Sketchbook – Page 5 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Flower Farm

Since my return from Oregon, a lot has happened, much of which just threw life into chaos. I still have a messed up ankle which limits my ability to walk a lot – couch surfing became a major part of my life because Josh and I got covid. I don’t recall being so sick but luckily I got Paxlovid and that seemed to make a major turnaround in how I was feeling. Josh didn’t, but he recovered although he is still coughing. With covid and a bad ankle, TV was my friend, as was endless sleep. Before we got covid, though, we had to put our lovely dog Smudge to sleep – but that is a story for another time perhaps. We just miss her.

My energy levels have been really inconsistent, some days I sleep a lot, others I feel like my old self. The biggest issue has been getting back into our lives – doing what we like to do and completing them. Josh has been insulating the garage, and I have been thinking about things to do. Finally I had the energy to clean up the house a bit, and the studio, and finally to just get it together enough to fill a pen with ink and find some paper and paint.

I did a pencil sketch first, and then inked in the above using Carbon Ink by Platinum. Very nice stuff! You can put it into a pen and draw without too much worry about clogging up your pen. I think it is a pigmented ink, but I may be wrong. It is different from writing ink because of its intensity and being waterproof, which most inks are not. After inking in the drawing and letting the ink dry, I erased my pencil sketch and scanned the image.

From here, just find the right pan paint set. This is one by Koi, and as it got a good review, I thought I would try it. It is inexpensive, but the colors are really nice and have a clarity and beauty that many cheap watercolor sets lack. Very pleased with the results – good transparency combined with richness of color.

It always feels good to get back to what you like, doesn’t it? Slow steps. I am so bored with not feeling good and hobbling around! Hopefully the visit to the orthopedist – delayed because of covid – will not indicate surgery for messed up tendons and sloppy joints. Ah, well.

Carbon ink, 100% cotton paper, Koi watercolor pan paints; about 8×10.

First Tomatoes

This year, for me, it has been a challenge getting in tomatoes. Our wet winter and gloomy spring months make anything wanting sun not a galloping success. However, I did persevere and put in a right load of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, mostly in containers. The other day I noticed my first tomatoes had set – these are ones I have never grown before, called “Fourth of July” and are a slicing tomato.

I have other tomato plants, too, which I hope will do well. I think as the summer progresses it will be seen as fail or success. I do have a lot of blossoms, though, so I can at least hope!

When I was doing this sketch I was thinking to myself that these sketches of the garden will give me plenty of opportunities to mix greens . . .

And, we had the first mesclun tonight in our salad!

Watercolor, ink, Chinese fanfold sketch book

Verbena & Lavender

Years ago I bought a tiny pot of Lemon Verbena, and since then it has been a wonderful presence in the patio garden. It’s hardy and easy to take care of, needing a bit of pruning, water, and occasionally fertilizer. I cut it back every year and sometimes when it’s dried up because of neglect. It always comes back. Lemon Verbena has a wonderful, light citrus scent, and the leaves are actually really good in cake!

Lemon Verbena flowers are nothing spectacular. They are teensy and have a rather frond like appearance and sit atop the branch of the verbena. They develop side branches and leaves, and if you there a lot of them, it’s really quite delicate and pretty.

On the other hand, the lavender plant nearby has rather showy purple blossoms on a stalk. I think this variety is Spanish Lavender – but I dunno! I have about 3 or 4 lavenders running around, each different, but each with a lovely lavender scent.

More in my fanfold sketchbook with ink and watercolor.

Waiting to be Planted

For the past several days I have had a lot of little gardening projects going on. I transplanted a number of seedlings into pots. I also started seeds. I have some seedlings I have sent on to a new home. This season I have vegetables already setting fruit, even it won’t mature for weeks, and seeds which are sprouting, and seeds I am waiting to sprout. Vegetables this year include winter (hard, yellow) squash, bush beans, radishes, lettuce, pepper of the hot variety, tomatoes, parsley and cilantro.

I also have a lot of flowers. These include hummingbird and butterfly mixes all thrown together in the front flower bed as well as foxglove, larkspur, polka dots (which I think are scabiosa or pincushion plants), carnations, nigella, Mexican sunflowers, Titan sunflowers (they can grow 12 feet tall with seed heads 24″ across!), and moonflowers. Herbs include the usual rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme, basil, but I have also added summer savory and a few Asian ones for variety. Mint and lemon balm and lemon verbena.

With all this work, there has been little time for sketching or painting. Thus I decided, much like my “Not Taken Vacation” that a sketchbook dedicated to this year’s gardening efforts would be fun to do. I have a fanfold Chinese calligraphy book I am using. It is a fanfold, so I can spread it out if I want to create a panorama, or use individual pages.

Above, just an individual page to get a sense of the paper. It is very soft and very absorbent, as well as a creamy color that is far from white, but not yellow. I figured my first foray into this documentation would be best served with a simple ink and watercolor drawing to see how the paper handled. Overall, I like it. The soft paper requires a bit more caution with the water, yet it does seem to handle it very well.

So, a few pony packs with seedling waiting for a home on my gardening table. My hand trowel is not well represented, but such is life! Meanwhile, I can enjoy the sweet smell of a freshly turned bit of earth and dream of flowers and garden produce.