Mundane Sketchiness

Just hangin' out doing a little careless drawing. 

My Fitbit has high expectations about my ability to consume water. As a result, I have a permanent sippy bottle by my side. Soon I'll need a diaper bag to handle all the stuff critical to my existence. Maybe I'll pick one with little elephants and giraffes and feature it in another careless sketch...don't get your hopes up though.

Need to start getting in the groove of fun...I'm starting Sketchbook Skool's "Playing" kourse on Friday. Weeeeee!

Thanks for stopping by!

Moleskine Exchange Started

I've started a Sketch exchange with Dad. My drawing of a dragonfly started us off. It stopped by a few summers ago, and very kindly hung out on a piece of bamboo that was propping up my summer tomatoes. It allowed me to take several photos...I'd had enough of shooting photos before it ever decided to fly away.

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Some Stuff From My Moleskine

Market Day

Saturday is the first of two very critical days in the calendar week—two days of decompression. The rest of the week contorts and, yes, compresses us into any shape it pleases. Those five days demand, and we must obey. Those five days suck away our individuality and spirit, and superimpose their own on us so we conform to the ideal and are "part of the team". But we take two days for ourselves (if we are a few of the truly fortunate ones), and define time by our own standards. We pursue our own goals in those 48 hours and gird ourselves for the next round of supplication.

I shared an office in the newborn days of my career with a man teetering on the brink of retirement. He would chain smoke cigarettes from the desk at the other end of the office, and every morning he would ask me, "What's it all about, Nan?"

"It's all about the money, Frank."

"You got it kid, and don't ever forget it."

And so would begin another day of torture for my lungs, but a day that would shape my future. Turns out, a lot of it is about the money. Let's be frank..pardon the...oh never mind. A lot of it really is about the money, but there's a layer over the top of that. A much thicker and richer layer filled with the chaos of friends, relatives, neighbors, and other assorted entertainment that is REALLY what drives us. It's the difference between working to live, and living to work.

The Harbor Market is one place where the chaos comes together to buy vegetables, and consider the possibility of soy soap and candles. These might not seem like the actions of the powerful magnates of the future, but really we all need our five servings of vegetables. So there they are contemplating the over-inflation of vegetable prices based on location, location, location. They find themselves doing the calculations of the time spent planting the seed, watering it, hand picking the pests off the organics, reaping the crop, and trucking it to the market, and wondering why it costs more than what you can buy at the local grocery. Well, genius, welcome to the world you've built with the other five days of your week—the world where money is the bottom line and none of it goes to the people doing production, but to the suits in the top floor offices. However, you can stand on this street every Saturday and consider a soy candle, so you shouldn't begrudge another man his living. Welcome to the world. Enjoy your visit.

In the meantime, consider the importance of your family, and their everyday needs. Now consider the possibility that you might some day need to grow the vegetables that go on the table. Could you do it? There you will find the true value of your life. If you come up a bit short, at least you can be comforted by the thought that they share the same concerns, and are taking your well-being into account. They are aren't they?

So Sandy (my new acquaintance from the market) looks at the drawing above, and tells me, "You're making it look so much better than it is."

In our conversation, she reveals that she's been a resident of Kenosha since the 60s, and when she looks at that condo in the background, all she can see is the slums of tomorrow. I told her that I'd move to the area for a better quality of life, and she asks, "Is this really a better quality of life?"

She answered her own question in the next 10 minutes or so as she assumed the role of teacher to student, and filled me in on all the great opportunities for entertainment and culture within the city limits.

As she left to finish her bike ride she told me, "I hope to see your art on display some time."

I chuckled at the thought, but said, "I hope so too." Thinking that it would be an opportunity to draw my family and friends close to me, enjoy their company and share a day of comfort and the enjoyment of a soy candle, a loaf of crusty, rye sourdough bread and fresh kohlrabi. These are the small pleasures of life that facilitate decompression—embrace them.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Dregs

Woefully behind on so many parts of my life at the moment, but ahead of the game on the parts that put bread on the table, so I can't complain/apologize/agonize too much.



I couldn't tell you exactly the day or hour I drew this gentleman, but I could tell you the morning light was warm coming in from the left side of the train. I could tell you there was something about him that reminded me very much of my maternal grandfather. I could tell you that he really wasn't as old as he ended up in the drawing—less is more, and my pencil got away from me, so he ended up looking older than he should.



Ah doodles...who doesn't love a good doodle session. On the train again, and you might not believe it but those two heavy black dots were a couple of puddles. It had rained that day, and the pavement was drying. The squiggly line is the border between the wet and dry pavement and there were these two puddles, you see. Speaking of seeing, the knot in a particular piece of wood ended up as an eye. Need I go on? It's a doodle. It's the stream of consciousness of the artist. I couldn't tell you when they were put on paper, but I remember each moment they were put there because of the poignancy of the moment.



An Illo Friday gone to neglect. It seemed like the idea at the time, but is a bit macabre upon review. Still true though, just because it's a bit dark doesn't make it any less true. You know that moment of anxiety, when you look yourself in the mirror and have to shock yourself into a different frame of mind with the cold dash. This is that, just the nth degree.

Anyhoo, this is kind of the dregs of what has been coming out of the pencil and pen lately (not that there is a lot more), but there is something coming. Don't get you hopes up, but it'll be a little different.

Thanks for stopping by!

The End of April Already!?!?!?

The quote: "An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible." —Unknown. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to claim this quote—such sound advice.

The desultory little sketch was done at the train station the morning of May 1st, and it was a second sketch. I missed the early train, and instead of staring into the distance with a blank expression on my face, I sketched. My train buddies started showing up when I'd just put pencil to paper on this masterpiece, so I stopped.


The quote: "We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race." —Cicero (106-43 BC).

An important obligation we have lost somewhere along the way, and the world is just too small to do without it.


The quote: "If you wish to know what a man is, place him in authority." —Yugoslav Proverb

The lamppost drawing was the first drawing on the morning of May 1st, and it reached completion because I missed the early train and had a long, lonely wait until the next train.


Speaking of long waits, here's the quote I teased you about a few posts ago: "Now your remaining days are few. Live them, then, as though on a mountain-top. Whether a man's lot be cast in this place or that matters nothing, provided that in all places he views the world as a city and himself its citizen. Give men the chance to see and know a true man, living by Nature's law. If they cannot brook the sight, let them do away with him. Better so than to live as they live." —Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Book X, Pros Heauton

Datebook 3-18 thru 25

Sorry, no quote for the 24th and 25th. I simply had other things to ponder. The weather was so beautiful that there were bike rides to complete. I also spent some time sitting in my garden having an "Artist's Date". The artist's date is a concept from the Walking in This World book, and I haven't held true to it every week.

The doorway is a sketch from memory. I was watching the movie Holiday, with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant—great movie and the third or fourth time I've seen it. Anyway, I caught a brief glimpse of the doorway of the house. I'm sure the details above the large globe are wrong, but I was having fun by the time I got to those details and just didn't want to stop.


The quote: "Eat a live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." —Author unknown

Gee, as much as I'd like to get the worst stuff out of the way first thing in the morning, I'm going to have to take a pass on this.

The background on this spread is the worst one in the book so far. The doodles helped a little since they cover some of it.


In the way of "less is more", I really like this spread. The sunset was one I saw from the train on the way home weeks ago, and I did it via reflection since I was sitting with my back to the west. The quote is the end of the one from the previous spread—it was rather long.


H.D. Thoreau's journal entry 17-Mar-1852:
"I catch myself philosophizing most abstractedly when first returning to consciousness in the night or in the morning. I make the truest observations and distinctions then, when the will is yet wholly asleep and the mind works like a machine without friction. I am conscious of having, in my sleep, transcended the limits of the individual and made observations and carried on conversations which in my waking hours I can neither recall nor appreciate. As if in sleep our individual fell into the infinite mind, and at that moment of awakening we found ourselves on the confines of the latter. On awakening we resume our enterprise, take up our bodies and become limited mind again. We meet and converse with those bodies which we have previously animated. There is a moment in the dawn, when the darkness of the night is dissipated and before the exhalations of the day commence to rise, when we see things more truly than at any other time. The light is more trustworthy, since our senses are purer and the atmosphere is less gross. By afternoon all objects are seen in mirage."

Datebook 3-8 Thru 17

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I'm just getting over a bug that was going around. These won't quite get you up to date, but within spitting distance at least.


The quote: "There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read." —G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

How true, how true. I'm not a person who memorizes quotes very easily. They strike a chord of accuracy in me—or echo my own thoughts—and I note them down, but they don't often stick. This one sticks.


H.D. Thoreau's journal entry for 14-Mar-1860: "No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples over the surface of the virgin water. It is affecting to see nature so tender, however old, and wearing none of the wrinkles of age. Ice dissolved is the next moment as perfect water as if it had been melted a million years. To see that which was lately so hard and immovable now so soft and impressible! What if our moods could dissolve thus completely? It is like a flush of life to a cheek that was dead."

A little note about how this journal is put together: The backgrounds are done in advance. In this particular case, Thoreau's entry and the background seemed to suit each other very well which is a result of coincidence instead of design.

I have a difficulty with one of the adjectives he used to describe the melted water—"impressible" doesn't seem accurate because it suggests that an impression will remain (which it certainly won't in water). Of course, "fluid" would be the logical substitute but also terribly obvious and less profound. I'll have to ponder it a bit more.


The quote: "In religion and politics, beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination." —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Gotta love a little Twainism. You must have your beliefs and convictions, but it's necessary to revisit their basis every now and then and reassess them in the light of new evidence. Just my 2¢ worth.


The quote: "If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." —Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

I think I would still be impressed because that meant his mastery came to him very naturally—an enviable talent.

Now for a bit of cycling analysis. I'm waaay behind on my mileage for the year, and I'm rather disappointed that Saturday, March 10th was the day of my first outdoor ride. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't ride outside in January and February. I'll have to work that much harder for the rest of the year.

On the upside, the trainer work I've been doing, combined with the walking to and from the train station (and elsewhere), seems to be keeping me a bit more fit than I usually am this time of year. When I went outside for that 21 mile ride, it wasn't as difficult as it normally is this time of year.

Sunday the 11th was all about cycling too. I spent some quality time on the trainer. The weather was nice enough to ride outside, but I didn't feel like putting on lots o' layers. It's good to have options.

Sunday evening the Versus channel (formerly known as OLN) had coverage of the prologue of the Paris-Nice race.


The quote: "Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an aquaintance, or a stranger." —Franklin P. Jones

The drawing: my slippers. The measurements: a framing project I was working on. The Floyd Fairness Fund Art Sale & Fundraiser: an event I thought of attending but didn't.

Datebook the End of February

First, the quote: "Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new lovliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it."
—Helen Hayes (1900-93)

The sketch on March 1st is a sketch of The Sketch of The Creation of Adam leading to the Sistine Chapel painting by none other than Michelangelo. From a trotting horse (as my mentor Sheldon would say) it doesn't look too bad. What an amazing testament to the master's ability that a sketch of his sketch can even begin to approach the actual form of man. It was as if his line was telling me, "this is the way man is assembled. I have studied the assembly of the creature, and you may rely on my accuracy."

I don't begin to claim it is anything but a shadow, but I'm very pleased with it nonetheless.



In the murk of the watercolor wash you might be able to see a sketch of my fellow train commuters. The quote:

"Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature,—if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you,—know that the morning and spring of your life are past. Thus you may feel your pulse." —H.D. Thoreau, journal entry 25-Feb-1959

I have to agree with this in sentiment. However, I'd stake my claim the human spirit lives for much more, so I'd not put my full convictions behind it. It is a hopeful sentiment though.




You got a teaser of the 24th and here's the final outcome. Didn't add much to it, but didn't have the time to do so—or the inspiration either (truth be told).

Sneak Preview of 2-24

This was a bit of a breakthrough sketch for me. It was a quick 5-minute thing (ok, maybe 10), but I saw the shapes and values very quickly and I was able to process them and put them on the paper faster than usual. It really flowed.

Datebook 2-16 thru 23

"The wisest men follow their own direction." —Euripides (484-406 B.C.)

EDM #18: The view from my office (at least part of it). It also inspired a Nanism: Seeing the sky in the city is very often a matter for reflection. I know, I apologize. I just couldn't resist.



"I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult." —Rita Rudner

Because why wouldn't I draw a poodle?



"They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad that I'm going to miss mine by just a few days." —Garrison Keillor

One of my Uncle Pete's stained glasses. This was an early trial piece of his. I have another hanging above the sink in my kitchen.



"When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves." —Confucius (551-479 B.C.)

"To find a fault is easy, to do better may be difficult." —Plutarch (46-120 A.D.)

I won't tell you who I was trying to sketch on the 16th, the results are terrible. I suppose we'll just have to scratch it up to practice.

Artist's Date

I finished off an artist's date project I'd started last weekend. I did the sketch last weekend and today I painted it and took a photo. I didn't use the photo for the watercolor, nor did I do the watercolor in that room.



Thanks for stopping by!

DB 2-14 and 15

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.
—Anne-Sophie Swetchine

Great minds think alike. My Aunt Peg and I both turned our hands to drawing a rose. Here's hers Dcpeg's Valentine's Rose.

I'm really rather pleased with the rose. Worthy, even, of a close up:

Datebook 2-4 thru 9

The 4th was a very difficult day—better luck next year, Bears. Things didn't get much better on the 5th because of the deep freeze. I awoke to frozen pipes and no cable! I'm happy to report the pipes thawed and the cable is back on.



The spread for the 6th and 7th stayed blank until Friday. I put the quote on the page, and just couldn't seem to live up the the drama of the color and quote. I really wasn't in such a bad mood on Friday, but the darkness doesn't go away in the light it just hides in the shadows.



Thursday's scribble is a rescheduled lunch date. Friday's art was done from memory. Had a lovely lunch at Lalo's, and the tile art was on the wall next to our booth. The colors were much more vivid on the tiles, and the original had beautiful detail too. Still, this little watercolor brings the original fresh to my mind when I see it.

Illo Friday "Sprout"

Colored pencil in my Moleskine datebook. Scroll down a bit and you can see the full spread. I did a quick electronic cleanup to isolate the little sprouts.

DB 1-23 and 24

I was sitting on my couch last night, watching a little TV, and pondering what to draw. I glanced up and saw a box from my collection. Not real pleased with the way it turned out. Looks like I need to practice drawing wood. Into every life a few clunkers must fall, and this spread seems clunky enough to me.

Bears Fever!!!

Watercolor Project

As a Christmas gift, I did a watercolor of my folk's cottage in Door County for them. I'm fairly pleased with the outcome, but of course, there are things I would tweak if I could. I took pictures, and scanned the piece as I went (with varying degrees of success). I experimented a bit in my sketchbook first, completeing each step as I thought I would in the final project to see if I liked the overall effect. I'll post it later (since I don't have that sketchbook with me today). Click on any of the pictures to see 'em bigger.

First, the final result (unframed and scanned) The scanning process increased the richness of all the colors, and I did some correction for that, but it could even be toned back a bit more:


The pencil sketch was very faint, but it's there (if you squint):


There was in intermediate step in which I penned in the cottage outline and some of it's details using a black Micron 005. I personally like the definition that the pen line gives to the piece. I was glad to have experimented in my sketchbook first, because it gave me an appreciation of how much pen could be too much and give the piece too much of a cartoony look.

In addition to my sketchbook rough, I also did a watercolor rough. I'd only ever used pan watercolors before, but had a set of tube watercolors I was itching to use. I tried them out on the rough, and although I liked the colors I got, I had a hard time adjusting to starting with a liquid instead of a solid. As a result, I reverted back to the pan watercolors for the final painting. The cottage ended a bit bluer that the blue grey it should be, and the chimney ended a bit redder than I would prefer. Paint goes on the page:


Here 'tis in its frame:


The cottage has been named Mole End as a nod to the Mole End of the Wind in the Willows series of children's books by Kenneth Grahame. I chose to incorporate my sign and mole into the "matte" instead of the painting itself because it certainly has a cartoony quality, and it's entirely my interpretation—which might be completely inaccurate since I never actually read the series. Personally, I think he's kinda cute (as far as any mole can be considered cute). Detail: