The neighborhood pond.

The pond has turned into the fishin' hole for some of our grand kids 

We were getting ready to hit the road to the airport. My pens were all "dislocated" but I was able to grab one laying around the kitchn to use for a quick sketch of the morning reflections over the pond across the patio pool.

The drawings identify the pen I used. A Metallic Write dudes- a silver color, that gave an interesting effect. Much more gray in color, and more shine to the drawing, which reproduced better in the first.

Both drawings were from inside the patio door. I decided to do the top drawing to emphasize just the reflections themselves, and from a different angle of a different subject.

One of the sketch pads that contains most of these Florida posts.

Interiors sketches from Florida

Here is a reasonably finished drawing of the kids' front door looking over the kitchen counter and through the "tunnel". The date is wrong by a month- it musta been February 1^st.

Here was the view looking the other way through the patio door from the living room.

This cockeyed view of the hutch was inspired by the reflections in the glass doors that come from the sliding door opening to the pool.

This bedroom door stands open most of the time. We had done some work in the room hanging a home made barnwood valance over the window. This study is of the relationship between all the angles and serfaces on the door and the frame. The dark interior of the room adds just enough contrast to make the compositon work.

These were all done with ink in a couple different pads. Most were a 5x9 format.

Palm trees

Here are a series of palm trees done mostly in Florida late January & early February.  It was nice weather all the time we were there. We always do some errands with the family, as well as going with them on the school run, with the occasional traffic jam to go with it. But these local trips provide some opportunity to sketch trees that we do not see in Kansas!

Gas stops were another chance for some sketching of local trees.

              

  Some of these have a bit of explanation- some do not. Many are of the ubiquitous sabal palmetto- referred to as the cabbage palm I guess because in the early days they used to eat the knee high heads of young trees which resembled cabbage to a degree.  These trees are everywhere and take many shapes which are often dramatic visually. There are hundreds of other palmettos as well, some of which you seldom see.

You will have to forgive the occasional spelling error...

Transportation

Here are three drawings. 

2 thumbnails done while moving, and one a bit more studied. 

All done with a ball point pen in the same 5 x 9 pad.

First a quick sketch done from the truck as we passed this fella at the stop light.

And then here was a jeep sitting just long enough for a quick sketch. We were on US highway 1 running down through Melbourne.  Not sure if the palm was part of the scene or just got stuck there.

                While with the kids in Florida we stopped at the Sprint store and talked about options. This sketch was a byproduct of that stop. Not sure what the ladies were doing right at the time, but they did not need my help, so I was able to grab a quick sketch of another sabal palm. This is the palm of the south- at least Florida.  They are everywhere.  

                 Just hopped out of the car, leaned against it and started sketching.  The unfinished look of the car is nice.  Not sure if it was intentional, or if I just ran out of time.

Stuhr Museum Visit

                Here are some sketches and drawings I did at the 4th of July parade through Railroad Town at the Stuhr Museum on our trip to central Nebraska. Hats off to all the family we saw and the grand way they entertained us.                               There were reenactors of all types in this prairie reconstruction and the parade. This fella was reading an historical speech after the band had played. Some of these speeches were well worth hearing these days.                                                                                                                                                This little sketch was an attempt to catch the play between the white and black of the image. It was not the first sketch of the day, however, but just something of interest.    The deal for me is to not get sidetracked with all the stuff around the image that catches my eye. Not always easy, but maybe I managed in this case.

           

This caboose, was at the end of the run- it  was the last drawing of the day. We were gathered around talking just before leaving Rail Road Town.  But the caboose was there, sorta begging me to put it to paper, so .....

                                     

          In the scene above I liked the figures in front of the tree and how the shadows played across the Main Street with the Depot sitting across the grass.  Not sure now if this was done before or after the next.  It was done with a ball point pen right from the get go. Little if any pencil involved, in a small Canson sketch pad - 5" x9" format.                                                 

   

I had brought my sketch pad, against my better judgement- this was, after all, 'sposta be sort of a family time you know...  It was the 4th of July parade, with a band and speeches!  And there were too many people around -  don't wan'a make a scene! But eventually I broke down, opened up the small pad, and pulled out a pencil.  This was the result.  Started with pencil and finished later with ball point pen in the 5x9 Canson pad. Nothing fantastic, but a good memory, some good practice, it kept me out of trouble, and gave some folk something different to talk about!

American Darling

So here is a close-up drawing of the fire hydrant. I had time while the ladies were shopping to find stuff to draw. This drawing was one of the results. Not only do hydrants have a great deal of character, they often do as this one does, hide a lot of history. Their web site indicates this hydrant has been in production for 50 years.

Twin palm

An ink drawing in the parking lot of our favorite grocery place... ALDI.  If you have not been to this one, you have not seen these palm trees, or the fire hydrant either!  This is in Melbourne, FL on our 2nd trip there. We don't get to draw palm trees in Kansas!

Maximilian Sunflower

 

This is my first drawing from the garden adjacent to the Nature Center. I had been thinking it would be a great place to draw.  It was such a warm day as you can see by the notes- especially by early November standards.  We used to hope for the first snow by this time! As I was drawing the moths kept landing on different flowers, so one got added to the drawing. This particular clump of sunflowers is very large, and tall, with many shoots and flowers.
As I was drawing a bunch of school kids came by headed into the center. As it turned out some of them go to church with us, and there mother was along as well. I believe this is a Maximilian Sunflower. When I asked the girls at the desk in the Nature Center they could not tell me for sure.   This was in a 9" x 12" format on some Strathmore paper with pencil and ball point pen.