Thumbnails

10/8/15

Here is a detail of the painting "late summer grasses"

This was done in a 9 x 12 inch format on some Canson 140lb paper.

9/28/15
Here is a couple details of the drawing

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9/26/15
Here is the detail, showing a little better the knife scrape used to highlight some of the background in the woods.

"Farmhouse south wall" with the sun hitting a white wall full on.

7/14/15

And now a couple details of today's watercolor.  May give you a closer peek.

7/8/15

Here is the detail that show some of the inspiration a little closer.

7/1/15

This detail shows some of the detail of the shadows at the intersection of the 3 buildings.

6/29/15

A little detail from "knoll hill" that shows a little better the playoff between the highlights of white paper and the shadow colors in the central focus of this painting.

6/22/15

This detail does give an idea of the simplicity of the shapes and colors of this painting.

6/20/15

Hey, I found it. So here is the original sketch of the "Old records". Done on my wife's birthday in October of 2014.

And also found the thumbnails done when I was experimenting with another arrangement. Two in pencil and one with a marker.  In the final painting the basket is positioned like it is in the original sketch, but I changed the background to reflect the right hand thumbnail.  There had been some daylight coming in from the left on the actual scene and by exaggerating that light there ends up being much more drama to the painting.

6/18/15

Here is a detail of the painting "Old records"  showing the basket and the handwork a little closer.

6/12/15

Here are 3 thumbnails done with Amos in various poses.  Straight out of the sketch pad.  One is upside down so you will need to figure out some way of rolling the phone over to see it.  Maybe you can stand on your head.  It actually makes good sense that way...   Amos- "Ammo" as I sometimes call him- is constantly moving, so it gives pretty good practice in gesture drawing.  Sometimes if the dog saw me watching him, that was the end of the session shall we say. He would attack head on, legs and tail and slobber!

6/11/15

Here is a detail of the piano.  And a cock-eyed detail at that.  As you can see, not all the books on the piano were music books, like "Count 10 Mouse"!

6/7/15

Here is a detail of the Peak showing some of the lighter washes headed up the pass.

6/3/15

Here is a detail of the hopper cars. It will get bigger this way, and give a better idea of some of the details.  It has been a few days since I posted because I was behind in my drawing as well as photography; also we had company for a week- grandkids!  Since then it has been "about a week back" as Chris Penny usta say...  None of these are real reasons, just excuses.  

            5/20/15

             This detail shows a lot of interest that I did not remember when the painting was first done.  That's why it may be good sometimes to put them back and look at 'em later.  The colors coming out from the floor of the shed and the colors on the face of the bales blend a bit and help tie the two elements together.

5/18/15

This view of the three bare white saplings shows a little of the breakup of this area into colors and tones that are used throughout the work.  I struggled with the layout of this at the beginning and almost eliminated the white trees. Glad I did not; as simple and stark as they are me thinks they are what makes the painting!

  

2/9/15  Did this with a marker as the Mrs. was driving.  We were headed through town and this buggy was sitting across from us at the stop light- just enough time for a quick thumbnail.  Only about an inch tall.

1/21/15 Sometimes people just do not like being sketched. Most of the time maybe.  So you need to be quick and maybe a little bit sneaky to get in a sketch before they catch on.  This fella  was one of those that I did not want to come out from under his hat until I was done.

1/16/15     Here is the original sketch used for the "Birthday" drawing. Did this and studies of the poinsettia and the overhead light separately.  I copied this sketch to a larger format for the actual drawing, which made it a little easier to finish. Also had a couple half decent photos of the scene which helped with the shading, as there was almost none on the sketch.  Originally 9"x 12" it is now 12"x 14" or so.

1/11/14  Have not put anything up here lately, so here goes...

  

Not much more than a thumbnail, but actually a few inches tall. Done with a ultra fine sharpie and a sharp one as well.

8/18/14

The first pass at the windmill. Crude and blocky, but the main goal was to catch some of the shades of light on the blades.

Here is the 2nd sketch of the same windmill done  as the car was careenning down US 24 highway west of Limon. Nice side view of the mill; of course that is what the artist would say...

6/16/14  Here is a page of thumbnails done while waiting for supper a few days ago. Our neighbor has taken to feeding the birds with day old bread, for which the grackles are thankful. Few birds are better for doing in flight thumbnails.  The entire black silhouette is easier to see than a more varied color would be.  There is a robin or two thrown in for good measure. 

4/27/14

Here is a detail of the Oak 'n elm.  Probably does not show the pencil lines any better than zooming the full jpg., but have at it.  

        

1/29/14

Rail Warehouse:

Needed to burn up a few minutes waiting for Gamma. This took just about that long (though I did clean it up at home later) and was a interesting study of the side of the warehouses along the tracks north of the river. This sketch is about 8 inches long.    Long skinny buildings like these make an interesting study of perspective. Roof lines juxtaposed with walls; light juxtaposed with shadow; pencil juxtaposed with paper; tension juxtaposed with calm.  

9/28/13

Make that 2.  Turns out that we took AL 223 when we were headed to Troy. Bread Tray Hill is one of those unusual names you would like to know the story behind. It was a back roads trip coming from east north east to our destination. And it was made more "back roadish" by the fact that our navigator (me running watching the garmin while Steph drove) forgot to tell her where we were s'posta turn. 

Well, here is one from the road.  Will have to look to see where Hwy 223 was located.  Thought RuRu might like this. 

 How about one from the front yard? Done last month. Planter was built of old scale planks. Chain links came from Phil's "heavy shorts" scrap weight for the ol' Northwest at Kaw Sand. The tin hoopoe (that's the name, look it up!) bird came from South Africa via my sister-in-law. The miniature mail box came from Mr. Mayhew down the street. The forsythia in back came from the neighbors cuttings- the original plant is now gone, but there is plenty in our yard if you want some.  JEH helped me haul the rock from a neighbor's down the street and around the corner.  I think actually he was 'sposta end up with some of the rock at his place. Oh well, so I owe him a smoker... 

        Flagler CO is a place of interest because we have sometimes headed north there to see Mom's kinfolk.  There is always something to sketch.  The nice part about the quickie scribbles is that you don't have time to think about all the details, just one or two that catch your attention.  These two, done one right after another, come from that corner of the world.

OK, and another from the weekend before Sturgis while we were coming across Iowa.  We had a lot of this view of the rally!

How about a quick sketch from the recent trip out of state. You meet some who cannot imagine enjoying traveling through western Kansas.  There are some who enjoy it. I have a bunch of thumbnails of windmills along the roads we travel. They present an endless number of views, as well as an endless number of stories in their varying stages of repair.   

Well, here is an previously unposted thumb.  A simple sketch of a metal gate posted to let us know to not climb the fence- hopefully there is no law against a drive by drawing!

           Here is another quick sketch done from N 1200 Road. Maybe you know the place...

                 A little line, some simple shading, and ole!

                 Of course I left out a little detail- the brush in the front

       

        If you return to the very first sketch on this page it is of the neighborhood just NE of Kim and Dave's place east of Powers in Colorado Springs. At the time I did not identify just where the sketch was done. If you could look just over the hill from this drawing, you would be able to see the southern extent of the evacuations on the south end of the Black Forest Fire. We are praying for everyone there. The place Rebekah and Brian moved from last year is now in the north west evacuation area.

       

            Also below is a thumbnail of about this actual size that  was done as it says as I was leaving the quarry after a Saturday of work. I probably had been wanting to get a sketch of the place for some time. I think it is gone now, or mostly so.

  

 This little thumbnail was done about this size and pretty quick too. It was down in the corner of three states, on the way into Georgia. We did not actually take in the Falls, in Chattanooga, though it would be nice. This was just a sign locating where the tree and building were... sorta. 

       

        Here is another thumbnail this time done in N. Lawrence. I was waiting (of all the mundane things) for Grandma Ruth to get her hair done.  This was just over a year ago.  Nearly 12 inches across, this hardly qualifies as a thumbnail, but it is in the style of most of my little quickies, so...   These quick sketches are great to do. Lots of good practice.  Took no more than 5 minutes I suppose.

      

       This scene of the hills south of Lawrence has some of the quality of a "thumbnail" though it actually is pretty much a full size drawing.  The location was along N-1250 Road about a mile east of the wetlands. 

        

        

        This sketch was from memory of a metal shed you see when you are pulling off the North exit heading into El Dorado. The sun was over the west of the shed and giving a good combination of shades to the structure.

          Do a quick outline if necessary or skip it till last; or forget it all together. In this case, I did the outline first.  

        Then you start shading quickly with the second lightest area, using a pass that is one line "deep" so to speak. Look at the very top section of roof. Though it is hard to tell due to the poor photography, this section has but one set of lines going diagonally across it.  In other words, there are no lines that actually cross each other in this section.

        The lightest area is left empty; this is the lowest section of the roof. There basically are no lines in this section.

So, Area #1 is white paper. (If you have a decent photo!) 

Area #2 is one line of shading across the entire section. {There are actually 2 sections in this sketch with one line of shading. I cheated a little here :( ...}

Area #3 is two lines of shading at right angles to each other across the section.  This is the section of short wall below the shed roof on the right.   

Area #4 you simply add one more set of lines to the section at 45 deg to the other 2 sets of lines. 

Area #5 adds another set of shading lines at yet another angle.

Area # 6 then becomes 5 sets of shading directions, one after another. 

    I will post a pattern done in ink to give you a clear idea of each section of shading.   

    OK, here is the pattern:

      You can see the progression from the top arrow of no line shading, around clockwise through 4 line shading, to what is solid fill. 

        Here is a thumbnail that is of a place on the north shore of Kingsley Lake in Lakeville MN.  This was about 3" high. These things are a lot of fun to do and a good way to remember what you see.  A quick note of shapes, positions and light & shade.

2/14/13 Valentines Day special??

       Well low and behold I ran across a trifold  card from way back when. From a couple years before MGH was born.  This rapidiograph drawing is from the same direction as the previous sketch, but closer up the hill.  I had a set of cards printed using this image, but as far as I know this is the only one left of the printing.  My father did some stipple drawings as a young man using this type of pen. 

        February 2, 2013
      Another "thumb" from Mary's Lake. Done the last day of the old year. I have an old drawing done of the stone house that used to sit on the exact site that this sketch now represents. I should try to find and post one of the postcards from the ink drawing done then.  If you have been there then you remember it. Someone always lived in the rental at that time, but when the dam was reinforced the house was taken out. It was I am sure the original farm house that over saw the Wakarusa valley below, and that went with the property when it was deeded to the city in the 1950's or before. The bare rock hill and the wizened cedar still encourage the pencil.

       



January 13, 2013
     Here is another different thumbnail. From last week on a walk around Mary's lake. The very first time ever I have seen a Balk Eagle roosting in the trees there in some 30 years of going over there. Maybe you can see the spot in the far tree that represents how big this bird looked from across the pond. He stayed where he was for my entire (and slow) trip around the lake.  We have since then seen an eagle soaring well up in the air in the area. This "thumb" was done with a worn out sharpie. 

January 3, 2013 
     Well, how about sneaking in another thumbnail for the new year?  

 Here is one from Flagler Colorado. Steph had an uncle who has farmed this country since dust bowl days.  

        And another quickie from the same trip. 

 Dates and other notes are just for interest, and in case you get a chance to return to the same subject at a later time.  Sort through a stack of 11 x 14 pages of thumbnails and you can reconstruct quite a history!

     And a final one here from a trip east which can be partly reconstructed from the notes.  This vintage log structure was actually being used as a residence.  It appeared as we were winding our way through the Missouri hills. 

    

December 22, 2012        

        You can see the resemblance to the recent Harvinks post on the left of this clip, as well as others. A few notes somewhere on the page help to remind you when and where it was, and who you were with. 

    Cupolas have been of interest to artists since the first one was plopped on top of some log shack in the early days of civilization, though I have no ancient art to confirm that. Maybe you know of some...

   

       Most of these "thumbnails" are done entirely from memory as someone else like my wife is driving pell mell down the road. I am supposed to be helping navigate, but alas, I am scribbling these things one after another!  No wonder they are so far from reality; and no wonder we get lost from time to time!

December 8, 2012     

      Here is a quickie thumbnail no bigger than the width of a hand, done with lots of action, while the car was moving down the interstate somewhere in eastern Iowa I think. Took less than 30 seconds to do I am sure. (I know, you say, it looks like it too!)

December 1, 2012

     This upper quickie was done while headed up Highway 24 to Limon, CO. Hence the terse comment, "Tween Simla & Ramada".  This stretch of road is getting close to where the James sisters grew up; one of which was Ruth mother of Stephanie!  
     The lower one is a scribble done in the morning sun.  Maybe someone recalls where this was done! Some kid somewhere surely must be able to figure it out!