31 Islands

Today's sketch comes from the "31 Islands in 31 Days" list from theydrawtober. There are a lot of obscure islands on this list, and this one is no exception—have you ever heard of the island of Holbox (pronounced Hole-bosh)? I hadn't either until I looked it up, and now I want to go!

Holbox is a small island just off the north coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, about two hours north of Cancun. There are no cars on the island, and the only access is via ferry from the town of Chiquila. The average temperature is about 82 degrees and, aside from a hurricane season in September and October, the weather is consistently temperate. The main occupations (of tourists) are swimming with whale sharks (they eat plankton, not people), wind-surfing, kayaking, and (my favorite) occupying a hammock strung up over the water. If you're feeling really energetic, there is a three-hour tour of street art (murals). And the food of the Yucatan sounds scrumptious.

Apparently there is also a large population of flamingos, as depicted in my little sketch.

"Holbox"—pencil, Uniball, watercolor, in Bee sketchbook.

31 flavors

Nope, not ice cream—it's one of the three themes for theydrawtober, and today's prompt was "chestnuts." Do you know how boring chestnuts are? I mean, if you want to really show off your ability to imitate lifelike light and shadow, you can grab a handful, put a light on them, and try to copy the shine, but...hm. I finally decided to do just one, and do it cracked open but mostly inside its outer shell, which is prickly and in my favorite lime green.

In the process of looking for a reference photo, I picked up a few facts: Chestnuts are more like fruit than they are like nuts, with a high water content and little or no protein or fat. They are mostly carbohydrates and sugars, comparing with wheat or rice, and have twice as much starch as potatoes. We don't grow many in the States because of chestnut blight, but import a lot from other countries. Various delicacies are made with chestnuts, typically by the French (marrons glacée) and Italians but also by the Hungarians and Swiss, and a liqueur in Portugal. Other cultures mill chestnuts into flour for baking, use them as stuffing for poultry, ferment them for beer, and roast them as a coffee substitute. They are well-used, therefore, despite their repelling outer shell!

"Chestnut"—Uniball and watercolor in Bee Sketchbook.

31 Flowers

Whoever made the gardening list was clever enough to mix it up a little so that you're not necessarily drawing flowers every single day. Today's prompt was "garden gloves," which was a fun one to do, given the choice between all the many structures and patterns of gloves out there. I like the ones with the tiny rubber dots on the palms that give you some traction when it comes to handling your garden tools, but they are a bit of a challenge to draw! The palms make for a nice contrast with the fresh cotton fabric used for the tops. I thought about creating a whole background of dirt, but decided to just go with some shadow to give them weight.

"Garden Gloves"—Uniball and watercolor in Bee sketchbook, about 7x7 inches.

Yesterday and today

I took yesterday's prompt from the food list, although rather than presenting "figs" as first occurred to me (an hors d'oeuvre plate featuring sliced fruit, cheese and crackers), I instead depicted them being devoured by green June bugs before I can get them off the tree and into my mouth! When I pull a fig, miraculously still intact, off my tree, a swarm of these bandits rise up from the fruit they are in the process of hollowing out and circle my head with a loud buzzing sound like tiny battery-operated airplanes! I try first to scope out where the beetles are on the tree and duck to one side as I attempt to salvage my figs, but sometimes the June bugs end up in my hair. You have to really love figs to argue with these guys!

Today's prompt is from the flowers list, although it's definitely not what the list-maker had in mind when including it with butterflies, gardening gloves, and zinnias! The vision was probably of a stray bluebird's feather fallen to earth, not this flapper girl with bee-stung lips and a pink feather boa. But what can I say? I like to paint people, and I saw a way to incorporate feathers, so...

"Feathers"—Uniball and watercolors in Bee sketchbook, 9x9 inches.

Flowers

Today's theydrawtober flower prompt was wild roses, which I love, so that's the prompt I chose to paint. The rose and pink ones are commoner, but I love the pale yellow blooms. I also love this effect Brenda Swenson taught me of putting a "frame" (box) around everything, but letting certain parts of the inside stuff stick out beyond the edges of the frame to give it a more 3-D effect. Bees love wild roses, so I added one in, rolling himself around in ecstasy amongst the stamens and pistils!

"Wild Roses"—Uniball pen, watercolor, in Bee Sketchbook.

#theydrawtober, #31flowersin31days

Don't forget the hanger!

Today's #theydrawtober in the food category was S'Mores. Who could resist? But trying to draw them once they're melted and sandwiched doesn't make such a pretty (or identifiable) subject, so I chose to depict the individual components that make up this campfire delicacy. And speaking of the campfire...as much an ingredient as all the food items is that wire hanger you unwrap to create the tool for toasting your marshmallows to perfection! (I thought about including a box of matches, but children may be present, so...no.)

Besides the questionable proportions of one item to another, there is one major flaw in this drawing—I made the candy bar a little too short, and ran out of space for the lettering, so instead of Hershey's, it's singular. Oh well..."perfection is the enemy of progress" (Winston Churchill)!

"S'Mores"—Uniball pen, Signo white gel pen, and watercolor in Bee Sketchbook.