Cart back

              A quickie in preparation for some further drawing. I have done a number of studies of this cart. This flat little thumbnail I like just because of the line quality and the juxtaposed composition. If it were more finished I am sure it would have destroyed some of the appeal (that I think it has).  tomorrow I should post the study of the 12" wheels under this homemade garden cart.  There are a few of these quick sketches to post in the next few days.
              This one was done with a Pentel pencil with .9mm 2B lead.

Table lillies

             Another exercise before the day was totally gone; but also as a quick demonstration for the grand kids as well as something with which to remember our trip to their place.  Trying to use the pencil like you would a brush. Very entertaining- at least for me if not the kids!
             Done with a chisel point 4 B pencil.

big ol' cedar

            This cedar is way older and healthier than most, because it has been in the back for many years. Pretty much since this house was built in the mid '60s.  Makes a good study. Done with a chisel point pencil, about a 4 B.

Alley east of Vermont Street

 

                  This block of houses along the east side of Tennessee street just south of "the train park" is full of interest and has provided me with some subject matter over the years.  From the back side- in the alley- is no exception, though more revealing.
                  Did this sketch on one of my kids birthdays.  As is often the case I was waiting for Gramma at the Sr. center.

Mary's Lake Monarch

          Here is the water color done from the sketches which I brought home on the 8th of October 2014.   Why is a lonely tree sticking up in the sky so captivating?  Maybe it comes from spending too much time up in trees when I was a kid.      
          This painting is of only the top half of this trunk. The knotty dark branch at the bottom is still after this long, covered with bark. From the wood I found laying around the other day, this seems to not be a hardwood. I really cannot tell...
          Have not seen any woodpeckers around this tree since winter.
Don't remember if I have any photos taken at this location. If so, I sure hope they are better color than this jpeg of the painting.  Actually, I just figured out how to "gimp" the jpeg to get rid of the pink color that was in the original photo. Though the colors still are no where near as lively as the painting they are improved.

Fallen Giant pencil

                This is the pencil sketch used for a watercolor of this tree.  There is also the ink sketch from a little different angle- further to the south that was posted yesterday.  They were both done the same day.  On the day I took the photo of this drawing (1/5/15) I was by there again. The temperature was about 10 degrees.  There were again 2 red bellied woodpeckers hanging out on the top of this stump about 30' in the air.  They nested there in the spring while the upper part of the tree was still intact. It has been an interesting tree to watch-  always something going on there.  It is harder to locate this tree while walking around the lake, with the top knocked out.  I will post the painting of this tree tomorrow.

Fallen Giant ink

          Here is the stump of  significant proportions at the edge of the creek running into Mary's lake. It lived a long, tall and productive life, and even though being bare and white for years now, still has produced a brood or 2 of red-bellied woodpeckers each year.  Late last summer in a storm the top half came to the ground, breaking at the point where the woodpeckers had been nesting in the spring.   The woodpeckers had been drilling there for a number of seasons I am sure. Not sure where they will go now, maybe just further down the 30 foot plus stump.   How the lower branch has survived so long- don't know, but it has a lot of character with 2 bare branches heading in opposite directions from a dark stump of a former limb.  
          Today I actually pushed my way to the base in the swamp to see if I could tell what kind of tree it was.  No such luck. Usually when a tree grows this tall and straight isn't it because it is surrounded by other trees forcing it straight up. That may have been the case here 40 years ago before the dam was raised and topped with the sidewalk that winds through the park.      
           This drawing was done totally with Sharpie markers on a small sketch pad as I stood on the trail last October.  There is also a pencil drawing done at the same time, and a watercolor that I did later, both of which I will try to post in the next 2 days.

Daylight savings time

           Done on the third of March- the first day of daylight savings time.  6 pm   It was not too chill or muddy and others were out riding their bicycles around the new right of way for 2 new roads.  It was the first Sunday I could ride this late in the evening.  Gotta go see what is going on.  These twin cranes idled for the weekend had been setting concrete beams for this 31st  bridge over the wetlands. No one much is working weekends other than an occasional dozer.  While I was standing there leaning against my bike I began hearing something coming from behind me to the west slowly crunching the dry dirt on the temporary road. But I was ignoring it as I was concentrating on the drawing. My first thought was that a pickup was coming past - some manager checking out the construction site, but as it turned out it was only another fellow on a bicycle who gave me a nod and kept on past the bridge.
           This drawing was finished up with pencil after doing most the drawing with an extra fine marker.

Eighth & Kentucky

                     Here is the most recent of the drawings inspired by 8th and Kentucky area of Lawrence. More simple than some, but  the roof line was an inspiration to me, so...     I  leaned against the fence just west of the fire station where I could sketch undisturbed for a few minutes. It looks like it was 25 degrees that day toward the end of Feb.   I don't remember it being that chilly, but it was a sunny day and I was sitting out of the wind.                                                      
                    Done in a 9" x 12" inch format with marker over pencil.

Twin pipes

              This drawing was done on the 21st day of March.  It was warm and sunny but I was in a hurry, so just sat in the truck at the scrap yard and did a fast pencil sketch of this 'un.   Added the black marker to it later.

from the parking tower

           
          This drawing was done on a 60 degree day- the 13th of March with an extra fine Sharpie.  No pencil at all.  You can stand on the top level of the parking garage north of the Library and see a lot of stuff like this to draw.  Here we are looking at the back of the historic- ta da... Eldridge Hotel. The parking garage has not been here long. The old way to get this view was to sneak up the old fire tower to the sw and look out a window.
          The morning light creates some nice shadows, and the flag tops it all off.  The goal is not photographic accuracy, or so I keep telling myself, but rather an appropriate interpretation of the view with a line drawing.

Fruit basket

             This drawing was done on the same piano bench as the January 9th post. I was interested here in the reflections of the fruit and tray in the dark black surface of the bench.                                                         Done in pencil over marker gives it a somewhat bold delineation maybe not too suited for the delicate lights of the subject, huh...

O'Connell snow

          February 17 apart from being my dad's birthday was this year a snowy day. Because we have had so little snow this year there has been almost no time to do any drawing in the snow. That's why I found myself sitting on the road into the Teen Challenge property with this view of the vintage stone house on the corner just south of me at the entrance to O'Connell Youth Ranch. This is not the first drawing I have done of this house, or the area, from all directions, but the dusting of snow made the scene more luminous than normal; and this view sitting there was for me a fresh one with more flow from side to side than earlier sketches.

          I had been sitting near a small culvert on the one lane entrance road for about 20 minutes when a “duelly” crew cab pulled into the gate with a 16' trailer in tow loaded a good 5' high with firewood. No problem, huh, I can just back up 100 yards to the yard and avoid getting stuck in the shallow ditch on the slick grass... But my truck would not start. I had left the lights on when earlier the snow and the overcast sky were making it a little dark to see. So I had to bum a jump from the fellow driving the duelly. He had a couple teens with him one of which helped me hook up the cables. The driver seemed a little frustrated, as he well might be; it was not early and they had a lot of wood to unload at the house. They may well have spent a good part of the day splitting and loading it. Turns out after the truck started I was actually able to drive around him w/o getting stuck. Then I was able to go one street north where there was a dead end east of the round-about so I could sit & finish the drawing enough to stop and head for home. Although after finishing this drawing I decided the view to the north would be better if done right then than later in the year, so I started another drawing before the flurries totally stopped.

          This drawing is done in a 9” x 12” format totally in pencil. This is one of my favorite recent drawings, and my favorite of the old place.

Hydrant

     

          Sort of an idyllic scene that I started while it was still snowing after finishing on the "O'Connell snow". Which maybe I can post tomorrow.  This time I left the truck running. Which tomorrow's comments should explain some.   Did not take long.  The only thing not idyllic about it would be the -a, you got it, the fire hydrant in the near corner...  I like finding these sort'a places. Makes the drawing a little more down to earth one would hope.              
          This is another drawing done totally in pencil.  Some I just cannot bring myself to put ink to.

south facing sheds

           Another drawing on the Ides of March  -3/15/15  6:30 pm 70 degrees, headed home after doing "east overgrown".  We are looking south here at the back of these south facing sheds.  We were looking south in a sense to see if this beautiful spring weather would hold at least till I got home the 2 miles on the bike I was pedaling, as there were some clouds building to the south, the sun was disappearing fast, and I was wearing short sleeves.  As I remember the next day was not so nice.

east overgrown

           

               "East overgrown" is a drawing needing to get done before the spring growth obscures the old house.  I have been thinking this would be a good subject since a couple years ago before I started taking the bike out this way.  It was done on the "Ides of March" as Shakespeare put it. A fitting day, the beginning of spring...The sky was clear, the wind calm at 6: 00 in the evening, and still 70 degrees. There is actually a large pit where there was a full basement under the carport at one time. Looks pretty dangerous now. I suppose there is a varmint  or two freeze dried in the bottom, but I have not ventured a look myself.
               Done with a couple extra fine Sharpies in a 9" x 14" sketch pad. I had forgotten to bring a pencil along, so the Sharpies had to do.

Snow on the hedge row

   
        2/28/15 was the day this drawing got started. It was the last effort of the year in NE Kansas for snow. Not much, but enough for me to take a walk to the shelter house and start this drawing while trying to keep my paper dry under the roof.  It was 2 pm and about 28 degrees. The snow stopped falling by the time I headed home.  The next day it was mostly gone, but this  drawing takes me right back to that cold and still day.  Not cold enough for my fingers to not work so I was able to take some time on this one.      
       Done with .9 mm B lead on 9 x 14 inch paper.  It took me a few days to finish this piece at home with it sitting on the piano and me staring at it then picking up the pencil from time to time.
       Right now it is about 89 degrees in middle Georgia where we are visiting, so this seems like a long time ago.

1907 Courthouse

                  On the way home from Nebraska Stephanie saw the sign up on US highway 36 pointing us to the south side of town to this museum. We were taking the long way by going across the north edge of eastern Kansas and skipping the Interstate highway. I do not think we have ever been along this way together in all our years of being in Kansas. But then we needed to stop to rest my screaming back.  So I did this drawing while Stephanie read her book.  It would have been better to do some brisk walking instead of just standing there drawing. But I have forgotten the back issues now, and yet still remember the place by this drawing-  the stone porch, the brick walls, and some apparent concrete repairs done over the years to the arches.
                 Done with marker and pencil in a 9" x 14" sketchpad.

Vinland UMC

               The Vinland United Methodist Church is one of two sitting on this square block of history.  A drawing of the Presbyterian church has been posted before.  So has  a couple of the Coal Creek Library.  This visit was a little later than when I started those drawings.  This drawing started and ended with pencil.  That was probably not the intention.  The church here sits on the corner east of the trees and a patchwork little house that adds some interest to the subject.  Probably was the roof lines that originally grabbed my attention.  The roof lines and the dark tree branches that follow the repeated ridge lines of the buildings across the page.                                                                                                            11 x 14 inch format I believe.

west 9th street

          You can see clearly in this drawing (I hope) the contrast between the marker and the pencil passages. Black ink has long been a favorite of mine. The photography still leaves a lot to be improved.  Another 5" x 8" format.                                      
          I passed this place one of those Saturday morning walks I refer to regarding the Michigan Barn drawing.  The name of this one shows the great creativity of the city fathers in naming the streets 100 plus years ago.  This early mid 20th century dwelling is a favorite of mine, and one you pass traveling downtown from the west.  I was not far on my walk early in January when I had to stop and do this sketch.  It was chilly, but not as it should have been on a Kansas winter morning. A fellow soon stopped by to ask for a few cents for breakfast.  I then had to decide whether to follow my rural mid-west inclinations and help him, or to do as they would in NYC and ignore him.  But he was admiring my drawing...

Boat Race

                    Boat surging forward out of the...a...a...  TREES??  Kansas has a lot of water sports, but this is not the gulf coast.                                                               
                    I had discovered these relics sitting forgotten on a vacant lot back of the businesses I was sneaking behind on my Trek.  One day I stopped in the fall sun leaned against one of the bunch, and did this sketch.  It is possible to get from east of Haskell Ave. all the way to Iowa St. without riding in traffic.  Riding the back streets is a little more safe, and a great way to find forgotten or out of the way places and scenes.  This is one such.
                   All done with Sharpies of varying degrees of exhaustion.  No pencil involved; started and ended with black markers.