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?