Stella

                Did this small drawing  for the neighbor as a gift to her daughter. It was a birthday gift; Stella was her baby. The date of her birthday is the same as mine, so I could remember when it needed to get done!  It was done from a photo, so there was not a great deal of resources to get creative with the drawing, but it turned out ok.  All pencil of course. 2B and 4B with 0.9 and larger leads. Finished size about 8" x 10".

Rare vagrant from Africa

          This sketch is of the corner of a planter beside our front walkway.  One of those done just to catch the shadows as they were. Drawings like this are good for training the hand to be quick before the mind forgets what it saw or the sun moves too far along its course.                                                            
The bird on the top came with Grammie's sister when she returned from Africa.  The miniature mail box came from a friend up the street who for some years made made stuff like this in his shop.  We have other stuff around here that came from him.  The square links of chain came from a load of "heavy shorts" purchased as scrap and used for counterweight in a Northwest crane.  The wood for the planter came from the deck of a quarry scale when it was replaced with steel.   Oh, you didn't want all that info?
         The drawing itself was done in one of the numerous sketch pads kicking around the place waiting for a change to get used again.

rain stacking

         
             Yes it is a rainy morning for sure, just like many this summer.  After rising early for a quick walk that ended up not so short, we waited around here for the storm to arrive.  The sky got pretty dark, and the storm finally arrived just when Grammie was leaving, so out came our biggest umbrella.   Just before the storm broke, I had retrieved these 2 small chairs from the porch and stacked them inside the door beside the piano to wait for the wind to die.  Looking for something to do before the weather cleared there sat these 2 posing for a picture so to speak.    Well I had been thinking for some time that they needed drawing.  As usual, I noticed the negative space that defines so well the relationship of the various parts in a visual sense.   You know, negative space is a vacuum that sucks my pencil to it!   In this case, draw the negative spaces around (and through) the chairs, and you just about have the chairs.   (Another lecture?? ple-e-e-e-e-s-s-e!- -- )      
             This drawing was done on a Plexiglas drawing board with 11" x 17" cheap photocopy paper clipped to it.

Near Clarksville

           The thing that caught my eye about this scene was the relationship between the two buildings, especially the roofs with the contrast in color and tone, with 2 contrasting fences leading off into the distance.  This sort of thing is what makes a good focal point of a painting.  I think the rear building is actually the new home built on the old place.
           It is easy to miss catching the focal point in a sketch by being distracted with other details.  They are all so interesting!  Yet if you let yourself be distracted by detail you will probably not get across the point of emphasis that originally caught your attention.
           This painting was done with (primarily) Windsor & Newton water colors on 11"x 15" Canson 140 lb paper.  It was done in the late winter from a sketch drawn late last summer on a trip to Middle Georgia.

           Once again you can see closeup details of this painting on the Thumbnails link.

floor lamp

       
Here is another simple sketch but not one done 35 years ago.  Yup, I am switching between paintings, finished drawings, and sketches with no apparent plan-  just what seems to be interesting enough to post.   If you have been in our living room you may recognize this relic.  Not sure where this lamp came from, but it has not been around here as long as we have.  Showed up sometime in the last 20 years maybe.    It took me a bit to get this light pencil to reproduce well enough to make it worth posting. The lines and the shadow created by the shade make for interesting sketching.  I was trying to catch the contrast between the negative space of the main shadow and the bright lines of the brass lamp as they cross the shadow.

Tin Topper

Here is a watercolor done last winter when the weather was restricting somewhat outdoor work.  The sketch was from my pile of thumbnails done on the road, but not sure where or when.  The lines of the  tin roof and the shadow working its way across them caught my eye.  Even with a quick pen and paper, I often do not catch very well the first impression that caught my eye. Is me memory really that short?  "Aye, aye matey."            The detail posted on the Thumbnails page may help you get a feel for the process, but don't look too close...

below Midland Junction

Here is another painting that was done from a sketch.  The sketch was done on the way home from the shop one day when I was hoping to add a little more creativity to the day.  It was the fall of the year, as the corn was brown and waiting for harvest.
This piece is about 12" x 15" done on Canson 90lb. paper.
You can check out a close-up detail on the Thumbnails page.