from the sketchbook

Done on the fourth of April, 2016.      Another automotive moment.

UMC Coffeeville

We were on our way to Tahlequah, OK with a stop for lunch in Coffeeville, KS.  After pickin' up some fast food, I had a minute or two to do a quick sketch of the United Methodist Church just behind where we were stopped.

Sometimes the quicker the sketch the more it catches a notion of what first grabbed your attention.

Walmart, USA

We had stopped in Columbus, GA

to get some snacks at Walmart. I stayed with the car and did a few sketches.  These are from my sketchbook. I usually use 11" x 17" copy paper for sketching while actually on the road, but switch often to a sketchpad when we are stopped and I have a few minutes.

eye Doctor

It seems once in awhile, when you are at a Dr. appointment, you are forgotten.  (Not this day- I only remember one time when that really happened!)  But they had sat me down in a hallway, as things were getting a little too crowded I guess in the waiting room.   I was sitting directly in front of one open door however, were this equipment was standing.  Good thing I had my sketch pad along, huh?

Dump truck tail gate

Another one of those quickies done without even the courtesy of a signature; not even a set of initials.  Oh well, I could not pass it up, and it is a small thumbnail.  Done on the road as we were following this fella for a few minutes on the road to Florida.

5th & Maine

 Here is the sketch done 2 days before the painting.  I had a few minutes; so driving down this street, this is one scene I saw and one  of 3 ink drawings I did in about half an hour.  This is my favorite of the three, but not the only one of which I have done a watercolor.

Here is the full size pencil drawing in preparation for the watercolor.  It's on the 11" x 14" copy paper that is my standby. I buy it by the ream and use it for sketching and layouts as well as studies of many different things.

This painting was stretched out side to side if compared to the first sketch because it seemed to me that the ink drawing had been scrunched together too much, and I hoped this would add some volume to the hill.   Although that "scrunching" is often what gives a drawing a quaint interest- the fact that you can jam more information into a space than is really there.    From 8/22/16 if you can read the scribble on the ink drawing... done on 8/24 on 11" x 15" Canson 140# paper.

Columbus pick up

One more sketch from the sketchbook this one was in Columbus, Georgia.   We had driven in circles a bit to find this particular Walmart way off the beaten path that showed on the garmin. Interestingly, as we got back on the interstate to head nw we were soon to pass a Walmart right off the highway. We may have been better to follow "our own devices" rather than trust the electronic ones...

Bell tower

The Catholic church sits right across the small street from South Park, in downtown Lawrence. This was the 2nd attempt to make some sense of the church tower.  Only a sketch, but I do kind'a like the way it turned out.  Don't remember what happened to the other drawing.  Done a couple other drawings from South Park, and have others I would like to do...

East of the park

3/3/16 was the date on the sketch I posted on August 7th. It was 7 am and I was walking on the east sidewalk. That early in March is a little early for most migrating warblers, so I had time to do some dawn sketching.   Facing east you see the sun slowly climbing in the sky back lighting the houses bordering the park east of the lake.  This was inspired by a few sketches I have done of the area, but especially one sketch posted in August.
How do you like my run on sentences??
Done on a 11 inch by 14 inch Canson 140# paper.  The palette was limited to 3 main colors; Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Van Dyke Brown with a bit of Payne's Gray tossed in to deepen the contrast...

Coody's Bluff

Cannot tell you much about Coody's Bluff, not even how they pronounce it.  It was a major storm and blinding downpour that we had just passed through when we passed this scene.  We were scooting west on US 60 and had just crossed the Verdigris river in northern Oklahoma.    The original thumbnail for this painting included the 2 buildings and the hill in front with a bit of the road.  The rest came out of the imagination without any intermediate drawings to define the concept.  I wonder now if the sky ever cleared enough to see a bit of blue as in the painting, but the land was definitely dark and wet.   The sketch was dated 3/13, and the painting shortly after that: 3/26/16.   Done on a full sheet of Canson 140# 11x14
Actually you can find some interesting history about how the place got its name and other stuff. Use this link as a jumping off place.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NO018

bridge geese

I was near the river downtown another day. You can sneak off 6th Street over the tracks and under the bridge if you care to without getting out of the truck.  This day there were some utility vehicles I had to manuever around on the dirt trail, but eventually ended up here.  It was hot, I had little time, and so I just rolled down the window with the truck running and did this sketch.  You have to be prepared for the trains.  They can give you a good scare when you are not expecting them and they are just a few feet away.  The geese were busy that day, and not the least worried about me- if they are ok with the trains, nothing else maters.  I was interested in the shadow running down the far bank then across the water toward me and up on the bank past the geese in the foreground.   Directly to the left of this view under the bridge is the Bowersock Mill of which I posted a sketch a few days ago.  That one was in ink; this is in pencil.  The ink sketches always reproduce better.

out east

Here is a watercolor done a few days ago. It was more inspired by the first sketch to follow than the on site drawing, as you will be able to tell. The comments below explain some of the process.  I have looked at this scene ever since the houses behind were built- but only recently compelled to draw it, if you can explain that!

This was the idea sketch done from memory one noc after getting home from playing dominos with Gramma Ruth.  You can see how jumbled things get on a pc of sketch paper; there is the sketch of the top of some car done before this sketch was done below.      

Things catch your eye.  Who knows why.  This is a drawing done on location one day sometime after the sketch done from memory. And in this case why does the drawing not emphasize more what it was that caught my eye?  Maybe it was my penchant for filling out a sketch, rather than just recording what originally inspired me.  In this case, it was the relationship of the angles created by the wires with the angles created by the roof and the power pole.

it.

Modo

One of many 5 x 9 sketchpads that I keep around. Never for sure what else may be in the one I am using at the time.  Here is a page of our daughter's old dog. Rescued some years back from the river, Moses (whom I call Modo) is a very peaceful animal. Nice to have around.  Good subject for sketching, which I should do more of.