Sketching in Lockdown

29 Oct, 2020; Vail, AZ

I got creative earlier when it was still too hot to sketch outside, and many air-conditioned locations were closed.

I tried composing some scenes by combining travel photos and then pretending that I was Plein Aire Sketching.

This little fellow was waiting outside my door one morning.  I used to see them all the time in West Texas, but I haven't seen very many around here.

I'm trying to learn how to paint cacti - I think I'm starting to catch the light on this yucca (?) Spanish Dagger?

Here I was trying to catch the light from some photo references of the famous San Xavier del Bac Mission here in Tucson.

Anyway, it's starting to get cooler here in Southern Arizona, so maybe I'll be able to get out and sketch on location again.  

Van Conversion Complete!

8 Aug, 2020; Vail,AZ

Took longer than I had planned, thanks to Covid-19

Businesses closed down, Amazon took longer to deliver . . .  But, I could be patient because most camping locations were also closed!  And, if I traveled, museums, cute cafes, etc would also be closed.  My travel this summer has been limited to day hikes, and short paddle trips.

But, the conversion is complete and I have tested it out on at least trips of a few days.

And, hanging around the house gave me time to do a video of the conversion!

I can go camping again, thanks to the following products and services:

Costs and Product Links(spreadsheet)

or

PDF

The Online Art community is world-wide

5 July, 2020; Vail,AZ

While this is not exactly an Aha! moment . . . .

The Web isn't called the World Wide Web for nothing; but, now that I'm taking a lot of online art classes, the fact that I'm interacting on a daily basis with other artists, and aspiring artists, across the globe is really brought home to me.  I'm currently taking a class from an instructor in Sydney, Australia and the other students come from everywhere!

A few weeks ago, I was learning more about local community reactions to recent black deaths by police in the US not from my local TV news outlets, but from comments made by Americans on posts created by British citizens living in Germany!

Warm-up Exercises for a Watercolor on Location class

Doing an urban sketching class online when most of the country (much of the world) is being asked to stay at home should be interesting!

The warm up exercises have been focussed on the way one begins to watercolor sketch; doing a few thumbnails to establish composition, values, etc.  Mostly, these have been done from still life set ups inside, or photo references.  I threw in some faces (from photo references) because I'm used to simplifying shadow shapes on faces.

I've done a few watercolor sketches from photos I took on vacations in the past.  This one was from a trip to Venice.

Arizona Fire Season

2 July, 2020; Vail, AZ

Waiting for the Monsoons

The fire nearest Tucson, the Bighorn, has been burning for almost a month and has destroyed over 115,000 acres.  It's on the opposite side of town from me so I've only ocassionally been bothered by smoke.  Until last week when the flames could be seen from my house - still far away but a reminder every night.

Slowly, the fire is being managed, but, really, the only thing that will stop the Arizona fires (and this is only one of probably a dozen) is the arrival of the Monsoon Season.  So, we are all hoping for the Monsoons to arrive.

The cloud patterns are starting to align, today I even had some sprinkles at my house.  I'm grateful as I know that our fires are nothing like the fires that happen every year in California and the Pacific Northwest.  I'm reminded of the truly horrible fires so recently in Australia.  

And, I hope for the Monsoons.

Van LED lights are in!

1 July, 2020; Vail AZ

I now have some pretty lights in my Van!

In addition to the 3 Puck lights that I installed temporarily, I wired up and installed 2 strings of LED lights for fun.  These tiny string lights come with a remote and can display a bunch of different colors and, just like Christmas Tree Lights, and be Steady, Flashing or Smooth Transition from color-to-color.  Ha-Ha - I'll probably only use one color on Steady; but, I know I'll like having the remote.

Getting started

As usual, it was more complicated than I thought it would be.  First, I had to fish wire behind the center column of the van (luckily, I found a wire hanger in the back of my closet); took me 2 tries but I got the wire, plus an extra string (to make future wiring easier) through the column and down into my power box.  Then, I had to order butt-end electrical connectors to hook it all together (finding all the wire and connectors in the Covid Lockdown was a challenge all by itself!!). 

The power box is a tangle of wires - fan, lights, solar input, fridge . . .

A bit neater now!

 Luckily, I ordered double what I thought I'd need - for some reason, getting a good crimp on an electrical connection is always particularly difficult for me.  Eventually, I got good connections on all the wires, used a heat gun to shrink the connectors tight around the wiring, taped over them just to be double sure and then flipped the switch!  Yay!! Lights!!

Not terribly exciting in daylight - I'll see how they look tonight in the dark!

I have a short weekend camping trip coming up in a couple of weeks - I'll be testing out the completed van for the first time.

More Baking

I'm trying to cut down on how much baking I've been doing since my DIY Sourdough Starter really took off!  I've been making bread, pancakes, crackers, etc trying to keep up with all the sourdough discard; I really shouldn't be consuming that many carbs. Also, I was getting a little tired of even the minimal amount of attention I had to give the Starter storing it in the fridge. 

So, I decided to try dehydrating the starter - I'm told that it will last indefinitely when dried.  My old training kicked in; I never create a backup plan without testing that backup plan.  So, after my dried Starter had been in the cupboard for a few weeks, I re-hydrated some just to make sure that it was viable. After a couple of days feeding, it was super active!  Success!  

A couple days ago, I decided to use up this re-hydrated starter and the starter I'd still been keeping in the fridge (in case my drying efforts didn't work) and make another great loaf of Sourdough bread.  This time I added about 1/2 whole wheat flour, some walnuts and olives.

It turned out great!  I'm so glad I dried the starter - it will be less tempting to keep baking up these scrumptious loaves of bread; I just can't keep from over-eating when they're in the house.

Solar Generator is working!

12 June, 2020; Vail AZ

My solar issue has been resolved!

And, of course, it was my fault.  I wired a connection incorrectly.  My only solace is that several people including the technicians at the factory looked at detail photos and video and still took awhile to twig what was wrong.  

Inergy Apex solar generator happily charging from my solar panels

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Apex performs with the electronic needs in my van.  I think my power consumption in this Van should be pretty minimal and I'm really impressed with the number of output options!  Worst case, I might need to daisy chain in another battery to increase the total available amp-hours. This battery has 90 amp hour capacity, but, since it's lithium, I'll have access to almost all that power.

On the home front, my hummingbird is back!

While I've seen the mama and her 2 chicks visiting my feeders, the nest has been abandoned.  But, a few days ago, as I was having lunch, I happened to look up and find the mama back on the nest!  She's been there pretty consistently the last couple of days so I think she's planning on more chicks this season.  Again, the Gila Woodpeckers have been showing some interest and she's aggressively chasing them away.

Sketching

Being busy with the Van, I haven't been doing a lot of sketching lately.  I've been doing a bit more landscape sketches (using reference photos from my trip to Venice several years ago) in anticipation of being able to get out of 'lockdown' and spend some time exploring Tucson architecture.

A scene from my trip to Venice

Home made ink, twig pen, and brush

I liked the reflections in this guys sunglasses!

I have a functioning Van!

8 June, 2020; Vail, AZ

Last week I made a quick trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado

The time was right to zip up to the home of WayFarer Vans and have them install my Walt Kit (conversion kit for the ProMaster 159" high roof cargo van).  I figured that I could make the trip stopping only for gas.  I carried all my food, had hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes by the drivers door and carried several masks.

I spent a night on the floor of the van on the way up (very cold with no insulation).  My solar generator is back at the factory to figure out why it's not charging from my solar panels, so I only had my headlamp for light.  But, I had my old backpacking gear, so it felt a little like the car camping I did years ago. 

When I arrived at the WayFarer factory, I met the team that did my install - very nice guys.  After answering a few questions and meeting the dogs (like at the Escape trailer Factory, a couple of dogs wander around supervising the work), I left the guys to work undisturbed.  

Very generously, they handed me the keys to one of their ProMaster City Vans so I could go enjoy the mountains.  They even gave me a couple of suggestions for places to go.  So, while they were hard at work, I took a little hike!

I hadn't been to Colorado Springs in probably 50 years!  I'd forgotten (or never knew) about Manitou Springs and the Red Rock Canyon Open Space.  It was perfect for a short hike.  

As I hiked, I got periodic update pictures of the progress on the van.  Very thoughtful, and reminded me of the every Friday emails from Escape Trailers with the latest photos of my trailer being built!  Apparently, high quality, high customer service business people think alike!

Getting started.  They even took out my camping gear and stored it on some shelves for me!

After being in the desert for a year, the smell of pine was just intoxicating.  

The ceiling MaxFan is in; also, the framing for the ceiling and walls.

There weren't too many people on the trails and everyone donned masks as they got close.

The wool insulation is in.

Before I knew it, the Van was done!

Seriously, half a day!  Check out this You-Tube video showing them doing a complete build in about 3 hours (the video is very quick too!).

Great for lounging

I've never seen such a big sink.  We'll see how I deal with a hand pump (I've always had a 12v water pump)

Is there anything nicer than a new, sparkly clean fan?

Table for 2; perfect for planning my first real camping trip!

I'm beyond happy!!  

The heavy lifting is done; I just have a few details left to do myself

The biggest thing will be finalizing the wiring for the fridge and figuring out where to run the interior lights.  For now, I've just stuck up some Puck lights.  I think I'll camp in it a few times to see where I really want lighting.

Today I installed the fire extinguisher and a carbon monoxide alarm (I'll be heating with a Little Buddy propane heater, and I may be carrying a small propane tank inside).

The IcePro 50 12v cooler fits perfectly behind the drivers seat.  Plenty of room for air flow and I think the 12 v cord will reach to my battery location without needing an extension (won't be sure until I get the solar generator back from Inergy.

Puttering about the house

21 May, 2020; Vail, AZ

They're baaaccckkk . . . . 

Walked out my front door and chanced upon this fellow - he's twice the size of the one I saw last summer (and that one was the biggest toad I'd ever seen!).  Not afraid of me at all.  I was glad Phoebe was inside as they can be quite poisonous to dogs.

Sonoran Desert Toad - largest toad in America.  This fellow was probably 6 inches.

The summer heat has been interupting my morning tea on the patio.

I like to watch the sun rise in the morning, but as soon as it's up, it shines directly onto the patio and is soon unbearably hot.  So, I bought a sun shade and installed it.  It works really well - and now that I know it will work, the next one (this one should last a few years before the sun degrades the plastics) will be a custom fit and maybe even work with a remote!  This one winds manually and the stick is really too short - I have to stand on a footstool and still it's over my head.

Getting ready to install

I temporarily put a couple nails and a rope 'cradle' in the beam so that I could install the shade by myself.  It worked out pretty well.

I hope I don't disturb this nest.  It's a Gila Woodpecker nest.

Shades the patio pretty well - the next iteration may have a shade on the front too.

The Van Conversion drags on!

Discovered a defect when I tested my new Inergy Apex solar generator (lithium battery, solar charge controller, inverter, 12 v and 110 outlets all included in one lightweight 25 pound box) - everything works EXCEPT the solar input connection.  The most important thing!!!  Inergy customer service appears to be excellent though - after some troubleshooting, they sent me a box and the Apex is now on it's way back to the factory for repair - under warranty.  Unfortunately, I won't have it when I drive to Colorado next week for the interior conversion work to be done.  Not a huge deal but it would have been nice to have for the trip.

Since it's a battery, all sorts of shipping restrictions apply; I had to drain the battery to below 10.3, get special hazardous materials shipping instructions, stickers and a special FedEx pickup.

Well, the good thing is that it took days and days for this battery to discharge - I had everything I could think of plugged into it!

Ready for pickup!

We have liftoff!!

18 May, 2020; Vail, AZ

My hummingbird chicks have fledged!

I have so enjoyed watching the Costas Hummingbird build her nest, sit on the nest, hatch and feed her two chicks, and finally, to see them take their shaky first flight from the nest.  The nest was right outside my kitchen nook window and I spent a lot of time in the last 6 weeks watching hummingbirds.  The video shows them testing out their wings, and almost falling out of the nest!

In other 'lift-off' news . . .

The sourdough starter that I was making from scratch as an experiment, finally, after 22 days, decided to wake up and start to rise!

I couldn't believe how gorgeous the resulting bread was!  And, very tasty!!

For a quarantine, there is so much going on

6 May, 2020; Vail, AZ

The Van Conversion takes a major step forward

Yesterday, I loaded up the solar panels, the bars for the rack, all the wiring, the extension cord marine fitting, and the passenger side swivel seat. Today, I trekked over to Carl's RV for the install (I just wasn't keen on drilling holes in the van or the bars, and I'm not strong enough to take out the passenger seat and install a 45 pound swivel!).  

I sat in the waiting area (with my mask on) and sketched.  A few hours later and Voila! I have solar and comfortable seating in my van.

All I need is a foot rest!

It's starting to feel like a camper!  Now, if only Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona would open up travel restrictions a bit, I could zoom up to Colorado Springs and get the interior conversion done.  I've mapped out a route - I could do the trip in a couple of long days, stopping only for gas and disinfecting as I go.  The conversion itself will take only part of one day (the advantage of getting a kit - they have it all ready to go and are very experienced in doing the build-outs). Hopefully, by the end of May or into June.  I'm anxious to get it done, even though I don't expect I'll do a lot of traveling this year - Maybe a trip in August.

In hummingbird news . . . 

The babies are getting big!  I see them stretching their wings occasionally - the nest bulges when they move around.  I'm hoping that I get to see them when they fledge.  Mom is spending less and less time at the nest - she's spending a lot of time hunting and only comes back to feed the hungry babies.

The latest sketches

Colored Pencil

Pen and Ink - Practice unusual perspectives and angles - very fun to do !

Graphite pencil - done in the waiting area of the RV shop

Supposed to be an exercise in using white on toned paper, but I didn't have the right pen so it's a bit disappointing