Gifts from Bud

One of the guys who stayed here last weekend was Bud. We stayed in touch with him and his family even after they all moved away. We went to North Carolina to visit them and Bud took us rapelling.

But then Bud got married and moved to the Pactific Northwest. Actually, Om got to visit him a couple of times, but I hadn't seen him for probably 45 years. He brought me three gifts! First of all, I did not know that we have a mutual love of gardening, and particularly for playing with succulents. He makes these planters out of old records and then fills them with random goodies. (He also has a greenhouse and I am trying not to be jealous.) They are not hardy, but can stay outside for the summer. His wife Annie painted the little rock for me.

He also brought me this garden decoration. Since it's mostly white, it may end up in the Moon Garden. We'll see.

But probably the most meaningful is that he gave me one of his carved birds. These are made from a single block of wood. (Trail friend Glen also makes them- I've showed you some of his.)

I tried to get a lot done today. Did fairly well although it got pretty hot this afternoon. Edited, shopped (but forgot to take the pop cans, so they are still in the middle of the floor :/ ), worked in the Moon Garden, but didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Should go do some more now that it's cooler, but the nasty gnats are out, so I'm probably just going to give up and take a shower. Gave one of the gardens a long drink. I'm watering things in the Moon Garden pretty much every day until they get established. Took a road walk in the morning before it got too hot.

Miles walked in 2026: 205.5. Just a couple of road miles.

See 50 Year Reunion

I Kidnapped Chris

Very little went the way I expected it to today, but it was all great!

I'd just gotten started on my morning work routine when hiker Chris contacted me. His plans had changed too, and he needed to get to Cadillac. So, I went to get him off the trail.

But then, I decided to kidnap him and bring him back to my house.

I worked him so hard that when I took him back to Cadillac we needed the hanidicap spot!

I'm just kidding. Sort of. Actually, I did ask him if he'd help me with some heavy work. Here was the result.

It doesn't look like much except a bare spot, right? That's good. There was still an awful lot of earth to move where the snowplow had scraped up rolls of dirt on the grass. I really wasn't thinking I could get that all cleaned up alone before the grass got too long, but the two of us together got everything smoothed down enough that I'll be able to run the mower without scalping all that dirt.

Meanwhile, I was trying to get Chris a ride from Cadillac to Kalkaska tomorrow. Due to all the flooding he's going to have to skip a whole section of trail. Glen, from our Spirit of the Woods Chapter, is on the Trail Angel list, and he doesn't live too far from Cadillac. So he agreed to do that.

Then, Glen reminded me that we'd been talking for quite a while about about him giving me a tour of the little museum in Tustin where he lives. So after I dropped Chris off at the motel, I went to the musuem. You'll see a lot more of that another day because it was very nice.

But then Glen and Diana invited me to their house for dinner. I said yes.

Glen is the President of their historical society. He's also now our chapter Vice-President. And his hobby is carving birds and fans from a single piece of wood. I had no idea you could make really large ones! I saw quite a few he's made over the years, and one his father made (you'll see that another day). But here is one of his large ones. (His grandfather also made them, and Glen's teaching his grandchildren!)

Also, since I was driving up north, I scooted around and got the plastic recycling collected to drop off on the way.

I'm happy, full of good food, and beat!

See Loren, Loda, Hardcore Hiker

Goodbye Philadelphia in the Rain

It was a good day to spend in the car, and that filled most of the day. David waves us off from his doorstep.

We did begin with something very nice. Rachel had to go to work, but David and Marie...

... and Carmen and I went out to breakfast. Carmen is a long-time friend of Dave and Rachel, and I've known her for probably 10 years, but I guess she hasn't made it on the blog before.

Just a few more images of Philadelphia from yesterday. Philly has hundreds of murals. (Nope, I just looked it up- they have 4000-5000 and it is known as the mural capital of the world.) Here's one. A lot of them are really amazing, but I can't catch photos from the moving car. Maybe some trip I'll try to do a better job with pictures of murals.

And if this doesn't say Philadelphia to you, I can't make it any better. This is a straight-on view of City Hall with the statue of William Penn on the top.

And an attempt to catch a side view on a different street.

It rained ALL day, turning to slush as we got back to Marie's. But tomorrow is another day!

See Rooted

Moose In Boots - Page Twelve

Today has been stressful, but I did finish one more page. I'm not sure if I'll get any more done before I leave on Saturday.

This page was so simple, there's really not much to add to it.

My car had a little issue in the middle of the day that chewed up a fair amount of time. I was planning to take a decent walk, but that got shortened to a fast 2 miles. At least I got that much. The car is fine. Bell practice. Short grocery list.

I got the entries in for the MOWA Contests. But my list to accomplish before Saturday is long.

Miles walked in 2026: 41.5

Ludington streets, 2.0 miles.

See Moose in Boots- page 11

Moose In Boots - Page 11

Another fairly easy page, except that getting the moose ok at this particular scale is harder than I think it should be. I need to work on touching up his eyes a little more.

I said I'd show you more about why the watercolor pencils are so nice. First, this is some sample patches where I was trying out different colors and mixes for the skin and hair. Labels are just enough so I won't forget which colors I used. This is taken with the camera, not a scan, so the color isn't as good, but you get the idea.

Then, I decided I really needed to see how the skin tone I picked was going to look on a face, so I just sketched an outline and colored it in. You can build in some texture with how heavy of a line you make with the pencils and how much water you brush it with.

I decided I liked this tone. I didn't want it to be very pink.

And for her hair, I wanted her to be blond, but not really pale blond. I chose honey and cinnamon pencils. You can see that by making some loopy strokes with the cinnamon and pressing a little harder the impression of layers of curls is pretty good. I also did her plaid shirt with the pencils.

Most of what I did today was try to get my entries ready for the 2025 Michigan Outdoor Writers Awards. It's a total pain to get them formatted the way they want, but I often win something, so I do it. I'm close to submitting. Maybe I'll finish this evening. Maybe not.

And I have done three edge rows around the prayer shawl. Have to decide if that's enough or if I want four.

See Moose In Boots- page 10

Moose In Boots - Page 10

Moose in Boots page 10 is done, and 11 is started.

This was a simple page, and there isn't much to show of interest having to do with progress. I just did the washes and added details. Probably the most interesting thing is the ground around the tent. It is three colors splotched on and then wet down and part of the color lifted off with a paper towel.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in some of my new art toys... er, tools. I put a sampling on a towel to display. Clockwise from top left.

I got a set of 11 permanent ink pens with tips in sizes from 0.003 mm to 3.0 mm plus a brush tip. These are awesome! I'm better with pen and ink than paint any day. These allow me to add all the details.

Next is two different kinds of artist sponges. I've used those for the spring trees and the dappling on the granite-wear pans.

For the first time in my life, I invested in some decent brushes. I got a pack of 10, but so far, I've only used these two. They have beautifully pointed tips and they hold their shape. I may be in love.

Watercolors. I am still using the el cheapo sets, plus some more colors I bought. The small tubes (I bought 7) came from Hobby Lobby. I wouldn't have gotten so many, but they are closing out that line and the tubes were 87¢ each instead of $3.50. I needed black, and discovered the sale. The tube of blue that looks different is from a different cheap set of colors from Dollar General. Technically, you should be able to mix any color you want, but it's nice to have a few more options to start with.

Finally, the other brushes and container on the left are the masking fluid. It was nice that they sent a few cheap brushes to use with it, because it's rough on brushes

I also bought more paper. It's not really good paper, but it's fine for a kid's book. It's more of the same kind I started on, and I sure didn't want to switch in the middle and discover that the textures were different or something.

I think I should also re-share the picture of the set of watercolor pencils I asked for at Christmas seven (how can it be that many?) years ago. I am actually using them quite a bit for small spaces, and you'll see a good example of their use on page 11, which I have started.

It was a pretty laid-back day, which I was glad of. I did more small tasks, completed one edging row around the prayer shawl (it will need at least 3, but the first is the hardest), and edited.

I leave for the East in one week, so I need to get my tush in gear.

See Moose In Boots- page 9

Moose In Boots - back to Page Four

You have to think back to when Morgan had just found the trail, and was stretching his lanky legs. This comes next.

The reason I had to wait on this was because I needed new masking fluid. What do you do with that, you ask? When you want a texture in the background that is "unbroken" by the figures in the foreground you cover the foreground areas with it. All it is is liquid latex that you can brush on.

I fooled around with it a couple of times before I started the real page. The first time, I didn't get good enough coverage, so when I started for real I put two coats on the moose. You can just barely see it's there. Some is shiny, and it's all sort of off-white.

When it's dry, you paint right over it so the lines in the water (in this case) aren't different on one side of the water lilies and the moose than on the other side.

When the paint is dry- completely dry- you rub it off.

Then you have the blank white areas remaining. In this case where the moose and lilies will go. I also added the far trees.

This was the first of the pages where I did a major goof with the ink. I fixed it on the computer. Hopefully, you can't tell where. Probably not at this size. I'll need to print a full size page to be sure it's ok.

Not sure if I'll get another page done tomorrow. I really need to do some other things. I linked to page 3 below if you want to refresh your memory.

But I did get the body of the prayer shawl finished today and started on the edging.

See Moose In Boots- page 3 See Page 9

Moose In Boots - Page Nine

I got off to a really slow start on this page because I had to do a lot of things before I could actually begin drawing. But I got it done.

I got the background shading better than page 8. That page is too dark. I managed to lift some of the color off the original, and I think I can fix it even more on the computer. Also, I added the green, and that looks good. But you'll just have to wait for the actual book to see all the tweaks.

Here's the original concept page, again with some computer coloring on the old verson.

What I had to mess around with is due to the fact that originally I had the text for this two-page spread on the right side. (if you missed yesterday's post, that's where the text is- on page 8.) This confused everyone who read the book. When I went back to the book after a few years, it confused me too. So I needed to switch those pages.

That meant Morgan needed to be flipped to face into the center of the book. I also needed to move some of the segments so they weren't too close to edges. I think it was 11 o'clock before I had a decent, updated concept page to work from.

(Just FYI, I try to get the concept pages pretty close. Then I trace the basic outlines on the better paper, use light pencil to fix shapes or whatever. Then I get out the picture I drew the original from- thankfully I also had printed those out and they were with the original drawings. Then I start with the ink, work from the photo, and try not to mess up. All mistakes with ink have to either be corrected on the computer, or if too terrible, I have to start over.)

Then I took a junk page that I printed by accident (see parts of Morgan's hooves that don't belong) and used colored pencil to decide what background colors I wanted, and tried to keep them very light.

I was almost finished mid-afternoon. But then we needed to go to a memorial visitation for someone. So I finished the inking when I got home.

Then I put in the colors, and did the computer work for text and a few minor tweaks.

My other art supplies arrived, so now I can go back and do page four.

See Moose In Boots- page 8

Moose In Boots- Page Eight

I was afraid I was going to have to do this page at least a couple of times. Or, at any rate, sections of it and then put them together with digital magic. But, I didn't mess up!

You need to understand that this is the left side of a two-page spread. You'll see the rest of the pictures another day. But some of these words aren't going to have anything to go with them yet. I may add some darker green for the trees above the wolf. Actually, I can test how that looks on the computer to see if it looks good.

Here is the concept page with some color I added with the computer a long time ago. It makes it hard to see the pencil drawings, but you get the idea. I actually had a few different concept drawings because I changed one of the animals and the placement of some things. (Just this week I thought about adding a spruce grouse because they also have special feet and they are very pretty, and they live in the northwoods. But I decided I should stick with familiar animals.)

And here are the pen drawings before I added in the color. I did the hardest one first and then held my breath until I finished the rest.

It was a really busy day. I did all of this except the color in the morning because this afternoon I had to do errands, grocery shopping and bell choir. I also managed to walk 3 miles.

Miles hiked in 2026: 33.5

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 3.0 miles/

See Moose In Boots - page 7

Moose In Boots - Page Seven

One more page.

I'm beginning to feel like I have ADHD. I do one thing on the painting and that has to dry or almost dry. But that means I can do something else for about 15 minutes and then I need to go back to it. I'm beginning to feel a little bit fractured.

Not too much to show on this one. Here's the concept. I used two printed copies of this to try out a couple of colors on the tent. But this picture is before I colored things.

Decided on blue and gray. A brighter color drew the eyes to the tent too much. Here's the first wash.

And the second wash. Basically, I colored every area before I started putting in details with pens.

What I actually spent some serious time on was trying out techniques for page 24. That one has to be different and I don't know what the heck I'm doing. But I fooled around- watched some videos and sort of made up something else, and I think I'm getting close to what I want. I'll show you those when I get to page 24, which will be a while.

I also managed to edit some.

Don't know if I'll finish a whole page tomorrow. It will be a busy day, and the next page is a little different too.

See Moose In Boots- Page 6

Moose In Boots - Page Six

Today went well... as far as working on Moose In Boots! But again, this is about all I did. Here is page 6

Here is the concept drawing from 16 years ago.

A few process pictures that might be slightly meaningful. This was the very first color I added. The rocks were fun. They just got blotches of gray, purple, and green. Then I worked with them later to create the rock shapes.

At that point I could "see" enough of the picture to know that I didn't like how it looked as it the landscape just falls off to nothing beyond the rocks. Lots of northwoods landscapes do fall away steeply, but there is usually a low area in the distance. I thought about just taking a chance on putting in the color. But by then, I'd invested a lot of time in the rocks and trees already, and I didn't want to ruin it if that didn't look good. So I painted a strip of ordinary paper, cut it out and laid it in to see how it looked. Yes! Much better. I knew I dared add a distant layer of color.

This is also possibly interesting. I wanted to be sure the hemlock bark was going to look OK. First I tried a couple of sample trunks on the scrap page on the left. The top one is too dark, but I was happy with the bottom one. The strip on the right is part of the actual page, but before I added the shading. Looks kinda weird, right! But I think the final tree looks good.

Have you noticed that I've been trying to add in plants that belong? Page 1 has marsh marigolds. Page 3 has Canada anemone and pink ladies' slipper. This page has bunchberry (ground dogwood). The trees on this page are a baby white pine, the tall and small hemlock, and a maple tree.

As I said, I didn't do much else. I feel good about finally getting serious about this book, but I also know I should be doing some other things too.

See Moose In Boots - page 5