September Sketchcrawl

Vacation and other matters conflicted with the last two sketch crawls. This time we went to a farm that has 40 acres of sunflowers. Never been there before. It was quite the community event, with families all over! From their conversations I gather that it's an annual event for many families, and they like to take their pictures in the field. This place was in the news last weekend. Law enforcement had to shut down the highway because of all the traffic. They had vehicle accidents, with one motorcycle accident resulting in an injury. We take our sunflower fields seriously around here! Grinter's Farm also sells at the local farmers market and sells the sunflower seeds as bird feed. They have a retail shop near the field. Even sell T-shirts. I have too many T-shirts now, but I sure don't have one that's agriculture-related. Bought one.

Christmas Cactus

This plant is not a consistent performer, but this year she's rocking it. It's been in bloom for a couple weeks, like it knew we're in the Christmas season. I knew I had to sketch it, but I had to wait until seasonal obligations (shopping, house cleaning, xmas cards, etc.) were done and our house was empty of our holiday guests. Not just any guests. We finally get to see our kids and their families. Sketching is not on the priority list of things to do. Wilma and I need to grab all the face time we can. But as soon as they left I had my sketchbook out and absorbed this beautiful plant. Felt better afterwords, too.

November Sketch Crawl

I made it to this month's sketch crawl! For the longest time there were time conflicts with other things, but the last two crawls have hit the calendar well. It was way too warm by statistical standards, but we really liked being able to sketch outside one more month. The Van Till business has added more landscaping since my last time here. The outside dining area had a fabric enclosure with window so we could still eat outside, too.

I loaded up my Noodler's Ahab pen with Lexington Gray ink. A few months ago I cleaned it up and stored it away, frustrated. Initially it was a great pen, but it was having an ink flow problem, and multiple cleanings didn't solve the problem. Today I decided to put it on probation. It worked! Today the ink just flowed and I was getting a responsive thick/thin controllable width. Fiber tip pens just can't match the joy of using a fountain pen like this Ahab on this day.

Spring 2012

Things around here have been growing like crazy, like most place in the country this year. No long freezes this year. I think the plants were primed and ready to start. This is only my second year in a new herb garden bed, and they're going to town. No basil to plant yet, but we're eating the perennials now. The air is just right now, too. Our summers can be oppressively hot and humid in Kansas, so I'm enjoying the pre-summer temperatures. It's nice to lounge around on the porch listening to the birds, bugs and frogs.

On the sad side, we lost our Shadow this month. His hips just gave out. At 16 he was really 112. He was the last of two dogs we adopted from the Humane Society for our two very young kids. Nikki, the first one, died about four years ago. Both taught our kids a love of animals and confirmed that Wilma and I are both dog people.

Now we sit back, wait for the dandelion poison to work, and curse the frequent mowing required this time of year. But I still smile.

Loss of a Loner

We had some spooky wind earlier this month. It made the house moan for only the second time in the 12 years we've been here. When it was done, I walked around the yard to see what the damage was. Our big trash bin was moved half way around the house. A two wheel dolly was slid across the driveway apron. The attic access panel in the garage ceiling was sucked into the attic. That was about it. . . I thought. Then I looked further from the house and saw we lost our original singular tree on the land. We've planted plenty of trees from day one, but this was the only original tree we had. It was never 'beautiful' but it had a royalty sense about it because it's been here so long, all by itself. So this weekend I'll be using the chainsaw to cut up what I can for firewood and haul the rest to the burn pile, and the land will begin it's next chapter without its lone sentinel.

Some Kind of Wild Flower

I've been working on assignments for Kate's class. When I only use a brush, it's not pretty, but I'm learning. This is one of the assignments and I could use a pen. This is my first watercolor wash, too. Just learned what that was last week.

The back half of our property is a prairie hay field and always has been. There are three or four types of wild flowers that come up every year. This is one of them. I'll need to do some research to see what they all are. Probably will need to sketch all of them over time. It's addictive. The more you learn, the more you want to learn. Maybe I should have just been a couch potato.

A Gardener's View

This post is for Wilma. I'm not the green thumb . . . she is. I enable her hobby, and gladly. That means roto-tilling and eating, and maybe some help picking and processing. I like to watch the whole process. We had some weather problems yesterday. As a result, I was out this afternoon, sitting on a 5-gallon bucket, sketching the withered remains of a tomato plant while another storm was blowing in over my head. When it started raining again, I came in to finish the sketching as it stormed outside. Hook cloud seen just southwest and headed for here, but will probably miss us. Needed to wait for the lightning to move on to upload this blog. And through the process I learn something from Wilma's perspective . . . a gardener's view.

Spring Sprung

Well, my sketching has been sidelined a bit lately. I'm trying to replace the two garage door openers that the lightning killed, and the project just seems to keep growing. Stay tuned . . . sketch to follow. But, while doing yard work lately these darn tulips kept insisting that I sketch them. The yard isn't really green yet and the trees aren't awake yet. Kinda blaa. So, when these darn tulips spring up with the hyacinths they radiate color on steroids! You just gotta stare. Told myself I really didn't have time now to sketch. That worked for two days. Third day . . . I'm out there with my journal sketching. While doing my first mowing of some of the yard I see other things going on, too, that needed some sketching. Now that this sketch is done, I'll finish up on the garage openers.

P.S. Happy Birthday to me, or at least my identity as john-alooking.blogspot. Just noticed that one year ago today I started this blog! Glad I did.

Oops, forgot a page.

In looking at my last post I see I forgot one page of my bike tour. Here it is, and it's the next to last page.

Time To Grow

For this entry I decided to draw some things that appeal to me with now words to describe them. They stand on their own. Took a stroll around the yard to all the flowers my wife keeps up. Color, shape, twisty, overlapping texture. All appealing characteristics. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Didn't know flower gardens had so much going for them. Testosterone gets in the way sometimes.

It's Mowing Season

We're well into mowing season. I like my machines, so a journal entry for my mower seems appropriate. Of all my gas-powered machines, this one is my favorite (for one thing, it runs without being babied). The yard requires more hours than I like, but at least it is visually rewarding. Probably useless in the grand scheme of things, though.

Morrell Mushroom Quest

Well, this weekend was calmer than last weekend (remember the pasture fire post?). We finished the pasture burn that we couldn't finish last weekend and all went as planned, dang it! Not much to journal about when all goes well. With our recent rains and sunshine, mushrooms are in season. Had to go out and hunt some morrell mushrooms. It's been years. This post shows how that went and a couple bonuses of the hunt.