knob hill

This was a fairly fast watercolor done from a pencil sketch that was also a quickie.  The idea here was to turn a sketch on file into a complete painting. This is good practice for a fluid painting with a lot of wet on wet moving into adjacent areas of color, yet leaving enough white paper to maintain a bright and airy impression. The lines of movement are pretty strong and it is clear where the lighting is coming from.  These are the kinds of things you look for in a layout.  Easier to do when the composition is kept simple rather than when there is a lot of detail.  Let the accidents of the water and paint suggest some of the detail you were intending.       Done on 9" x 12 " Canson 140 lb paper.  You can see a detail closeup of the house if you switch to the Thumbnails page above.

sketch

Here is a sketch somebody may find interesting.  Done some 30 years ago, it was stuck in some old stuff I was sorting.  Gramma's present initials and our daughter's former initials are the same.  These, I suppose you can tell, are not -at 93- Gramma Ruth's legs!!       This 3" x 5"  pencil drawing was done on some cheap paper, and is showing its age, so the photography is not too good.

Fairground stone

A quick trip just looking for a spot to do some drawing brought me to the Douglas County fairgrounds.  The old barns always make a good drawing, but today I was focusing on this stone building; has to be the oldest on the property. Rumor is they are going to update the fairgrounds. You can about bet that this and some of the barns will have to go, so better get some more drawing done.      Done in a 9" x 12" pad with a extra fine Sharpie and some pencil shading.

24 Bottoms

           This painting was done from a quick sketch drawn one afternoon after leaving work...  No date on the painting,   but it was a sketch from late last year I'm guessing.  I like these linear river bottom landscapes.
           I took the advice of a  friend and added a copywirte notice to the image for downloading.  Hope it does not distract from your enjoyment of the painting.  If you are interested in using one of my images, zip me an email at jsharvey.harvey@sbcglobal.net.
          There is also a detail or two on the Thumbnails link.

Old records.

           

                This particular painting was done in the studio from a sketch executed on location.  You may remember the sketch from last year but when looking through old posts, I couldn't find it.  I finally did the painting, but am just now getting the photography to where the colors are acceptable enough to post.  The combination of the old crank phonograph with the recordings still inside, the handmade cloth, and the basket of collected reading material were significant enough to merit a painting.   If you want to see a  closer detail,  jump over to the Thumbnails page...

Car Pool

           Another sketch done downtown on a "Sr. Center day".  It was not raining for a change so I could walk the half block over to the "Train Park" as we call it. There are plenty of benches to sit on, though next to the "Municipool" they are not always available on a nice summer day. There are too many moms shuttling there kids to the pool, and waiting in the park for classes to finish.
           This sketch, done while sitting just a bit below the street level was the result.  The panoramic paintings of Lawrence done in the mid 1800's reveal that this entire park area was once a creek running through town to the river. Would be interesting to see a pic of the first bridge across this depression. Though it has been back filled along with basements of a house or 2 some of it is still pretty low and fills with water after a heavy rain. The city's drainage cannot hold the volume of the natural setup.
           Done in a 5x9 sketch pad on heavy paper with a extra fine marker and some pencil.

Waiting at the window

It had been 2 days since the kids had seen Mom & Dad.  Amos seemed to be able to sense the excitement as they were driving up. While the kids were headed out the front door, Amos was watching patiently at the window.   Found out later, he may have just been watching for a squirrel...   In this case, maybe not. It took Amos a bit to get used to having me around the house when Mom & Dad were gone, but he did not seem the least bit confused when suddenly there were 2 men in the house again.  Maybe we smell the same.
Be sure to check out the sketches on the Thumbnails page the last couple days.  Some of Amos; you might like the comments.
This sketch done with a Sharpie extra fine is in a 5" x 9" Canson pad of 98 lb stock.

Piano nap

        This drawing was one of a few done in middle Georgia this April.  Our youngest grandkid was taking a nap so I took the opportunity to do a sketch. The pillow was tossed on the bench for a little more interest in that part of the drawing.  The shoes in the corner, however, were in their usual resting place.
Piano is a big deal.  Everyone but me knows how to play it.  Even the 2 year old Anna wanted to help Grammie play it the morning we left for home. Grammie had sat down to entertain us while breakfast was getting on when Anna started pulling a kitchen stool to the livingroom. She had intentions of adding a little descant to Grammie's tune. And so she did!        
        This is small for a drawing of this detail: 9" x 12" on Strathmore Sketch I believe.
        The Thumbnails page has details of a couple recent posts, which may help you see the process of drawing and painting a little better.

frigid fuel

Thought it time to post a sketch or two of a less finished variety.  Did this simple fun sketch while sitting in the passenger seat of Grammie's car.  She was doing the driving for some reason; probably sos I could draw. So draw I did.  Once in awhile a quick sketch does turn out....    It was a cold day in February, which is pretty hard to remember in 90+ degree weather with sky high humidity!

Pike's mist

           3/13/15 is the day this watercolor was done.      
           6" x 14" on Canson 140 lb. paper.
Rumor has it that ol' Zebulon saw this peak at some distance, but chugged right on past it later as he was too close to the front range to see it over the foothills.  The story is something like that. So Pike missed the Peak, and it has been misting on the Peak now and then ever since.... This painting was from a sketch done way out east on US highway 24 headed into town from Limon. Turns out to be the perfect subject for a painting.  We have come home in the past with 20 or 30 jpgs of the Peak from different angles, different weather and different times of day.  They all are unique. Hopefully so is this painting...that is one small advantage of working from a sketch. The details become less important as you attempt to catch the inspiration of the original drawing.  Not to say that I did not refer to some of those gazillion images primarily for color reference and a couple impressions of detail.
           Speaking of detail- try checking out the Thumbnails page for a detail on this painting.

"BURL"

Done on 4/29/15.  It was 65 degrees according to my note, but because I was sitting in the shade, and it was a breezy day, by the time I finished this and one quick sketch I was actually shivering and glad to get into the truck that was warmed by the sun.  I have been seeing these rail road cars sitting on this siding and thinking it might make a good drawing .  Well, here it is.  I finished a few details up at home. Now this is getting written a month later on a day when the temp  is again about 65 deg. F , but does not seem nearly as summer like today as it did a month ago... go figure.  Maybe because of all the cloudy weather and the much needed rain.