Jack-in-the-pulpit

Lelan is after me to post some pics again. (Smile!)So here is one from early last month. Done in ink on pencil, as most are now days. There is one good group of these guys at Prairie Park on one of the mud trails east of the lake.

Here is one just in pencil from earlier on in April.

Milborn Light

                Like many of the things I draw, this was done in too big a hurry, and too little thought. But also, like much of what I do under those circumstances, when I find it later burried in some misplaced sketch pad, I end up kinda liking it for the very spontenaity that caused me some angst in the beginning. I had been thinking of doing the car for some time. but as it turned out on this day, I was still up the large central stairs in the Watkins museum, while all the family that had come with us was waiting at the entry for me.  They could see me from where they stood, and were politely wondering just how long I was actually going to take.

Gray-headed coneflower

This quick drawing showing the upper portion of the plant was started as they all seem to be lately, with a pencil while sitting on a camp stool along the trail at Prairie Park.

Here is another gray coneflower, done close-up and in pencil, showing a couple stages in the maturing of the flower. The disc florets were just beginning to open and turn dark near the bottom on one side of the central flower. The middle flower has a full gray "cap" and the top flower is just beginning to reach its ray pedals out.  The whole drawing is about 3" tall.

O'Connell Stone

Grammie likes this one. I posted another of this place in mid June that was done after this one.
Nothing on this house is where you think it should be.
Nothing lines up like it should- that makes for some good subject matter...

M-B

Here is another drawing done in pencil of the Murphy-Brommelsick house- it was early May.

India ink and stick drawing

This stick drawing was done with india ink. Black and white in the truest sense of the term.
The jpeg image was on my phone for some time, but just now got added to the possible postings.
The original sketch came from the stack of quick studies done on trips to see the grandkids.

Decided to do a couple Spiderwort from memory. That did not turn out so well, even though the drawing  is ok .   Although I had a good idea in my head of what I was aiming for, I found that it was much easier if I had something to look at while drawing. Otherwise it took me repeated roughs to get to a workable image. The top one was done mostly from memory, and the bottom one was done from a previously drawn flower.

But this one is more what I was looking for. Not only did I use an earlier study as a reference, I also used a photo or 2 as well. Is that cheating??   Actually, the photos greatly aid the memory when looking for just the right shape or angle. But only when you are working in the studio, away from the actual subject. Which is sometimes necessary if you are sitting in the sun and the sweat is running into your eyes, or your back is beginning to ache from holding one position way too long.

Paw Paw & Hackberry

This drawing of the pawpaw leaves was an attempt to help me identify the tree in the undergrowth along the Wakarusa River in the wetlands. What I have not done yet is done such a drawing with a Zebra Swallowtail butterfly or 2 sitting on a leaf. The Pawpaw is their meal of choice I understand. A few days before starting this, one of those "Zebras" had landed right at my feet for a picture.  

There are a couple small Hackberry trees growing in the background and also a bit of poison ivy going up one of them.

Here is the same drawing after getting a good start on the ink. I had gone over most of the pencil with a fine line pen, and was starting to rough in some of the background.

Here is the drawing as it was when I left the woods for home. I was tired of the mosquitos, as I had forgotten my DEET, but was unwilling to quite on the pencil until there was enough to get a finished ink drawing out of it. 

Alex Auto

I was in North Lawrence to talk to Alex about the car and took just a minute to get a sketch of the cavernous opening behind a couple cars they were working on.  These are a lot of fun to do, and can be done pretty much on any walk through any neighborhood. Just make sure you are not upsetting any of the locals, which seldom happens.

Second bloom

It has taken forever for the clematis by the  mail box to get taller than I. But this year it has done it!  It was some fancy variety, but has not grown very robustly. So a couple weeks ago while it was showing off its 2nd flush of bloom for the summer, I thought it time to do an ink drawing.  And here we have it.

Here is the drawing after I had added fine line ink to most of the pencil layout which was done standing at the curb.

This was done in a 7" x 10" Canson pad of 98 lb paper.

The pen was a Misulove Needle Drawing Pen, probably the small one- 005

Hackberry ink

I was again along the woodland trail in the south east corner of the wetlands proper. It is endless- there are so many plants with a zillion different postures, that a person could draw endlessly I suppose.  Can't say I was terribly impressed with the way I dealt with the jig jag nature of the twigs as they jog from leaf to leaf.  That was one of the things I wanted to emphasize. Oh well, another day!

The fuzzy designation at the top- MS807A- is the number on the disposable pens that were given me for Father's day.  From .005 nib to 20 brush tip. Lots of range. Much more simple than keeping a whole range of Rapidograph points clean!

Sundae girl

Another India ink drawing from the 1980's.

Sting Nettle

There are some pretty immense patches of nettles along the eastern most trail in the wetlands. The trail runs along the Wakarusa River through the woods for a half mile or so.  I had been interested in how each plant displays a very flat arrangement of leaves at the top of the plant.  I was able to get a drawing to approximate it from the side, using a ball point pen that I found in the car, as I had forgotten to put anything in my pocket to draw with. 

Here is another plant, drawn a little more from the top.  Shannon gave me a 3 legged camping stool for father's day which I was sitting on for these pencil sketches that I finished up with some ink at home. As kids we used to run through this stuff on the way to the river, sometimes chased by a billy goat. Fortunately the blisters seldom lasted even until we returned home for supper.

Wash Day

I had stopped by our daughter's for some reason or other, and could not resist getting a drawing of her car as she was cleaning it out with the doors standing open.  The actual was yet to come. This was last weekend. Started this sitting in the shade in her garage looking out at the car with the woods and the sun behind.  I did some pencil, then added ink over the top later on.

the classy Spiderwort

Here are a couple more spiderwort inks.   Classic shapes 

O'Connell Stone

It is not that I don't have more drawings of spiderwort from Prairie Park, but let's have a little change.

This little stone farmhouse was one of the original structures on the east side of Lawrence. When it was built the town was no doubt 2 or 3 miles north west. It was a long time before the road ever got named O'Connell Road. 

I can get there in a few minutes on a bicycle, and maybe should do some more drawings of the place.

with milk weed sprouts

Perhaps the most varied of a dozen or more ink drawings done of these delightful blooms.    I do not think there is a flower in Prairie Park all year that is as elegant.  With leaves & bracts both integral and independant, all finding a complimentary place in the sun...

These guys are even this morning still trying to bloom, though the amount and size of the blooms are reduced.

Dress Tie posture

Let's go back to the series of inks done 30+ years ago. 

I found this set of photocopies last year. I suppose they were done with India ink and a radiograph pen, if anyone still knows what that is.  There are quite a number of these sort of inks sitting around here...

and again

 Yes, here are yet more of these dandies. These were done on two consecutive days last month.

Across the entire field they open daily to the morning sun . But close up in the midday heat.

Spiderwort again

Here are some more of the irresistible spiderwort. This was the first day that I began drawing them. I can stand along the trail dong one after another until my back is screaming for a break...

Every morning the south end of the prairie at the park is peppered with these guys. But take a walk just before sunset, and you will not find a bloom. Do they fold up for the night or drop to the ground? I find no evidence for either! 

I suppose that I should do some of these in color. That remains for another day.

The lines created by this plant are fantastic and they compliment well the flower atop.