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!