Yeah, it’s been a while since my last post. Between family birthdays and work and Thanksgiving (and life throwing a curve ball or two), I just wasn’t feeling like writing a blog post at the end of the day. For a while, I didn’t even have it in me to do much doodling—but I’m feeling a little more in the mood again, lately, and there are a few things to share today.
Last weekend, Donald met Dad down at the pond for some target shooting. I tagged along and took a few photos. The sky always feels bigger down there…
At some point, I saw a deer grazing on the grass and walked closer to try to get a video. It watched me cautiously, but evidently I didn’t look like a threat, because it stayed. And then it began to walk toward me! I was startled and made a mess of the video—paused instead of stopping and ended up with the orientation the wrong way at the end—but here it is:
I was a little worried that it might get too close, which wouldn’t be good for either of us, but I moved back a little, and it veered off and went in another direction. I was stunned that it had tried to come towards me at all.
Birthday Card
I needed a birthday card for Dad, so I decided to do something in the same style I’ve been enjoying lately—a page covered in doodles on a theme, colored in with watercolor. I used some of the granulating pigments for this.
More Dishes
When I began this next doodle, the ink was flowing a little more quickly than I expected, and then it slowed back down to its usual level. The result is an uneven page, with heavier lines at the top, but that’s fine. It’s just for fun, after all.
I used a richer mix of the red-orange than I usual go for with watercolor. I like it here.
This was a lot of fun to doodle and paint! It’s just enough of a challenge to try to fill in all the paces more or less evenly, puzzling smaller items in the gaps left between the bigger pieces.
Thanksgiving Feast
Well before Thanksgiving Day, I decided to try to get into the mood by doodling a page filled with a Thanksgiving feast. It turned out to be trickier than expected to think of things I could draw that would be recognizable Thanksgiving dishes, beyond a couple of the basics, like turkey and ham. I ended up including a lot of covered dishes instead of actual food doodles. My corn on the cob is a mess, but never mind! It was fun to doodle and paint, and that’s all that matters.
You Can Never Have Too Many...
Yes, it’s more potted plants.
They’re fun and mindless to doodle! And much cheaper and easier than real potted plants, which don’t always want to stay alive for me.
I needed something easy and relaxing to doodle, so here we are.
And then I painted them in with watercolor, because that’s what I do:
Nothing to write home about, but something to blog about (apparently).
Curiosities
I was trying to think of something to draw (that wasn’t cookware or potted plants), and this came to mind—a collection of corked bottles, jars, and what-have-you filled with random things.
I went a little too wild on the coloring. I wish I’d left out the red (and maybe the oranges, too), now, but oh well. I could always doodle another version and use a different palette.
I’ve been using the Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink for a lot of these doodles, lately, and I’ve noticed something about it. When I put down maybe a little too much ink on one area of paper, these odd little blue feathery marks branch off into the surrounding area. You can see it below around the window panes. It also happened around the star ornament hanging from one of the plants on the potted plants doodle.
It’s a little bit annoying, but I guess it’s usually avoidable, and if you’ll be painting over it, it’s less noticeable.
Houses
Here’s one more page of doodles, with houses as the subject. I haven’t gotten around to coloring this one in, yet, but maybe this weekend…
I must admit that I did a search for house illustrations online to get inspiration for some of these, so a few of them aren’t that original, but since it’s just for fun, I don’t see an issue with that.
Video Games
I’ve never thought of myself as a gamer, though when I was younger I played my share of The Sims (mainly building houses), and we had a Wii. One of my favorite things to do on the Wii was part of Wii Sports Resort—something called “Air Sports Island Flyover”. There were points you could score by doing certain things, but I also enjoyed that you could explore the island at your own pace, with no real goal at all.
Anyway, thinking about that game made me wonder if there might be some PC games available that would be similarly relaxed and “freeform” in nature. It turns out that there are games like this, so I’ve been dipping my toe into the water with a few different types of games. I’m loving the puzzles and artwork in A Little to the Left, and Kimberly (one of my sisters) suggested Dorfromantik for my goal of relaxing and playing at my own pace. It’s a lot of fun! Reminds me a bit of the Carcassonne games—which Donald and I played again recently:
Then Tiny Glade caught my eye. The graphics are beautiful. I have a lot to learn, still, but in some ways it’s similar to the building part of The Sims, but with a fairy tale/castle/ruins aesthetic.
I took a few screenshots of my first and second builds:
It has a very soothing atmosphere, too, with grasses that gently sway in the breeze, birds and fireflies—just gorgeous to look at.
Maybe everyone else already knew these kinds of games existed, but if not—if you’re someone who never thought video games were for you because they’re all somewhat stressful or too structured (just another list of things you “have” to do)—not all video games are like that! There are games out there that are relaxing and calm. (Just don’t forget to make sure your computer can run a given game before buying it.)
