InkTorrents Graphics

One of my favorite winter outings is to spend a few days at Yosemite Valley. I would rather go to the Eastern Sierra mountains, but the mountain passes are mostly closed during winter months, which makes for a much longer drive than usual. For a quick winter outdoor fix, the valley is a great place to visit during the weekend. That year, I noticed there was snow forecast right on my birthday which happened to fall on a weekend as well. The closed-in valley is awe-inspiring as is; the snow enhances those jagged rock formations all the more, making the whole area breathtakingly beautiful. So, there I was, spending my birthday playing in the snow with my camera and my sketchbook.

As we left after work, we got there late at night. I usually try to avoid driving during storms as chances of rockfall go up significantly on those mountain roads. Thankfully, by the time we got there at night, the storm had passed, leaving behind a beautiful blanket of snow glittering in the moonlight. This pristine powdered snow would last only for a couple of hours in the morning. I am a night owl, but luring me out at dawn with snow is an easy task. My husband I were out and about shortly after the sun came up behind the surrounding mountains.

El Capitan Meadow is my favorite meadow in the valley. The black oaks there look so beautiful against the golden rock face of El Capitan. I always spend a lot of time there.

Right across, there is another grove of black oaks. That day they looked gorgeous wearing fresh white snow, side-lit by the sun.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

We walked around the rest of the valley floor with not a care in the world. As the low winter sun melted the snow, the surrounding trees started pelting us with snowballs. I always find that to be a lot of fun and I giggle every time that happens. A snowball fight where the trees always win.

It was a clear, bright day with occasional low clouds here and there. El Capitan is a master of capturing those low clouds.

As day rolled into late afternoon, the usual mist appeared on the meadows. I love to spend that time split up between taking photos and working in the sketchbook while sipping on something hot as it is usually very cold outside.

This is where I drew this scene sitting in the car. Instead of going for the more iconic features, I drew what was in front of me with pencil. I wanted to leave it as-is, but my husband loves inked drawings. So, later on at home, I used an ink pen for all the lines and a white gel pen for the snow. I had shared this drawing in an earlier post and I was asked by John @ John’s Island with encouraging words if I could make this into a book cover.

Here you can really see the lines that I had to remove to make a clean copy for printing. I wasn’t sure at the time, but after quite a bit of work I did manage to remove all the page lines from the drawing and make it into a book.

While playing with different book cover ideas, I fell in love with the French Fold. The cover board wraps over the edge into the inside of the book making it look stylish and elegant. This also makes the binding more stable.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

Shop Notebooks

I hand made all these books in hardcover with French Fold. As the paper I use in these books are great for writing and drawing, I have been using them for my Japanese studies, as well as travel notebooks and art study sketchbooks.

Even without ever mentioning it here, the Yosemite In Winter books have been the bestseller in my shop. That’s the magic of Yosemite, I think. You can purchase the notebooks from my shop.

Season and weather change often, and Yosemite changes with them. During the winter months, a sudden snowstorm decks the trees and the granite faces with powdered snow and turns the narrow valley into an enchanting place. Then the sun peeks out behind the cloud, making for such drama as only mother nature can write. All I need to do is tap into that energy. This one is also the start of my National Park sketchbook series. I am looking forward to drawing the unassuming features of these beautiful parks.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

A few photos from Yellowstone

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

Yellowstone was profoundly overwhelming. I was hoping for late spring snow, and mother nature listened. It snowed there every day during our stay. The landscape transformed with mist and smoke from every part of the ground when the sun came out after the snowstorms.

The storms also gave me this beautiful contrasting dark sky. During an early evening walk we heard a loud noise and saw an ever-increasing plume behind us. Not sure which geyser went off, as there are many in that area.

Off to Tioga Pass

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos –

Then we went off to my favorite Sierra mountains. The trails were still closed due to snow. We took it slow with walking around a few new and old areas, and simply reading while listening to the rain.

Even though it was warm in the valley, it got cold in the mountains with oncoming nightfall. I was glad to have packed my winter jacket as we waited for the mountains to take on the colors of Alpenglow. I really missed these mountains. Now I am back home until the weather cools off again, and I can breathe freely outside with pollen-free air.

Outside the Lines – Gesso and Watercolor ground

Outside the Lines is a series where I share my experience with new art supplies. This time it’s watercolor on Liquitex gesso and watercolor on QOR watercolor-ground.

I converted my last year’s bullet journal into an art journal. That’s when I thought of using gesso and watercolor-ground to cover up the writings. To see how they each perform, I covered two discarded paintings with gesso and wc-ground each.

Gesso on the left, Wc-ground on the right, both after 3 coats

I needed to apply multiple thin coats in order for the paper to not warp.

Gesso covered and sealed off the darker under-painting and writing much better. Wc-ground didn’t perform very well with the coverage even after three coats. When used to cover up writing, it picked up the ink color and got tinted by it. It’s a bit more wet than gesso, so the paper warps more too.

At the end, I ended up applying gesso first, then wc-ground over that.

Watercolor on wc-ground lifted off completely, even after a full night of drying, showing the white surface underneath. That’s fine with mistakes, but it made it very hard for me to layer colors. The colors simply lifted off or moved around, which made them very muddy. When not layering though, it worked well enough. I couldn’t get any definition on small things like the girl or the cat.

I sanded down the gesso paper just a little to get a smooth surface. Watercolor on gesso lifted off too, but much less with some drying time in between each layer. Watercolors tend to slide on gesso, but I could layer on colors with caution. In the large areas, I could keep the subtle colors with ease. The girl was a little better here, but I had to use pencil for the cat.

Overall I liked gesso better for my journal, even with its limitations. Wc-ground would be great for fixing small mistakes in a painting. The colors stick on gesso more with proper drying time. The covering and sealing up is much better too. Both of these qualities were lacking on wc-ground. Additionally, since I have to use gesso to cover the writing/work first anyway, I might as well stick to that for my converted bullet journal.

If you are using a clean surface and do not paint watercolor in layers, you might like the wc-ground better. Always remember to a couple of small test paintings first.

Here is the same painting on paper only.

Art Journal

Ever since school, I have always used a planner. Last year I hand made this book for my planning. Instead of discarding it, I converted this bullet journal to an art journal. I am mostly using Tombow dual brush pens for colors and various pens for drawings. I am covering up the previous dates and writings with darker marker, bits and pieces of discarded paintings, darker washi tape, printing and drawing paper, and now occasionally with gesso.

I only work on it for 15-20 minutes before bedtime. Sometimes I draw one day and color it the next day. I am filling the pages with random small drawings, paintings, writings of my own, and occasional quotes. It has been really wonderful for calming my mind before sleep.

Little watercolor cards

As part of my art study, I started painting these little watercolor cards more regularly. A lot of times it takes a while to get what is in my head down on paper.

Tiny Alpine Gentian flowers grow in the meadows at the Sierra mountains – a reminder of cool weather and the gorgeous outdoors.

A Hot spring – somewhere in the mountains that is in my head.

My friends came up with a couple of beautiful names. Fluttering by Kim and All Aflutter by Dixie. The Butterfly Effect is what I came up with afterwards, after reading more about it.

I really love the art of sword and archery disciplines. This little painting of a scabbard took close to two days to draw and paint. According to me, scabbards are blessed by dragons and imbued with special powers. The butterflies light the dark path and the oak leaves warn the carrier of this scabbard of nearby dangers.

The Girl and Her Cat – she wants him to get under the umbrella. He needs to go into the hedge to find the thing they came here for. “Also, cats don’t get sick from a little rain” was his answer.

With increased study load, I am forcing myself to take more breaks so I don’t repeat another crash. I hope these photos, art and the stories brought you much joy and respite. I will wrap up here with these four lines I wrote along with this painting –

Life is wonderful in my boots,

Exploring from roots to shoots.

Into the mountains, here I go,

Finding myself, no friend nor foe.