South wetlands.

 The date was the 4th of July as the note on the side indicates.  I headed down the new Haskell Ave. just before it opened.  Took the old road back west that leads through the wetlands. Just as I was getting on the dirt road off Haskell I met a fella as old as I who had just come through the way I was considering going. He on his bicycle and I on mine. Never having been that way before, I was glad to get a little direction from him.  After a wander down through some beautiful country I had not been in before - mostly grass and dirt trails- I came upon the new road replacing Louisiana through the wetlands.  This is the painting that resulted from the sketch I did while sitting on the bike. While sketching I was watching as a small group of grown kids came out to the bridge from father south and were doing some fireworks.
   
Below is a detail of the painting.

clear harbor

          This is about the only drawing I did while actually in Three Hills.  The Super 8 motel actually sits where a farm sat 50 years ago. The motel is a happening place. There are always people in there. From bikers on a weekend explore, to Hutterites arranging rides around the country. It happened to be a long weekend and the motel was crawling with families and kids- some were going to the Dinosaur museum in Drumheller. That is some 25 miles to the south, in Alberta desert country.   This was early one morning.  I took a walk out around the parking lot, and this is what I found. Some truck driver found an overnight harbor for his rig, in the parking lot at the motel. There are no real harbors close, but I am sure there are reclamation projects to be done. Or maybe this was headed to the west coast, one Province away.  The pine trees in this part of Alberta have a different feel than the cedar trees of Kansas. The prairie is rolling and yellow green from the maturing canola, mixed with wheat and barley fields in a latitude where they get enough rain to need little if any irrigation.   I do not remember seeing barley fields since helping with harvest in south west Nebraska in the early 1960's.
          This vacuum tank sitting on this lowboy looks like it is made for sucking up polluted sea water.  What you do with it after that, I have no idea.  I made a note of one of the warning signs posted on the back that warns operators or maintenance people of one of the dangers working on this piece of equipment.  You can also see a sketchy reproduction of the logo that was on the door of the semi tractor with the waves below and the sea gull above.
          This is a lot of jabbering for a small sketch!

face time

Needless to say this sketch brought some chuckles from the folk sitting next to us.  Nice thing when someone is phone channeling-  they have no idea what is going on around them!  This guy plopped in a seat as the terminal was beginning to fill with passengers for 3 different flights.  He seemed unwilling to shift his pose, let alone walk about some.  So I could sketch on; and so I did.  I guess it is nice to have a ledge on which to rest your phone so the fingers are the only thing working. Well, hopefully the brain too!
One lady sat down to see what I was up to. She was returning home after helping her daughter with a new baby.  One kid who has been working in Tuscon for a year was headed to Calgary- arriving at 10:10 pm - and then renting a car for an 8 hour drive into Saskatchewan for a wedding. The drive included a little sleep at his folks house, plus a detour to pick up a friend.  We were glad we had a room reserved near the Calgary airport.
I was surprised at how simple it was to find places and people to sketch in an airport terminal. Cannot say I have ever tried it before. Usually at home it is a bit more disconcerting to find a place where I am comfortable sketching people - or where I think they are ok with someone sketching them.  One nice thing about the airport terminal is that there is such a variety of people, and most are "in their own world" paying little attention to anyone else.

Skychefs

       

            These common views of a plane nosed into the terminal with the crews buzzing around both sides and the boarding ramp snuggled up to the side turned out to be not as common as I thought. This view with the mountains behind was about my only chance for such a sketch.  There were no views like this on our 2 hour wait to board in Calgary.  We were jammed into a terminal half its normal size due to construction, and for some reason they also had the windows screened off about 6 or 7' up so no one could see out.  Though I had some time to sketch, there would be none of the planes prepping for their next flight.  So I had to settle for sketching fellow passengers, and at very close range. They sometimes give you dirty looks when they realize you are committing them to paper- especially when they see how uncomplimentary the sketches are.          
           As far as the subject of this drawing is concerned, it is interesting just how much can be jammed in around the plane.  The airline's goal is to make up for a late arrival by squeezing the cleanup and re stocking into as short a time as possible.  They have to unload all the checked bags and reload a whole new set as well.

heavy lunch

     
           We have spent the last week and a half recovering from a hectic end of July and beginning of August.  By the time of this sketch we were waiting for a connecting flight in Minneapolis when this pilot showed up with his dinner.  I would suppose him to be on a tight schedule perhaps.  You can see the wrap around his burrito or whatever with his jowls drooling in it. You can also see his black Captain's cap stuffed between the bars on his luggage.  No, I did not do him justice in the weight department.  I cannot ever remember seeing a pilot this chubby- not that I fly enough to know if there are some.  But I couldn't resist stretching the girth just a little. Seems like a perfect definition of the phrase, "feeding your face".                      
           I had taken along a 5" x 9" Strathmore 60 lb pad of 100 sheets which gave me ample space for sketching on the way north without being too cumbersome in the backpack.  This is actually one of the last full sketches I did before the trip ended.

"skiff a snow"

          It has been over two weeks since anything has been posted here; but I have an excuse or two: one week at Ozark Family Camp (as we have done for 36 years) and part of this week at a High School reunion 1500 miles from home.                                                                                                 Just in case you are dreaming of some cooler weather, maybe this drawing will help.  It was done from the living room window on a chilly February day about noon, if you can tell by the shadows. There had been just a "skiff" of snow as Gramma Ruth would say.  When the neighbors backed out they left these trails of dark crossing the shadows. It was one of those irresistible scenes that just gotta be put to paper. For some reason or other the simple pencil drawing reproduced pretty well...   Don't always have that good fortune.   5" x 9" format.

Stella

                Did this small drawing  for the neighbor as a gift to her daughter. It was a birthday gift; Stella was her baby. The date of her birthday is the same as mine, so I could remember when it needed to get done!  It was done from a photo, so there was not a great deal of resources to get creative with the drawing, but it turned out ok.  All pencil of course. 2B and 4B with 0.9 and larger leads. Finished size about 8" x 10".

Rare vagrant from Africa

          This sketch is of the corner of a planter beside our front walkway.  One of those done just to catch the shadows as they were. Drawings like this are good for training the hand to be quick before the mind forgets what it saw or the sun moves too far along its course.                                                            
The bird on the top came with Grammie's sister when she returned from Africa.  The miniature mail box came from a friend up the street who for some years made made stuff like this in his shop.  We have other stuff around here that came from him.  The square links of chain came from a load of "heavy shorts" purchased as scrap and used for counterweight in a Northwest crane.  The wood for the planter came from the deck of a quarry scale when it was replaced with steel.   Oh, you didn't want all that info?
         The drawing itself was done in one of the numerous sketch pads kicking around the place waiting for a change to get used again.

rain stacking

         
             Yes it is a rainy morning for sure, just like many this summer.  After rising early for a quick walk that ended up not so short, we waited around here for the storm to arrive.  The sky got pretty dark, and the storm finally arrived just when Grammie was leaving, so out came our biggest umbrella.   Just before the storm broke, I had retrieved these 2 small chairs from the porch and stacked them inside the door beside the piano to wait for the wind to die.  Looking for something to do before the weather cleared there sat these 2 posing for a picture so to speak.    Well I had been thinking for some time that they needed drawing.  As usual, I noticed the negative space that defines so well the relationship of the various parts in a visual sense.   You know, negative space is a vacuum that sucks my pencil to it!   In this case, draw the negative spaces around (and through) the chairs, and you just about have the chairs.   (Another lecture?? ple-e-e-e-e-s-s-e!- -- )      
             This drawing was done on a Plexiglas drawing board with 11" x 17" cheap photocopy paper clipped to it.

Near Clarksville

           The thing that caught my eye about this scene was the relationship between the two buildings, especially the roofs with the contrast in color and tone, with 2 contrasting fences leading off into the distance.  This sort of thing is what makes a good focal point of a painting.  I think the rear building is actually the new home built on the old place.
           It is easy to miss catching the focal point in a sketch by being distracted with other details.  They are all so interesting!  Yet if you let yourself be distracted by detail you will probably not get across the point of emphasis that originally caught your attention.
           This painting was done with (primarily) Windsor & Newton water colors on 11"x 15" Canson 140 lb paper.  It was done in the late winter from a sketch drawn late last summer on a trip to Middle Georgia.

           Once again you can see closeup details of this painting on the Thumbnails link.

floor lamp

       
Here is another simple sketch but not one done 35 years ago.  Yup, I am switching between paintings, finished drawings, and sketches with no apparent plan-  just what seems to be interesting enough to post.   If you have been in our living room you may recognize this relic.  Not sure where this lamp came from, but it has not been around here as long as we have.  Showed up sometime in the last 20 years maybe.    It took me a bit to get this light pencil to reproduce well enough to make it worth posting. The lines and the shadow created by the shade make for interesting sketching.  I was trying to catch the contrast between the negative space of the main shadow and the bright lines of the brass lamp as they cross the shadow.

Tin Topper

Here is a watercolor done last winter when the weather was restricting somewhat outdoor work.  The sketch was from my pile of thumbnails done on the road, but not sure where or when.  The lines of the  tin roof and the shadow working its way across them caught my eye.  Even with a quick pen and paper, I often do not catch very well the first impression that caught my eye. Is me memory really that short?  "Aye, aye matey."            The detail posted on the Thumbnails page may help you get a feel for the process, but don't look too close...

below Midland Junction

Here is another painting that was done from a sketch.  The sketch was done on the way home from the shop one day when I was hoping to add a little more creativity to the day.  It was the fall of the year, as the corn was brown and waiting for harvest.
This piece is about 12" x 15" done on Canson 90lb. paper.
You can check out a close-up detail on the Thumbnails page.

knob hill

This was a fairly fast watercolor done from a pencil sketch that was also a quickie.  The idea here was to turn a sketch on file into a complete painting. This is good practice for a fluid painting with a lot of wet on wet moving into adjacent areas of color, yet leaving enough white paper to maintain a bright and airy impression. The lines of movement are pretty strong and it is clear where the lighting is coming from.  These are the kinds of things you look for in a layout.  Easier to do when the composition is kept simple rather than when there is a lot of detail.  Let the accidents of the water and paint suggest some of the detail you were intending.       Done on 9" x 12 " Canson 140 lb paper.  You can see a detail closeup of the house if you switch to the Thumbnails page above.

sketch

Here is a sketch somebody may find interesting.  Done some 30 years ago, it was stuck in some old stuff I was sorting.  Gramma's present initials and our daughter's former initials are the same.  These, I suppose you can tell, are not -at 93- Gramma Ruth's legs!!       This 3" x 5"  pencil drawing was done on some cheap paper, and is showing its age, so the photography is not too good.

Fairground stone

A quick trip just looking for a spot to do some drawing brought me to the Douglas County fairgrounds.  The old barns always make a good drawing, but today I was focusing on this stone building; has to be the oldest on the property. Rumor is they are going to update the fairgrounds. You can about bet that this and some of the barns will have to go, so better get some more drawing done.      Done in a 9" x 12" pad with a extra fine Sharpie and some pencil shading.

24 Bottoms

           This painting was done from a quick sketch drawn one afternoon after leaving work...  No date on the painting,   but it was a sketch from late last year I'm guessing.  I like these linear river bottom landscapes.
           I took the advice of a  friend and added a copywirte notice to the image for downloading.  Hope it does not distract from your enjoyment of the painting.  If you are interested in using one of my images, zip me an email at jsharvey.harvey@sbcglobal.net.
          There is also a detail or two on the Thumbnails link.

Old records.

           

                This particular painting was done in the studio from a sketch executed on location.  You may remember the sketch from last year but when looking through old posts, I couldn't find it.  I finally did the painting, but am just now getting the photography to where the colors are acceptable enough to post.  The combination of the old crank phonograph with the recordings still inside, the handmade cloth, and the basket of collected reading material were significant enough to merit a painting.   If you want to see a  closer detail,  jump over to the Thumbnails page...

Car Pool

           Another sketch done downtown on a "Sr. Center day".  It was not raining for a change so I could walk the half block over to the "Train Park" as we call it. There are plenty of benches to sit on, though next to the "Municipool" they are not always available on a nice summer day. There are too many moms shuttling there kids to the pool, and waiting in the park for classes to finish.
           This sketch, done while sitting just a bit below the street level was the result.  The panoramic paintings of Lawrence done in the mid 1800's reveal that this entire park area was once a creek running through town to the river. Would be interesting to see a pic of the first bridge across this depression. Though it has been back filled along with basements of a house or 2 some of it is still pretty low and fills with water after a heavy rain. The city's drainage cannot hold the volume of the natural setup.
           Done in a 5x9 sketch pad on heavy paper with a extra fine marker and some pencil.

Waiting at the window

It had been 2 days since the kids had seen Mom & Dad.  Amos seemed to be able to sense the excitement as they were driving up. While the kids were headed out the front door, Amos was watching patiently at the window.   Found out later, he may have just been watching for a squirrel...   In this case, maybe not. It took Amos a bit to get used to having me around the house when Mom & Dad were gone, but he did not seem the least bit confused when suddenly there were 2 men in the house again.  Maybe we smell the same.
Be sure to check out the sketches on the Thumbnails page the last couple days.  Some of Amos; you might like the comments.
This sketch done with a Sharpie extra fine is in a 5" x 9" Canson pad of 98 lb stock.

Piano nap

        This drawing was one of a few done in middle Georgia this April.  Our youngest grandkid was taking a nap so I took the opportunity to do a sketch. The pillow was tossed on the bench for a little more interest in that part of the drawing.  The shoes in the corner, however, were in their usual resting place.
Piano is a big deal.  Everyone but me knows how to play it.  Even the 2 year old Anna wanted to help Grammie play it the morning we left for home. Grammie had sat down to entertain us while breakfast was getting on when Anna started pulling a kitchen stool to the livingroom. She had intentions of adding a little descant to Grammie's tune. And so she did!        
        This is small for a drawing of this detail: 9" x 12" on Strathmore Sketch I believe.
        The Thumbnails page has details of a couple recent posts, which may help you see the process of drawing and painting a little better.

frigid fuel

Thought it time to post a sketch or two of a less finished variety.  Did this simple fun sketch while sitting in the passenger seat of Grammie's car.  She was doing the driving for some reason; probably sos I could draw. So draw I did.  Once in awhile a quick sketch does turn out....    It was a cold day in February, which is pretty hard to remember in 90+ degree weather with sky high humidity!

Pike's mist

           3/13/15 is the day this watercolor was done.      
           6" x 14" on Canson 140 lb. paper.
Rumor has it that ol' Zebulon saw this peak at some distance, but chugged right on past it later as he was too close to the front range to see it over the foothills.  The story is something like that. So Pike missed the Peak, and it has been misting on the Peak now and then ever since.... This painting was from a sketch done way out east on US highway 24 headed into town from Limon. Turns out to be the perfect subject for a painting.  We have come home in the past with 20 or 30 jpgs of the Peak from different angles, different weather and different times of day.  They all are unique. Hopefully so is this painting...that is one small advantage of working from a sketch. The details become less important as you attempt to catch the inspiration of the original drawing.  Not to say that I did not refer to some of those gazillion images primarily for color reference and a couple impressions of detail.
           Speaking of detail- try checking out the Thumbnails page for a detail on this painting.

"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.