My Own Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums (aka Tropaeolum) are one of my (many) favorite flowers. Between their gorgeously round leaves and endlessly overlapping stems are flowers of the shape that sends me back to the drawing board almost as often as irises do. And of course, their fiery colors are amazing! I searched this blog and realized that I had not posted my nasturtium sketches by themselves even once. But now I have my own plants to refer to! It took forever to grow them from seeds, and out of many baby plants, only a few survived. But they are of three different colors and are still blooming! (Hopefully, it will self-seed and I will have these beauties to remind me to go back and draw them until I like the result!). 

More Little Outings

We had our first real rain of the season - and for a couple of days, between the weather and a gazillion things on my to-do list, I was left with my window and my own hand (drawn left-handedly - a record of some wheel-throwing injuries) for sketching. But then a gorgeous sky called for me to go out and paint it with my pocket gouache kit!

Nonagenarian Update: fall of 2025

Fall is the time of the year when I try to schedule some extra visits, bring some extra colorful flowers, and food to our Nonagenarian. Shorter days and colder weather are hard for her. But she is still very much following her schedule for the day, enjoys her favorite foods, takes care of her plants, does some sewing projects, and reads a lot - mostly on a Kindle but online too. News sites are hard for her as her beloved Ukraine is suffering from russian aggressors, and as someone who lived through World War II, she does not understand how anyone might start a war again. But she follows what she reads with her hand-drawn map of Ukraine and a big world map that is always not far from her reading chair. 

Sketching People: at the Protest.

Last Saturday was a No Kings protest: people in many cities around the United States went on the streets to peacefully exercise their right to express opinions about the current administration. I packed a whole bunch of colored pencils with me, but ended up using only one pen. I did a lot of walking and talking, saw many dogs and people in great costumes (it is October after all, and everyone is gearing up for Halloween).  My hero was a mom with a couple of kids. Kids were sitting in chairs, one closer to the action, another a little further, but both had signs propped in a cup holder.  One was reading a book in the shade of a redwood tree, and the other was talking to people, asking questions about their signs and dogs. They both waved from time to time at passing bikes and cars. 

Color Pencils or Colored Pencils?

Do you say Colored Pencils or Color Pencils? 

I've been thinking about the non-existent difference in these two and how one of these options drives me nuts for quite some time now. All while using color pencils as a part of my mixed media experimentation. Here are two recent sketches that were pure colored pencil were used - without any paints and other materials. I think I would like to keep them here as a record of some ideas that I would like to go back to.