paper, wood, scissors

How 'bout a couple studies from our trip late winter with Fred & Sue...

Block o' blade.
As is often the case when I finally pick up a pen, it was fairly late. We had spent the day with Fred and Sue, and were winding down in our own room. Our small kithen had not been used, as their adjoining room had a fully equiped one.
So these knives had sat there in the corner of the counter for our entire visit wishing someone would notice...
Believe it?

An here is a detail from our window of the retaining wall in front of the building where we stayed. Done in pencil, I just wanted to see how the pattern would look on paper.

Co-op south elevators.

This was one of the views from a small rise just east of the Rail Trail. This is the line that used to run to Baldwin early in the 20th century.  Now it is part of the bike trail around Lawrence. Follow it north and you pass within 20 ft of the elevators in this drawing.  The flag is actually a remnant from a drawing that was on the bottom of the page.
This used to be the County yard. Now it has moved east of the county jail. There is a lot of activity though; two buildings are being put up. You can see some of the steelwork in this drawing as well.
There are north elevators along the tracks a few miles north across the river. Although you cannot see those elevators from our side of town, you can sure hear the trains  - especially at night when laying in bed going to sleep.

the 2 cedar

These cedar never fail to catch my attention as I walk through the wetlands.
And an ink scribble is abrupt and somewhat permanent.
Here the view is foreshortened by the angle from the west foot bridge, so all the trees along the road seem closer together.

Afternoon sun

It was a bit of a surprise- the shadows coming through the blinds and falling on the drawer next to me while I was busy at the computer. 

The goal was to catch the shadows distinct and close.  But the sun was dropping so fast that the shadows were constantly in flux. I had to just grab pencil and paper, pick a point at which the shadows were significant, and go with that.

The little cabinet is one that Matthew made in shop class...

Wakarusa west

There are plenty of "easy" views of this bridge from above along the new cut from Alabama on 23rd to the old road. I have done more than one of them, some in watercolor.  But this view is from the edge of the Wakarusa, accessed from the parking along E1400 road at the edge of the wetlands.
This pencil sketch was done in late winter.

North of the tracks

So there was a few minutes left, just enough to get this sketch of the view across the tracks to the north while I was sitting in the depot parking lot in North Lawrence. This depot is no longer functional, but is a visitors center and a great place to draw.

Wakarusa looking east

The Wakarusa river has been an attraction for some time, though admittedly low key!  It is very  typical of creeks in eastern Kansas that dump into the Kaw (Kansas River), with its steep banks and winding stream bed.   It is actually a bit larger than some of the Kaw tributaries.    Lined with trees of all sizes that often lean toward the water. This bridge is one of the newer ones. Many were still truss bridges 40 years ago when we came to the area.
If it were not 32 degrees out today, this would be just about perfect morel mushroom  hunting weather, and the perfect place for 'em in these stream banks.
On this particular day in early March, I was down on the river in the middle of my daily constitutional. It was rush hour so to speak, so there was some traffic on the bridge, but it still seemed very quiet on the bank where I was seated. This pencil drawing was done in a 9" x 12" pad. A bit larger than what I usually have with me.
There are more pencil drawings from the last couple months, both of the river and the adjoining wetlands that I will try to post in the next few days.

Rail Trail barn

This little barn on the back side of the rail trail is always interesting.   This drawing, though was done as a study from one done on location a couple days before while I was out walking. I was used a sheet of 11 x 17 inch paper on one of my Plexiglas drawing board. I think Jeremiah gave me those chunks of plex some years ago, as they were leftover from a job he had been working on. The pen was a gel pen that has since ran out of ink...

T-9127

This forgotten drawing was tucked into one of the sketchbooks from...      Discovered it buried there the other day and immediately took a shot of it for the blog.   I never figured out what the numbers stood for- whether it was a factory number, or one assigned by the owner in some long forgotten warehouse...

tsuki-yo shaker

This fountain pen has been sitting on the kitchen table for a month or so. The idea is for me to use it once in awhile so it does not dry out, which it seemed to do one time. But on this day, for this drawing, it responded immediately. I had filled it a couple weeks ago , used it a bit, and left it sitting until now. That was nice that it worked fine... I have had to touch a drop of water to the tip sometimes to get it going.
For some reason, the ink reproduced in 2 different shades. No surprise.
A fountain pen needs to be held fairly vertical to make it work. You can hold a pencil flat to get a wider line, or a  ballpoint flatter to get a narrower line, but not this puppy. Hold it a bit flat and it will give you no line at all!  But that is good- surprises like that keep your mind engaged in the process.

Of course the salt shaker has a darker twin . I should do them together.

St. Paul in June

We were driving through St. Paul, headed to a match or program of some kind, when I got a sketch of this place and was able to do this ink later.
You can see the dates.
This is another one of the India ink stick drawings. The first ones of these that I did back in the '70s, were done with twigs I found on location, and if they worked well, I might save them for another drawing.

last tractor standing

Google up a satellite view of East 23rd street and find Kaw Valley Industrial. You may see in the back a couple old ford tractors sitting among the vehicles behind the building.. This drawing is of one of those tractors.  On the 20th, when I did this drawing I did not catch on that the place was closed, only that it was cleaned up from before. Not until walking past the front one evening did I realize it actually was closed. A scribbled sign says they have moved to Eudora.

This tractor is the only thing left on the site, other than the building and a couple signs out front. 

It was an old school place that had served Lawrence residents  many years.
Probably since before we came to town.

But google for once is not as up to date as the drawing- It still shows the scene below...

I ran into this drawing while sorting through sketch books from last fall.
This is way closer to what Google satellite will show you now, though it is actually a couple months out of date.
You can see the 2 twin tractors side by side. The one on the left is the loner done full size above, and the only thing left on the site when the top drawing was on the 20th of March...
This 2nd drawing was done earlier, as it says, on the first of December, 2017.
It is a sketch of the back of the building while they were working no doubt in an attempt to get things cleaned up for the impending move.

feeder sketches

This red bellied woodpecker comes sometimes to our suet feeder when the weather is a bit snowy. I know, this drawing is a bit exaggerated in the perspective but seems to still catch some of the essence of the bird.

We had a couple days of ice, so I kept the drawing board close to the window so it could be grabbed quick. The birds are right by the window when on the suet feeder, so you have to be as still as possible. Makes for good practice.  Some of the sketches were with the fountain pen that I keep close there as well.

This little sketch would not photograph. But I like the bird!

Clear Sky at last

The name "Clear Sky at Last" comes from the original sketch that was done when the sun came out for awhile after a few days of cloudy and snowy weather. We had been on our trip into Minnesota, south west Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

It is the last of  the inks done from that foray into last years road trips.  I used this style for years occasionally to make original note cards for Stephanie. None of these are large, but I have done some full size drawings that work well on a high quality paper. A so-called "kid" finish paper is very nice.

Hill silos

These sketches of silos are a nice motif for a drawing. I have done a few watercolors of them as well.

These are also India ink stick drawings. Just like the other day.  The process is very basic.  A dark ink that gives very little options for mid-tones. Or I should say that once the wet ink on the stick is gone, it begins producing textured light gray lines that can be very expressive, but limit your tonal range to a minimum.  You are constantly working from dark to light, dark to light, as you repeatedly dip the stick in the bottle.

A very similar motif taken from the same original road trip thumbnails. These 2 sketches are each less than four inches tall...

Stick Inks

One day near the end of December last year, I dug out a bunch of thumbnails from previous road trips and found some that would make nice inks. This and others that I will post, came from that endeavor...     These are done with India ink using a stick as the drawing tool. Maybe a popsicle stick, or a toothpick, a twig, or a piece of dowel rod.

Can't seem to make out what I wrote about the location of this one. Seems like it was somewhere along I-70. Iowa or Illinois. The ink was done on December 29th. This style of drawing is always spontaneous, unpredictable and, sometimes messy! But the results can be worth it.

These are both small drawings- less than 7 inches across. On the lower one you can see some splashes from sitting too close to the easel when I was doing a watercolor... but the ink turkey vulture was intended.