What's Cookin?

I have been obsessed with sketching and that has been just about all I mention in my blog (well, except for the obligatory grandchildren mentions). But I have a life. Really I do! So I thought I would post a few of the other things I am doing this month.

Knitted fingerless mitts, left is flat knit pair from two years ago.
Right is circular knit pair that were just finished. 

First, my knitting. I started knitting two years ago in December by making the fingerless mitts on the left. As you can tell, I wear them a lot because I love the jewel-like tones of the Lion brand "Landscapes" yarn. But I am annoyed by the seam needed for the flat knit pattern. So I tried again with the same pattern and yarn, but using circular methods. Clearly, my gauge has tightened with experience. And I am apparently thumb challenged because both pairs have one thumb longer than the other. The new pair is too small for me, but too long for my 7 year old granddaughter. Maybe a small women's size?

Poway has a Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. I don't usually get there because I am involved in other activities on Saturday, but occasionally I stop for things I can't get elsewhere. Like Giant Kohlrabi. Unfortunately, the last several weeks there have been no kohlrabi at the only booth that grows them. But I have picked up a few other things. I sketched it last Saturday, trying to focus on the amusing sign, but it doesn't look clear. An urban sketcher I am not, at least not yet. The sign indicates NO dogs, NO ducks, and NO elephants! As you can see, the dog owners are unfazed. but I didn't see any elephants!

#Inktober2019, Poway Farmer's Market 10/26/19
"NO dogs, NO ducks, NO elephants"

Last week at the farmer's market, I splurged on a growler of designer Kombucha, a fermented beverage made from black and/or green tea with added flavors. Kombucha is one of my tea/fermentation passions, but my SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) is not producing the kind of flavor and carbonation that I love in my 'buch. So it is time to grow a new one from fresh kombucha. The last time I tried from my favorite store brand the culture did not grow strongly and was less than satisfactory, so I decided to try again with "chef-made" kombucha. The seller (clearly not the producer) claimed that no carbonation was added to the keg (not sure I believe that) and I loved the fizz and flavor. To grow a new SCOBY, I scald a jar, add one to two cups of fresh kombucha, cover with an air permeable top, leave at room temperature for about one week. On the left is a picture of the new SCOBY after 6 days. It grew very well (the red color is from the berry tea they used in the fermentation). After a week, I added it to my gallon kombucha jug in a half gallon brew of green, black, and mint tea and 1/2 cup sugar. On the right is a picture of the SCOBY on the brew after 3 days. It is growing strongly.

Kitchen, October 2019. In front is a jar growing the new
 Kombucha SCOBY.

Kombucha brew with new SCOBY
after 3 days at room temperature.

I was going to crop out the background of the SCOBY starter jar, then realized it is a good cross-section of my kitchen pursuits.

In the picture with the new SCOBY you can see my sprouting container with a mix of alfalfa, clover, radish, fenugreek and lentils on the far left. This time of year, with warmer temperatures in my kitchen, it takes about 5 days to grow to the size I prefer.

In the middle left behind the jar is an heirloom pumpkin that I bought when they went on sale last year. More on that in a minute.

Hanging on the wall is my homegrown Stevia plant drying for the winter. I don't eat sugar and don't like the flavor and processing of store bought stevia so I tried growing my own. I add a couple of leaves to teas and smoothies. I like the flavor of fresh leaves better than dried, which add a taste that reminds me of dried alfalfa, but stevia is a warm weather plant so I don't expect it to grow in the winter. But then again, this is my first year so I might be surprised.

in the middle right is my pottery onion pot, made during my clay-throwing period. On the far right is my InstantPot, a deeply appreciated gift from my daughter-in-law. My favorite uses are Indian cookery and cooking dried beans without having to plan ahead to pre-soak. Love it!!

Unknown variety of heirloom squash, raw and baked.

This time of year I stock up on winter squash. Usually Butternut because it is most available. In November, the pumpkins and unusually colored squashes get marked down. I'm not a fan of the flavor of pumpkin and I prefer to make pies from butternut squash. My favorite squash is Buttercup, but although common in Michigan, I rarely find them out west. Last year about this time, a basket of large heirloom squashes was marked down to $0.99 each, so I bought two. One quickly rotted and the other has been sitting on the counter being decorative for a year. With butternut, the insides would be dried, sometimes moldy, with sprouting seeds and stringy flesh long before a year was up. I almost threw out this squash, but decided to check it. It is as moist, smooth and full of flavor as a fresh squash. I am amazed! I can't find a picture of an heirloom squash that looks the same. Maybe a Jarrowdale cross, as they are known for keeping a long time.

After baking slices of squash smeared with olive oil, salt, and spices I made soup with it. There is no sweetness to this squash, but a rich and complex flavor much better than pumpkin (which is actually a squash). The remaining half will make great pie after roasting and pureeing. I experimented with sweet potato banana pie to see if I could make it sugar free. It turned out okay except for the banana flavor. This time I will try adding some stevia leaves and dates to the puree.

#Inktober2019 10/29 Wilted Dahlias.

It was hot, dry, and windy when I went to the farmer's market last weekend. So I got a good deal on some wilted dahlias, which are still sitting on my counter. I missed two days of Inktober sketches but the flowers were my inspiration today. Inktober is almost over. I loved it!

Tea and Toasty

The weather has turned hot and toasty. The Santa Ana winds are a feature of fall and early winter in southern California. The temperatures this week have been in the 90s during the day and in the 50s at night. That means my house can be cooled down at night enough to stay in the 70s inside, if I shut it up in the morning. The thing that keeps us all on edge this week is the very low humidity, around 7% during the day, and the increasing winds. Until I moved here, I had not experienced the oddness of taking a glass jar of liquid out of the refrigerator and having such low humidity that no moisture condensed on the glass. The winds have been gusty today, but tonight the wind is rising and causing creaks and snaps in the house as things dry out. I was living in a canyon south of here in 2003 during the Cedar fire. I saw the fire tornadoes lick up over the hills south of us when Scripps Ranch was burning. We had no police or fire coverage in our neighborhood, even though the fire came to within a mile of my house in Beeler Creek Canyon. I am glad that lessons were learned during that tragic fire. But I am jittery when the weather turns toasty.

#Inktober2019 10/24/19
Yixing clay Conch teapot
Inks: Monteverde Joy Sepia, Noodler's Lexington Gray,
diluted India ink wash, Sakura Gelly Roll white
Strathmore Toned Tan sketch paper

I have a passion for tea. When it is hot and dry, I like to have a pot of jasmine green tea. So for today's #Inktober2019 sketch, I chose another one of my teapot collection. This teapot looks very much like a conch shell. It holds 1 cup of tea, which makes it just enough for one small cuppa. I haven't actually used it for tea yet. I either drink my tea Gong fu style, with my 120ml teapot or I drink a 2 cup teapot full of tea as I did today.

Two Yixing clay unglazed teapots.
120ml capacity in the smaller, right teapot.

Gong fu (or Kung fu) is a ceremonial process in which tea leaves are steeped for successive, very short periods of time in a small amount of hot water. I typically fill one of my 120ml teapots about one quarter full of leaves, add water just off the boil to the top, cover (and pour water over the teapot as well if I am using an unglazed Yixing clay pot) and steep 15 seconds for the first steep.














Then I pour the tea into my tiny teacup and continue the steeps with each one 5 seconds longer than the steep before. I can get 5 to 8 steeps before the tea becomes tasteless or bitter. The tiny cups of tea cool quickly. and each successive steep is piping hot. That is so much more satisfying than waiting and waiting for a mug of tea to cool enough to drink, then having the tea become tepid before I can finish the mug.

#Inktober2019 10/22/19

One of this weeks #Inktober sketches was of one of my tiny (30ml), unglazed clay teacups with a clay frog (made for me long ago by my friend Michael) and a tea coaster. The frog's right eye came out wonky, I'm not sure why. I seemed to be sketching it as I saw it, but I guess not.

Two minute pose sketches
www.lineofaction.com
Marco Rainbow pencil and 2B graphite pencil

I practiced a few 2 minute poses yesterday. Two minutes goes by shockingly fast! The book I read today, Draw People Every Day, recommends starting with 30 second poses. I found this book to be quite helpful. I think I could only sketch a couple of main lines in 30 seconds. In the book, his assertion is that doing hundreds of 2 to 3 minute studies will raise my skill level faster than a few dozen over-worked long poses. Short poses are fun to sketch, but they use up my sketchbook paper quickly, so I think I will switch to printer paper for a while. I started these poses with my Marco Rainbow pencil because the colors have such a cheery effect! Then I switched to a 2B graphite pencil because it was smoother and faster to sketch with. I have a journal in which I take notes as I read different drawing books. I intend to add some reviews of these books as I progress.

Waiting at school

I pick up my granddaughter at school twice a week. She is in first grade, so this is the second year that I have chafed at the amount of time that is spent waiting for her class to come out. The elementary school and middle school are sited adjacent to each other. If I don't get a parking space on the street 20 or more minutes before classes start to be released, it is not possible to get near the school, as cars line up in the street in both directions and impede all traffic through that neighborhood. Last year I knitted socks to make the time productive. Now, I sketch things.

#Inktober 2019 Palm trees in Poway.
Inks: Diamine Chocolate Brown and
Monteverde Malachite Green

There are, of course, palm trees.

10/07/19 Horse crossing at elementary school
Exceed journal paper
Chinese rainbow color pencil

Poway was known in the past as the "horsey" community. In the decades since the schools were deemed "award winning", the influx of high-income people have taken over many of the horse properties, but many still remain. It is amusing to me still to see the intersections with push buttons high on the crossing poles so that horseback riders can trigger the crossing lights to allow them to walk across. There is a riding path adjacent to the school and I tried out a new rainbow pencil to sketch the horse Xing sign. It was interesting to use one pencil to get multiple colors in the scene. I was disappointed by the way the yellow disappeared on the cream colored paper.

10/19/2019
Horse crossing at elementary school
Strathmore Toned Tan sketch paper
Marco Rainbow Pencil

I repeated the scene using my new Marco rainbow pencil on Strathmore Toned Tan paper. That allowed the yellow to come forward, but I learned that sharpening a rainbow pencil in a long sharp point does not make it as easy to get the single colors. I didn't have time to include the background details this time.

The second sketch was done while I stood on the sidewalk. Several mothers with kids in tow walked by me as I sketched, smiling when I glanced up. I thought they were smiling in support, and maybe they were. But when I closed my sketchbook, I noticed the 2 minute poses on the back from a practice life sketching session.

2 minute pose practice sketches.
Strathmore Toned tan sketch paper
Pentel pocket brush pen

Then I wondered if they were smiling at the pose sketches. I am intimidated by observation if I sketch in public. Yes, I have read about how to overcome that fear. I'm sure that it will go away someday, like the fear of speaking in public has. So, for now, I will assume they were smiling in support, not amusement.

Semi-wild animals

Yesterday I was invited to go for a walk at the park formerly-known-as the Wild Animal Park. I have never taken to the name San Diego Zoo Safari Park. What's up with that?? WAP rolls off the tongue much better than SDZSP. How do you even say that? I let my membership lapse about the time I bought my own house. Budget cuts, you know. So I appreciate the occasional chance to see how things have changed. We were there primarily for the exercise and I didn't want to hold up my companions with sketching. I got a quick one off while one person was getting a beer,

#Inktober2019 number 13. Tree Kangaroo
and African elephants at the Wild Animal Park.
Pens and Inks were listed on the sketch

and another when we paused to observe the elephants. There were enough animals that I would have liked to sketch that I briefly considered renewing. My annual membership used to be the best bargain in San Diego, since I got the membership that allowed me 4 free guest passes and I could take one person in for free each time. But the price is up and the perks are reduced. I can still find plenty of wild life to sketch in my neighborhood, especially the semi-wild kind.

Today I thought I ran over a lizard with my trash bin. He was very cold and sluggish. So I put him in the butterfly cage to see how he fared. Sam was absolutely thrilled. She loves all kinds of nature and insisted that we bring it into the house so that we could both sketch it

Sam's version of a Western Fence Lizard
Canson Black sketching paper
Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils

(in truth, I don't know how to distinguish the gender, although if I reread my reptile guide it might give the distinguishing marks. Hmmm. Maybe I will check that)

#Inktober2019 number 14 Western Fence Lizard
Sailor Fountain Pen (fude nib), black water
soluble ink, Waterbrush with diluted Joy Sepia,
Sakura Gelly Roll white ink.

When we were done, I released him into the shrubbery. Sam was allowed to hold him and he was still rather sluggish. But once I put him on the bush, then tried to touch him, he was gone like a flash. I hope he's okay.

Underside of Western Fence Lizard in the
butterfly habitat.

On the bottom, Western Fence Lizards have a blue belly and yellow legs. They are quite flashy. Literally. They flash the blue throat and sides by shifting their position to communicate with other lizards. Since I decided to use blue paper for my sketch, I didn't add the yellow to the legs. It would have turned out green.

Lizard in hand, before release.

My favorite thing about the Western Fence Lizard is that studies have shown that the low incidence of Lyme disease in Western states is related to the population density of Western Fence Lizards. Some lizards, such as Western Fence Lizards and Alligator lizards, are very common in this area and have an immune component in their blood that kills the microorganisms that cause Lyme disease. The black-legged tick that is the primary tick encountered out here prefers lizards as a host, apparently 90% of nymphal stage ticks infest lizards. So the ticks are cleansed of the organisms that cause Lyme disease in humans. Neat, huh?? Save the lizards! 

#Inktober2019, week two close-out

Here are the sketches to close out week 2 of the #Inktober2019 challenge. My goal is to focus on shading, sometimes as hatching, sometimes with broader lines.

#Inktober2019 number 9 Black and white inks.

Toned paper makes for interesting contrast with black, gray or white inks. The goodie box that came this week included two books with colored drawing paper. I can't bring myself to use the oh-so-precious Field Notes Sweet Tooth book with luscious red paper yet, reasoning that I have to get better at drawing before sullying its pages. But, I did use the blue papered notebook. The idea with toned paper is to use the color of the paper for one of the shading values, the mid-range in this case. The sketch is a blue glazed tea cup. Pens used were a Pentel pocket brush pen and a Sailor Fountain pen (blue) with a fude nib and the black cartridge ink that came with the pen. The white highlights were from a Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

#Inktober2019 number 10 grapes

I wanted more color for the grapes. The shading was done with waterbrushes using diluted Namiki blue ink and diluted Joy Sepia ink. The pens were a Kuretake #13 brush pen with Malachite green, a Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib with a mix of blue and purple ink, and two Wing Sung 6359 EF nibs with Vert Empire green and Chocolate brown inks.

#Inktober2019 number 11 The laughing pencil case

Day 11. I went back to shading with hatching. I mostly sketch for the #inktober challenge just before bed, using what is quick and handy. My new pen case, a gift from my sister, and the new Monteverde DC Supershow Teal ink from Goulet pens (on their discount shelf) seemed like a great match. The pen was a Wing Sung 6359, EF nib.

#Inktober2019 number 12. 2 minute poses

One of my sketching goals is to be able to quickly draw people in action. They don't have to be recognizable to anyone who knows them, in fact I think it's safer to publish pictures that are unrecognizable, but I do want to show the emotions and gestures. So I am reading several books on sketching people. Here is my nightly practice from poses rotated on a timed basis via a great website. The pen was a Jinhao x750 with fude nib. The Jinhao is thicker than the Sailor fude pen, and heavier as it is made of metal (probably brass?). I like the line capability, but all my Jinhao pens seem to dry up more quickly than my better pens. They are cheap and pretty, but I only use my less expensive inks in them.

Library Statues

The local library has a fountain that includes two bronze statues. The fountain has a spot under the shade structure of the central courtyard. It used to have water flowing, adding to the peaceful feeling in the courtyard, which has tables and chairs distributed around the edges. Unfortunately, during the deep drought of a couple years ago all fountains were ordered turned off and it was drained. I don't know if they never turned the water back on because the pool developed leaks or because of liability issues. But the bronze statues of a little girl reading and a boy holding a book are still enjoyable. I sketched them from a distance and later each one close up. The girl was my #Inktober2019 post for day 3. I was using Diamine November Rain and a fude nib pen. The shading I tried to give her face made her look like a lion face. That is not how she looks, but my granddaughter says she likes her better that way.

Library statues at (dry) fountain.
Faber-Castell watercolour pencils on
Blick Mixed Media paper.

Close-up of boy statue with Faber-Castell pencils (watercolour).

Close-up of girl statue at library fountain
Diamine November Rain ink in Hero Fude pen
Blick Mixed Media paper
#Inktober2019 number 3

I missed two days of Inktober sketches. I'm glad no one is enforcing. Here are the other three sketches from the past week. 

#Inktober2019 number 4

#Intober2019 number 7

#Inktober2019 number 8

Psychedelic Hamsters

I'm a child of the 60s. Not the drugs and free-love 60s, but the back-to-the-land, make your own, simple living 60s. I gravitate toward tie-dye, the more colors the better. So when I read about Koh-I-Noor Tri-Tone pencils, I had to try them. Loved them!! The colors really pop on black paper too.

Fanciful Rooster: Koh-I-Noor Tri-Tone Pencils
Canson Black Sketching paper

But wait! There's more! Why stop with 3 colors when you can have four? Or seven! Enter the seven color pencil made in Japan. I have seen these for sale on Amazon for a price that was out of my budget. Then, while surfing on eBay, I found a set of four for a dollar a piece. They are bright and creamy and have beautiful colors. Thus the psychedelic hamsters.

Sydney hamster in her psychedelic dreams.
Niji-Iro seven in one pencil
Blick Mixed-Media paper

Comparison sketch of three rainbow pencils, three layers on each ball at darkest value.
Left: Koh-I-Noor Tri-Tones; Center: Niji-Iro pencil; Right: Brilliance 4-in-1 pencil.

When I went back to eBay to buy up the rest (how long will 4 pencils last, after all?), the seller and the listing are no longer available. So I tried a couple of other offers. I have received a 4 color pencil made in China that was a big disappointment. Here is a quick comparison sketch:

Description of pencils:
Koh-I-Noor Tri-Tone pencils: Made in Czech Republic. $12.50 for 12 in a metal box (from eBay). One of the pencils is a colorless blender pencil. Each of the remaining pencils is a different combination of three colors that are randomly intermixed in the lead so that a continuous line gradually changes colors even if the pencil is not rotated. Colors are bright and creamy. The colors are banded at the end of the lacquered, natural wood colored pencil and given a poetic name like "Sunset", "Tiger", "Rainforest". Some of the combinations have striking color contrasts and some are more subtle color changes.

Niji-Iro pencils: Made in Japan. I paid $1.50 each (including shipping) from eBay, but the only comparable pencil (not labeled Niji-Iro) I see now are priced at $27.50 for 12 ($2.33 each), and they are three sided pencils. The pencils I have are round, standard sized pencils made of smooth unfinished natural wood. Otherwise the leads are arranged the same as the Amazon offering with seven colors in a pinwheel pattern. To get the best color variation, the pencil should be rotated as you write. The pigments are bright and the colors lay down rich and creamy. They came in two plastic sleeves, two pencils to a sleeve.

Brilliance 4 in 1 pencils: Made in China. $0.75 each, including shipping, from eBay. These are larger diameter than standard pencils, and the four colors are intermixed throughout the lead. The leads are waxy and hard and produce a faint line. I could not get a bright color even when layering. Not recommended. The pencils arrived in a paper envelope.

#Inktober2019 Yixing teapot sketched with
Diamine Inks: Chocolate Brown and Red Dragon.

Here is #Inktober2019 sketch of the day. I could, theoretically, sketch only pieces from my ceramic collection and have one for every day this month. But I need to use my green inks next!

And here is a picture of Sydney hamster doing her dead hamster trick.

Sydney hamster playing dead
 in protest over the heat.

When the temperature gets up above 83 degrees in the house, she presses her mouth and feet against the glass and goes all still. I had already turned on the A/C last week when she went into her drama mode. It's a good thing we have had a week of fall weather. I feel silly to use A/C just for two hamsters!

Travel time

Last month I spent a week with my sister in the Sacramento area. She has a lovely yard and chickens. Although it was hot, in the 90s, I enjoyed sitting on her patio to sketch the yard and watch the Black Throated hummingbirds. The hummers were too quick for me to sketch, but the chickens were fun!

Sister's backyard. Watercolor pencils on Canson XL 140lb paper

Detail study of ornamental grass and yard art.
watercolor pencils and brush pen with green ink.

We are both enabling influences on each other. Her favorite store is Tuesday Morning, a discount store that has a craft supply area. We have found bargains on high end yarn and knitting needles in the past. This time it was colored pencils! I brought home two sets of Spectrum Noir pencils, a set of 12 metallics and a set of 24 Aquablend water color pencils for $7 and $12 respectively. What a deal! Spectrum Noir watercolor pencils are sold in sets of 24 with a color theme to each set. The set I got is the floral theme. So no greens, but a range of reds, oranges, blues and a couple yellows. The pencils are rich and creamy, easily activated with water, but a little crumbly. We also picked up some Canson black paper, which makes the metallics pop!

Yixing teapot
Spectrum Noir Metallic pencils
Canson Black Drawing paper.

Journals sketched with Spectrum Noir Aquablend pencils.
Badfish Coffee, fude pen and brush pen with green inks.

I drink only decaf coffee, so taste is critical. Starbucks and other large coffee vendors have increasingly limited decaf options. I am always looking for small batch roasted decaf at local coffee shops. We hit two in my sister's area and bought single varietal decaf beans. Cold-brew is all the rage but I've never seen decaf cold-brew. We tried cold-brewing the two different beans I had purchased at home. Wow!! It was so good, even my sister said she could switch to decaf. I took the opportunity to do some sketches at the coffee shop.

San Diego airport, Hero fude pen.

Sacramento Airport, Fude nib pen.

Last time I flew, I used the time in the airport to knit a pair of socks. This time, I did some quick gesture sketches of people sitting around me. One in San Diego, one in Sacramento. Quick people sketches that give the essence of their activity or attitude is one of the skills I would love to build. Practice, practice!

#Inktober2019

Inktober is a challenge initiated by Jake Parker. Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. Sketches are shared on-line in some way with the #Inktober. There is a list of daily sketch prompts which many sketchers use to determine what to sketch for each day. Other sketchers develop their own personal challenge theme. I have so many challenges in sketching that a personal goal seems more appropriate than using the provided prompts. I love the rich and juicy fountain pen inks in my collection. So I want to feature a different ink in each sketch. I don't have 31 different inks (at least, I don't think I do...) but I may include some brush pen sketches. What do I most want to develop this month? Shading and values. Shading is often accomplished when using ink by line hatching techniques. I made a couple sketches as a warm up to the month. I experimented in one with using two ink colors, intending the blue ink to represent the deepest shading value. It didn't really turn out as planned. So I swiped the blue with a water brush to shade it. Still not quite right.

Top- pen: WingSung 6359 (EF nib)
with Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses ink
Bottom- pens: Platinum Plaisir (03 fine nib)
with De Atramentis Document ink
Sheaffer Vintage Tuckaway (fine Triumph nib)
with Visconti Blue ink shaded with a water brush.

To better understand how to sketch with ink, I read the book "Portfolio: Beginning Pen and Ink" by Desarae Lee. I learned a lot about hatching and values (different levels of shading), but still need much practice! Two take-aways from this first sketch:

1- hatching takes a lot of time! About 3 hours for this one sketch. 

2- hatching looks best with an extra fine nib. The Lamy Left Hand nib is fine, but a German fine is a wider line than the extra fine, or a Japanese made fine nib. 

Monteverde Cherry Danish Ink is a new release that I just received from Goulet Pens. I think it is called cherry danish because when it is wet it is a much brighter red, like cherries. When dry it is more subdued in color.

#Inktober2019, October 1
Pen: Lamy Al-Star (left hand nib)
with Monteverde Cherry Danish

The mouse teapot is a purchase from my first trip to a Teavana store. It is just so cute and it fits into my small collection of yixing clay teapots. As has happened with so many retailers, Teavana was purchased by a larger company and then had all the brick and mortar stores closed. 

It will be interesting to see how I improve with a month's worth of practice.