I brought my sandstone powder and watercolors with me on vacation to Doha because I wanted to be able to experiment with them during the days while Rob was at work and I was at the apartment. They’re fortunately very portable, so it makes it possible to do nature art anywhere. Even on the other side of the world, in the desert and the city.

Going through customs with me made me a little nervous because I wasn’t sure how they’d be taken if my bags got searched, but no one seemed to care about them. I packed my brushes and art pads in the same space so it would be easy to see what they were for, just in case.

They weren’t quite dry yet when I left but the arid desert air has certainly taken care of that. I had just finished making the last tin of paint the day before my plane left, so I hadn’t had time to do any doodling at all since they’d dried to see how they would work.

Handmade Paints

The first attempt was okay. Not my best work, but since it was the first time trying to use the paints, and the first time in I can’t remember how long working with paint and brushes, my expectations weren’t high.  I wanted to find out how the color went down on the watercolor paper and at the same time capture the way it looks here at the apartments where Rob lives.

Ha, for the sake of anyone else trying to do art and finding that it’s not working for them, I am going to post this side-by-side of the painting and the photograph. It really makes me wonder what was going on with my eyes as I was painting. The two look nothing alike, except that there is a palm tree in both. Maybe it’s an eye-hand coordination issue. Whatever the problem, I’m glad I decided to go on and try something else afterward.

I like the palm tree, but the buildings are wonky and look nothing at all like the real buildings, and I didn’t even attempt to put the cat in there.

Nature Art Anywhere

Falconry is big in the Middle East. There is a falcon souq (market) here and it’s on my list of things I want to see. Since I had falcons on my mind, I decided to try painting one. I decided to paint an American kestrel because it’s our native little falcon and one of Rob’s favorite birds.

This painting came out MUCH better than the first one. I should stay away from trying to paint urban nature scenes, I think. I used a photograph for this one too and it ended up looking much more like the original than the apartment scene did.

Portability

Colored pencils are probably more portable than anything else for doing nature art anywhere. A single regular pencil would do to capture quick scenes. I started out packing a regular pencil. And a few colored pencils. Then I added a sharpener and eraser to the little pouch. Then I thought maybe a few more colors wouldn’t hurt. Before I knew it, the whole box of 132 colors was in my suitcase. And then a few days before my departure date I started playing with the sandstone and making watercolors.

So then I wanted to also bring those.

As you can imagine, I didn’t bring as many clothes or makeup or shoes as a woman might bring on a faraway destination trip. But I did bring art supplies. And I’ve found that I can do nature art anywhere. Even on the other side of the world when it’s too hot to go outside.