Where am I? Where have I been? Where am I going?

I have been very lazy about getting new posts up - it has been, what, more than two months since my last post! I have no good excuse for this absence. But, I'm here and I'm going to be posting a bunch of stuff over the next couple of days.

I have been trying to keep up with most of my favorite EDM Blogs but there are getting to be so many that I like!!

I started a beginning drawing class at the Smithsonian and its been really fun. I have played with charcoal, soft pastels, watercolor and the usual pencil/graphite mediums. I have had to work on some really large paper – 18”x24” – that I haven’t done in a long time. That can be really scary trying to fill up a blank space that big. I still have about three more classes – the class meets once a week and that doesn’t seem like often enough. I think I might look into some local classes – the Smithsonian is about 45mi. away and the parking can be a real bear and the metro takes twice as long to get there ( I should consider that an opportunity to sketch in public – huh).

Anyway, this post is to say that I am still alive and promise to be more active in my Blog postings.

For now I will sign off and get busy with my scanner and see you all tomorrow.

Sigh. . . Time to Take Down the Decorations

It's that time again. Time to take down the Christmas decorations and put them away for another year. I sat having my coffee and realized that I had not skecthed any of the decorations for EDM # 46 so I grabbed my moleskine and my artpen and went to work.

After I finished taking all the decorations down and sat recovering from the effort I started to add in some color. I am pleased with the result because it brings back the beauty of our Christmas each time I look at it.

Quick Sketch . . .

Well, depending on the size of your gas tank you might have time to whip out the ol' moleskine and skecth the gas pump while it pumps away. I tried and got this far.



Would like to have put in a little more detail but didn't have time. Should do this more often and maybe draw someone pumping gas the next time.

Key West Daydreamin’

One of my favorite towns to live in is Key West, FL. I lived there for a few years in the late ‘70s. I lived in an old house on Duvall St. and used to sit in my hammock on my balcony and watch the tourists walk by. I decided to sketch one of the buildings I used to see on my daily bicycle rides around the town. I used a photograph from a book by a friend of mine - 'Portraits: Wooden Houses of Key West' by Sharon Wells & Lawson Little. Lawson taught me a great deal about photography in those days.

This building is sort of off the beaten path on what is called Solaris Hill – hills are a joke in KW because the highest point in KW is about 21’ above sea level – down near the shrimp boat docs. It is a bar, when it is open for business. It changes ownership almost as often as the weather changes.