Third floor playhouse

           This is what I found online about this little building sitting on the 3rd floor of the Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence, Kansas.  The playhouse was originally built by Isaac Newton Van Hoesen, an early mayor of Lawrence, back in 1878 for his daughters. This was during the first 15 years after the Civil War.   It had been used by a couple other families before coming to the museum to be available for all visiting kids to explore.  While I was standing there doing this drawing a group of ladies came along on a guided tour of the museum.  On of them mentioned that she lived near the playhouse as a child and actually played in it.  I am including links to some very interesting stuff about "this old house". If they don't work for you, a google search will get you there. Pics and text from  LJW articles.

            The drawing was done in an 11 x 14 inch Strathmore "Sketch" pad with 2 different Sharpie's and then shaded with blunt 2B lead in a holder.  I did most the drawing there on location, and put the finishing touches on at home. That's how I often do.  This drawing was very fun to do, to see how it eventually turned out, even with a bunch of ladies swarming around for a few minutes (very polite ladies I should add) while I was doing it.  Seems like the less ideal the conditions are, the more motivated the senses are to work. The resulting drawing has an immediate feel to it.

Van Hoesen Playhouse
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2006/dec/01/watkins_museum/24200/
This gallery link has a copy of the very early photo of the playhouse.
LJW 8/4/91

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19910804&id=_k4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=euYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6023,50243

Oak bench

              This piece sits in the corner entryway between the downtown fire station and the offices that include the Senior Center.  Nice looking vintage oak bench, with very little issues, other than one slat mostly missing. No one sits in it much. The entryway is too cool in the winter and too hot in the summer, plus there is nothing to do there, unless you are waiting for something; and that would not be long or you would sit in the main lobby. The building was built I think in 1950 as the main police and fire station.  There is still a fire station, but the police have moved to new digs that actually now are inadequate.  Although they were turned down by the voters this year in a request for a new facility that would amalgamate all the scattered places they work out of at the present.

End of Ponderosa

          Our oldest son used to cut up through this way delivering papers in junior high.  My job, as I remember was to help with the Sunday edition.  I have a little more time now to stop and do a sketch. It is a lot more overgrown and fenced than what it was in the mid 1980's.  It appears that this is the remnant of a hedge row that is about 1/2 block long that somehow survived.  This is the north end after the hedge row comes up the hill and runs into Ponderosa Street coming from the north. You can see the guard rail and warning sign where the two meet. 
          I have all sorts of sketch pads. Different sizes and papers.  I might have any one with me at any given time.  This day it was a mid-sized one.  The effect achieved by the super fine Sharpie is nice with some shading added with a different worn out marker.  And it reproduces well with a somewhat dysfunctional digital camera.

Custom Custom Delux

          This drawing was done on 1/26/15 when it was 60 degrees F.  I mean it is February in Kansas- go figure...(today is more normal at about 20 F.)  This beast of a truck had been sitting across the street at Dorothy's neighbor's place for some time. The fella had been doing a little remodeling for Karen. It is the place we and the Chase's redid back in the 1980's and it has been kept up nicely over the years..  I had a few minutes sitting in front of Dorothy's, and glad I had pencil and paper with me. 1980's man, that's about when this truck was made, huh..  Maybe not as well kept as the house, but it has had plenty done to it!

Eighth street west of Vermont

          If you have been in town long, you will understand the name, if not the exact location.  This drawing - sketch actually- was done in about 10 to 15 minutes.  It was a week day downtown while I was driving our 93 year old "Gramma ma."  While she was doing her exercise, I stepped outside the south door of the building, sat on the steps and did this sketch of a scene across the street that I had never really noticed before...     Done in an 5 x 9 inch sketch pad with marker and pencil in about 15 minutes maybe.  You can see that it was 70 degrees that day, though in January in Kansas!

nose on jeep

I was waiting in the truck for a few minutes outside the grocery store.  This jeep sitting in front of me provided an opportunity for some drawing.  I had an "inkling" so to speak that it would work.

Kaw cairn

           This busy little sketch will lead to more I think. My early  drawings years ago did not have the improvements to the dam or the mill. There are major changes on the north end as well that will need a drawing pretty soon.   Harold O'brien  said once that he used to visit a grist mill on south side  some Saturdays to get wheat ground for the coming week.  Very early  on there was a shaft running from a water wheel on the river under the Massachusetts St. businesses to provide power for belt driven equipment.  Remnants of the tunnel still remain.  
           The title comes from the pile of rocks in the middle of the river, sitting on the sand bar.  I should say the Kansas River is called the Kaw around here. After the native Americans of the Kaw Nation. 
           The link below will show you a picture of the dam very early on, as well as one of J. D. Bowersock whose name is still connected to the mill. Interesting history for sure. Even in the 1970's the buildings were still used as paper storage, as I can personally attest.         http://www.lpco.co/about-us/lawrence-paper-company-history/

shuga' bowl

          

          This sugar bowl sits at the table where we play games in the evening. Not all sugar bowls have this shape; with concave sides.    Makes for a nice subject with the long cast shadow which will always add some interest to a drawing.  We once had a similar bowl, which I was always tempted to draw. The lid of it did not survive five kids...  or maybe it was me always re-positioning it for another sketch.
          Done in a small Strathmore "Sketch" pad with the usual Pentel 0.9 mm with 2B lead in it.  This may be one that I intended to layout with pencil and finish with marker, but just never got around to putting down the pencil.

Minnesota Birch

         

           This simple sketch done from the kids sun room in mInnnn-ehsO--ta; (is that how you say it??)  There was just not enough time in the day to get outside and sketch, and besides, it was raining!  This little patch of small birch trees sits in the grass at the edge of Brian's oak wood, and though they have been photographed often this is one of my first sketches of the bunch. These trees get more interesting every year; it is nice they survived the construction process.
            I was trying to fill up a small sketch pad while there, but kept switching to a larger format for some drawings that I wanted to finish up later.  This one, done in the 5" x 9" format, helped me get some more in the small pad. Done entirely with an ultra fine Sharpie in less than 5 minutes while waiting for supper to get on the table.

Frozen load

             Here is what was actually the first of the two drawings done that trip and done in the same style. I was getting set to do "Environmental" when directly south was this scene. So it was catch as catch can.    The few people working in the cold that day were trying to get this ten wheeler to give up its load. You get an indication here of the 15 degree F. temperature. 
         The two drawings were finished as they sat on the piano later at home. Done in the 5" x 8" Strathmore Sketch pad with pencil and marker.

Environmental

          This odd little drawing was started and completed along with another on the same day after a short stop at the bottom of Louisiana  street where Broken Arrow park sits. This view is looking west from the park on a very cold day when not a whole lot was going on.  The entire place south of there has been torn up and is slowly getting put back together to make way for 2 new roadways. This drawing shows the yard at the south end of the park where the crews store equipment and materials for the project. The pre-manufactured barrier of light black pvc and stakes is to keep the runoff from the work area flowing up hill into the park itself!!  I never knew liquid could run uphill- you learn something every day!
          I could not pass up the chance to record the black line extending across the view. You may notice a few things in the drawing such as the water trucks half hidden behind the tree on the right, the forks for loading and unloading trucks of supplies, etc.  The truck and lowboy waiting to haul some equipment, and dirt pile in the back laid in by scrapers for later use.  You can see as well the residential area in the distance to the west.
          Done with pencil and marker on a 5x8 inch Strathmore Sketch pad. I will have to post the companion drawing soon.

The loader

         

Here was something to do while sitting in the truck eating my lunch. Just had a few mintes but kept the practice going.  The practice of seeing something of visual interest and getting it on paper for better or worse! Teaches you real quickly what you are seeing and what you are not seeing as you should see it.

the Rockhold clock

          This clock sits in Gramma's living room. She purchased it maybe 40 years ago from Ed Rockhold of Baldwin City. In those early days when he was I think an elder at the Baldwin chapel and they met in the home of Dr. Ray Jones.  Gramma Ruth however was as always, in Springfield. Not till she married Dad did she move to OKC and then 20 years later to Lawrence. 15 years ago we often ran down to there place and would sometimes help Dad keep this clock running...
          One of our High School teachers would be very willing to remind me that the perspective on this sketch is a little off. Our friend Pam would know of whom I speak, as would some others. 
          Done in a small Strathmore pad with a couple markers with different points. 

There is a quickie on the thumbnails page with an automotive theme. 

Vinland barn & steeple

          "Grammie" went with me one afternoon to Vinland just to look around and do some more sketching.  It does not take long to check out the 2 blocks of town.  I did this barn however on the third trip. The barn sits between the 2 extant churches still in the town, hence the steeple poking up over the barn.  Love these old places...   I think this barn is mentioned in some of the history of Vinland you can find online.  I was sitting in a chair finishing one sketch when I turned and did this sketch of the barn. Some places are just like that, full of endless subjects.  I should go back again. Actually, I have been back again, and did a couple things from the west view; one a finished drawing with this church again in the background. It will have to get posted later... 
          Done in a small Strathmore Sketch pad with a Sharpie extra fine marker.

Overcast Alley

          Nice what you can do with just a partly worn out extra fine Sharpie. Done in a small Strathmore sketch pad. Not the best photography, as you can see the drawing that is behind it showing through here and there.
          This is one of the east Lawrence alleys that beg for a sketch to be done. Lots of stories could be told by these buildings; lots of secrets kept. Hundreds of kids over the years have chased through these places.  It had been a day of light rain before I stopped here to get a drawing done.  These few blocks next to downtown have seen endless construction the last few years; you may be able to make out the barrier at the end of the alley.  Not the only place I have ended up lately that has had a barrier providing me as I hope with a quiet place to park. Free parking and no traffic. But this time someone came in behind me eventually so I had to finish up quickly.

Bench and hoophouse

          There are certain times when the morning sun catches the poly on the hoop house and lights it up when the rest of the world still seems asleep in the shadows. The trellis over the bench is very dark against the only light in the neighborhood.  For some reason this day it seemed just right to catch a sketch of the scene.  (Actually usually the artist is the issue, not the scene in front of him) Done on 9x 12 paper with a couple markers. Morning and evening are good times to find unusual lighting situations. Nighttime is not bad either; nor is wind and weather of all sorts. It is just a question of how to get a drawing when the paper is blowing into the next county.

New setup

        Let me know what you think of the new layout; should be a lot easier to find older posts. You should be able to tweak it yourself from the options bar across the top. Hopefully it will work ok on your phone especially.  Thanks to Deana for this improvement...

From the tower

          There is a tower between the downtown fire station and the office area of the old Police and Fire station.  It was all built at the same time of the same 1950's era brick. The tower was used back then for training of recruits for the fire department. Now it is used for storage but only a little. Some of the windows give an unusual view of that part of downtown.  I have drawn this little residence-now office space- before, but at street level. It provides a lot of interest from any angle.  Done in a 5 by 9 inch Strathmore sketch pad that is 50 lb. acid free paper with a couple "Sharpies".