Stuck something different up on the Thumbnails page. Take a look & let me know what you think.

Freeze Day October 2014

          We had put off bringing in the houseplants from around the yard after summer. In the rush before the first freeze we plopped 'em down on a board on the piano bench just to get them in.  Well, they ended up staying there a bunch longer than they should'a.  Hard for the lady of the house to play the old relic when the bench is not only occupied, but way to heavy to be scooting out of the way.  Sure made a good subject for a drawing though, sitting there with the piano in the background. There is a hymn book and a finished drawing sitting there on the piano as well.  Not the first drawing with this piano in it by any means.  There is a somewhere a sketch  with our youngest beating out some Chopin while he was still in High School.  The drawing is about 10" x 12" and done mostly with the Pentel pencil and 0.9 mm 2B lead.

back of the pizzaria

       

          Done with a couple sharpie pens, this place caught my interest sometime back. It was a rainy Saturday during football season when I got around to doing a drawing. Some  families passed me headed to the pizza joint before the KU game.  I was leaning against the corner of a building across the alley. The game did not turn out so good, but I am satisfied with the drawing...

Vinland Caravan

          

          Been pokin' around some of the small towns near hear. These are the sort of things you discover. Had to call Lloyd to help me id these 2 lined up together along the "road".  40's era Studebakers.  This basic style was used by them throuout most of the 2nd world war. Makes a nice subject for a study on a cold winter day.  I stood outside leaning on my truck until my fingers would move no more.  20 deg. F is about as cold as you want it, unless you have something to warm your hands a bit.  This is done with a couple Sharpies.    

Twin chairs

          Us old folk spend half our days in the Dr. office somewhere- and it is sooo fun- NOT!  But this day when Grammie came back to the waiting room, she had to wait on me for a minute so I could finish up this quickie. Lots of nice negative space, dark colors, and reflected light makes for a good subject in my book. By now if you have seen some other posts, you know I llike doing chairs.  Hey they are usually a ready subject, and they sit a lot quieter than the grandkids!

Out of the Bottoms

          

          So this is sorta what it is like on a rainy May day when the world is growing and no one is out and about.  The rain had slowed all but the necessary activities- like drawing in the rain. i had just left the creek bottom and was headed up the road but stopped at this corner for a few.   Cannot say I was over impressed with the results, but I like it better now. It would make a good watercolor...  Even though it is 2 days to Christmas, it is warm and rainy now, just not the new growth of spring, but maybe we can get inspired to go out and sketch!  

Mr. Hamilton's chair

          Nice if you have a few minutes in the evening when nothing is going on (ha ha!) to have some options to draw using negative space just for practice.   This particular chair came with us from Eudora, though it was bought in Lawrence at a garage sale on south Connecticut back in the '70s.  Never refinished, but it did get reupholstered by Linda Hamilton's father.  He did it as a thank you to Stephanie for her encouragement of Linda.  When they were leaving our house one day the old man threw it over his shoulder and they walked out the door with it.  It came back later from his shop in Leavenworth with this nice cushioned seat.

Oil cloth & Rocker

           A drawing of the full rocker was posted earlier, but this drawing was inspired by the recurring position of my hat when I come in from the wet weather in the colder times of the year.  A simple illustration of a simple moment.  MGH and I went by Vanderbuilts some years ago to see if I could find a hat like his.  This oilcloth hat was very similar, and as I recollect, on sale!  So I always think of Matthew when I put it on. The rocker came from the last day of my last full year at work. This was done with the flat Generals pencil on a day similar to what we are having now- rainy and cool.

Mary's Lake Elm

          Well although you cannot see a date on this photo, it was done last June. It is good to get some practice doing plants you see in the woods. I had taken an old bike 2 blocks over to the lake trail mid morning. I was hoping to find just what I did-  on the north side of the circle walk south of the Nature Center there was an elm sapling catching the sun just as I had seen it a few days before.  As I was standing there straddling the bike and sketching one of the girls from the center came by collecting leaf specimens for one of the classes she was teaching later that day.  The drawing was  a great learning experience for me.  I do not think an elm leaf made it to the class however.

View from the Bandstand

       

         This drawing was done during what was I guess one of the few warm spells in Georgia this summer on the 21st of August. A lot different then it is now in Colorado at 11 degrees and snowing.  It was about 5 PM when we arrived at the edge of the mountains and the town of Blue Ridge, GA. We had a little time to kill before the kids arrived for the weekend, so the ladies hit the shops along the double mainstreet, and I settled into the shade of the bandstand in the park for a few minutes of sketching.  It was warm, so the shade felt good.  No one else was around, so I had only to share the place with the wasps flying about.  Never did get stung, just bit by the sketchin' bug...

Evening Highlights

          It was evening and I was bored.  The chairs were reflected in the large mirror, with the light above my head reflecting off the arm rests in the mirror as well so I could see the lights and the darks very well.  A sketch was in order, and this is the result. Maybe a little more dark and somber that many, but a good subject for my recent most favorite tool- the half dried out "Sharpie".

Bagged

          

          This old tree sits on Connecticut on a lot between 2 houses.  Many such have been taken down long before now.  It looks like an old hedge tree, but it is far too large for that I suppose.  I have snapshots of this tree, but this is the first drawing, and it has needed doing for a long time.  Someone had cleaned up some leaves and bagged them, leaving a good pile still behind the tree waiting for more bags or more energy for the work.  The tree could tell lots of stories of past years, of past grandparents or parents or kids chased out to "clean up under that old tree".

Alley revisit

          I think there are other drawings, maybe even  a posted one that was done of this little spot. I had parked the truck near this alley, and was headed to the Farmer's market when I thought this might make a nice quick drawing. It is therefore a much more free sort of style, but I think it turned out. I did another at the same time of the market itself.  One of the few times I made it up there this last season. Too bad. Lots of good produce and good drawing as well.

Some still do sheets

     

 
       A simple pencil sketch that did not photograph very well as you can see...I think it will make a great water color, huh?

Windstrong flag

         

 
        It may look like it is caught in a stiff wind, but in reality it was hanging straight down in a slight breeze.  A flag moving in the wind gives you all kind of variety of drapery that you have to catch as you can. Lots of good practice doing quick sketches of a constantly changing subject.

14th & Mass

        8/6/14 was the date on the drawing.   12:30 in the afternoon.  90 degrees. Early August when the temp was heading to the upper 90's and I was looking for a subject I could draw while in the shade.  I had seen these shadows and highlights earlier in the week as I remember, so this is where I was headed on foot after parking a half block away. I was hoping it would look something like what I remembered.  It was actually bearable against the building in the little noonday shade it provided. You will recognize the title if you have been around Lawrence much.  Just north of the ol' Memorial High School, and east of a couple other places I have drawn in the last couple years.

Grandma's lamp

        

        This brass lamp came from OKC to Lawrence at Christmas time 2003 when Grandma & Grandpa came to the Rawhide house.  I think maybe it came from Colorado before that; or was it Springfield in the mid 1980's? Everything and everyone has a story to tell...      A nice subject for a quick sketch before we head home for the evening at the end of a busy day.

Grillin' in the Smokies

        The view along the side deck looking the direction of the road on up the mountain. This is the cabin we spent some time in at the end of August. This is the south side- the view of the valley is from the west deck. Well, actually I would say that the "south" deck was actually oriented a more like south west. Matthew is grilling the kabobs that were a great hit. Much more so than this drawing I suppose, which was done with a half worn out Sharpie on what is a linen like paper given to me by MGH's brother-in-law.

Blue Ridge Mountains

        

        Drawn a month ago on 8/22/14.  Tennessee and North Carolina can be seen from this deck. The Blue Ridge Mountains  of N. Georgia in the evening sun. We had a nice time for a couple nights here with the kids. It was a very relaxing sort of vacation, with lots of good vittles.  Thanks guys.  This is way north Georgia.

Bonanza Cottonwood

        If you do not have a pencil & paper in your hand, how much are you really learning about drawing; or about the subject in front of you?  Of course it is possible and even necessary  to make some observations that greatly improve your drawing even if you don't produce a drawing, but it seems a lot more productive when a drawing results.   Something this particular day inspired me to do this drawing- and it worked out.  That makes it fun. This was done with the Generals flat lead pencil. Our house is just across Bonanza Street from this large old tree.