Ironically, I think these “placeholder” sketches are turning out to be the ones that best serve the purpose of the Weekly Sketch project. Horses are quick and easy to draw, so to make them more interesting I play around with effects like toned paper, damp brushes and so on. I’m actually developing my skills more with the horse sketches than I am with the “serious” drawings.
I dabbled in color this week.
I’ve always known juniper berries were used to flavor gin, but I never really thought of them as edible until my uncle came to visit us in Austin and we took him hiking around Mount Bonnell. It had been a rainy winter, and the juniper berries were exceptionally big and round and vibrant. My uncle got very excited and started eating them right off the trees. So I tried some. To my surprise they were sweet and tasty, although the pits were a bit piney. I am now a fan of the humble juniper!
This week’s sketch was inspired by a pic I took last weekend of Mahogany frolicking in her paddock. The photo itself isn’t very good, but it caught her in an unusual pose, so it seemed like a fun little anatomical challenge to draw.
Here’s the original photo. She has a mohawk because I shaved her mane off a few weeks ago, rather than fighting with the solid block of dried Texas clay that had melded with it.
I’m still working on the portrait of Elizabeth. It’s taking longer than I thought it would. Here is a horse.
This is my favorite poem about flying:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, –– and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of –– wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew ––
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.–– John Gillespie Magee, Jr., “High Flight.”
Emma and Elizabeth’s paragliding session lasted for about 30 minutes.
What a rush!
The girls chilled for a while by the lake…
…and then took the shuttle van…
…back to the paragliding company’s shop in Pokhara to get the flight pics transferred from the pilots’ GoPros to their own devices.
Then back to Paljorling Camp, where they reviewed their image files over lunch in a Tibetan restaurant.
After the meal, they visited a camp artisan who weaves colorful jewelry, keychains and other trinkets for the tourist trade.
They bought bracelets for themselves and small gifts for friends and coworkers back home.
Here is an interesting decoration over a doorway in the camp.
Hello, picturesque camp sheep!
Much more to come!
An Invincible Summer 