Under a Rain of Acorns

Yesterday I decided to finally go on a bit of a hike by myself. With a bit of trepidation, I told people where I was going, had my phone, and watched where I put my tootsies. The result was a slow meander, camera in hand, down the Chumash Trail. Housed within the area of this park is the Chumash History Museum, closed weekdays, but worth a visit.

Overhead, the half moon could be seen above the trees and glimpses of the mountainous ridges above. The pathway beneath the trees was dark and shadowy.

Though it is just weeks away from winter, here in SoCal we are experiencing dry weather, sometimes warm, sometimes cold. This morning I woke to the news that Malibu is, once again, in flames. An ironic bit as I thought I should walk down the Chumash before it burns again as I knew the east winds were on their way.

My favorite old, old tree is gone, with only a reminder of its former grandeur and an empty sky overhead.

Grasses, flowers, poison oak, toyon were present, too – some plants I could name, others I could not, but it was just a pleasure to be out, looking for deer and squirrels – listening to the birds – canyon wrens mostly, an occasional crow – and to the patter, patter of the acorns.

And, of course, everywhere are oak trees! Some scorched, some fallen, some cut down and left to return to the earth after the fire. Each tree has its own lovely and crazy shape and form, like dancers bending and arching. The Chumash Trail is a magical place and one which soothes the soul as only a walk under the trees can . . .

Last Night

Last Night

Several weeks ago the fierce, hot east winds (aka Santanas, Santa Anas) came through and the neighborhood over the hill went up in flames with over 320 structures lost. Now we expect the same situation for the next few days – dry, windy, low humidity. I used to love the wind, but now I fear it.

For days we have had sunshine and no rain, few if any clouds in the sky. Day and night are clear with a gentle breeze. Last night, though, the fog came in. Not a pea-souper fog, but enough to leave water droplets on Inky’s fur after her evening walk, and chill enough this morning to feel the damp in my bones. I always like how fog and mist distort and blur the world around me, so last night I decided to take out the little Canon G7X camera to see what I could get.

We have a cinder block wall surrounding our house, and as we sit on a corner, we really have rather nice views up and down the streets in the neighborhood. The top of the wall is flat and stable, so I used it to hold the camera in place, focus in and out for composition, and then pushed down the exposure button and held it there to keep the camera steady. I got a few shots, but this one is my favorite.

How Busy Can It Get?

No, I don’t mean life. I mean trees and piles of leaves and undergrowth – all the stuff that makes up a good fall scene! Some trees have dropped a bazillion tons of leaves and others are hanging on to them. Years of detritus build up on the ground, creating a fertile place for new growth, plant, fungal, insect, which in turn supports other life in the wilder world outside the super market.

Anyone who has taken a walk in the woods or tried to photograph or paint this jumble knows exactly what I mean – it is really a busy-ness of color and texture and shape.

This is my sketch, done with a fountain pen and some Carbon Ink by Platinum. The paper is a bit rough so it could be what caused some difficulties with the pen nib – or the pen itself is not the best – or both. I tried to convey light and dark and texture with different pen marks. Straight lines to show trees and texture and the shadows of the trees across the pathway. Contrast is suggested rather than emphasized as I wanted to use paint to give the sense of shadows and so on. With that in mind, I pulled a palette of my out-of-the-tube paints rather than pan paints, cleaned them up and went to work.

As you can see, light and dark are more emphasized with the use of color, as are the colors of the leaves and the complex shapes of trees on the left and undergrowth on the right. The leaves that have fallen have some variegation, depending on when they fell and how long they have been there. Green grasses and weeds peek through. There are a few rocks, too, and leaves on the pathway. Tree shadows fall across the trail and up onto the tree on the right. There is a brightness to the day despite the murk of the undergrowth.

After adding color, I waited for the picture to dry. I made some color adjustments. And then, back to the waterproof ink pens. This time I used Micron pens and my Uniball waterproof pens. Micron pens come in different nib widths (here 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5) and the Uniball is labelled as “fine” but in reality makes a darker, thicker mark than the Micron pens.

Overall, I am more pleased with today’s ink and wash sketch than the one I did yesterday of the plumeria. As usual, I did not do a preliminary pencil drawing but just worked from the end of the path and then moved back and forth to establish areas. I really like my tangled tree in the lower left and the shadows on the big tree on the right. The brightness of an autumn day is expressed. Now all I have to do is get to scuffling through those leaves and it will make my day.

Pen, ink, watercolor wash, on Strathmore Vision 140# CP paper, 9 x 12.

Plumeria

A package I am eagerly awaiting is supposed to be delivered today. I want to be home for it even though it is not required – I just don’t like leaving things on my doorstep even though I live in a good neighborhood where porch pirates don’t happen as far as I know. I mean, people leave their garage doors open all hours! Me, I batten my hatches and lock my doors because I prefer to, even though a part of me so wishes I could be that trusting.

And so, what to do whilst I wait? One thing is always to go outdoors and sketch. My plumeria plant has been beckoning me for some time, as a sketch and as a painting. Today, ink and watercolor wash on some Vision watercolor paper.

First, the scanned pen sketch. Waterproof ink always works when using a wash over ink. The pen itself is not especially fine, but with a lighter or heavier touch, line variations can happen. I did this without a preliminary sketch with pencil.

Then, nap and coffee and now, ready for the watercolors, I chose just a few colors – a magenta, green, yellow, blue. Mixing magenta and green produced the greys of the stems, greens and yellows the greens, and the blue and greens the background wash. The idea was to keep the colors minimalist as well as create a consistency throughout the washes.

The scan is not a good one but it does give the idea of what it looks like on paper. I am inclined to think that the background wash is not ideal and the next time I do a sketch like this I will just leave the paper white. Too many times I have been disappointed by such scans, and even with the original paintings.

Time to go knit in the sun with a good audiobook!

Watercolor, pen and ink, Strathmore Vision paper, 9 x 12 inches.

Doing, Doing, Done

I have been busy. Some things I want to do, others things are in process, being forced to listen to really bad jokes (i.e. What do you call a dinosaur with really good teeth? A flossoraptor.), and just sort of shuffling along. Artwork has been rather time consuming as I have been painting in oils and those take time to dry, so no artwork is easily posted. And I have been working on my ukulele practice, which obviously cannot be posted unless I record myself. And who would want to hear that? I am no musical genius and notoriously tone deaf.

Today my next term of oil painting begins. This is the painting – in progress – I will bring to class this afternoon to work on. It’s been drying a bit so I scanned it rather than photographed it, which never really works out well as far as I am concerned.

It’s somewhere in the southwest. I am trying to make things very soft and blended and it is a challenge. We will see what happens this afternoon. Oil on panel, 16×20 inches. I also have a few small, blank canvases to play on should I get stuck or need to stop in class before the class time is up.

The other thing I have done is restrung a ukulele – my very first time changing strings. There are a lot of videos out there which discuss strings (i.e. nylon vs fluorocarbon, low G vs high G and which one is best). Different bridges have different tie-offs. Tools, too, can be used – or not. Me, I have a tuning peg winder, a wire cutter, a pair of pliers, and a Snark ukulele tuner. It took me an hour to replace 4 strings, but I am rather pleased with the results. I watched this video and learned a lot.

The ukulele I had was not an expensive one with nylon strings. I figured it would be a good idea to use fluorocarbon strings as they are easier on my fingers. I used D’Addario strings and pretty much followed along with Cynthia’s suggestions. It worked out quite well. Now I am playing and tuning the uke, and playing and tuning the uke, and playing and tuning the uke as the strings stretch and settle in. Amazing how often this has to be done.

So, there we are. Not an exciting post, but it feels good to write a bit!