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
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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.