Backgrounds

Playing around with salt and Seran wrap for watercolor backgrounds. I don't really care for the salt as it seems to affect the paper. I might leave the red one as is. It pleases me immensely. Wouldn't it be interesting to interpret this into fabric? Wait, wait...I have to finish the Pomegranate Tree Quilt! Drat!

Errand Day, 2

Traffic jams are not my only subject when going out. We have a few low mountains that I never tire of sketching.

Errand Day

Living on a small farm, I find no particular need to go "out". There's plenty to do. We save up errands for one or two days a week. Then we have an adventure...which usually includes a traffic jam in Tunis. This doesn't bother me since it gives me time to sketch. I have to go faster for people-sketching. It seems that most are leashed to a cellphone these days.

First Pages

The name and title pages of my new journal/sketchbook: 

This will be the place where I finish up my lettering adventures. 

Fabric and thread are calling me...

Palettes

For out-and-about, a small palette to which I added extra half pans does the job. It's filled with 24 Daniel Smith watercolors (I have tubes). However, I've seen the idea of a portable mini-palette in several places and I wanted to try out my Derwent Inktense pencils. 

Just scribble hard on a card. I covered mine with deli paper (stapled on the left side), but, wax paper would work also. The card holds 18 colors (cool colors on the other side)--beats carrying around 18 pencils in your purse! 

And then I tested it out while running errands. It's magic!

Another Late Night

Midnight finds me doing math homework with my eldest granddaughter (she gets out of school in the States when I'm ready to go to bed in Tunisia) on Skype (the miracles of technology). So I stitch most of the evening while waiting to do math.

I picked up "He went to work every day...then he retired" as I missed it after having worked on it during Mr. M's hospital stay in April and May. Just inching along...

Some thoughts about a "math at midnight" piece are swirling around in my sleep-deprived mind. Hmmmm...I have no idea what form that would take.

Coffee Days

Coffee days (every third or fourth day) are usually pretty good days, days to celebrate. I tore strips of painted paper (leftover from another project) and collaged them to the page for a frame. This was the day I found packets of 224 gr. Canson paper in the school supplies department of a large store and bought fifteen--a year's supply. That good paper won't be stocked until next autumn. IF I should need to make another sketchbook, I'm ready!

A Teapot and Seran Wrap

When my sketching buddy and I get together for our "Sketch Club", we sometimes test out interesting techniques to stretch a bit. This week we tried Seran wrap for creating a background. 

Very easy: paint watercolor on paper, cover with a piece of Seran wrap and press (the more wrinkles the better), let dry, then pull off the Seran wrap and Voilà! 

For the teapot and text, I used Platinum Pigment Sepia ink in a fountain pen.

End-of-Summer Rose

From a family member's garden, a late-blooming rose. This makes me feel like I want to get out in my garden to sketch flowers and fruits on fabric. But then again, the last time I did that I ended up with the Pomegranate Tree Quilt--and that was nearly five years ago, and I still haven't finished it...

Getting Healthy

We decided to get an exercise bike in our quest for better health. So off we went to a big department store. Mission accomplished; we got the contraption working. The first day, I managed 3 minutes on the lowest setting--things can only get better!

He Drives, I Draw, 2

Sketching can make even a visit to the dentist more pleasant. 

We can see mountains to the East and South of our house. I never get tired of drawing them. Ballpoint pen with Prismacolor pencils. This little notebook is so handy. 

Working (Stitching) Hard

Progress is slow, but progress there is. I'm working on getting the lower half of the Pomegranate Tree filled in--3 to 5 hours a day. The end may be in sight...eventually. Going over a 6ftx7ft surface inch by inch takes time. Here you may say "Well, obviously, Nadia."
























Linked to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday".