one voice at a time. I am always checking out 3 cookbooks at a time or 3 how-to-draw books at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Pick one teacher or one guidebook to start with. When you’re done with that then look for a new perspective. Remember that this is supposed to be fun. Actually practicing the art is more important that learning from a book how to do it the “right” way. 5. What went well? This is a great phrase to ingrain in your thoughts. Always look for the things you like about your work. Don't dwell on all the things you did wrong. I’ve got below 131 bunnies I drew and characterized before I started on the bunny clipart I made this spring. I had a blast and it was a great way to spend my winter. My family, while supportive, weren't quite sure why I was just painting another bunny. It is absolutely urban sketching season. The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and I even saw a troop of red sequin clad line dancing women in the wild. I’m sorry to say I didn’t get a sketch of them. My sister and I didn’t have an agenda when we set out. Our first stop was the quiet little Wicks Lake. We opted to not stay and sketch though because I struggle to make an interesting sketch of just trees, water, and sky. We landed in downtown Gig Harbor which was bustling with activity. I originally thought I’d sketch one of the many boats, but after setting down at a table, we both tried to tackle this Fishermans Memorial statue. Before today I couldn’t have told you this statue existed. Urban sketching has a way of making you “see” things that have always been there. I've worked sketching into a lot of other outings this spring. When the kids are along the sketches are frequently done quickly. Even a quick sketch is good practice and a nice way of making a memory. The Olympic Peninsula is beautiful and the Sequim area with the Dungeness Spit is a short walk down to the water. It was a long walk for the kids and perhaps a mistake to take it without the stroller, but I still had a bit of energy to do this quick sketch in the wind while the kids checked out the water. I need to go to Port Townsend again. There are so many interesting buildings that I could fill several weekends sketching them! I didn't even get to sketching the boats in the large boat yard. Closer to home we have a lookout/cement tower that takes in the Port Orchard Marina and the Sinclair Inlet. This day the weather dripped on my sketch, but I'll have to go back on a sunny day and try to capture the view of the Olympic Mountains. This view of the Manette Bridge is a short foot ferry ride and a twenty minute walk away from the lookout spot pictured above. Not pictured in the below illustration is the amazing Larry and Kristi's Bakery. The spot I sketched from is across the roundabout from them and they do a vegan maple bar just right! The bright blue of the water is actually a bit of Liberty's Elysium fountain pen ink. Manchester offers views of the Space Needle and the ferries that travel there. We haven't been to the needle for a while and I can't wait to visit again once things settle down. I really like it when I don't color in my whole sketch with watercolor. It is hard to know when more is more or when less is more! They even let me sketch at church! What and where have you been sketching lately? Share in the comments!
Fountain pens are amazing. They write smoother with less effort. The inks have a variety of useful, cost effective, beautiful, and at times permanent properties.
I started using them circa 2012 and I'd like to say that I didn't look back, but I did. I put the wrong ink (India ink) in my first pen and it ruined the pen. My next pen came free with my bottle of Noodler's Kung Te Cheng. However, these Platinum Preppy's got cracks and leaked. My next upgrade was to a Pilot Metropolitan. Now these are enjoyable writers, but I found that if I didn't use them daily they dried out a little and they were hard to get started. Tired of fighting with them, I put them in a bin on my shelf for about five years. About a year ago I found myself reconnecting with my favorite fountain pen retailer: Goulet Pens. Turns out they have been very busy over the last decade creating amazing YouTube videos educating you on all things fountain pens. They even have a shopping guide dedicated to Fountain Pen Tools for Sketching. I have one and only one recommendation for someone new to fountain pens who wants to use them with watercolor. It is a TSWSBI Eco. I would get one with a Fine or Medium nib to start with. Here are some key features: Ink Capacity: This pen holds a lot of whatever kind of ink you like. If you fill it up before a weekend away sketching you won’t run out. Demonstrator: The clear bodies on these pens allow you to see at all times exactly how much ink is in there. Ready to Write: You don't need to use this pen every day. In fact I've gone weeks in between uses and it is still ready to go. This was a big frustration for me with the Pilot Metropolitan. Posts: This means that you can put the cap on the back of the pen securely. If you are out sketching or if you have kids, this is a very important feature. Value: You get all these features at a very reasonable price. $31 seems like an expensive pen, but the ink is very cost effective and even more fun. Lamy makes some great pens too. My brother in law swears by a Safari and keep my Al-Star with my on the go sketching kit (mostly because it doesn't fit in my pretty pen holder on my art desk). I also enjoy a Studio because it feels substantial and it makes me feel fancy. Liz Steel loves her Joy. I love that you can swap out the nibs easily on all these models, but sometimes I get surprised that the ink ran out. Just make sure you get a cartridge converter to go with your Lamy. The TWSBI Diamond 580 is marginally more enjoyable to write with than the ECO for almost twice the price. The cap doesn't post nicely, but it is always inked up at my work desk and I reach for it all day long. I have a couple other pens and there are certainly many better pricier pens on the market. However, for a budget friendly pen that you will not outgrow I recommend the TWSBI ECO. I will do a more detailed post on ink, but to quickly pick an ink that is permanent for doing watercolor on top of I would go with either De Atramentis Document Ink Black or Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. These reviews are purely from my own personal experience and I do not profit financially from you taking my advice. Please share in the comments your favorite fountain pens for sketching. Do you do a watercolor wash over your ink? This process is supposed to be sort of mindless and easy for me. I devoted a whole Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook to this type of creative practice and I follow the same steps each time. Fewer variables = less thinking = more doing. I start by picking a song or poem that I have memorized. I try not to pick the “perfect” poem. Catch a Falling Star featured in The Princess Diaries is one I use to unsuccessfully sing the kid to sleep. I put the blue tape down to give myself a visual edge to write up to. I picked up a TWSBI Eco with a Fine nib filled with Liberty's Elysium and started practicing my cursive. Originally I was going to use my watercolors to do the stars, but I changed my mind and used little puddles of fountain pen ink. The inks were already in other TWSBI Ecos so I just twisted a few droplets out into my palette. I used from left to right: Sailor Ink Studio 162, Sailor Ink Studio 252, Noodler's Apache Sunset, Noodler's Rome Burning, Sailor Ink Studio 224, and Noodler's Dostoyevsky. The apple page is the Johnny Appleseed prayer (Noodler's Rome Burning) with watercolors over top. I did the stoplight a few months back. I wrote the little song: won't you tell me where I'm going won't you tell me when to stay won't you tell me what to do Lord it's been that kind of day I sing it to the the tune that's whistled in Robin Hood. What little songs or poems do you have memorized? Post it in the comments.
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