Still here!

My laptop hard drive crashed the last week of January, and I am just getting back to speed with a new one.  So, that's the reason for no new posts in the month of February!
I have been doing some sketching, though, and will get things posted as soon as everything dies down at work some (we've had lots of visitors observing classrooms and the school in general).
Thanks for checking back after my long absence...

Alan Streets

I saw a documentary on schizophrenic painter Alan Streets yesterday on Ovation TV.  What a wonderful outlet of his pent-up energy.  Check out his website:
Alan Streets

At First Tee

Some students and coaches waiting for golf instruction at The First Tee of Augusta.

One of my students (with AWESOME hair!)

When I saw her hair, I knew she had to be a subject of a sketch!

Classic cars from 1996

Here are a few drawings I did as a teenager (!) in 1996.  I now own the red Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce!

Grandma's elephant

A little out of focus, I know.  It is a small sketch of a plant stand that used to sit in my Grandma's living room. After she passed in 2000, my parents got it, and now it sits in their living room.  This is done in pen and watercolor, and it about 4x4".  I love how it turned out!

What do you think about the orange?

Dinner with my parents

My mom and dad cooked!  She got the recipe out of the USA magazine that comes with the paper, I think.  It is called Florentine Penne, and has 8 grams of fiber!  Yummy, but may have needed a butter sauce, or a real light tomato sauce.

Barn Drawings

Here are a few drawings (I thought they were sketches, but they hold too many details!) that got me started sketching and drawing again in earnest.  One day I was outside with my family enjoying a wonderful day in the backyard, and I thought to myself that I wanted to draw some old barns.  Long story short, I talked Ashley into buying me a cheap sketch pad from Kroger, and set to work.

This is the little "smokehouse" in my backyard.  It was once filled with junk, but a few afternoons and 2 truckloads took care of that!  Now we use it as a playhouse and it's where the dogs sleep.  #2 pencil on paper.

Here is the barn just behind my yard.  It is really derelict, but has a lot of nice features.  #2 pencil and 6B pencil on paper.

Another working barn on the Wrens Highway, just up from the John Deere combines.  Cotton fields!

I chose this one because of the sloped fascia.  It's on the Wrens Highway also.  More cotton fields!

I have yet to draw my barn.  It's just too hard!  I can't get the slope of the roof right...

Been away for too long!

I've been away for too long.  I have lots of sketches from this past week to share, but I need to upload them, so be patient!

To save on gas, I've been staying with my parents.  It cuts about 40 miles off my commute (one way).  Because of this, I have the ability to go to their house and sit around and sketch, rather than the "kinda busy" afternoon schedule I normally have at home (read: an hour-long commute, four children, 7 animals, baths, dinner, and bedtime that don't leave much time for sketching).

So, anyway, stay tuned to the lineup!

EDM #49 - Draw your refrigerator

I was sitting in my kitchen watching the twins (Colin and Will) eat a snack yesterday, looking at the EDM challenges list.  I love my fridge, and knew that it only held milk on the inside (they drink a lot of milk!).  I decided to draw the outside.

I LOVE MAGNETS!  The bottom is left bare because that is how high the twins' little mischievous fingers can reach.

Dinner treat

I don't know where Austin and Cason got the idea for these pigs-in-a-blanket, but they were disappointed the other night when Ashley's homemade hush puppies were NOT pigs-in-a-blanket.  So, Ashley went to the store last night and picked up the crescent rolls and lil' smokies.  I knew when she and I were patting out the dough that these would be great to sketch.

They were great to eat, too!  My second-favorite party food, behind cream puffs...

Harvest time!

The combines are finally sketched!  Farmers are using these in my surrounding counties to harvest the largest cotton crop in recent memory.  I have been stopped several times on the way home to move over for these big harvesters and the train of trucks, wagons, and bale-makers that follows them.  They really make everything look small in comparison.

Hilton Head Island bridge

This watercolor is from a photo I took on Pinckney Island.  We were heading to the island for a vacation.  Maybe I will just use this sketchbook for pictures from Hilton Head!
Pen and watercolor wash on cold press watercolor paper.  About 6x9".

Can you tell I'm ready for our annual beach vacation?

Sea Pines lighthouse

My wonderful wife (who has been trying to book our 2010 vacation since the end of our 2009 vacation), got us into Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina!
Here is a watercolor of the Harbour Town Lighthouse near where we'll be staying.

This was done in my other watercolor sketch pad, about 6x9".  I painted it from this photo I took in 2007.

I (we all) can't wait to visit here again!

Sketching "The Rock House"

During the winter break, I took my sons Austin and Cason over to Thomson so we could sketch an historic building called The Rock House.  Apparently, many people think it is haunted (cold spots, floating orbs, noises, etc.), but we didn't have any sightings!  Don't you think on a cold day or night, in a rock house with broken windows, there would be wild temperature variations?

First, the historical marker.  We also visited Historic Wrightsboro, and saw roads from the 1760s.  Pretty cool.

Next, the view of the house that I sketched, minus the well.

Austin (R) and Cason (L) inside the kitchen of the house.  They enjoyed running around and exploring after they finished their paintings.

My finished sketch.  Pen and watercolor in Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Let's see...I am about to drive by the two giant combines (harvesters) that I've been wanting to sketch for weeks. Maybe tomorrow morning?

Update: It has been too dark and I have not had enough time to sketch the combines.  I did manage to squeeze a color value sketch in last night in my small 3x5" sketchbook.  The paper buckled horribly, but it isn't made for water, so it is my fault.

I did this in the pitch black dark, with only my headlight high-beams for light.  I think they parked one combine under this shed with another harvester tractor.  I am not sure if the pair of combines are still out back.