Everywhere you look

 

From the door of the dentist's office...

There's no end
To the Love
You can Give
When you change your point of view
To Underfoot

~ Amanda Palmer

Nature is all around us.  Art is everywhere.

Life is being expressed in the smallest, everyday parts of our world.

So look down… then look out… and up…

Every molecule is energized, alive, doing its thing.  No matter what you may be doing.

Like the fish in the bowl we forget that we are swimming in something amazing.

Like fractal patterns, life shares its story, repeats, changes and reshapes itself.  Stepping away turns chaos into pattern.

It is a good thing to pay attention to the parts of the whole, to stay connected to the little bits.

So look down… and out… and up…

…see the wonder.

“Nothing is so mundane that is cannot be a source of wonder, creativity, love, and the deep satisfaction of being alive, here and now.”  ~ Deepak Chopra

Media
Aquabee sketchbook, 6x9”
Sakura Micron Pigma 02 pen (well-worn)
Daniel Smith watercolors  (Botanical half-pan set)
Mondeluz watercolor pencils
Niji waterbrush, Medium

Bula Baptist Mission, A Farewell

The front of the church.

Last Saturday a small group of us met at the old Bula Baptist Mission Church in Copeland, Florida to sketch this historical structure before it meets the demolition crew.  Bula Mission was built in the 1940’s of the cypress wood that was being logged out of the nearby cypress domes and strands.  You may remember that an earlier post reported my visit to a different church in Copeland last March, which is still standing over on Church Street. 

Bula Baptist Mission was built at a time when racial segregation was the norm in the South; it was a church for Black services, while the Whites attended the church down the road.  When segregation ended, Bula Baptist Mission closed, and all races attended the Baptist Church on Church Street.  Reverend Gilmore, the pastor of the Baptist Church, told us during our visit in March that their church was one of the first fully integrated churches in the county during the early 1960’s, with a congregation of Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, and Hispanics.

Our sketching group was kept small, out of respect for the surrounding residential neighborhood, and we met early to avoid the Florida heat and humidity.  I had a chance to do two small plein air paintings, one in my new Strathmore watercolor sketchbook, and one in my Pentalic Nature Sketch pad.  Both worked well with the Daniel Smith travel set I created.  The Strathmore paper has great lifting properties, so I could clean up a few mis-strokes later. 

The church itself used to be a one-room structure, with small bathrooms added later just off the front entryway.  At one time, it was hoped that the building could be restored and used for community events, but the cost is too great.  I believe the current plan is to salvage as much as possible, then demolish it.  If anyone has any information to add, please comment below, or email me and I’ll update this post.  I love old structures, and feel sad that this one won’t be around for much longer.

It was a lovely summer's day, although quite hot as the sun crept up to its zenith.  The church is overgrown with lush vegetation and there were butterflies everywhere: swallowtails, sulphurs, and gulf fritillaries.  Two red-shouldered hawks patrolled the sky overhead.  Painting bliss!  

It was an honor to be able to spend a few hours painting the Bula Baptist Mission, and I thank Karen Relish and Marya Repko for making it possible.  Thank you too, for visiting!

Is is fall yet?

Laurel oak leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

With temperatures still in the low to mid-nineties here in south Florida, this is the question on my mind almost every day during the last half of September. I found this laurel oak leaf on the ground the other day, and it reminded me that fall is lurking around the corner.

Just in the last few days, the mornings have been a tiny bit cooler, and the air has been drier. The sky has taken on a tinge of cooler blue as the earth tilts away from the sun. Fall in Florida doesn’t have the drama and glory it does further up the northern hemisphere, but it does have a subtle splendor.

This tattered, beaten-up leaf still glowed with color, inspiring me to try to capture them in watercolor. I painted this in a new watercolor sketchbook by Strathmore, purchased at Michaels with a 40% off coupon! And since it was a low price to start, I felt I couldn’t go too wrong.

It is the Strathmore Windpower Watercolor pad, spiral bound, with 15 sheets of cold press 140 lb. acid-free paper. I bought the small size (6 x 9 inches) for field and small study painting and sketching. I like the clear white color of the paper and the way it takes initial washes. I also like the heavier paper in this book; I used a fairly wet wash on the leaf and had no buckling at all.

What I didn’t like was the way my watercolor lifted when I attempted to add another glaze layer, but I think that is partly my choice of paint color. Still, I’m used to the Pentalic sketchbook that seems to “grab” all of my watercolors. I think I need to experiment more with getting my initial washes right, and fuss less with detail.

I sketched this first in pencil, and then painted with Daniel Smith watercolors: Quinacridone Gold, Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt and Raw Umber, and Cadmium Red. Darker vein accents were a mixture of Raw Umber and Indanthrone Blue; the shadow is a mix of Shadow Violet plus Indanthrone Blue.

It’s been a lot, hot summer for many of us, but I know some of you in the upper parts of the northern hemisphere are enjoying autumn already, with cooler temperatures and even frost!

Portable art kit revisited

This is my third incarnation of a portable sketching/painting kit for plein air.  When I was showing the kids at summer camp my art kit, I realized that a lot of the art supplies I take for granted are a novelty to others.  I also tend to let it grow a bit, but it hasn't gotten so heavy that it's a pain, and I like having extra supplies for myself or others.  So let me share what's inside my art bag!

Main access is through the top,
which is convenient. 

An old camera bag converted
into my portable art kit.

First, the bag: an old camera bag sent to me by my father.  The cube shape works wells for my rectangular sketchpads and containers.  The main access is through the top, but there is also a little zippered side compartment which is handy for smaller items that might get lost in the bottom of the bag.

Inside the bag I keep:
• Two spiral bound sketchbooks, the current books are an Aquabee Super Deluxe (9 by 6 inches), and a Pentalic Nature Sketch (6 by 12 inches).


My current portable art bag and contents (not including kitten!)

My pencil box.

• A pencil box with an assortment of mechanical pencils, artist drawing pencils, charcoal pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpener. I prefer the white vinyl erasers, since they seem to work best for me.

• A brush box with four Niji Aquabrushes. These are waterbrushes that have a hollow barrel in the handle that can be filled with water. One is a flat, and the others are rounds in three sizes. I carry a small ruler and some Q-tips.

 

My brush box, an inexpensive
plastic container from Walmart.

• A miscellaneous box. A bit of everything: emery boards for pointing pencils, toothpicks, a cut credit card for scraping, and GUM brand teeth cleaners for lifting. Derwent Blue-gray watercolor pencil, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils in Black, White, and Payne’s Gray, and a #11 Xacto knife (blade protected by an eraser). A Signo Uni-ball white gel pen, and a Prismacolor white colored pencil. Oh, and a white birthday candle for watercolor resist.

    • A magnifying glass, an all-purpose multi-tool, and an assortment of binder clips (good for windy days).


Some of the tidbits from my miscellaneous box.

• Extra paper towels, zip-lock bags (different sizes), and a travel spray bottle with water. Extra batteries for my digital camera.
• Pens. Sepia Micron Pigma and Faber Castell Pitt artist pens in black and dark sepia, in assorted sizes.

 • Water soluble pencils. Derwent watercolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils, each 12 piece sets, and a set of 24 Kimberly watercolor pencils.

• A travel set of Daniel Smith watercolor paints I put together myself.  You can read about the palette and paint choices here.

Watercolor travel set.

If you'd like to see the previous incarnations, visit my Flickr photostream here for the first art kit, and this blog post for my second art kit.

I've learned a lot from what other artists carry, and am willing to try new things, so please feel free to share your tips!






Firebush

Firebush, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

The heat, humidity, and mosquitoes are keeping me inside, so I brought in a small branch of Firebush to paint. It's just as well, as it's been quite overcast today.

This plant is one of my all-time favorites! It looks great in the middle of summer, and attracts all sort of butterflies, as well as our ruby-throated hummingbird. It does get a bit bedraggled in the winter, but the birds seem to relish the berries after a couple of cold spells.

I'm trying out my early birthday present - a new Pentalic Nature Sketch sketchbook in the 6 x 12 inch size. The format is unusual, but I read a good review about it, so I'm giving it a try.

The paper scans a bit yellow (as does the Arches hot-press watercolor paper), but it seems to take watercolor fairly well. I wouldn't recomend it for finished paintings; it won't withstand repeated washes and/or color lifting. Otherwise the paint goes down nicely, and the Micron pens work well on the surface. 

I'll try out regular pencil and watercolor pencil soon.  All in all, I think it will be a great nature journal!

You can click on the images above to view them larger on my Flickr photostream.