A couple of trucks

1975 Peterbilt Pacemaker - Click image for larger view

I have been following the work of a fellow sketcher in Germany who is the most extraordinary artist. He is a master of sketching vehicles and buildings, I really admire his work. His name is Florian Afflerbach and his Flickr page is here. I have been inspired to sketch some vehicles and work more in pencil and wash. From exploring his work I think I am looking at vehicles and buildings and just everything more closely, which of course is really what this is all about.

Careful Observation.

The truck in the sketch above was a rare find. It seems to be a 1975 Peterbilt Pacemaker long cab (thank you internet) He was parked in a lot in Wyoming, RI, engine running and a full load on his trailer. It is great to see this workhorse still in service. The owner must be very proud of his truck as it looks like it just came out of the showroom.

 The picture below of the postal truck was done in the same parking lot, just the day before. Using Wikipedia I found this:
"The mail van used by the USPS for local deliveries since the late-1980s is the Grumman LLV. LLV stands for Long Life Vehicle. This is a custom-made mail van manufactured by Grumman Corporation, whose US$1.1 billion contract with the USPS was for 99,150 vehicles in 1986.  The vehicle is built on a General Motors chassis, is 175 inches (440 cm) long, weighs 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg), can carry up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of mail, and is driven by a 2.5 litre General Motors four-cylinder engine. "

Postal Truck - Click image for larger view

More scribbles

The blue house again - Click image for larger view

Recently I seem to be struggling a bit more that  usual. I have been experiment with different techniques and papers and it occurs to me that my sketching must be distracted or something as I feel the quality of the sketch has fallen off. Don't think that I am fishing for complements here, as I assure you I am not.. this is simply an observation. The spring has been filled with damp and gloom and I hope that warm weather arrives soon..I am tired of sketching from inside my car with the heater running. . .

Sakonnet Point House - Click image for larger view

While I was sketching the house in the picture above, down on Sakonnet Point in Little Compton, it was raining hard and the light was very flat. This has been the typical environment I have been working in and I am longing for strong sunlight and my little comfy stool instead of the drivers seat in the car.

Watercolor sketches

The Gordon Green American Legion Post #27, Hope Valley - Click image for large view

I have been negligent in posting recently as I have been a bit under the weather with a cold (that is the best excuse I can come up with- I am really just a lazy lout) I have been sketching almost everyday but little of it is worth posting. The weather has finally broken a bit and has begun to get warmer. Spring is beginning to happen and the trees are getting their leaves, finally. A lady I work with told me about this place on Locustville Pond, and I had good sunlight this morning. I wish I had more time and larger paper, but this little sketch has the feel of the morning.

Barrett's Service Station, Hope Valley - Click image for larger view

I sketched this one the other day, another early morning sketch before work. I was pleased with the perspective of this one and may revisit. As you can see I have been experimenting with using just watercolor and leaving the pens behind. These are done lightly in pencil first and then painted..this is relatively new to me but I will continue to experiment.

RT 95 crossing over Switch Road, Richmond, RI - Click image for larger view

I find myself sketching the things that we tend to overlook from day to day. I love finding the 'unseen' views that we just pass by in our travels and try to make something of them. These are the scenes that stick in my head. . . .

Book Press

Home made sketchbook - Click image for larger view

I have been making sketchbooks recently. . .

Green Book - Click image for larger view

This one I made has hot pressed Arches 140 lb paper for it's pages and a great 'organic' looking clover handmade paper for the cover. This is a good size, 8.5 X 5 inches and has 28 pages all out of a single sheet of watercolor paper, some decorative paper and cardboard and of course white glue (PVA - Elmers) and a bit of thread. Some patience is required as well.
This one fits nicely in my back pocket.
Since I started making these I learned more and of course wanted more tools.  I looked at book presses and found that they are very expensive.. so I made one. I found the screw at Rockler for about $21, bought a few nuts and bolts ($12 or so) and had the wood on hand in the shop. Here is what I came up with.

Early stages - Click image for larger view

And the finished press… this should make the process easier and the books a better quality.

The finished press - Click image for larger view

Total working time - one hour and forty minutes - total cost about $35.00 - less the price for the wood which I had.  I would guess you could get the wood for about $25 - 30 - My top plate and the cross bar were made from poplar which I had from a sign project and the base made up from 3/4 inch birch ply - but you can make the whole thing from plywood and a half sheet birch ply would be more than enough to make this press. I have seen these presses on line for over $400 and an original cast iron press is MUCH more expensive.
ADDENDUM
I got a couple of questions of how I cut up a single sheet of watercolor paper to make a 28 page book.. so I drew this up to help with the explanation. Hope this helps out.

And I know that I am likely horrifying many bookbinders by having the grain run the wrong way on the one sheet but - hey, I live on the wild side. . .

Main Street

OK- It's Done. .. Click image for larger view

So I went back this morning and and sat again and added some more detail - maybe it's better and maybe not. In any event, I am declaring it done. Typically this is exactly how I come to ruin things, like maybe those giant wires. . . .

Main Street, Hope Valley - Click image for larger view

This sketch is a two day effort I began it on Wednesday morning laying out the spread and working out the composition of what to include an what to leave out. I was in my car sketching this one in the parking lot of the ball field across the street. I love the porches on these old houses and the similarity and the disparity in their design. I will likely go back tomorrow morning and add a bit more to the sketch as there are still some unfinished bits.

Below is the original sketch - it looks like a coloring book.

Original sketch

A tale of two sketches

The yellow house - Click for larger view

I sat in the parking lot of the Hope Valley Fire Station this morning and sketched this yellow house - a subject I have sketched before. The sun was just coming up and I was glad to have some shadows to play with but this sketch is lacking something. It has little perspective. I was way too uptight sketching it I think, something is off.
I was chatting at work and telling a co-worker about what I had sketched and did the quick little drawing below. I was shocked when I compared the two. This is a much better drawing…it has more volume, much more personality and just looks more inviting. . . go figure.

Drawn from memory - Click image for larger view

I need to loosen up. . . .

Providence skyline

Providence - Click image for larger view

A view from Weybosset Street near Empire looking toward the old Industrial National Bank building. Contrary to popular belief this is not the 'Superman building' - it is NOT the building in the opening of the old TV Superman series. The building that appears in the opening titles is the Los Angeles City Hall - although I am sure that Superman could leap this tall building as well.

It was nice to get out in the sunshine today and sketch... at this time of year the cold early morning sketching in the predawn hours is starting to make me itchy for better weather. I did this sketch after dropping off Benjamin at the Science Fair -- we are hoping for another Blue Ribbon this year.

The hillside

Hillside, Hope Valley - Click image for larger view

This morning I found a new place to park in an area I have been many times before. It amazes me that even familiar places can provide you with new views. This was sketched down by the Old Stone Dam in Hope Valley. A place I have sketched many times before and have shot many many times with my camera and yet this morning as I drove those familiar streets this scene presented itself. I admit I have taken a few liberties. as I have omitted a couple of trees and some shrubs but the essence of the scene is here. I was struck by the contrast of the snow on the ground against the backdrop of the forest and the structures have such good variety in texture and proportion. I need to work on sketching individual trees - the background scribble trees worked out OK, but the large birch next to the house on the left is a bit lame. I parked my car here at about 6:50 this morning and had this about 75-80 percent finished by 7:30 - the time I need to head to the office. I had some the forest sketched in and the rooftop on the house on the left needed more detail so I took a break at lunch and finished up the forest and touched up the house and some other details. I would guess that my total time spent on this was about an hour to an hour and ten minutes. This is a new sketchbook for me which has a much smoother paper than the watercolor paper I have been using, still experimenting with it. It is a standard Moleskin sketchbook and I used Micron and Pitt pens. I think I will head to the art store tomorrow and look for finer line pens as I think I could achieve a wider tonal range.  --  As a matter of fact, I liked this sketch well enough to make it my new header.

Thoughts on the ordinary

Rite Aid, Wyoming, RI - 10X8 inches - Click image for larger view

So it all comes down to this. . . once you get the sketching bug, you just can't help yourself. I have darned near sketched everything in Wyoming, RI that I can, (considering the cold and that I have been sketching from inside my car) so with a shortage of parking near 'scenic things' to sketch, and it being too damned cold to sit outside - this morning I enjoyed my coffee and did a sketch of the Rite Aid. I like the process of sketching because it really makes you look at the things around you. I have passed this store many many times and never really looked at it. Today I took the time (I really stopped here because it was convenient) to take a close look. It is surprising to me how many ordinary things/sights  we pass each day and we never really stop to look. It doesn't matter to me really where I stop and sketch because you can always see the beauty in ordinary things. . . .and if not 'beauty' maybe just a good study in values or a good composition but it seems like everything has it's place in the world if we really look.

Click image for larger view

Wouldn't you know my friend Eric saw me as he was getting his coffee at the donut place and snapped this picture of me 'hard at work'.

Slacker. . .

Ok, so honestly, I have been a slacker over the past few weeks. I have left my blogging audience wonder just what kind of jerk I am. . . Well it just got away from me. I could give a lot of excuses like the Olympics are on, or the weather has been bad or whatever, but the truth is I have just been lazy. Oh, I have been sketching and posting the sketches to flickr but have just been neglecting this blog. I will try to do better, well maybe. Here are a few from the past few weeks.

One from Tuesday at breakfast - Click image for larger view

The picture above generated a lot of comments on a Facebook group I belong to..some liked the sketch while others commented on the fact that Christopher and I have been going to breakfast every week for a long time..26 years… yikes!

Mystic Seaport - Click image for larger view

Had a great weekend in Mystic and Groton CT - took the grand kids and played..we needed that.

Wyoming Post Office - Click image for larger view

Sometimes when time is limited I doodle little things - like this truck sneaking around the corner at the Post Office

Bulldog - Click Image for larger view

And a design for a tattoo to hand out at a tradeshow - original sketch and finished it up on the computer  with Adobe Illustrator.
You can always find my sketches up on Flickr - the link is over on the right hand side of this page.