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.