Colors, Colors, more Colors

Well, I have been playing with my new watercolors. My wife gave me a set of Dr. Ph Martin's liquid watercolors so I have been experimenting.
Here is a colorization of two of my previous posts. I colorized my books sketch and the one of our rockingchair.
While these were fun I can tell I really need a lot of practice. Hmmm...guess I had better get busy and draw more sketches.

Cracking the books EMC #27

Well, taking a break from work I decided to skecth the pile of books on my other desk.Pen and ink over a pencil reference. I haven't had much oportunity to sketch much the last couple of weeks. I guess I'll have to learn some fast skecting techniques to take advantage of the 2 or 3 minute oportunities that pop up from time to time.

EMC #30

Well, Danny said draw a chair. EMC challenge #30 is to draw a chair. So, I did. It started out as a BC but my dog (yeah, I know) got in the way so I peeked to finish it off. I used my fountain pen with black Noodlers ink. This one I will color. I have printed a couple of scanned sketches on watercolor paper to experiment with.

Stop and Shoot the Cadillacs

I just received my copy of Danny’s new book and, of course, immediately began reading it. As I read I recalled an experience from my youth that seemed quite relevant .

Years ago while I was a young lad in the Navy, I used to travel home to visit my parents from time to time. I would usually drive even though it was quite a distance – about 1400 miles across the southern states on interstate highways 10 and 40. I would head west from my duty station in whatever car I owned at the time and drive straight through to my parents’ home in Albuquerque. This trip usually took about 23 – 24 hours (I was young, what can I say?). I was quite interested in photography at the time and had picked up a copy of Zoom magazine before one particular trip. I was perusing this issue during my visit and came across an article with photos of the infamous Cadillacs, forged between 1949 and 1963, half buried in a pasture in Texas (check out Cadillac Ranch for the rest of the story). I showed the photos to my Dad and mentioned that I would like to see them one day. He chuckled and told me that I drive right past them every time I come out for a visit. It seems that they are in a pasture right beside I-40 just outside of Amarillo. I was, needless to say, astounded that I had not noticed them before. I kept a sharp eye out for them on my way back and drove a bit slower as well. Sure enough there they were – 10 Cadillacs buried nose down in a row in the pasture on the south side of I-40. Since there wasn’t a fence or a ditch between I-40 and the frontage road I pulled right off without waiting for the next exit. I took my own pictures of these icons and vowed to pay more attention to the world as I passed through. I do pretty well now and then but as often as not I find myself concentrating on the destination and not really noticing the passing scenery.

One of the photos I took of the Cadillacs of Cadillac Ranch.

Finally some challenges to post!

EMC #13

I found a few moments at my desk to make a sketch and spied my cell phone. So I sketched away. As I sketched I thought the phone looked lonely so I added my Ipod, Rotring Art Pen, an eraser, and the cap to my fountain pen. I added some watercolor crayon to the pen and ink sketch and background added in Paint Shop Pro.

EMC #44

As I relaxed in our family room I was inspired by one of our dogs, Gabby, lounging on her bed. Gabby is a black standard poodle and she is laying on a dark blue pillow-bed. I really wanted this to be a very loose sketch just to catch her relaxed pose.
EMC #1

A shoe! It's a shoe! Really it is!

Marginal Art

I have been neglectful of late and haven’t posted in quite a while. I have managed to get in some sketches and will try to get them posted soon.

It seems that life has a way of getting in the way – and before you realize what is happening it has taken control. I do a lot of traveling by car – can’t sketch then - and spend a lot of time in meetings or pounding away at the keyboard of my computer trying to meet some last minute requirement or fix some glitch – can’t sketch then either. I have managed to do some doodling during some of the meetings. My doodles started as a couple of scratches in the margins of my notes, and then became recognizable objects. Since this seems to be a potentially rich opportunity for drawing time I think I will try to take advantage of it every chance I get. Here is my first installment of ‘Marginal Art’ and I will periodically post new stuff.