"BURL"

Done on 4/29/15.  It was 65 degrees according to my note, but because I was sitting in the shade, and it was a breezy day, by the time I finished this and one quick sketch I was actually shivering and glad to get into the truck that was warmed by the sun.  I have been seeing these rail road cars sitting on this siding and thinking it might make a good drawing .  Well, here it is.  I finished a few details up at home. Now this is getting written a month later on a day when the temp  is again about 65 deg. F , but does not seem nearly as summer like today as it did a month ago... go figure.  Maybe because of all the cloudy weather and the much needed rain.

36 Cord

          Did this little sketch at the auto show in Bartl Hall, Kansas City back in early March.  This seems to have become a yearly trip- instigated by our oldest grandkid.  We have a good time. We had the biggest group ever - 7 or 8 of us for part of the day.   This year I took along a small sketch pad, but this is about the only one of 4 or 5 sketches that is worth saving.  The car has a lot of character so it was not too hard getting a sketch with some character as well...
          Done with a 6B lead in a holder in a 9 x 12 inch pad.  The image on my laptop is about the same size as the original.

outbuilding & bales

             This painting, done from also from a road trip image that jumped from the landscape as we passed by to my drawing board at 70 mph or so.  At least that is pretty much as I remember it in my head.  This was not a winter scene and so what's the white doing there??  But this is transparent water color and half the magic of it are the places where the paint aint!
             9x14 image size.

Sorry about the Thumbnail page mess up on the last post.
You should be able to see it today.
And there is a detail of today's painting as well as the previous one
.

early sun

             Some of these w/c are done from sketches actually collected on road trips to see family.  And this is one.  The basic layout of the house with trees in the front came from such a sketch.  The slope of the hill and the distant tree line may as well.  The sky was inspired by a recent sky that I remembered.  The scene reminds me of that time of day when you can stretch your legs outside with a bit of peace & quiet.  
             If you click on the thumbnails tab you can see a closeup of this painting that may help show a little more detail.
         

Angled outbuilding

           

              Though this watercolor was not actually done outside, the sketch from which it came is one of about 4 or 5 of this place done while on one of my peddles around that section of forgotten country.  It may have a little more of the flavor of some of my early paintings than most of the w/c sketches I have done recently.  Some of my kids have been saying I should start posting paintings, and this is one of the first reasonable ones I have done since (sorta) retiring.
             The format is 9" x 12".

Ruth reading

                  So it may look a little young for a 93 year old lady.  This quick sketch, done with a half-dry sharpie- gets down only some of the posture as Gramma is waiting at the Sr. Center for lunch.  So I have taken to totting around a couple old markers just for such sketches as this.  They keep better than pencil, and they digitize a little easier too.

Overnighter

          Our neighbor has lived longer on this street than anyone, moving in when their house was built in the '60s.  She is now the matriarch of her family. (As well, as I accuse her, of being the law-and-order for the neighborhood.) Occasionally some outlying family may have overnight business in town in which case she would put them up for the night.  This black jeep would show up some evenings and so I eventually had the notion of doing this sketch.

North Lawrence revisited

           Someone is redoing this house, though I have not been by lately to see what it looks like now it looked as if it was going to still have pretty much the same look as it had for years.    This jpg was taken last September; the drawing says it was done June 28th of last year.   I have done a number of pieces with this property as the motif. Winter, summer, ink and pencil.  Some places always have potential.  This drawing was done with a Pentel .9mm 2B lead.

chipper chimenea

             Matthew acquired this large clay colored chimenea a few years ago.  I guess because it had the chunk missing and a friend did not want to move it. It always catches my interest. Something about its shape, texture and the shadows it creates. The contrast of the smooth black frame  and the earthen texture of the pottery are interesting.
             We sat around this thing one cool evening last month with family and friends watching the coals go down long after the sun was gone for the day.
             Another sketch done with the chissel point 4B pencil.

wintered in

         
            A winter sketch done from the safety of the kitchen window. It was the morning after an early February storm.  The wooden cart, tarped and buried under a few inches of snow sits in the path of the squirrels coming from the north garden area.  They would hop up out of the snow sometimes leaving a small bit of untouched powder, to land a few inches along their way, and repeat the process again. The neighbor's cat on the other hand just plowed through the snow...  The farther you get from this drawing, the better it looks.  Don't look too close!
           Done with a chisel point 4B pencil.

cart wheel

           This little study was the final one of about 6 or 8 in which I was defining the relationship between the 16 spokes of this old wheel. The spokes on each end of the hub form an octagon where they attach to the hub- that is there are 8 spokes on each end of the hub set at 45 deg. to each other; but the spokes on the inside of the hub are rotated 22.5 deg. to  the spokes on the outside of the hub. So 22.5 deg becomes the rotation between each spoke on the rim. Ole!  The next step is to get the angles right at the outside end of the spokes where they bend to a perpendicular position to the surface of the rim. This is a much simpler rim than say a bicycle rim which has many more overlapping spokes.
           Seems to me that the bit of distortion in the perspective of a drawing helps to give it some personality. It makes it obvious that it was not done from a photo, or at least less likely that it was done from a photo...  In earlier years I have done a lot of ink drawings from photos.  Now though I sometimes use one as reference taken on location when I do a sketch, I just cannot work from a photo as my primary source.  It is much more productive and expressive to work on location or from reference sketches, such as the one above.

Cart back

              A quickie in preparation for some further drawing. I have done a number of studies of this cart. This flat little thumbnail I like just because of the line quality and the juxtaposed composition. If it were more finished I am sure it would have destroyed some of the appeal (that I think it has).  tomorrow I should post the study of the 12" wheels under this homemade garden cart.  There are a few of these quick sketches to post in the next few days.
              This one was done with a Pentel pencil with .9mm 2B lead.

Table lillies

             Another exercise before the day was totally gone; but also as a quick demonstration for the grand kids as well as something with which to remember our trip to their place.  Trying to use the pencil like you would a brush. Very entertaining- at least for me if not the kids!
             Done with a chisel point 4 B pencil.

big ol' cedar

            This cedar is way older and healthier than most, because it has been in the back for many years. Pretty much since this house was built in the mid '60s.  Makes a good study. Done with a chisel point pencil, about a 4 B.

Alley east of Vermont Street

 

                  This block of houses along the east side of Tennessee street just south of "the train park" is full of interest and has provided me with some subject matter over the years.  From the back side- in the alley- is no exception, though more revealing.
                  Did this sketch on one of my kids birthdays.  As is often the case I was waiting for Gramma at the Sr. center.

Mary's Lake Monarch

          Here is the water color done from the sketches which I brought home on the 8th of October 2014.   Why is a lonely tree sticking up in the sky so captivating?  Maybe it comes from spending too much time up in trees when I was a kid.      
          This painting is of only the top half of this trunk. The knotty dark branch at the bottom is still after this long, covered with bark. From the wood I found laying around the other day, this seems to not be a hardwood. I really cannot tell...
          Have not seen any woodpeckers around this tree since winter.
Don't remember if I have any photos taken at this location. If so, I sure hope they are better color than this jpeg of the painting.  Actually, I just figured out how to "gimp" the jpeg to get rid of the pink color that was in the original photo. Though the colors still are no where near as lively as the painting they are improved.

Fallen Giant pencil

                This is the pencil sketch used for a watercolor of this tree.  There is also the ink sketch from a little different angle- further to the south that was posted yesterday.  They were both done the same day.  On the day I took the photo of this drawing (1/5/15) I was by there again. The temperature was about 10 degrees.  There were again 2 red bellied woodpeckers hanging out on the top of this stump about 30' in the air.  They nested there in the spring while the upper part of the tree was still intact. It has been an interesting tree to watch-  always something going on there.  It is harder to locate this tree while walking around the lake, with the top knocked out.  I will post the painting of this tree tomorrow.

Fallen Giant ink

          Here is the stump of  significant proportions at the edge of the creek running into Mary's lake. It lived a long, tall and productive life, and even though being bare and white for years now, still has produced a brood or 2 of red-bellied woodpeckers each year.  Late last summer in a storm the top half came to the ground, breaking at the point where the woodpeckers had been nesting in the spring.   The woodpeckers had been drilling there for a number of seasons I am sure. Not sure where they will go now, maybe just further down the 30 foot plus stump.   How the lower branch has survived so long- don't know, but it has a lot of character with 2 bare branches heading in opposite directions from a dark stump of a former limb.  
          Today I actually pushed my way to the base in the swamp to see if I could tell what kind of tree it was.  No such luck. Usually when a tree grows this tall and straight isn't it because it is surrounded by other trees forcing it straight up. That may have been the case here 40 years ago before the dam was raised and topped with the sidewalk that winds through the park.      
           This drawing was done totally with Sharpie markers on a small sketch pad as I stood on the trail last October.  There is also a pencil drawing done at the same time, and a watercolor that I did later, both of which I will try to post in the next 2 days.

Daylight savings time

           Done on the third of March- the first day of daylight savings time.  6 pm   It was not too chill or muddy and others were out riding their bicycles around the new right of way for 2 new roads.  It was the first Sunday I could ride this late in the evening.  Gotta go see what is going on.  These twin cranes idled for the weekend had been setting concrete beams for this 31st  bridge over the wetlands. No one much is working weekends other than an occasional dozer.  While I was standing there leaning against my bike I began hearing something coming from behind me to the west slowly crunching the dry dirt on the temporary road. But I was ignoring it as I was concentrating on the drawing. My first thought was that a pickup was coming past - some manager checking out the construction site, but as it turned out it was only another fellow on a bicycle who gave me a nod and kept on past the bridge.
           This drawing was finished up with pencil after doing most the drawing with an extra fine marker.

Eighth & Kentucky

                     Here is the most recent of the drawings inspired by 8th and Kentucky area of Lawrence. More simple than some, but  the roof line was an inspiration to me, so...     I  leaned against the fence just west of the fire station where I could sketch undisturbed for a few minutes. It looks like it was 25 degrees that day toward the end of Feb.   I don't remember it being that chilly, but it was a sunny day and I was sitting out of the wind.                                                      
                    Done in a 9" x 12" inch format with marker over pencil.

Twin pipes

              This drawing was done on the 21st day of March.  It was warm and sunny but I was in a hurry, so just sat in the truck at the scrap yard and did a fast pencil sketch of this 'un.   Added the black marker to it later.

from the parking tower

           
          This drawing was done on a 60 degree day- the 13th of March with an extra fine Sharpie.  No pencil at all.  You can stand on the top level of the parking garage north of the Library and see a lot of stuff like this to draw.  Here we are looking at the back of the historic- ta da... Eldridge Hotel. The parking garage has not been here long. The old way to get this view was to sneak up the old fire tower to the sw and look out a window.
          The morning light creates some nice shadows, and the flag tops it all off.  The goal is not photographic accuracy, or so I keep telling myself, but rather an appropriate interpretation of the view with a line drawing.

Fruit basket

             This drawing was done on the same piano bench as the January 9th post. I was interested here in the reflections of the fruit and tray in the dark black surface of the bench.                                                         Done in pencil over marker gives it a somewhat bold delineation maybe not too suited for the delicate lights of the subject, huh...

O'Connell snow

          February 17 apart from being my dad's birthday was this year a snowy day. Because we have had so little snow this year there has been almost no time to do any drawing in the snow. That's why I found myself sitting on the road into the Teen Challenge property with this view of the vintage stone house on the corner just south of me at the entrance to O'Connell Youth Ranch. This is not the first drawing I have done of this house, or the area, from all directions, but the dusting of snow made the scene more luminous than normal; and this view sitting there was for me a fresh one with more flow from side to side than earlier sketches.

          I had been sitting near a small culvert on the one lane entrance road for about 20 minutes when a “duelly” crew cab pulled into the gate with a 16' trailer in tow loaded a good 5' high with firewood. No problem, huh, I can just back up 100 yards to the yard and avoid getting stuck in the shallow ditch on the slick grass... But my truck would not start. I had left the lights on when earlier the snow and the overcast sky were making it a little dark to see. So I had to bum a jump from the fellow driving the duelly. He had a couple teens with him one of which helped me hook up the cables. The driver seemed a little frustrated, as he well might be; it was not early and they had a lot of wood to unload at the house. They may well have spent a good part of the day splitting and loading it. Turns out after the truck started I was actually able to drive around him w/o getting stuck. Then I was able to go one street north where there was a dead end east of the round-about so I could sit & finish the drawing enough to stop and head for home. Although after finishing this drawing I decided the view to the north would be better if done right then than later in the year, so I started another drawing before the flurries totally stopped.

          This drawing is done in a 9” x 12” format totally in pencil. This is one of my favorite recent drawings, and my favorite of the old place.

Hydrant

     

          Sort of an idyllic scene that I started while it was still snowing after finishing on the "O'Connell snow". Which maybe I can post tomorrow.  This time I left the truck running. Which tomorrow's comments should explain some.   Did not take long.  The only thing not idyllic about it would be the -a, you got it, the fire hydrant in the near corner...  I like finding these sort'a places. Makes the drawing a little more down to earth one would hope.              
          This is another drawing done totally in pencil.  Some I just cannot bring myself to put ink to.

south facing sheds

           Another drawing on the Ides of March  -3/15/15  6:30 pm 70 degrees, headed home after doing "east overgrown".  We are looking south here at the back of these south facing sheds.  We were looking south in a sense to see if this beautiful spring weather would hold at least till I got home the 2 miles on the bike I was pedaling, as there were some clouds building to the south, the sun was disappearing fast, and I was wearing short sleeves.  As I remember the next day was not so nice.

east overgrown

           

               "East overgrown" is a drawing needing to get done before the spring growth obscures the old house.  I have been thinking this would be a good subject since a couple years ago before I started taking the bike out this way.  It was done on the "Ides of March" as Shakespeare put it. A fitting day, the beginning of spring...The sky was clear, the wind calm at 6: 00 in the evening, and still 70 degrees. There is actually a large pit where there was a full basement under the carport at one time. Looks pretty dangerous now. I suppose there is a varmint  or two freeze dried in the bottom, but I have not ventured a look myself.
               Done with a couple extra fine Sharpies in a 9" x 14" sketch pad. I had forgotten to bring a pencil along, so the Sharpies had to do.

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.