Anyone remember the FARBS?

I loved FARBS when I was a kid.

Only four were made in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  I had all four.  They were super creative "cars" made by Hot Wheels, that had people as the bodies of the vehicles.

You can learn more about them at Toy Car Collector here.

Now, though, I can only put my hands on one of my old FARBS, whose name was Hy Gear.

He seemed like the perfect subject for my next "heroic" drawing--taking something small and drawing it at much larger scale.

Since I recently gave oil pastels a try doing a sketch of a vintage Matchbox fire chief car, I thought I'd try them again with the FARB.

I set this up as a "portrait," focusing on the face of the character, and enough of the car aspects so that I could tell what it was.

I guess if you had never seen a FARB before, you might not realize this is a person/car...

What I like most about the sketch is the volume I was able to capture, particularly in the tire and the gearshift.

A Few More Santas

Because we are still within the twelve days of Christmas, I thought I'd post the last few Santa scribbles of the season.

These were all done with De Atramentis black document ink in a fountain pen (I think a Lamy fine nib), and Daniel Smith watercolors in  Fabriano sketchbook.

A Series of Santa Scribbles

One of my favorite things about the holiday season (any holiday season, really) is the opportunity to sketch decorations.  Preferably someone else's!

I have a friend, Jack, who fills great portions of his house with Santas.  And all of them are cool.

So one day, not long ago, I spent a pleasant part of a morning doing a series of scribbles of one of his Santas--a little round fat guy made of felt and other fabrics.

I also pulled out my dip pen and practiced with a Blue Pumpkin nib.  I love that nib and all it can do, but I sort of forget that the ink (Noodler's Bulletproof) needs a lot longer to dry than when it comes out of a fountain pen.

Thus, some smears....

The third scribble is just pen and ink, and done with my Pelikan M200 fountain pen.

I had fun spending a lot of time exploring and appreciating just one ornament for a good hour.  That's something I never do.  How about you?

'Tis the Season to Scribble a Favorite Toy or Two

For fun this holiday season, I thought I'd share a few sketches I did this fall during a drawing class I took.

My special assignment during this term was to "work big" again, transferring my scribbling style to larger paper.

Our first assignment was to do a "heroic drawing."  In the context of our class, that meant drawing something small much bigger than real life.

In my context, "heroic" usually means Batman.

So here is a sketch, done with pastel on 18 x 22 newsprint, of one of my favorite Batman toys.

I worked from both the item itself and from a photograph I took of the item, particularly to get the shadow and shine. 

It was terrific fun to make this little toy (maybe 3 inches in height?) so big.

It was terrifically messy to work with pastels. I love how they look, but whew!  What a mess!  Not so bad in the art studio, but at home I have to put down a drop cloth.  

This has me thinking that doing more sketches of some of my favorite things might be a delightful way to spend some scribbling time!  On one hand, it allows me to pay close, focused attention to one of the things that sits out on a shelf and rarely gets a good look.  And on the other, it allows me to consider the notion of "portrait" with something other than people or animals.  I like how my feelings about the object come through in a scribble like this.

Looking forward to more.

C is for Classes

The third entry in the alphabet scribbles project.

You can see that I'm allowing myself to play fast and loose with the letter's connection to the object I am actually sketching!

B is for Breakfast

The next in the series of alphabet scribbles... practicing intentional page design in a handmade watercolor sketchbook.

A is for Apple

A few months ago, I decided maybe I'd try doing an alphabet of sketches.

This interested me in particular because I have been (slowly but surely) learning about page design through Roz Stendahl's By Design online course.  Alphabet pages seemed like a good way to practice some principles.

I got a few pages done.  Then I lost interest.  Then I did a few more.  Then I lost interest.

So, I think I'll post a few here for the next few weeks and just promise myself that this project will be continued sometime in 2017.

In particular, I am using a handmade sketchbook, about nine inches square.  So my scanner doesn't capture the whole page as well as it might.

What I like most about this is the shadowing in the watercolor on the shape.  I regret that I inked a shadow in before I decided to apply watercolor, but oh well. 

Relax with a Fountain Pen

This is a quick portrait of a new Hero bent nib pen.

Drawn with the same pen--I just kept moving it back and forth to look at, then draw.

In retrospect it would have been easier to take a picture and work from that.

I do find it fun to sketch my sketching tools.

Meal Time Rituals for the Household

I have two cats and two dogs and frankly, they'd all steal each other's food if they had have a chance.

So it's a complex ritual--a dance--to feed everyone all at once and make sure they eat what and how much they are supposed to.

This ritual involves me sitting around and watching them all.  Every morning and every evening.

Only this morning did it occur to me to sketch it.

Still thinking about what I'm learning in my Design class, I scribbled these contours and quick thoughts.

It's actually a pretty funny scene.

And I'm pleased with the sketches, because I caught the differences in postures between the two dogs--which isn't always easy when they are the same color and the same breed.

I'll be glad to have this record.

What else goes on in life every single day that I can record like this?

Given how crazy the world can be, maybe this is where the treasure lies?

Dutchie Nap

Both of my Dutch Shepherds are hard core nap-takers.

This is a quick scribble of Nik.

I started with the contour, then added the text, fully intending to add more detail and some more journaling.

But then I looked at it and thought, stop.

A nap needs some quiet space around it.

The Design class I am working in with Roz Stendahl is helping me see white space and margins much more clearly.

Thanksgiving: Columns and Nora Jones

This page started with a quick scribble of my dog, Nora Jones.  She is a Dutch Shepherd.

Lately, I've been trying to be more conscious about my page design, but I had this scribble of the dog down on the page without any forethought (which is my usual M.O.).

Then I decided to see if I could make the page look a bit more intentional.

I played with columns, creating a vertical line in a place where the dog would break the plane.  I thought perhaps this would push her image forward from the words.

I put a little headline of her name, making up the font with serifs.

I added the main journaling piece.  But then it felt unbalanced with a big blank area in the upper right.  So I added the cartoon call-out.

I certainly learned a lot messing with this combination of sketch, texts, columns, and call-outs.

Plus, it was nice to mark the eighteen-month anniversary of our rescuing "The Jones,"  the enormous healing progress she has made, and the quirky goodness she has brought into our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Miraculous View of a Brush in a Jar of Water

I have never tried to draw an object in a jar of water before.

Which means I've never really looked at one before.

Wow.

Still thinking about page design in this double page spread.

Still using my new bent nib Hero pen and DeAtramentis brown document ink.

Sometimes, the Back of a Head

In fall of 2016, I enrolled in a new course being taught by the fantastic Roz Stendahl on design.  You can learn more about it and all of Roz's classes here.

What I wanted to take from the class, at least initially, was a way to make my scribbly journal pages look neater, but without having to neaten up my scribbling.

I don't know if that makes sense.  I still want my fast, capture-the-moment, scribbly sketches, but I wanted the pages themselves to be more pleasing to look at.

First major lesson for me:  MARGINS!!   Keeping some white space around the page (except in the case of intentional bleeds) makes things look a lot more tidy.

This, by the way, is easier said than done.

Here is the first sketch I did trying to keep margins and white space in mind.

I drew this particular angle on my mother because I was sitting inside at the table, trying to figure out what I wanted to sketch, and she was sitting outside on the front porch.  I could see her through the window.   I was taken with the notion of trying to capture a portrait of someone just using the back of their head, and their posture.

I will say, this looks exactly like my mom!

This is also the first scribble I did with a new bent nib Hero pen, loaded with DeAtramentis document brown ink.

My hope is to do a bunch of scribbles with this pen and get to know it, even as I am learning more about page design.

Sketching to Test New Paints

I nabbed three colors of VanGogh watercolors paints from the clearance bin at a local art store the other day.   I wanted to test them out, but I didn't feel like doing swatches.

So, I decided to sketch what was on the table in front of me--with no worries about realistic color.

I used only my three new colors--Van Gogh permanent red violet, permanent blue violet, and permanent orange--along with my trusty Daniel Smith indanthrone blue (which I consider a magic color because it makes anything look good).

Here are my experiments.

This was a lot more fun that the usual color swatching, which is, of course useful, and I'll probably do those eventually.

But the scribbles of random objects took very little time, got my daily observations in, helped me learn about the values and behaviors of the new paints, and was fun.

Livestreaming Soccer

This fall I took a self-paced class in page design from the wonderful teacher Roz Stendahl.  You should all take classes from her.  Seriously.

Anyhow, as part of my sketchbook keeping, I'm going to try to be more intentional about the composition of my pages.

So here is a quick sketch I did one evening when I watched a livestream of my nephew's soccer game on the computer.  It shows my screen porch, the woods behind, and the libation I enjoyed while watching.

I used a new pen I've just gotten.  A Hero bent nib calligraphy pen, with DeAtramentis document brown ink.  I'll do more work with both of them to get more familiar with how they work.

I enjoyed capturing the late summer moment.  I enjoyed intentionally playing a bit more with the spacing of the image and the text on the page.

On thing that Rox taught us is that simply paying attention to margins, especially gutter margins, can help a page look more attractive and intentionally designed.  So that's where I've started.  Margins.

One baby step at a time!

Developing Drawings from Soccer Sketches

Having scribbled a bunch of pencil drawings during a fast-moving live soccer game, I sat down with ink and watercolor and developed some more careful drawings from those sketches.

You can see here that first, I drew one based on a stick figure.  Then I drew the exact same figure again, trying to flesh it out to be more realistic looking.

Then I decided to work from a photo of my nephew, but keep in mind what I had learned doing the fast scribbles.

On this page you can see I drew and redrew the image four times.

In the center left is the blind contour which I drew first.  I love the wonkiness of blind contours!  And I am amazed that you can actually see what the heck it is!

Second I drew the image directly below it, a faceless contour, working out the shapes a bit more accurately.

Third I drew the image on the lower right, adding a bit of face and uniform detail.  As the notes on the page say, I was working out how the twist worked in terms of the proportion of the limbs and the movement of the clothes.  All very hard for me! But so much fun.

Then finally I completed the big sketch.

I am pleased with the composition of this page--I like seeing the growth of the image through the version.  And the notes add a nice sense of "study" to it.

And though it really doesn't look anything like my nephew, it reminds me of watching him play.

Scribbling at Soccer Games

I'm lucky enough to be able to attend college soccer games and watch my nephew play on the team.

This year, I decided to take a sketchbook and a fat, soft pencil, and force myself to spend at least one half of the games trying to quick sketch people in motion.

FAST motion!

My goal was to practice seeing how bodies moved, how clothes moved on those bodies as they twisted and turn and ran and stopped, and to practice proportions.   I also hoped to strengthen my visual memory.

Here are some of the results.

As you can see, I wrote notes to myself, noting what confused me, what I was trying to indicate.  You can see me testing, trying, scribbling and scribbling right over top, just capturing the general shapes and trying to convey some sense of movement.

I wasn't sure how I'd like the practice--if it would decrease my enjoyment of the games.  But it made the games way more fun.  I paid better, closer attention to the players.  I learned names and numbers more quickly than I usually do in a season.  And I grew in my appreciation for how amazing these athletes are!

Have you tried scribbling fast motion sketches?  Why not give it a whirl next time you are at a child's game?  Or watching sports on TV?

Jubilant Forest

 I haven't done a "find the picture in the blob" scribble in a long time.

I had some leftover watercolor on my palette and I wanted to clean the palette.  But I just can't bear to throw watercolors away, no matter how little.  So I randomly slapped some on a page, blew it around with a straw, let the colors mix and mingle to see what sort of range would appear.

Then I looked at the dried blob and entered with an ink pen, trying to see what shapes presented themselves.

I found a lovely entrance to a jubilant forest.

Perhaps the most fun thing about this, to me, is that I only used three colors of paint.  Yet they mixed and mingled to form many shades of purple and green and orange.

Also, I can tell that my work earlier in the summer with the dirt roads in the forests of northern Michigan influenced what I found in this blob.

If you are interested in blob art--finding scenes and creatures and other fun stuff in blob, sidewalk cracks, and the like--there is no one better that Carla Sonheim at showing you how to do it.  I encourage you to check out her website, books, and fun online courses!

Scribbling a Buffalo Skull

A few years ago I bought my brother-in-law a buffalo skull for his new cabin.

Yeah, in my family that's a legit cool gift.

Anyhow, I borrowed it recently for a few weeks to draw it.  Bones are really hard, I find, and great to learn on because the white surface helps me see shadows really well.

Which doesn't mean I can render them really well... but I have great fun trying.  And I learn a lot.

Below are three versions of the same view of the skull.

First, ink contour lines and watercolor for the shadows.  I allowed myself to play some with color.

As often happens to me, I didn't get the scale of the object correct on the page, and ran its nose right off.  Still, I liked a lot about this drawing, particularly the teeth and the angles of the horns.

Second, I explored the shapes again, but this time with a fat brush and fun colors.

And, dang if I didn't run that nose right off the page again.  VERY frustrating to me.  I really have to map things out in advance on the page more, or something.  

I suppose if I started with a pencil drawing and fiddled with that until I got the scale right, and then went in with ink or paint, I'd be better off.  But I like the "no erase" scribbling approach to my sketchbook.  So, I just have to remember that scale failure is something I need to work on.

Or maybe I should embrace it as "my style!"

Third, I started on the left, with the nose and tried to fit it on one page, but again, no go.  This time, at least, I could cross the gutter and finish on the right page.

I really enjoyed the colors I used with this one.

The skull is complicated and unfamiliar.  For me it is hard to draw so that a viewer can tell the inside of the skull from the outside.  All those cracks and crevices--what to leave in and what to leave out?

Doing several scribbles in a row like this helps me get to know a shape.  Each piece makes the object a little bit more clear in my brain.

Quick Sketch of Grace Episcopal Church, Holland Michigan

I ran by my church one day last summer to drop something off.  And because I always have a sketchbook with me, I stood in the sunny, warm parking lot and drew the north end of the church.

This took about five minutes and is a wonderful thing to look at again now, in rainy October, and remember summer.

Watercolor Scribble of the Rose Window, Dimnent Chapel, Hope College

At Hope College in Holland, Michigan, there stands a chapel with a lovely rose window.

I attended Hope in the 1980s and had the wonderful experience of singing in the Chapel Choir for several years.

In those days, we rehearsed in the Chapel, standing on the stage at the front.  And for hours every week, for months and years, I sang to that rose window.

So recently, just messing around with watercolors, I did a little scribble to capture part of it.

No pre-drawing here, no real attempt at angles or accuracy or anything.   Didn't even pause to let the paint dry in between colors.

Just quick, energetic capturing.

It brought up a lot of memories, which was fun.

And it has me inspired to maybe try a more considered work with this subject in the future.

What images from your past might inspire new artwork for you?

When What I Thought Was Going to Happen Didn't, and It Turned Out Better

One reason I keep a sketchbook with me all the time:  you just never know.

You never know when you're going to want to capture something in front of you.

You never know when you're going to have a long, unexpected wait, and sketching occupies the mind in positive and creative ways.

You never know when one silly drawing is going to wind up being one of your favorites.

This sketch is one that I just love.

As you can see, it's just a few lines.  My dog, Nik, was napping and I thought I'd be able to do a slow set of drawings, because, hey, he's napping, right?  Not likely to move.

So I started with a warm-up semi-blind contour drawing.

And then he moved.  Not only moved, but left the room.

I was bummed, my scribbling plans awry.  And a very unfinished squiggle of not much taking up a whole page.

But the next day, I realized I really like this contour.  It captures his profile, and there's a simplicity to it that I just really like.

So, you never know what's going to lead to a fun and meaningful drawing experience.

Which is why I keep scribbling.

Because the World Needs More Tim...

Working from a photography, I dashed out this 6 x 6 watercolor portrait of my cat, Tim.

Around the house we always say, "The world needs more Tim."  Because Tim, he knows how to live.  Everything is pretty good for him, and he is at home and relaxed no matter what is going on around him.  Friends come over, Tim lies in the middle of the crowd rolling belly up.  New puppies visit the house?  Tim waggles his tail at them and invites a game.  Dogs lie down on his kitty blanket?  No worries--Tim just curls up next to the dogs.

Really, everything is just good for Tim.  He is a cat of great acceptance and gratitude.

The world needs more Tim.

So, here's my contribution toward that, today.

Working with a Plaster Venus Part Two

In my summer painting class, I did more work with the plaster Venus.  My goal was to work fast and scribbly, capturing shadow shapes.

I also played with different media, just for fun (and because my teacher said I could!).

So, first, I used some scrap kraft paper and a bright red pastel chalk.   The black line you see is something someone had started and abandoned.    I did this portrait and thought it was done.

However, my teacher suggested it would be stronger with white highlights on the face.  So I started using a piece of white chalk over the eyebrow and across the cheekbone.

He wanted me to try smudging titanium white acrylic paint on it, though, just to see what the effect would be.  So I did, because, hey, that's what scribbling is all about!  Give something a try!

You'll see below the difference in value in the white paint on mid-forehead, nose, lip and chin versus the white chalk above and below the eye.

I'm glad he pushed me to try both and learn the differences.

Next, I switched to a more fuschia chalk and tried a similar drawing on a different paper--a white Strathmore 400 drawing pad.

Super interesting to work on the mid-value kraft and then a pretty white paper.  Also interesting to see how the different textures of the paper made the chalk look so different.

I did another quick scribble on the drawing paper.  This time I used two chalks, one much darker, so that the fuschia became the middle value.

(These are 18 x 24, by the way, and completed in under five minutes each. I really was just experimenting with papers, media, contour and value.)  

After that, I decided to return to my favorite scribbling tools:  fountain pen, waterproof ink, and watercolor.  I think this is Daniel Smith sepia, which is a great paint for monochrome work because it mixes to so many different values.  This is on a piece of rough watercolor paper, about 4 x 6 in size.  

I worked more slowly on this piece--I think it took me as much time to think through and execute than all of the above combined.

Then, for fun, a final piece of work with the plaster cast.  This time, using only a brush and watercolor paint, I did the figure at a different scale.  I thought a bit about design (using columns and the rule of thirds, considering background color blocks and playing with freehand lettering).  For this, I really was just having fun.

What fun to tackle the same subject with so many different scribbling tools!  I had the luxury of a class and could do this work pretty much in one sitting.  That takes some stamina, but it also builds momentum and really allows me to compare and contrast my experience with the different art supplies. 

Still, doing a series like this over time would be interesting as well.

Working with a Plaster Venus Part One

One day I walked into painting class and the teacher had put two nearly life-sized plaster models in the center of the room, under spotlights.  Venus and Mercury.

I've done a little life drawing in the past.  But all white plaster models of people are so much easier!  The shadows stand out more clearly and allow you to practice seeing and scribbling form.

The two scribbles below were done quickly, with different water soluble media.  I focused on contours, knowing I would fill in with water on a brush in a second pass.

First, a NeoColor II crayon:

Then I went back in with a damp brush and played with shading and values of the background.

Next, keeping to the same angle, I tightened the scale of the sketch and used a tailor's chalk.  

This time, I went in with a damp brush and diluted the markings to play with shadow shapes and values inside the figure.

This experience got me to thinking about buying a small, white plaster model for work at home.  They do make them, but they are kind of expensive.   So I'm going to think about it some more.

Getting a Little Serious About Painting a Portrait of Nikolaas

During my watercolor class in the summer of 2016, my teacher encouraged me to "work big."

He had seen my scribbling work in multiple sketchbooks and thought that, if nothing else, working in a larger format would inspire me to approach my art differently and learn some things.

He was right, as most teachers usually are, especially when they ask you to try something new!

Anyhow, one of the things this inspired in me was thinking, for the first time, about whether or not I might create a piece of visual art that I would hang on a wall.

Of course, that immediately caused me to panic about "wrecking" the painting or "wasting paper and paint" if I screw up.  So I told myself, no worries!  Just do a sketch on big paper and see what happens.

I've posted some of those results in earlier posts.

For this project, I approached much the same way, but with a slightly different intention:  I wanted to see if I could capture light and shadow in a watercolor sketch of my dog, Nikolaas, lying in the sun outside the house.  No worries about how it turned out.  It was an assignment for class and nothing more.

So I began by stretching the watercolor paper on a board.  But then I penciled in different margins for the painting, leaving white all around.

Using a photo reference, and some very scribbly pen sketches I had done from my hammock while watching Nik in the sun, I penciled in the basics of the scene.

Then I painted in the background, reserving the white for the dog.  I wanted to tackle those two things separately because I knew I wanted a wet in wet background, and I didn't want it bleeding into the dog's form.

Here is a photo of the work in progress at that stage:

After this was completely dry, I tackled the figure of the dog:

I let this dry and took it into my class, wondering if I should punch up some darks, or add different textures into the foreground.  But my teacher said, "Do NOT touch it!"

So I didn't.

Other than to take it home, frame it, and put it up above the mantel in my house.

The very first piece of visual art which I have created and hung!

Would I call this painting scribbling?  No.  I was intentional and careful and really working to create something specific.  I had a higher bar for the result than I ever do for my daily scribbling practice.

But this painting is the result of the thousands of scribbles I've done over the last few years.  I'm pleased with it, but the fun factor--at least for me--is definitely higher for the scribbles in my sketchbooks.

Blog Breakdown

Hello, all!

Just a quick note that thanks to my desperate attempts to overcome a sudden proliferation of my photos on Google Photos ( where 950 some photos suddenly became 3600 and climbing! and everything suddenly out of order too), I broke all the image connections in many of my blog posts.

So, well, I guess the weekend will be devoted to redoing an entire year's worth of blog posts.

No new drawing... but I guess I'll get to revisit my drawing for the year!  (How's that for looking on the bright side?)

Lesson learned:  upload every image directly from the computer and do not rely on Google Photos for stability.

If anyone has any tips about how to avoid such catastrophe (other than moving to Flickr), I'd love to hear it.

Hope to be up and back to normal soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Tiny Sketches of a Favorite Road

One of the routes on which I walk my dogs is a dirt road.  At the corner of the main, paved road, and this seasonal two-track, stands a pair of broken up stone pillars.

Every time I walk by them I think, dang, I'd like to paint that.  But I'm not sure how.  That is a lot of stones.

It just seems like it would take a lot of time to do and do well, and me, well, I'm a scribbler.  An impatient sketcher.  I can spend a lot of time on one drawing, but I prefer to catch them with fast lines and lots of energy.

But recently I remember the Fifty Tiny Watercolors project I did last December.  Why not do a few tiny watercolors of that stone road?  No detail, really, but just capturing the shapes and the light.  And if I like it well enough, well, maybe a more detailed picture could come in the future.

I thought about composition and decided to do just the one pillar that often stands in the sunlight, with the road curving off into the woods behind it.

First, I started with ink, as I often do.  I just feel secure with my ink pen. This scribble is less than an inch wide.

 I dashed on some color to capture a sense of the light and dark, and away I went.... on to the next sketch!

Next, only watercolors, just to see what would happen.  I'm capturing composition and a sense of some of the values.  Kind of like a thumbnail sketch but with color.  This one is closer to 2x3 inches.

Next, I did a more careful watercolor, a smidgeon bigger.  Maybe closer to 4x6 inches.  Still wet in wet and not a lot of detail, looking at lights and shapes. 

I found myself stymied by what my eye saw as a space of very dark dark green behind and around the pillar.  I couldn't seem to represent it without getting a heavy dark blob in that area. 

I tried one more time, bringing back the ink, trying to capture the shape o the road and the blackness of the dark dense woods behind the pillar.

These were all a great challenge for me, and terrific fun.  I completed all four little sketches in well under an hour.   I got to try and try and try again with the challenges of representing the stones, the structure of the crumbling pillar and the highly sunlit areas against the shadows of the dense woods.

For me, in this time and with this place, this approach to sketching a favorite landscape was much more entertaining and satisfying that creating one single extensive work would have been.  My impatient scribbling self felt satisfied by the speed and energy with which I allowed myself to work and I learned a lot about the location and the challenges of representing it in the process!

I look forward to trying this technique again, here or elsewhere.  Multiple quick sketches of the same scene, just to see what new things you can see or depict each time!