Curb hardware... or bloomin' hostas

 These hostas were leftover from a makeover a Gramma's place.  They spent a winter in the compost pile, and then planted by the back door.  They did not take an extra year to bloom again as I half expected; was that because of the good compost? 

Nice to be able to stand up.   The big chunk of graphite laying on the easel was a gift from Deana who was cleaning out her closet.  The easel came from a neighbor around the block- "curb hardware"- believe it!  I actually have another lighter one from the same store as well. 

        I was keeping an eye out for an opportunity to use the graphite stick.   Had not done these plants when they were blooming, so I am glad I got this done.   Now (since Monday 8/31) I have a roll of heavy paper to use for these quick studies or for large project layouts: 8" diameter by some 62" tall that I can cut paper from one pc at a time.  It should last some years I suppose.  It is also from the same curb!

You can see that I did this on the easel standing by the hostas.
Here is the drawing; the easel; the hostas off to the side and the yard behind.











And a closeup.

Fairgrounds overcast

I had gone for a quick spin in the truck to see what could be found to sketch.  I rolled past the fairgrounds on Harper Street headed north then turned around above the inersection and headed back. Driving into the parking area on the very north end I could see that the scene I had originally hoped for - of a fellow tending a horse next to his rig - had changed.  Then when I saw this scene out my driver's side window I thought, "that's it!"  As I finished drawing a sketch the sprinkles that had been coming off and on started up again in earnest.  It was gray and overcast most the day on this Tuesday the 7th of July and by now at 5 pm it did not look like any hope of fair weather.  Seems like it was a 4-H group that was having a show in the arena, so there were 15 or so rigs around, most of them to the south in the gravel lot. There was a mother guiding a mount past my truck with what looked like her daughter sitting on the horse -they were getting wetter by the second as I drove away.  The grass and the trees added a good feel to the scene.          The watercolor painting was finished at home from the sketch done that afternoon on Strathmore 400 series 11" x 15" paper in a spiral bound pad.

4000 twice

Here is another of the pickup.  Again I just sat in the drive beating off the mosquitoes and did this drawing in the 90 degree heat.  Done in a smaller format of about 10" x 12" with the same 0.9mm B lead, with maybe some larger 2B. These drawings take a little more time than some simplier sketches - maybe about an hour originally sitting there. Then another 30 - 45 min. or so the next day.  Then some reviewing the drawing over the next couple days and tweaking it to improve some areas, and showing a little more depth and believability.

fiddled with the look

Had to change the design so the "follow me" gadget would show up. Some have been wondering why it was not available. Now it is. Let me know what you think. Here's a couple thumbnails I don't think you have seen before, maybe...

Haskell driving range

A quick trip by truck one rainy day to a spot I often pass on the Trek if the weather is a little more dry.  I faced toward the ball field over the top of the driving range toward the trees south of where the red tailed hawks nested this spring.  At the time the young 2 or 3 that survived could still be heard squawking for some attention in the trees as you passed- if it was not raining too much. Why should they hunt for food when complaining works just as well.  I have not seen or heard one of the offspring for a month or so now, so hopefully they are off on their own doing ok. This was a quick sketch, as I was not inclined that morning to fuss with it and also I was wanting to catch the mood and the tone of the scene before another downpour started.                                                               This was done on a Strathmore  140lb pad about 11" x 11" using only part of the paper. I could stand to do more of these quick studies.                            

phone time

 Yah, so I had some opportunities to sketch folk on their phones.  This is a very typical pose as you well know.  These are small thumbnails about 2" tall.

 Cross legged and index finger supported head.

This guy is working his thumb pretty hard.

 Quick sketches like this teach you a bit about how things really look.

South Park south

I figured there would be a place around South Park where I could sit and sketch something of interest. Ta da! Here it is. I actually returned to this place 3 times.  After about 90 minutes of drawing on the first afternoon, the threatening storm finally chased me off with some sprinkles.  Only a couple landed on the paper - and that was through the open car window on the way home. This place attracted my attention  for a number of reasons.  The porch, the roof line, the view down the side of the place, the car, the bike, and on and on... Yah, I know I am not 'sposta get sidetracked by all the details.  So where do I stop?  I had some time, a pencil, and a little white paper left in front of me. There musta been a little breeze too, as the mosquitoes were not pestering me.       Most of the first session was getting the  basic lines down, then I made a stop another day to check on some of the shading. The kid who owns the toad in the driveway walked by and commented how nice it was to find this place to live, and that, "you even got my car in it!"  Then a couple days later on the last stop to finish the drawing Stephanie came with me as I was able to pretty much complete it.
As you can see this was started on the 18th of August about 5 pm when the temp was 78 degrees. Done on Strathmore Sketch 60 lb paper with my trusty Pentel .9mm B lead.

O'Connell bridge

 I was trying to remember when this painting was done.  Sometime the last week or two of June, as it was before "South wetlands". So it was late in June.   I had been thinking that something like this would be interesting, and I had been by here a few days before this.  It was a nice hot day with little breeze and little cloud cover too.  This is less than two miles from home by bicycle and so late afternoon I was able to make it to the spot. I liked the relationship of all the elements together. The bridge, the truck and the cranes sitting on either side of the bridge with their booms aloft. The 2 warning signs on the ends of the vintage bridge framing the new construction....                                 This 11" x 15" was painted directly over a pencil sketch in a Strathmore 140lb watercolor pad.  That is a nice way for me to work.  Gives the spontaneity of a drawing while doing most of the color work in the studio.  Below is a detail of some of the equipment.

connections

This was one of the more interesting sketches to do while sitting at the terminal in Minneapolis.  We had just flown over Rebok's house as we came in. We had only a few minutes to kill. These 2 fellas were sitting where the pilot had been eating his burrito. They were having a lot more pleasant time than their expressions would indicate. They were probably 25 feet away from us but I could hear their accent well enough to guess they were eastern European.

An hour and a half later while waiting at the baggage claim in Kansas City I was standing next to them so I asked where they were from.  One was from Hungary, and the other from Lithuania. They asked me were to find some food and so I told them where the map was of the terminal.  They asked if we had been in Kansas long.  Only since 1970.  After that our bags came so I did not get to ask why they were here. I assumed they were students...

'95 B4

I have had a couple notions about pieces to do that involve my old truck.  This is the first full scale one I have done.  The weather has been almost perfect- better than any Kansas August that I can recall.  Days starting in the 50's & 60's and ending below the mid 80's -sometimes down in the lower 70's.  Wow.  I picked this truck up to replace a '94 that was nearly dragging on the street.  A tremendous upgrade considering it had both a/c and an automatic tranny.  Power steering and power windows were also an upgrade.  Anywho, it was very nice to sit out with the mosquitoes in the perfectly still weather and do some sketching without even leaving home...  If there were only a little breeze it would'a held the little buuggers at bay, but alas...  Even now as I write this sitting on the front porch, the DEET I put on earlier is not stopping the villains from attacking my elbows and hands. (Sorry about the rant!) The truck has served me well; and I needn't worry about someone driving off with my subject as sometimes happens. I just backed the pick up down the driveway to the street, cocked the wheels, and was ready to go.  Done in a mostly used up pad of Strathmore sketch 60 lb, 11" x 14" paper.  It always amazes me just how much I learn when drawing. I always see something I did not notice before. It is crazy what a minuscule little chunk of graphite can do to a piece of paper. (Just doused my arms again with "Off", and now the mosquitoes are attacking my ears!  But I refuse to go in!)
Here below is a detail of the center of the drawing.

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.