Sketches from the beach

Block House Beach

The last time I was at a beach actually prepared to swim was nearly 50 years prior to this.  But there we were on the beach on a blistering day trying to hide under the sun screen and umbrellas.  THAT did not work very well!  Well, so we got a bit brown (burned some might say) we also got some good time birding with the kids and sketching the scene there in east central Florida.  It was straight up noon, and a pretty active place. The brown pelicans were flying overhead and feeding just past the little surf. This was in June, so quite some time before the hurricane went past. They did avoid any serious damage in the immediate area of Melbourne I do believe.
                                                                           Pelicans & Grackles

 Pretty slick shelter the MGH's brought from GA.  Anchors in the sand quickly over a couple poles and it is ready to go, and windproof. The grackles were often very close. RuRu and I saw our first Black Skimmer, watching it feed is something you don't see in KS.

                                                            More from Block House Beach

Fun trying to catch a sketch of the Pelicans diving.  

It is only the last split second- a few feet above the water- that they pull their wings in tight.

To the beach...

Packing the cooler, crossing the river, and skirting the Air Force Base...Hence the name: Block House Beach.

I know, not much for sketches, huh, but you gotta figure that each sketch is merely preparation for the next one, right?

Brevard County Library

We had made a quick run to the county library so the kids could get some more reading material. While they poked around I had a chance to do this sketch of a little rocker sitting in the kids section. It was nice to have a different rocker to put my hand to. They offer a little different challenge as far as chairs go.  Cropped from a page with other scribbles on it as well, makes this image show every detail, every flaw...and a scrap of the other sketch sharing the page.

MCI

We were just on our way to Florida for the first visit ever. Here are a couple early sketches.

Priority Boarding:

The boarding area in KC was jammed with people waiting for a flight or 2 before us. But for a few minutes I had a seat next to Steph and while there watched the folk lined up for their flight. This was the sketch I did.  The people were a lot more dignified than this cartoon indicates; fortunately they did not see the results of my work.

Gate 43: 

We had just gotten through security at Kansas City International. We had another flight ahead of us and had about a half hour to kill. The place was jam packed with people, but I was pretty inconspicuous leaned against a pillar  doing this drawing while people were milling all around me.

Brown-eyed Susan

8 am. Prairie Park. Brown-eyed Susan.  At this south end of the "Prairie" the flowers, taking their cue from the weather. were a bit behind schedule as I recall.  So I was able to get a petal or 2 in the drawing.  This is one of the drawings that inspired me to do more of the plants in the park.  And maybe actually learn to identify a couple of 'em.  Is it really what I think it is??  Maybe someone could educate me...

Here below is a sketch of the sycamore leaves.  These guys are growing in the rocks of the dam. Not sure how good that is for the dam. but  for now they are very small. And the leaves are very interesting. They have the somewhat unusual habit of draping backwards from their attachment at the leaf base, unlike most leaves that stand somewhat upright from the petiole.

I-35 south hill

The dimensions of this painting are 7.5" x 13.75"  Done on  Canson 140# paper.   The date on the drawing was    12/6/15 - it was 45 degrees outside at the time. The date on the painting itself was 12/9/15.  We often see this place as we go south...  Looks like the Flint Hills to me.

towards Caboul

 Other than the notes on the pencil sketch that I added on 2/23/16 when I did the sketch I don't have much info about this subject.  I have misplaced most of the sketches and drawings which led up to this final painting.  It has the color of late winter or very early spring in southern Missouri. (The title even has the twang of a southern Missouri drawl...)   Done on a sheet of Canson 140# watercolor paper on the 27th of March of this year.

the rock place

The back side of the Galdamez's place.  We were there for a weekend get-a-way with others of my Prairie High School graduating class of 51 years ago. That's longer than this rock house has been standing!

mail box

There are as many kinds of mail boxes and posts as there are houses it seems.  When I find 2 or 3 alike (very strange in our 50 year old neighborhood) it is more surprising than finding a different one.  We call these mail man targets, but in town it is usually not the postman who knocks 'em over, it is usually someone backing out of a driveway.

Lawrence Public Library sketches

Two different days here. April 15th & the 22nd.  The question is then did I do any sketching between?  Probably, but that's the difficulty with having too many sketch pads laying around.  Yesterday's seems to always be misplaced.  The fine black marker is an immediate sort of drawing tool.  There is no turning back, only forging ahead- or scribbling ahead.  Looks like this was done in a 9 inch by 12 inch sketch pad.

From Burlington

From Burlington was done last year actually; from a sketch done while heading to Quincy alone. 10/4/15 was the date on the painting, but the trip was before that.  Had gone to help move a shed to El Dorado. That will be our last trip to Quincy I would guess. All the old places are gone, except for the little house where we stayed overnight more than once.  There are a thousand subjects on the roads between here and there.

from the sketchbook

Done on the fourth of April, 2016.      Another automotive moment.

UMC Coffeeville

We were on our way to Tahlequah, OK with a stop for lunch in Coffeeville, KS.  After pickin' up some fast food, I had a minute or two to do a quick sketch of the United Methodist Church just behind where we were stopped.

Sometimes the quicker the sketch the more it catches a notion of what first grabbed your attention.

Walmart, USA

We had stopped in Columbus, GA

to get some snacks at Walmart. I stayed with the car and did a few sketches.  These are from my sketchbook. I usually use 11" x 17" copy paper for sketching while actually on the road, but switch often to a sketchpad when we are stopped and I have a few minutes.

eye Doctor

It seems once in awhile, when you are at a Dr. appointment, you are forgotten.  (Not this day- I only remember one time when that really happened!)  But they had sat me down in a hallway, as things were getting a little too crowded I guess in the waiting room.   I was sitting directly in front of one open door however, were this equipment was standing.  Good thing I had my sketch pad along, huh?

Dump truck tail gate

Another one of those quickies done without even the courtesy of a signature; not even a set of initials.  Oh well, I could not pass it up, and it is a small thumbnail.  Done on the road as we were following this fella for a few minutes on the road to Florida.

5th & Maine

 Here is the sketch done 2 days before the painting.  I had a few minutes; so driving down this street, this is one scene I saw and one  of 3 ink drawings I did in about half an hour.  This is my favorite of the three, but not the only one of which I have done a watercolor.

Here is the full size pencil drawing in preparation for the watercolor.  It's on the 11" x 14" copy paper that is my standby. I buy it by the ream and use it for sketching and layouts as well as studies of many different things.

This painting was stretched out side to side if compared to the first sketch because it seemed to me that the ink drawing had been scrunched together too much, and I hoped this would add some volume to the hill.   Although that "scrunching" is often what gives a drawing a quaint interest- the fact that you can jam more information into a space than is really there.    From 8/22/16 if you can read the scribble on the ink drawing... done on 8/24 on 11" x 15" Canson 140# paper.

Columbus pick up

One more sketch from the sketchbook this one was in Columbus, Georgia.   We had driven in circles a bit to find this particular Walmart way off the beaten path that showed on the garmin. Interestingly, as we got back on the interstate to head nw we were soon to pass a Walmart right off the highway. We may have been better to follow "our own devices" rather than trust the electronic ones...

Bell tower

The Catholic church sits right across the small street from South Park, in downtown Lawrence. This was the 2nd attempt to make some sense of the church tower.  Only a sketch, but I do kind'a like the way it turned out.  Don't remember what happened to the other drawing.  Done a couple other drawings from South Park, and have others I would like to do...

East of the park

3/3/16 was the date on the sketch I posted on August 7th. It was 7 am and I was walking on the east sidewalk. That early in March is a little early for most migrating warblers, so I had time to do some dawn sketching.   Facing east you see the sun slowly climbing in the sky back lighting the houses bordering the park east of the lake.  This was inspired by a few sketches I have done of the area, but especially one sketch posted in August.
How do you like my run on sentences??
Done on a 11 inch by 14 inch Canson 140# paper.  The palette was limited to 3 main colors; Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Van Dyke Brown with a bit of Payne's Gray tossed in to deepen the contrast...

Coody's Bluff

Cannot tell you much about Coody's Bluff, not even how they pronounce it.  It was a major storm and blinding downpour that we had just passed through when we passed this scene.  We were scooting west on US 60 and had just crossed the Verdigris river in northern Oklahoma.    The original thumbnail for this painting included the 2 buildings and the hill in front with a bit of the road.  The rest came out of the imagination without any intermediate drawings to define the concept.  I wonder now if the sky ever cleared enough to see a bit of blue as in the painting, but the land was definitely dark and wet.   The sketch was dated 3/13, and the painting shortly after that: 3/26/16.   Done on a full sheet of Canson 140# 11x14
Actually you can find some interesting history about how the place got its name and other stuff. Use this link as a jumping off place.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NO018

bridge geese

I was near the river downtown another day. You can sneak off 6th Street over the tracks and under the bridge if you care to without getting out of the truck.  This day there were some utility vehicles I had to manuever around on the dirt trail, but eventually ended up here.  It was hot, I had little time, and so I just rolled down the window with the truck running and did this sketch.  You have to be prepared for the trains.  They can give you a good scare when you are not expecting them and they are just a few feet away.  The geese were busy that day, and not the least worried about me- if they are ok with the trains, nothing else maters.  I was interested in the shadow running down the far bank then across the water toward me and up on the bank past the geese in the foreground.   Directly to the left of this view under the bridge is the Bowersock Mill of which I posted a sketch a few days ago.  That one was in ink; this is in pencil.  The ink sketches always reproduce better.

out east

Here is a watercolor done a few days ago. It was more inspired by the first sketch to follow than the on site drawing, as you will be able to tell. The comments below explain some of the process.  I have looked at this scene ever since the houses behind were built- but only recently compelled to draw it, if you can explain that!

This was the idea sketch done from memory one noc after getting home from playing dominos with Gramma Ruth.  You can see how jumbled things get on a pc of sketch paper; there is the sketch of the top of some car done before this sketch was done below.      

Things catch your eye.  Who knows why.  This is a drawing done on location one day sometime after the sketch done from memory. And in this case why does the drawing not emphasize more what it was that caught my eye?  Maybe it was my penchant for filling out a sketch, rather than just recording what originally inspired me.  In this case, it was the relationship of the angles created by the wires with the angles created by the roof and the power pole.

it.

Modo

One of many 5 x 9 sketchpads that I keep around. Never for sure what else may be in the one I am using at the time.  Here is a page of our daughter's old dog. Rescued some years back from the river, Moses (whom I call Modo) is a very peaceful animal. Nice to have around.  Good subject for sketching, which I should do more of.

Bowersock Mill

Another ink drawing of the riverfront.  This is again the Kansas River- the Kaw- from the north side.  I had walked over the levy and sat near the sunflower earthwork done on the side of the levy. You may see in the drawing a spot or two from the sprinkles from a threatening sky.  It is a nice view.  There are other drawings I have done some years ago, though the structures have changed some.  About the only things left that have not been replaced or repurposed are the power mill itself with the 2 sets of steps accessing the river level, and the tower used for working on the dam.  This was done in a 5 x 9 " pad.

The Gig Gun

Our first trip up US 63 though north-central Arkansas we came to Mamouth Spring State Park and turned in without knowing what a gem of a park it is.  This year we visited the fish hatchery there. Some very interesting exibits and historical info.   Before doing that I had time to get this sketch of a Civil War cannon in the park.  How this cannon ended up here, and what the connection of the park is to the Civil War, I cannot tell you.  But the gun is impressive for 148 year old technology. The notes on the sketch say:  "Fort Pitt Pensilvania   1862" which was the year it was commissioned I think.  The gun weighs 3569 pounds and the reproduction aluminum carriage another 2250 pounds. It would shoot a 30 pound shell 2 miles. No wonder it was considered a seige cannon- it could do some major damage to the walls of a fortification. Maybe on our next visit to the park we can take in the histoiric rail road depot-  I could probably draw there most of the day...

basil wasp traps

Most of these sketches are straight from the sketch pad. Here is one of the cans over the fence stakes that hold up the 2' tall wire fence that is an attemp to keep the dogs out of the herb garden.       A simple sketch of a simple method of marking garden stakes and preventing a fall injury. The title is tongue in cheek...  The cans work too well as a wasp nesting place.  Wasps keep down the flies and the mosquitoes, right??  Just don't lift one of the cans without being ready to run!

Back o' Lincoln

Pulled into the parking lot of the old school building in town that is now Midland, where Gramma Ruth goes one morning a week.  I had a few minutes to kill, and here was this little place I had thought would be good to sketch.  So here it is.   Done with a Sharpie in a small sketch pad.  I have tried other pens, but none lasts any better, and all cost more, so here we are back to this.  One sketch pad will outlast 4 or 5 Sharpies.

AO672

Do not believe the number at the bottom.  There is no 2778 "in our town" as one famous person once said.  The AO672(1) on the light pole may get you closer.  One day a couple weeks ago a utility truck pulled up to this pole in the rain and the single occupant in the truck ran his lift up to the top of the pole pulling the power line that had fallen on the ground along with him. He then reattached it to the pole by himself while it was still drizzling. Guess he knew the power was dead- no way he could'a kept anything dry up there...         Oh, actually the number 2778 was meant to be 27 TWENTY 8  --  So it is the view from our window.

AE's Chickin.

Kept thinking about doing this while playing with the grandkids in middle Georgia:  "should do a bunch of quick thumbnails of their black hen."  This is one of a couple pages that could'a gone on until the pen was dry. A hen cuts a classic figure. The hen came with the house when they moved; it also came with a black cat that turned into 2 black cats.  They were identical cats but until they both showed up at the same time nobody knew.  The hen, I think, got air lifted out by a "chicken hawk" and has since been replaced by a number of others and a roof over the chicken coop.
Done in a 5" x  9" scetch pad.  The notes remind me that the hen laid its first egg while we were there. It was green. The hen's head was dark red.  Also listed are some of the less common birds we saw while in the area. One, the Northern Harrier, was not, I am sure, the hawk that got "Blackie" the chicken.

6 ottoman

Breakfast is over. The day is ready to begin. The 6 peice ottoman/ coffee table in the waiting area caught my interest. This combination of 2 studies was done with a soft lead in a Pentel .9 pencil.

4th & Perry

There is never any shortage of stuff to draw when you go north of the Kaw River.  The place is almost quaint, in a mid-western river town sort of a way.  In the old days there were more tomatoes grown here than about anywhere east of, and maybe even including California. That's because they were canned locally.   Lots of newer homes now, but North Lawrence is still a haunt for images like this...  Done in pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson pad.

4th & Lincoln

Less than half a block north of the "4th & Perry" pencil sketch that I will post next, this drawing was done a couple weeks earlier.  I had been noticing the place for some time.  4th street stops right there, so I could just sit on the side of the street and do this ink drawing.

3-13-16

I have done a watercolor or two of this scene.   This sketch has actually inspired a couple. It was early in the day when the sun was creating good ambiance in the shadows on the back of the houses.

Indoor Plants

I had even taken pictues of this scene thinking I should draw it sometime.  This was the time.  Just a line drawing, cause I was feeling lazy and I liked the interelation of all the negative spaces.  For some reason negative spaces are not as intimidating as possitive ones.  Negative ideas, though, now that's another story.                   You can find some of these plants in drawings and paintings done before this one.  This was before most of these ended up back outside in the spring, where they suffer much more from the bugs and the heat. It was even before they had suffered through a long winter of not enough sunshine in the sw window of the guest room...

north out of Tahlequah

We were headed north out of Tahlequah after a great weekend.  This was about the last place to get gas before heading north on highway 82.  The scene was directly in front of me and took only a few seconds to sketch (I know you say it looks like it too!).  Well I may have not been too impressed at first, but as it sits a spell...   Yup, there's somehthing to be said for a line drawing in ink.

Jeep coming

Where or when or by who?  How do you know when the artist does not even bother to initial his work??  Yea, I know I should, but this was probably just a thumbnail done with a date and place noted somewhere close by.
I do know that it was done with a Sharpie.
Well it has been a couple months since posting something.
No skin off any one's nose I hope!
Decided I better get back with it.  It has not been for lack of drawings to post, so this will be the first of a number more I trust.
Also been working on getting set up to do some matting and framing of my stuff, which process I will show you some of as we get back going here...

Did this sketch one recent Saturday morning when I was waiting for Louis to finish Gramma Ruth's hair. I was planning on a short bird walk a the Lawrence Nature Trail off Folks Road, but had forgotten my binoculars, so I sat instead south of the Mercantile and did this sketch.  Later on last week I started the watercolor painting which took a bit, but is now done. And here is the watercolor below.

Broken Arrow

Here is the painting and the drawing that was the inspiration for the painting. Been meaning to do some power line studies just for the shapes and angles.  This particular day we were catching a burger at Hardees and headed to the park when Stephanie suggested to kill a little time I could draw while she read. The ink sketch was the result.  After it sat at home a day, then I transferred it to a 9 x 12" chunk of Arches 140# and started the watercolor.  This is the result.  After scratching my head about it this weekend I put some finishing touches on it today.  It is done now don't ya think?? Shannon thought that the photo missed some of the color...  That's the problem with my primitive system...

This is the stone shelter that we used to take the kids to in the day. Now, once in a great while we might take the grandkids.

flag ship

Not often that this is the view outside of the Senior Center, but this day the fire truck was sitting along the curb on 8th street.  It gave me a different subject for a change.

outa the park

"inspired while riding out of Prarire Park with Stephanie in the evening." This is the note on the edge of the painting.   We were on the tandem.  It was March 3rd.  The painting was  done on the 5th after it had stirred around in my head a little bit. Kinda like makin' good tapioca puddin' or so I'm told- some things need to just simmer for a time...The trees had only begun to fill out and it was nearly a month till the spring warbler migration would begin in earnest, but the weather had warmed and cleared and we were out for a short ride.  Inspirations come to the artist when they do...

Winter fence line.

This scene is presented to me every day from the kitchen window.  I should do a sketch or something from there every day. It changes from the passing of the sun (or moon) and its movement north to south over the seasons. This was done from a drawing- barely a sketch- that I cannot even find now. None of the paintings from this window have been as spontaneous as this one. Or I should say, none show the qualities of the water color medium as clearly as this painting does.