39th International Sketchcrawl

This past Saturday wa the 39th Sketchcrawl for those of us who are Urban Sketchers.  Artist all over the world met together to spend the day drawing.  Here in Rochester N.Y. it was still a bit cold to be outside so we all decided to meet at the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park.  It was nice and warm.  But for me the day started, as usual on the bus.  I noticed this guy in front of me with a hat that looked too small for him.

After taking a little time to walk around and admiring the plants we all settled down to draw.  I picked a spot with a chair and drew this view above.  It was a riot of detail and colors and I took a couple of hours to get this down.  In this room was a group of quail.  At first they kept peer up at us from under the foliage but after about 20 minutes they decided that we were harmless and walked in and around us. Where I sat they also would run in and under my feet it was cute to watch. Of course as soon as children came running in they all would scatter.

After that last drawing I wanted to concentrate on something small and by itself.  This flower stood out and I quickly drew it out.  Close up I was amazed by the detail God put into the smallest parts.

Moving to the cactus room I was intriqued by the shutter gears.  They were every where.

                        Of course, when in the cactus room you have to draw the cactus.

Also,of course was the mandatory sketch of other artist at work - busy at work in the cactus room









    The ride home always gives me subjects to draw

Finally, the next day at church I sketched Pastor Ann giving her sermon on the same passage of scripture that we heard on Easter sunday

Reviewing the patch prototypes for the Boy Scouts

Last night was our Troops' weekly meeting.  As you know from a previous post I designed a set of patches for the local council for this years National Jamboree.  When I got there the gentleman I had been working with at the council was there with the prototypes of the patches. Both sets. I did a lodge flap for the local lodge and I did a puzzle set for all those going.  We layed them out to go over them with a fine tooth comb.

After looking them over we decided to change the small lettering to black(too much red), Use a lighter tone for the skin and change all the fluer de li's to yellow. But other then that we were very pleased with the results.

No matter how many times I have tried to turn this image it would not - so cock you head or flip the screen.  On this one we are trying to see if we can enlarge it to the size of the patch below it.  We are going to move the "www" and fluer de li off the tomb stone and make the moon a bit bigger.

I was impressed by the detail visible on the patchs and with the changes they will look great

M60 Tank

So, This past Saturday I decided that since it was sunny out it was warm enough for me to go out a sketch outside. I did wear my leather jacket a baseball cap and my drawing gloves.  After dropping Juli off at work I walked over to Post 468 of the American Legion near us.  It has a tank parked outside of it that I have seen every day on my way home from work.  The walk was about 2 1/2 miles so a bit of walk.  But I got there and introduced myself the people there then went out to the tank. There was a tree right in front of it so I sat down against it.  It did not take me long to realize that walking there was OK but sitting there was something else.  A major road was at my back and the breeze was making it hard to draw.  Between fighting the fliping page and the freezing cold breeze I fought my way through drawing the tank.  The tought to stop at the basic lines flashed in my head and I agreed with out hezitation.  When I decided that I had gotten enough down I also realized that my left leg was completely asleep.  So there I was slapping my leg and my bladder decided right then that it needed to be emptied.  I felt like a wounded soldier trying desperatly to get up and run. 

 

Well I hobbled into the Legions bar and quickly took care of my business.  For the next hour I sat at the bar finishing the drawing above from memory.  As you know a bar has limited lighting so I had to squint through this work.  As other members came and went they looked over my shoulder and made encouraging comments.  As I finished, the promise to come back and redo the tank when it was warmer was made I headed home.

 

The whole time I worked on this drawing I was reminded of my original intent to join the US Army to become a member of the Army Art Corp.  That never happened.  Also, while drawing this M60 Patton Tank the memories of serviceing these when I was in active duty flooded into my head.  They were phased out soon after I arrived at my first permanant duty station(24th Infantry).  As we decommisioned them we had to make them work like new.  At first we were dumb founded by this.  But then, we were told that they were being sold to Saudi Arabia.  So, as we always did in the Army, do what your told and don't bother asking why. 

Easter Weekend

This past weekend Juli and I went home for Easter.  I took good friday off so we could take the early bus down to Ithaca.  A friend from church dropped us off at the Greyhound station an hour before the bus was due to leave.  We got our tickets and sat there for 40 minutes with  about 5 hours of sleep.  When it was time to board We were the first ones on and we went straight to the back.  I quickly sketched out the bus.  But by the time I finished the bus was full.

Most of the rest of that day was spent resting.  But that evening Alexandra Payton was having her senior recital down at Ithaca College.  I felt so old being that all I could think about was the first time I met her was in Dallas when she was a little girl.  For her last piece she came out with her Army Cornet, gave her testimony and played a hymn.  She even gave the Army salute.  She did wonderful

I thought I was going to get some sleep that night but dad invited me to mens' fellowship the next morning.  He and uncle Walt cooked the breakfast.  The gym was setup for the chapel service and the flowers made it smell wonderful.  The cross still had the purple sheet drapped on it.

 

When I got home I stood at the kitchen window and drew my favorite tree.  It must be over a hundred years old.  I can remember sitting on my bed as a boy in my bedroom looking at that tree and just being facinated by it.

While I was doing that I noticed a chipmunk sitting up on the left elbow knot.  I went out on the deck and quickly sketched him(brr - it was still cold).  When I went inside I noticed he'd moved to the knot just above the old stump. I saw him go back and forth through the tree.  Then noticed another one in there with him(a whole family)

 

Later that afternoon dad dropped Juli and I off at the Barnes and Noble.  We relaxed for a couple of hours.  Juli reading and me drawing.  I threw these down.

 





 

 

 



Easter sunday Major Hostetler(the Divisional Commander) was the guest speaker.  He precided over the induction of several new soldiers in the corp.

I did notice that the sheet on the cross had been changed to white.  I knew it was Major Carvil that did that but still the site of it(having seen it the day before in purple) stuck me.  He is risen indeed!