Honey Locust

I picked these up on my walk- maybe near Shannon's- brought 'em home in my pocket to sketch later. Good drawing practice, and also good way to learn about the honey locust bean....

It is interesting how when they begin to turn dark in the fall, they do it abruptly, but in spots. So you have this pod that may be any degree of light green and or dark brown. So the light green recedes in a distinct line from end to end in an odd pattern across the surface of the pod.

2/8/17 Is the date. This was the second time and the pods were a consistent color. They have a characteristic shape whether laying on the table or hanging from the tree. This pod had been dark all winter.    

the cider makin'

Standing near the ne corner of the barn, this is the view I noticed.  You  may not have. But I was dodging tractors with wagons full of parents and kids taking a tour of the farmstead. Seems like a very attractive arrangement of angles and structures, with some activity in the background, where they were squeezing apple cider for everyone.

This ink drawing was done in September, not in October as I first said.  A view like this isn't hard to find around an old farm. It was done on part of sheet of the 9 x 12 inch pad I was carrying.

more from the hog roast

 The hog roast was a major event. Lots of food & fun for the kiddos and fellowship for the adults.     I got there after the activities were well under way, but there was plenty of food. Actually I was as interested in getting some sketching done as getting some food, but managed to do both before the sun was gone and everyone was pretty much gathered around the bonfires while the kids did marshmallows.

These sketches were actually from our first visit to the 'museum." It was a fall celebration, with corn shucking and cider making to boot. 
An artist should get more practice than I do working with people milling around making small talk and/or commenting on your work. Here are a four sketches done of stuff inside the barn, done while people were doing just that.   Much of this is a hundred years old I suppose. The Conestoga style wagon is fantastic, and although not in perfect shape, gives you a great sense of what it musta been like fording rivers and weathering storms rolling across the high plains 170 years ago.
This was done in a 9" x 12" pad, with pencil, ball point pen and a Sharpie.
I'll try to post one more from this set tomorrow.

Chapel bell

Here are a few sketches and drawings from a couple trips to the place where Justin and Stephanie are living. It is south of Eudora on the old place where Richard Knabe grew up. He has turned it in to a museum of sorts. It makes a great place to draw.

The little o'l church building came from just down the road and was moved to its current site on the Knabe place.  I guess the bell did not come with the church building according to Mr. Knabe. Whether it came from a local school building or not, I did not ask. 

There was a hog roast there this evening, and though no one could go with me I decided to make an appearance.  As I was walking up to the party I stopped and did this sketch before the sun got too low in the sky.  Then later I added the bell study below...

Then there is this sketch done on the October trip from the west side of the chapel.

Yup, this is just a quick one, so I could say I had some record of the "chapel".  Can't even find a signature; and the photograph is lousy.  It also shows the bell. 

When I walked into it there was a young couple (German Baptist?) sitting there singing an old classic hymn together a Capella. I had mixed emotions- like I was an intruder on one hand, and like I wanted to add some tenor to the mix on the other....                      

The ethereal nature of the drawing is nothing compared to the ethereal nature of the history of the places and people. Is this really all we have left?   A few museums, some ragtag equipment, a small stack of written memories, written histories?  Fortunately there is someone keeping records who is not limited by time, nor hampered by the distance of age.

This drawing was done in a larger format than the 5 x 9 that was used for the first one. 

languid "wort"

So here it was late in the season for Spiderwort. And this fella is begining to droop. But there were still blooms to be had. And even as they age, you can see their good breeding. They always have that classy look to them.
Maybe it applies across the board?...

This was pencil to begin with as you can see there is still a bloom below that did not get finished.

Common Spiderwort

And here is yet another spiderwort. Mid May, and late in their season.                                                    I believe this is actually the Common variety of spiderwort. There are others...  And they are pretty common in the prairie March to May. You might say that in spring that all your worts are showing!
Actually these two make me imagine a couple turkey vultures swooping low over the park. Except that -if this were in color -  the bright blue flower head would be a dead giveaway- ha!   No bald heads here. These flowers are very classy - the perfection of understatement. 
I should have yet one more spiderwort ink to post and then, finally, on to something else...

The spider and the fly

           

There was a spider sitting on the flower being kept company by a fly...                                                  Here we have more classic lines of the spiderwort. Can you see it on the upper left flower? The fly on the blade of grass was an added bonus.   Often while drawing plants in their natural setting, you will come up with a visitor or two.  These guys were not friendly toward each other.

This is another small drawing started in pencil on the spot and finished later with pen. You can see some of the pencil 

Spiderwort again

This "wort" definitely looks like a spider wouldn't you say?   But the charming blue blooms belie the name.     This one was done on the 9th of March this year.  These guys bloom very early in the spring, so it is always nice to see them show up.

Spiderwort pair

    

         These flowers, the Common Spiderwort I presume, are some of the most fun to draw. Look at the "impertinent angle" of the leaves - to steal a description from Patricia St. John.  They seem always to be heading off strongly in odd directions.  They have crisp lines that are nice to follow.
          They come as a reminder that spring is here!  The prairie over at the park had a bunch of these during those days. Memorial day was upon us.
          Seems like we went there one evening, and they were all closed up for the night.  So go during the day when they are a fantastic display of deep blue flowers showing up individually or in small groups wherever they may.
         

Mimi the doggie

Let's have a change of direction here.
              It is not easy to get this dog to hold still for a portrait. That is why I am so amazed that I was able to get this much....                                                                                                                                           There are plans to do more, but the dog will not quit running around.

Bromelsick studies

                                                                                                 

     This is the page I used to get me going on actually doing detail drawings of the house. That was after I had done the quick inks of the place at some distance when I first drove up. The idea of doing several quick sketches first is a very good idea and one I could use on a more regular basis. Usually I just dive into a complicated drawing with too much urgency and angst, and not enough observation.
    So here we have a detail of the chimney behind the apex of the roof.    We also have a detail of the old tie rod used to hold the building together, and its relationship to the window nearby with the stone between. You see these tie rod in many vintage stone structures around the country.  Some are seen in the old Lawrence Bible Chapel building at 10th & Kentucky.
    Next is a sketch done from the parking lot of a house across the street from the Murphy-                   Bromelsick place, which was still one that got me in the frame of mind to look, to pay attention.

Jeep 2-8-17

         

          It was a rainy day at the end of February. Stephanie was getting her driver's license renewed, and I had gone along. The place was full of people. I left her sitting as there was no room for me, and went out under the canopy and walked south to where this jeep was parked in the rain. I cut the session short a bit as the rain got to really pouring and splashing around my feet.
          Thought this would be a good post for a bit of a change.

northeast corner of M-B house.

                       

           Yup, another drawing from this corner of Hobbs Park.  This is the corner of the Murphy-Bromelsick house that used to have a wooden addition with a shed roof. That was before it was moved from Pennsylvania St.
           This is kinda my favorite corner of the house. I will post some more sketches, done on earlier trips- maybe even a watercolor if I can find it- of this corner. You talk about a variety of construction materials, this is it.
This ink drawing is a bit understated. I guess that's the way it ought'a be - put in the lines you need and leave all the rest out....

"Long-legged" Hydrant

             We pass this Mueller hydrant on a regular basis.
             It sits across from the entrance there to Prairie Park at the corner of 28th Terrace and Harper.
             It is a nice relationship between the tree, the pickup in the parking, and the hydrant sticking too high out of the ground giving extra sense of depth to everything. The hydrant is the oldest thing in the drawing if you think about it, except maybe for the dirt it sticks out'a.
            This  is one long-legged hydrant. That one drawing yesterday was a hydrant with a grand-daddy long legs.
            This drawing, maybe the more creative of this set, was done before any of the others. It is the one that inspired me to do some hydrant studies.
            This drawing still has a bit of pencil underneath, though not much of it shows now. Done in the 9 x12 inch pad I sometimes carry to the park .

Long-legs and hydrants

                     Here is another couple drawings I promised. These are the other type of hydrants you see in Lawrence. The Waterous castings hail from St. Paul. As you can imagine, in Minnesota you see little else, at least in the newer areas.                                                                                                                        It is done in pencil in a 9 x 12 inch format. The one below is pencil as well but 5 x 9" format
                     This top one I drew while listening to KU get beat at football on the 9th of September. I was sitting on an empty street east of our place. I was sitting on a chair across the street from the truck, with the truck door open and the radio blaring   Now KU is just getting beat at basketball...    
                             

              In the comments on "the Mueler" posted 10/17/17 I made a mistake.

              That one was a drawing done, well,  I am not really sure where. But the hydrant in both these drawings is the one sitting on Shannon's lot; and I remember the granddaddy longlegs walking over the top of it while I was drawing.  You can barely see him in the drawing, 'cause he's not moving!  

                   I will try to post yet another hydrant drawing tomorrow. My last such for awhile.

Murphy-Bromelsick porch

 The Murphy-Bromelsick house is a hodge-podge of early vernacular styles of wood, brick and stone dating from after the Civil War and the rebuilding of Lawrence.   A small brick 2 room, (maybe “hall and parlor” ?) style, there was a stone addition later. Before the structure was moved it had a small wood addition with a shed roof filling in the back corner.

I did not have long this particular day, so I settled in pretty quickly on this drawing of the north end of the porch rail. Does not show much of the actual structure, but the porch itself is very much like the early days.
This pencil drawing was finished up at home as pencil drawings often are. It was done in a 9x12" pad, but did not fill the whole page.

Here is a quote from historicmarkerproject.com about the house.
“The Murphy - Bromelsick house, relocated to this site in August 2000, is a product of the spirited rebuilding of Lawrence in the decade following the Quantrill massacre. It was constructed in stages between 1866 and 1869, at 909 Pennsylvania, almost 300 yards northwest of this site. Irish and German immigrants built and owned or occupied this structure until c. 1941.“

Mullein at Hobbs Park.

Mullein at Hobb's Park
      This stuff is very common but does not colonize heavily. It was imported from Europe in the 1700's, and well may have spread to eastern Kansas along with the settlers who came to places like Lawrence. The stuff growing next to the house at Hobb's Park is way more healthy than what you usually see growing in the country. For this ink drawing I was looking up at some of the spikes.  I suppose it is the city that maintains most of the stuff growing there, but I can't imagine them maintaining this patch of mullein. It was late in the season and most of the flowers were dried and the minuscule petals fallen. This patch is on the south side of the house as I approached, so I could not resist an ink drawing in the 9 x 12 inch pad that I had with me.
      As I was standing on the sidewalk around the house it was nearly evening and I was going to have to quit drawing soon and head home. Just then here comes a neighbor of the park area wanting to strike up a conversation. It was Mark Kaplan, the fellow who sorta “spear-headed” the project of moving the Murphy-Bromelsick house and using it as the center piece of a memorial of the Civil War, the Jay-hawkers, Quantrell's Raid, and the Abolitionist newspaper man John Speer.  Mr. Kaplan had no idea who I was or why I was there, but was glad to offer his take on the topic of Lawrence and its relationship to Civil War history, as well as to offer me any assistance I may need for whatever. I guess a friend of the old house is a friend of his.
       Although this park is in east Lawrence, in 1866 it was not east Lawrence, it was east of Lawrence; it was a cornfield in which Mr. Speer hid during Quantrell's Massacre.  Lawrence was a bustling little town of a couple thousand people.

M-B from the SW

                Another of the first sketches I did after arriving at the park one of those September days.  This one was after the “south elevation” drawing when I had walked a bit closer.
                This is probably the most descriptive angles on the house though it does not show the porch. It shows the brick and the stone in their symbiotic relationship, with a heavy emphasis on the stone, with the brick mostly obscured by a tree in full leaf.

Murphy-Bromelsick from the south

It was mid September when I made a couple quick runs up to Hobbs Park to do sketches primarily of the old house that sits on the north west corner of the park. The plan is over the next few days to post some of the work that came of those trips.  Some of the drawings have no date. Some barely have a signature. Makes it a bit hard to pinpoint when they were done. But in this case, there is both a date and a signature on the drawing. Such a sketching excursion doesn't take much planning, but it does take being ready with pencil and paper when there is a break in the schedule. 

Me thinks this was the first “inkie” I did after getting out of the truck. I was still a couple hundred feet from the building. This actually is the type of sketch I like to do when sipping down the highway. But it is not as easy to do when you are on your feet and not in a hurry to catch an image. So the idea this day was to calm down and from some distance fill a page or two with quick ink sketches that catch some of the character of the place.

This small drawing is only a few inches square. It was done with a gel pen in a 9 x 12 inch Canson Recycled Drawing pad.

Jerusalem Artichoke

Don't really know much 'bout these sunflowers. That is partly what prompted the drawing of some of 'em. They are a late bloomer, even later it seems than the most common of all, the Annual Sunflower. I had been wanting to see if I could tell the difference with my limited experience, so was glad when I found these guys in early September. The small central flower disc, the somewhat narrow, glossy leaves (compared to the Annual Sunflower) and the bloom time help in the id. The top of the leaves have a coarse feel to them. There are a number of flowers here ready to open, but only one fully open. Each individual bud, with its bracts and petals have a distinct character.

This drawing was done in 3 or 4 steps; steps that are not clearly defined:

1. Find something of interest. In this case it took only a walk through the wetlands while the late summer flowers were in bloom. Make sure I have some paper and a pen or pencil with me. More than once I have gotten some minutes from home when I realized I had nothing in my pocket to make any marks at all.
2. Do a basic sketch using a soft pencil. In this case it was the usual Pentel 0.9mm with B or even 2B lead.
3. At some point (later in the day or whenever) start adding ink to the drawing using a ball point pen. This time, as is often the case, it was the Zebra F-402 0.7mm with black ink.
4. Next I start at some point adding darker, bolder lines with a gel pen of some sort. Often a Bic Gelocity 0.7 black. Sometimes I use a larger black Sharpie for the larger, darker areas as well.

I suppose it would be a good idea to use inks and maybe even papers that are more permanent than some of these unproven, newer types. But the ease of acquisition, and the reliability of the function makes it difficult to return to the black markers that I have used in the past.

.

Coneflower and Sunflower

Here is a drawing done late summer of a couple blooms on the prairie over at the park.  There are  a couple of the Downy Sunflower, and one also of a coneflower, maybe the sweet conflower. The best way to really see these is to draw 'em they say. Starting in the spring, with the indigo and spiderwart, until the late fall, there is never a shortage of subjects like these.

Old Pottery

        It was the mid 1960's; we were living in Colorado Springs.

        That is where the Van Briggle Art Pottery originated, though in the '60s they were in their original location, I believe on Uinta on the east side of I-25. The place is now an historical landmark I understand. Then they were later and for many years in the old rail road round house at W Cimarron and 21^st St. I think now they may be at another newer location.

        But in those "middle years" of the business, our mother, Joyce, was fascinated by the story of its beginnings and by the mystique of the premises. We were all at one time or another, escorted by Mom on a tour of the business. It was on such an excursion that this small piece became one of Mother's prized possessions. It is called a Triple Cornucopia Blue Vase, an original design by the company, done in one of their glazes.  Supposedly ancient glazes which were originally rediscovered by the founder, Artis Van Briggle. 

       When Grandmother Ruth passed away last year much of the stuff that traveled with Dad through dozens of moves was still in the house. That included things that were either useful, valuable or precious to Joyce, his first wife, or Ruth his second.

       When we bought the "dime store" flowers we stuck them into the same green modeling clay that had been in the vase since the '60s.

       There is an interesting article on Wikipedia about the history of the company and the original glazes as well as the building. 

     

the Burr Oaks

     So there are these  two trees south of the Wetlands river bend trail,down the slow slope that drops suddenly into the "Wakkie" river.  Though I have been this way several times it was no surprise to me that I had not noticed them before.

     The summer leaves are fallen; many covering the path under my feet, nearly unrecognizable. But the oaks are hanging on, so it is a good time of year to spot all the oaks in the wood. Yet even now as I stand sketching, a leaf here and a leaf there come floating across my vision. Maybe a slight shift in the weather has inspired a bit more preparation on their part for the winter sure to come. You can see a couple of the leaves here, hanging tight on the top of a skinny sapling. Biding its time for years before it gets an honest shot at the full sun. 

     In the summer these oaks may stand out in the upper canopy, as they often turn their heavy leaves over to show the lighter underside.

     As the note says it was noon last Tuesday when this was drawn; with pencil in the 7" x 9" Canson 

98 pound paper.

     And then there is this old tree. Suffering some from its age- probably quite a bit older than I at my 70 years. Done on our recent stop at Rebok's in Inver Grove Heights  On these hills as well as the river bottoms of Kansas, you find the Burr oaks to be a dominant oak. They suggest to me more than any other tree the mid-evil forests of Europe- broad topped, knarled and heavy.  This is another pencil drawing in the same pad as above.

     

Lawrence Nature Trail

        It was probably spring when I last made it to the opposite corner of town for a walk on this trail.  I had been hoping to make it up there in time to see the hickories in their fall color but doesn't always happen the way you want.  Now all the trees are bare of leaves except, as Robert Frost put it, "for those the oak is keeping to send them scraping and creeping out over the crusted snow." 

        I did however find the start of another trail on the east end of a rocky ridge that runs east and west through the center of the park.  I had seen the west end of this trial, but never taken it for lack of time or whatever.  It is not as well used as the other trails.  So I took this new discovery down to the very south valley of the park; though once again for lack of time I left more trail below still to explore.

        This drawing was done just after I cut off on the east end of this "new" trail. At first it cuts closer to the property to the south, which is visible through the bare trees. I had never seen this view before.

         Done in the same 7" x 9" pad as the previous drawing. Again also it was sketched in pencil and then finished up later with a couple ink pens. My original intention was to finish the trunks of the trees as dark as they were in real life, with the backlighting of the midday sun. Seemed to me though, as I worked on the drawing that the effect of the thin dark vertical lines of the trees was something that should not be obscured; it ties the entire drawing together pretty well.

        

Lone Star wheelhouse

           We made what should have been a quick pit stop after crossing the Mississippi at the Quad Cities. Well, after finding the Visitor Center down town along the river, we ended up at this museum to check out the only surviving wooden hulled Western Rivers style paddle wheel steamer that still exists.
           I started this sketch after Mom had already started for the car. For someone who spent some time himself working on the Kaw River in Kansas, this old tow boat that had been used for years in sand dredging operations on the Mississippi, this was quite a find.
           Done on 7" x 9" Canson 98# paper. It took me until today for things to settle down enough to finish the inking of what originally was a pencil sketch.

Spring secret

Do you recognize this plant?

Well I did not either; it took me about 2 or 3 months to figure out what it was. I don't think it's in the same genus as the Jack-in-the-pulpit so that didn't help with the ID. I found several Jack-in-the-pulpit 

but only two or three of

 these gentlemen.

They call it the Green Dragon.

 This one was down on the mud trail east of Mary's lake. It has a very unusual arrangement, as well as name. It is however, similar in many respects to the Jack-in-the-pulpit though less showy. You can see the stange and simple flower  rising between the plants.

Hard to read the notes on the photo but appears to have been drawn in May. 

5x9 inch format.

2 sketches

Here are a couple sketches from our recent travels.

The first is from our time in Wisconsin, where we were helping with the remodel at a friend's house. 

This second sketch was done yesterday while standing at Dorothy's front window.

 The ladies were at a hair appointment and left me home alone! So I had time to edit these two sketches but waited till now to post them.

 I think it is a 9 by 7 sketchpad.

I will probably finish them up a bit in ink sometime later and post them again so you can see the difference...

Josh's Graduation

We were in Minnesota for our grand son's graduation. I finished off a 5 x 9 pad on that trip. 

At the graduation there was some standing around in crowded halls waiting for the action to start. So I had time to do some pages of people in repose, and here is one of them. It is the kind of thing I could stand to do more of. 

Black-eyed Susan

Here is a drawing of the Black-eyed Susan from Prairie Park. It was in June. There are not as many of these as there are other cone flowers.

Nathan's tuba

So here is the drawing we just did of Nathan's tuba sitting by the piano. If you don't know Nathan you ought to hear him play the tuba or even the piano!
This was done on 98 lb Canson sketch paper.

Chair & Barrow

          Here is another of the white chair of which I posted earlier. This time done a little earlier in the day. It was a combination of images that I couldn't resist; plus I needed to get at least one sketch in for the day.
           The chair came from Marvel & the wheelbarrow came from Grandma, the rest is more or less permanent around here.
           Done with pencil, ballpoint, and black marker in a 7" by 10" Canson 98-pound pad.

Winter sprouts

A simple ink drawing done with a couple ballpoint pens.
This is the philodendron that sat all summer on our kitchen table. Originally  it was to get potted in the spring.
          It makes a quick subject and the arrangement of the leaves often catches my attention. Can't say I ever get it quite the way I'd like.

       I forgot to post this one yesterday. You can see the leaves have the same attitude as the one before but it ends up being an entirely different drawing.

Two lighthouses

This is a drawing done in Duluth when we were there in August. There there is a lighthouse on the end of each pier on either side of the canal.   This is the view of the lighthouses from the north side.

There are endless things to draw- especially at the waterfront.  We were on our way up the north shore.

I have been filling a 60 page 5" x 9" sketch pad every month or so. There should be some more Minnesota drawings to post.

The Mueller

      This fella stands between Shannon's yard and the neighbor to the South.
     I did the drawing while standing there myself under the shade of Shannon's Green Ash.
     I had previously posted the American Darling water hydrant- drawn in Florida but mfg. in Birmingham. Probably one of the earliest styles I remember.
     This drawing is a Mueller- cast in Albertville, Alabama.
     Later I'll post the Waterous-manufactured in St Paul Minnesota. It is the modern style, with a single casting for the top and the 3 outlets.
     Below you can see one of three or four pages of studies I did mostly from memory before doing this on location drawing.

     You could of course do endless research on the history of these babies, with all their iterations.
     This drawing was done in pencil on a 5 by 9 format.
   

You betcha.

Compass plant

It isn't very often that I trust my evaluation on what plant is what, however this Compass plant half dried up and ready for fall was pretty obvious. I was glad for the one remaining flower.
It was a mid-morning walk in the Baker Wetlands.
The sun was so bright, even with my sunglasses on & the sun behind my head, I still had to shave my eyes from the light reflecting off the plant.
This was done again in a 5x9 pad with pencil and a fine ballpoint.
Thanks fer lookin' ;)

The chair and the downspout

So here's a drawing I did last week last week. It was in the evening after working on the north side of the house. The gutter had been pulled out and was sticking out in the dark against the white chair. Maybe 10 minutes 15 to do it small - in a 5x9.pad. Leaves little question about what to leave out because you can't see most of the stuff that you would normally put in!
This is my first post done entirely on my phone...
No cheers please from the peanut gallery =)

2 ink farms

           These barns are always some of my favorite thumbnails, especially when done with a wide dark pen...    not much I guess, but a quick record of what you see that may be usable in the future as a watercolor or something...

Cymbidium Orchid

A number of these potted orchids were sitting around the house when we drove up to Georgia from Florida for a couple days.  This plant was in the room we slept in at Matthew's place. Their oldest still called it "Grammie and Papa's bedroom" for some time after we left. That is quite an honor, as some pretty important company has slept there since our visit.  I know very little about orchids. These are fairly small and maybe fairly common as well, but sure dressed up the house, as well as my sketch pad.

High Tower beach

This was the morning of our flight back to Kansas. We were taking a short walk on the beach, but I got separated from the ladies, as I was taking too long drawing. This was the view south. I was not sure if that was the real name of this beach or not....but I guess it is...
And the terns were being cooperative, though I did not have much time left to sketch...

Library Stop

When you "do" grand kids, your always "doing" the library.  This quick stop was just long enough for me to get a couple sketches done of the Suntree/Viera branch. This one was the more complete than the other. It is an interesting study of the shadows and reflections on the entry glass of the entryway.
Done in ink with a ball point pen in the 5 x 9 inch format I used most of this trip...

Boats & Stuff

You see these guys sitting on the rivers, the Banana and the Indian. There is between the kid's place and the beach, a whole lot more water and sea shells than there is dirt for sure...

 With 2 wide rivers and the ocean, there is never any lack of boats to draw.

Running up Merritt Island these are some of the sights we saw. A canoe hanging on the side of a dock. waiting I guess for some action...

Quick sketches of one boat and a few palm trees....

Sketches from the first town in Brevard County, Florida.

More sketches on the morning school run up South Tropical Trail.