Snow on the hedge row

   
        2/28/15 was the day this drawing got started. It was the last effort of the year in NE Kansas for snow. Not much, but enough for me to take a walk to the shelter house and start this drawing while trying to keep my paper dry under the roof.  It was 2 pm and about 28 degrees. The snow stopped falling by the time I headed home.  The next day it was mostly gone, but this  drawing takes me right back to that cold and still day.  Not cold enough for my fingers to not work so I was able to take some time on this one.      
       Done with .9 mm B lead on 9 x 14 inch paper.  It took me a few days to finish this piece at home with it sitting on the piano and me staring at it then picking up the pencil from time to time.
       Right now it is about 89 degrees in middle Georgia where we are visiting, so this seems like a long time ago.

1907 Courthouse

                  On the way home from Nebraska Stephanie saw the sign up on US highway 36 pointing us to the south side of town to this museum. We were taking the long way by going across the north edge of eastern Kansas and skipping the Interstate highway. I do not think we have ever been along this way together in all our years of being in Kansas. But then we needed to stop to rest my screaming back.  So I did this drawing while Stephanie read her book.  It would have been better to do some brisk walking instead of just standing there drawing. But I have forgotten the back issues now, and yet still remember the place by this drawing-  the stone porch, the brick walls, and some apparent concrete repairs done over the years to the arches.
                 Done with marker and pencil in a 9" x 14" sketchpad.

Vinland UMC

               The Vinland United Methodist Church is one of two sitting on this square block of history.  A drawing of the Presbyterian church has been posted before.  So has  a couple of the Coal Creek Library.  This visit was a little later than when I started those drawings.  This drawing started and ended with pencil.  That was probably not the intention.  The church here sits on the corner east of the trees and a patchwork little house that adds some interest to the subject.  Probably was the roof lines that originally grabbed my attention.  The roof lines and the dark tree branches that follow the repeated ridge lines of the buildings across the page.                                                                                                            11 x 14 inch format I believe.

west 9th street

          You can see clearly in this drawing (I hope) the contrast between the marker and the pencil passages. Black ink has long been a favorite of mine. The photography still leaves a lot to be improved.  Another 5" x 8" format.                                      
          I passed this place one of those Saturday morning walks I refer to regarding the Michigan Barn drawing.  The name of this one shows the great creativity of the city fathers in naming the streets 100 plus years ago.  This early mid 20th century dwelling is a favorite of mine, and one you pass traveling downtown from the west.  I was not far on my walk early in January when I had to stop and do this sketch.  It was chilly, but not as it should have been on a Kansas winter morning. A fellow soon stopped by to ask for a few cents for breakfast.  I then had to decide whether to follow my rural mid-west inclinations and help him, or to do as they would in NYC and ignore him.  But he was admiring my drawing...

Boat Race

                    Boat surging forward out of the...a...a...  TREES??  Kansas has a lot of water sports, but this is not the gulf coast.                                                               
                    I had discovered these relics sitting forgotten on a vacant lot back of the businesses I was sneaking behind on my Trek.  One day I stopped in the fall sun leaned against one of the bunch, and did this sketch.  It is possible to get from east of Haskell Ave. all the way to Iowa St. without riding in traffic.  Riding the back streets is a little more safe, and a great way to find forgotten or out of the way places and scenes.  This is one such.
                   All done with Sharpies of varying degrees of exhaustion.  No pencil involved; started and ended with black markers.

picket corner

               

                This was an effort to record what I saw this day in October when the afternoon was about half done.  Fence in light and fence in shade casting shadows on the grass and on itself.  There is light on the edges of the dark pickets where the fence is not casting shadow on itself.

Old Sacramento

                I was looking at the back end of the cannon for this drawing.  So with the big hole in the side of the cannon it may make it hard to get the idea.
               This link will give you some of the history of this cannon, like the Mexican connection. You may even be able to find a photo of it before the "boo-boo" on the Kaw river...
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jan/27/history-buff-wants-recreate-cannon-called-old-sacr/                        What it does not tell you is how the cannon lost a chunk.  It sat on the south bank of the Kaw river for years and was fired over the river to raise bodies lost in the water (whether from swimming, boating, or "noodling").  They would merely load it with a charge, pack some mud in the barrel, and create some good noise!  Well one time someone over-packed it and blew out the side. One of the 2 pieces was recovered in North Lawrence across the river in someone's yard. I would guess that makes the piece airborne for a distance of a few football fields maybe. It was used as a doorstop at a farm south of town until eventually donated to the museum.

HC II

               
                This was one of my first recent (this decade) experiments last year with combining marker and pencil.  I was pleased with the results. The HCII is my name for the shopping center; I could not fit the actual title in with the "ultra fine" Sharpie.  It is a small drawing, in 5" x 8" format.     I was thinking that adding a little ink to a drawing would make it photograph easier with my poor system. It did too, but took me a few tries when "gimp"ing it to avoid washing out the contrast. What do you think...   Sometimes I do the ink first like in this case and then shade with pencil.  Sometimes I do most the pencil first and then soup up the darks with the black markers as in the previous drawing.

the end of Harper

               This is one that the photography process does not quite do justice.  If you could only see the original...   Oh well.  This idealic scene  actually shows the cut at the end of this neighborhood for the bypass.  Hence the symbolic nature of the title.  The scrappy old red cedars (and other 2nd growth wood) that had inhabited the property after farming was discontinued have been removed along with the hill, so that all you see now is what is left at the brow of the hill behind the fence line.  Beyond that is the new alignment of south Haskell Avenue.  Now you would see in this view a retaining wall as well as a jogging trail on the left.                        
               Done with pencil and marker on a 9x5 sketch pad in early January.  It was not too cold that day as I recall.

Stone & Stucco

               I had thought this place would be a good subject.  So one Saturday morning I made a stop here and put pencil to paper.  This one is all pencil, some of which I added after getting it home and looking it over for awhile. Trees and roof lines always catch my eye.

from the walkway.

                Standing on the walk in the late afternoon on a warm winter day, this is the result.  This is not the first time I have done this scene. There is one done from the left of this looking south across these trees and over the hill. This is a 5" x 8" drawing done with pencil and marker.  You never know who you may meet on a good day like this. Lots of neighbors, kids, parents to great grandparents all like a walk with the dog or maybe a jog.  If you go on a cold rainy day there will be many less people. One cold day along here I heard a strange noise and found a coyote on the path ahead.

double wind - double drawings

Original wind farm 

                   
                   These minimalist little sketches are the result of a few minutes forced rest from driving and a walk in a Kansas gale.  The wind was gusting at about 40 mph and it seemed averaging just below that.  I had to lean against a tree to stand up.  It was late November and the wind was not warm. We were on I-70 at a rest stop amid the wind generators that populate the landscape on both sides of the highway.  You can see one over the hill in the drawing below.
                   These original farmsteads were extremely dependent on the wind for the water that sustained their way of life. The same wind that made it almost impossible to function some days, and sucked the moisture out of the land. The wind had a double function- as a blessing and yet as a curse. And this day I was there plastered to the tree by this double wind- blowing at double its normal intensity.

No Competition

                   
                     "No competition" is the companion sketch that goes with "the original wind-farm"; it was the view just down the hill to the left of the first sketch.  This barn and silo sit on the property with the stone house in the other drawing.   Over the horizon just beside the windmill you can see the head of the wind generator off in the distance. Windmills will always have a function to provide cheap water in remote areas.  Electric wind generators have yet to prove their long term viability. Maybe there is no competition between the two. The wind here has this double function one way or another- providing water and power for the mid-west.
                     Both these sketches were done in my 5"x9" pad with only the extra fine Sharpie I had in my pocket.

Table time

           Did a boo-boo on the time. It was actually 9:53 am, but the sharpie I was using bled a bit and turned it into 5:53; or my fingers just shook too much. The November morning sun was coming in this east window enough to give some interest to this setup at the kids place.  We were all there for thanksgiving.  If you look out the west side you can see Pike's Peak.  Now today in the spring I hear that they are cleaning furiously so they can put the house on the market for a pending move cross country.  Hey, I just noticed that the date of this drawing was somebody's birthday...
           Looks like this drawing was done in a 5" x 9" pad, with ink shaded some by pencil.

Watertower pumphouse

              We were a little early getting "down the hill" to Eldorado.  After a stop at the $ store for some decorations and getting a fillup of gas for $1.67 per gallon, we still had a few minutes to kill, so we drove the 1/4 mile north headed out of town to this location.  It was a steep drop on the old drive off the highway into the mud and the rain, but we made it in & out ok.  I put down my window to draw, but the rain managed to blow in the window so that I ended up looking through the rain running down the window to  do the drawing.   Finished it at home the next day.   Again, I have some pics of this tower but was looking for the chance for a location drawing.  Glad it finally happened. The results are more spontaneous for me than working from a photo.  More spontaneous, yes, but I did not say more true to life.  I have never seen a round pump house at least not with a wooden cistern built above the stone.  Some early Kansas farmer had a creative mind, or else a good memory from "de olt contry?"  Someday maybe we can look inside! The old farmstead is no longer occupied.
             Done in an 11x14" sketchpad with Sharpie markers over pencil.

sign of change

                  The sign company was loading out a sign for installation.  I show no date, but am guessing it was late November.  I had taken a few minutes to find something to draw when I came upon this boom truck sitting here late in the day ready to load the crated sign. Or maybe he was off loading it. No one was around for the entire time of my sketch -must'a gone inside to check his paperwork??      
                  I did this in a small sketch pad with nothing but an extra fine Sharpie. There is a point when they are neither totally new nor totally exhausted when they are great for line drawing. Drawing is always an education; you learn a lot about the subject that you did not know before, and about how poorly you actually see it. Sometimes I start first with a pencil for the basic view, but did not do that in this case. It does look a lot like pencil in the reproduction though. Maybe that is because getting a photo of this drawing that would look decent digitally was not easy with our camera.  I ended up "Gimping" ("photoshoping") quite a bit extra in this case just to clean up the background.

tea cup on the table

               It does not seem that I am done doing drawings that include this table.  This tea cup provided a good point of interest for a wide bare strong grained table end.  Here we had a good opportunity to use the pencil shading to some advantage (I hope!) in expressing the tone and the texture of the table top. Black marker ink on the other hand makes a good foil for the subject and expresses the void behind the corner well.  At least that's my take on it....
               This table is one Dad bought used and refinished many years ago...
                Not sure if the cup came from Grandma Ruth or Grammie Harvey.
               The chairs are needing a lot of work, but the table is still beautiful.

Centennial Park Gazebo

           
             One of my winter Saturday morning walks.  It was cold, but if I hid behind a tree along the creek I could keep my fingers working long enough to manage this quickie.  Think I finished it up some at home actually.  Did more than one on this walk.  This is the only one that amounted to anything.  I had been looking for an angle which would do this subject justice.  Maybe this is it.  I like the over the horizon focus- it gives the drawing some sense of purpose or anticipation of climbing the hill and arriving at the shelter.           Done on 5"x 8" Strathmore Sketch in pencil over marker.

Kentucky street the next week

         
          This drawing is of the south side of the "Kentucky Street" posted two days ago. Yes I know I forgot to post it yesterday like I promised...  This drawing was started a couple weeks or more after the first one.  It has plenty to interest me and I had a good place where I could sit in the truck on a chilly morning in the middle of running a few errands. There is lots of contrast in tones as well as direction of movement in a subject like this. Done in ink over pencil in a 11" x 14" format but with much more attention to detail than some quicker sketches.

the ladder backs

          The first thing to catch my eye here was the double diamond shape made by the highlight on the top of the two front legs together in the center of the left drawing.  I could have caught that with out doing the chairs, but I got distracted by the lights and shadows of the "ladder backs".

             

         These were Kim's new chairs.  Not really new; not even terribly recent for her, as she found them used a few months before we showed up for Thanksgiving.  The armchair I did a little more squat than is actual. You may need to click on the post to actually see the 2nd drawing.  In the drawing of the 2 chairs I was more intent on showing the length of the back, which of course I over did there.  In the second it is understated.

          Both of these drawings are done in a mid sized format with .9 mm lead.

Kentucky Street

           
          One of the houses along Kentucky Street that are fun to draw. The alley behind is interesting as well, that is where the recent "behind Carnegie" is located, as I had mentioned before.  I have done this place both back and front now as well as others along this row.  I can think of 7 or 8 drawings in this half block either in the alley or along the street.  I will post a drawing tomorrow from the same half-block; actually of this same house from the south.
           This particular experiment with ink over pencil took some days to get it to satisfy me.  After sitting there starring at me for a week or 2 I finally added some more pencil and ink.  That is a risky thing to do if you are too enamored with your own work.  But what did I have to loose?

early afghan

           You may have seen this couch before; don't remember right now if I have posted any other sketches of it. It is upstairs at Gramma's house, where we often are for a game of Mexican Train. The afghan is an old motif seen more often maybe 40 years ago.  It is a baby size; at least not full size. But it has been on the couch a long time. There is a good contrast between the couch and the color of the sunflowers in the afghan.  Does make me wonder where the afghan came from.  Who made it? My mother, or my wife?  actually probably someone else entirely, like Gramma Ruth herself. 
          This small sketch was done with marker and pencil. Nice to have some variety of subjects to post. The earth is full of stuff of interest for ink and paper. 

behind Carnegie

                    We first visited the original Carnegie Library in the early 1970's with Margaret Thomas.  This little rental has been sitting there in the alley behind the library probably longer than the Carnegie building.  The alleys almost always seem more interesting than the main drags.  That may be partly because there are less expectations there of the results. Google street view does not normally show the alleys, at least not yet.   I have drawn a number of the places along here.
                   This drawing is done entirely in pencil, due to what I perceived as the subtle nature of the shadows and highlights.

Behind Louis's place

             Many a Saturday morning the lot falls to me to take Grandmother Ruth to the hairdresser Louis. It is one of the few activities she does in the week that she can always remember when it is and who does it.  Any changes in the last few years are much harder to remember. As she says, "My memory goes on vacation" to which I reply, "Oh, and when is it coming back?"       I have an hour or so to run errands, or draw after dropping her off.  
          This drawing was done behind Louis's place in a 5" x 9" format on Strathmore sketch paper with pencil and marker.          Somehow the jpg did not get downloaded originally. Sorry folks...

Window Plants

          They sit in front of the window in the waiting area of the old police station built in 1950  Looks to me like they are just waiting for someone to sketch 'em, so here goes...  Actually as is often the case, this drawing got touched up some after arriving home later in the day.   I figure if you get something on paper you can evaluate it later and make improvements the next drawing.  Does that work for you??
           Done in an 11" x 14 " sketch pad with Sharpie markers of various types.

old farm pond

          The farm pond at Prairie Park has belonged to the city since before we came to the neighborhood in 1978. Somehow it got the name "Mary's Lake." Maybe that was the farm wife- or the daughter...    This view is toward the southwest where the stone farmhouse once sat just past the end of the dam.  
          I remember in Eudora before we had 5 kids being totally frozen and in pain after a short sketching walk. It was about 20 degrees that day. I still do stuff like that today as you can see from the notes on this sketch.  The ol' stone farmhouse used to sit on the horizon where you see the crane boom in this drawing.  The lake has frozen and thawed at least twice since then; here it was in the process of freezing the first time, so you can see reflections in the water not frozen yet.         
          The problem with marker ink in this sketch pad is that it shows through the thin paper from behind as you can tell in this photo.

The barn on Michigan

           The plans to do a drawing of this vintage barn came to me one day on a cold walk through the neighborhood.  I was getting my "morning constitutional" while waiting for Grandma to get her hair done.  It was not too cold to sketch, but I had walked too far and now needed to move at a good clip if I  were to get back in time.  Not that Gram-ma would worry- she is like a toddler in her inability to remember time. Or like an animal that never remembers the close calls, but moves on without worry.  It is me that worries if I am late to pick her up.

Not the end of the grove

          While  walking through where we had hundreds of times in 35 years I found this scene where there had been a second growth hedge and locust wood. There are now about 20 trees left in this patch of wood now so far.  Used to be King Radio in the '80's when we would play hedge apple bowling in the parking lot.                   
          I could not resist the urge to sketch the crane, the building frame and the tree together.  The construction crew was gone for the weekend.  They were not getting any overtime, as the weather has allowed them to get well ahead of schedule this winter. The building is for the school district that has leased the property.  It has been an education for this guy watching all the construction going on here in our "neck of the woods" this last year. 
          Done with pencil and extra fine Sharpie over the top, in a 9"  x 12" Strathmore sketch pad that is easy to carry on a walk where you do not know what you will be getting into for sure. 

Place-mats

           This is the third sketch posted this week that I used to help me finish the drawing "Christmas Birthday."  This was a quick study of the positioning of the place mats on the dining table. Which were interesting in their random arrangement and contrast of color with the dark table and the highlights, shadows and reflections you can see. The place-mats had nothing to do with the final drawing, but  it helps to do sketch studies that are spontaneous to keep an eventual finished drawing from being too stale.
           Because this drawing was done in a pad with light weight paper, you can see spots from the marker drawing on the previous page that bled onto this page. Sometimes the effect is nice.  Maybe not so much in a pencil drawing. The chair back in the front of the drawing was a study of its own, with no attempt to make it fit the scale of the table...

Lamp study

             I had already done a line drawing of the kids dinning room, but did this drawing in an effort to better understand the issues involved in this part of it.  So this drawing combined with the room drawing were used along with a photo or 2 to record the tonal variations  to produce the finished drawing  "Christmas Birthday."

Poinsettia

          Here is a sketch that was done at the time of the original sketch of "Christmas Birthday" (posted Jan 16th). It made a good study to inform the finished drawing of the dining area.  I was attracted to the lights and shadows coming from the windows reflecting on this little table.  A pencil sketch with potential for a finished drawing or painting as a seasonal highlight to help remember the joys of the season and the Christ of Christmas.

              In the next couple days I will put up a couple more sketches done in preparation for finishing "Christmas Birthday."

the Woodshed

            On a recent visit to Schonberg's Tree Service to "help" with a modification  they were doing on a grapple, I took some time to do some drawing.  I was of little help to Justin, other than letting him see that he could weld it back together as good as the old guy.  But the drawing was somewhat successful.  It was chilly in the shade, but this second drawing was done sitting in the full sun where it was very comfy.  I have photos of Phil's wood shed from some years back and had thought it a fitting subject for a drawing, so...                        Done on some 9" x 12" format paper in pencil and marker, I am reasonable happy with the result.  The darkness of the firewood in the shadows and the negative spaces it creates against the lighter background and foreground make for a nice composition.        
           Done 1/16/15 about 1:00 pm.  I recorded the temp at 60 degrees, but it was not that in the shade early in the day I don't think.

Third floor playhouse

           This is what I found online about this little building sitting on the 3rd floor of the Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence, Kansas.  The playhouse was originally built by Isaac Newton Van Hoesen, an early mayor of Lawrence, back in 1878 for his daughters. This was during the first 15 years after the Civil War.   It had been used by a couple other families before coming to the museum to be available for all visiting kids to explore.  While I was standing there doing this drawing a group of ladies came along on a guided tour of the museum.  On of them mentioned that she lived near the playhouse as a child and actually played in it.  I am including links to some very interesting stuff about "this old house". If they don't work for you, a google search will get you there. Pics and text from  LJW articles.

            The drawing was done in an 11 x 14 inch Strathmore "Sketch" pad with 2 different Sharpie's and then shaded with blunt 2B lead in a holder.  I did most the drawing there on location, and put the finishing touches on at home. That's how I often do.  This drawing was very fun to do, to see how it eventually turned out, even with a bunch of ladies swarming around for a few minutes (very polite ladies I should add) while I was doing it.  Seems like the less ideal the conditions are, the more motivated the senses are to work. The resulting drawing has an immediate feel to it.

Van Hoesen Playhouse
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2006/dec/01/watkins_museum/24200/
This gallery link has a copy of the very early photo of the playhouse.
LJW 8/4/91

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19910804&id=_k4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=euYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6023,50243

Oak bench

              This piece sits in the corner entryway between the downtown fire station and the offices that include the Senior Center.  Nice looking vintage oak bench, with very little issues, other than one slat mostly missing. No one sits in it much. The entryway is too cool in the winter and too hot in the summer, plus there is nothing to do there, unless you are waiting for something; and that would not be long or you would sit in the main lobby. The building was built I think in 1950 as the main police and fire station.  There is still a fire station, but the police have moved to new digs that actually now are inadequate.  Although they were turned down by the voters this year in a request for a new facility that would amalgamate all the scattered places they work out of at the present.

End of Ponderosa

          Our oldest son used to cut up through this way delivering papers in junior high.  My job, as I remember was to help with the Sunday edition.  I have a little more time now to stop and do a sketch. It is a lot more overgrown and fenced than what it was in the mid 1980's.  It appears that this is the remnant of a hedge row that is about 1/2 block long that somehow survived.  This is the north end after the hedge row comes up the hill and runs into Ponderosa Street coming from the north. You can see the guard rail and warning sign where the two meet. 
          I have all sorts of sketch pads. Different sizes and papers.  I might have any one with me at any given time.  This day it was a mid-sized one.  The effect achieved by the super fine Sharpie is nice with some shading added with a different worn out marker.  And it reproduces well with a somewhat dysfunctional digital camera.

Custom Custom Delux

          This drawing was done on 1/26/15 when it was 60 degrees F.  I mean it is February in Kansas- go figure...(today is more normal at about 20 F.)  This beast of a truck had been sitting across the street at Dorothy's neighbor's place for some time. The fella had been doing a little remodeling for Karen. It is the place we and the Chase's redid back in the 1980's and it has been kept up nicely over the years..  I had a few minutes sitting in front of Dorothy's, and glad I had pencil and paper with me. 1980's man, that's about when this truck was made, huh..  Maybe not as well kept as the house, but it has had plenty done to it!

Eighth street west of Vermont

          If you have been in town long, you will understand the name, if not the exact location.  This drawing - sketch actually- was done in about 10 to 15 minutes.  It was a week day downtown while I was driving our 93 year old "Gramma ma."  While she was doing her exercise, I stepped outside the south door of the building, sat on the steps and did this sketch of a scene across the street that I had never really noticed before...     Done in an 5 x 9 inch sketch pad with marker and pencil in about 15 minutes maybe.  You can see that it was 70 degrees that day, though in January in Kansas!

nose on jeep

I was waiting in the truck for a few minutes outside the grocery store.  This jeep sitting in front of me provided an opportunity for some drawing.  I had an "inkling" so to speak that it would work.

Kaw cairn

           This busy little sketch will lead to more I think. My early  drawings years ago did not have the improvements to the dam or the mill. There are major changes on the north end as well that will need a drawing pretty soon.   Harold O'brien  said once that he used to visit a grist mill on south side  some Saturdays to get wheat ground for the coming week.  Very early  on there was a shaft running from a water wheel on the river under the Massachusetts St. businesses to provide power for belt driven equipment.  Remnants of the tunnel still remain.  
           The title comes from the pile of rocks in the middle of the river, sitting on the sand bar.  I should say the Kansas River is called the Kaw around here. After the native Americans of the Kaw Nation. 
           The link below will show you a picture of the dam very early on, as well as one of J. D. Bowersock whose name is still connected to the mill. Interesting history for sure. Even in the 1970's the buildings were still used as paper storage, as I can personally attest.         http://www.lpco.co/about-us/lawrence-paper-company-history/

shuga' bowl

          

          This sugar bowl sits at the table where we play games in the evening. Not all sugar bowls have this shape; with concave sides.    Makes for a nice subject with the long cast shadow which will always add some interest to a drawing.  We once had a similar bowl, which I was always tempted to draw. The lid of it did not survive five kids...  or maybe it was me always re-positioning it for another sketch.
          Done in a small Strathmore "Sketch" pad with the usual Pentel 0.9 mm with 2B lead in it.  This may be one that I intended to layout with pencil and finish with marker, but just never got around to putting down the pencil.

Minnesota Birch

         

           This simple sketch done from the kids sun room in mInnnn-ehsO--ta; (is that how you say it??)  There was just not enough time in the day to get outside and sketch, and besides, it was raining!  This little patch of small birch trees sits in the grass at the edge of Brian's oak wood, and though they have been photographed often this is one of my first sketches of the bunch. These trees get more interesting every year; it is nice they survived the construction process.
            I was trying to fill up a small sketch pad while there, but kept switching to a larger format for some drawings that I wanted to finish up later.  This one, done in the 5" x 9" format, helped me get some more in the small pad. Done entirely with an ultra fine Sharpie in less than 5 minutes while waiting for supper to get on the table.

Frozen load

             Here is what was actually the first of the two drawings done that trip and done in the same style. I was getting set to do "Environmental" when directly south was this scene. So it was catch as catch can.    The few people working in the cold that day were trying to get this ten wheeler to give up its load. You get an indication here of the 15 degree F. temperature. 
         The two drawings were finished as they sat on the piano later at home. Done in the 5" x 8" Strathmore Sketch pad with pencil and marker.

Environmental

          This odd little drawing was started and completed along with another on the same day after a short stop at the bottom of Louisiana  street where Broken Arrow park sits. This view is looking west from the park on a very cold day when not a whole lot was going on.  The entire place south of there has been torn up and is slowly getting put back together to make way for 2 new roadways. This drawing shows the yard at the south end of the park where the crews store equipment and materials for the project. The pre-manufactured barrier of light black pvc and stakes is to keep the runoff from the work area flowing up hill into the park itself!!  I never knew liquid could run uphill- you learn something every day!
          I could not pass up the chance to record the black line extending across the view. You may notice a few things in the drawing such as the water trucks half hidden behind the tree on the right, the forks for loading and unloading trucks of supplies, etc.  The truck and lowboy waiting to haul some equipment, and dirt pile in the back laid in by scrapers for later use.  You can see as well the residential area in the distance to the west.
          Done with pencil and marker on a 5x8 inch Strathmore Sketch pad. I will have to post the companion drawing soon.

The loader

         

Here was something to do while sitting in the truck eating my lunch. Just had a few mintes but kept the practice going.  The practice of seeing something of visual interest and getting it on paper for better or worse! Teaches you real quickly what you are seeing and what you are not seeing as you should see it.

the Rockhold clock

          This clock sits in Gramma's living room. She purchased it maybe 40 years ago from Ed Rockhold of Baldwin City. In those early days when he was I think an elder at the Baldwin chapel and they met in the home of Dr. Ray Jones.  Gramma Ruth however was as always, in Springfield. Not till she married Dad did she move to OKC and then 20 years later to Lawrence. 15 years ago we often ran down to there place and would sometimes help Dad keep this clock running...
          One of our High School teachers would be very willing to remind me that the perspective on this sketch is a little off. Our friend Pam would know of whom I speak, as would some others. 
          Done in a small Strathmore pad with a couple markers with different points. 

There is a quickie on the thumbnails page with an automotive theme. 

Vinland barn & steeple

          "Grammie" went with me one afternoon to Vinland just to look around and do some more sketching.  It does not take long to check out the 2 blocks of town.  I did this barn however on the third trip. The barn sits between the 2 extant churches still in the town, hence the steeple poking up over the barn.  Love these old places...   I think this barn is mentioned in some of the history of Vinland you can find online.  I was sitting in a chair finishing one sketch when I turned and did this sketch of the barn. Some places are just like that, full of endless subjects.  I should go back again. Actually, I have been back again, and did a couple things from the west view; one a finished drawing with this church again in the background. It will have to get posted later... 
          Done in a small Strathmore Sketch pad with a Sharpie extra fine marker.

Overcast Alley

          Nice what you can do with just a partly worn out extra fine Sharpie. Done in a small Strathmore sketch pad. Not the best photography, as you can see the drawing that is behind it showing through here and there.
          This is one of the east Lawrence alleys that beg for a sketch to be done. Lots of stories could be told by these buildings; lots of secrets kept. Hundreds of kids over the years have chased through these places.  It had been a day of light rain before I stopped here to get a drawing done.  These few blocks next to downtown have seen endless construction the last few years; you may be able to make out the barrier at the end of the alley.  Not the only place I have ended up lately that has had a barrier providing me as I hope with a quiet place to park. Free parking and no traffic. But this time someone came in behind me eventually so I had to finish up quickly.

Bench and hoophouse

          There are certain times when the morning sun catches the poly on the hoop house and lights it up when the rest of the world still seems asleep in the shadows. The trellis over the bench is very dark against the only light in the neighborhood.  For some reason this day it seemed just right to catch a sketch of the scene.  (Actually usually the artist is the issue, not the scene in front of him) Done on 9x 12 paper with a couple markers. Morning and evening are good times to find unusual lighting situations. Nighttime is not bad either; nor is wind and weather of all sorts. It is just a question of how to get a drawing when the paper is blowing into the next county.

New setup

        Let me know what you think of the new layout; should be a lot easier to find older posts. You should be able to tweak it yourself from the options bar across the top. Hopefully it will work ok on your phone especially.  Thanks to Deana for this improvement...

From the tower

          There is a tower between the downtown fire station and the office area of the old Police and Fire station.  It was all built at the same time of the same 1950's era brick. The tower was used back then for training of recruits for the fire department. Now it is used for storage but only a little. Some of the windows give an unusual view of that part of downtown.  I have drawn this little residence-now office space- before, but at street level. It provides a lot of interest from any angle.  Done in a 5 by 9 inch Strathmore sketch pad that is 50 lb. acid free paper with a couple "Sharpies".