Jackson Auto

Pen and Ink drawing of a Jackson Auto circa 1928, not a make I was familiar with but from a magazine ad they made a fine group of auto's ( finer then my talent represents) Probably going to add some color to it but done for now.

My wife was reading the paper to me, something she insists on doing every day no matter if I listen or not. That's fine, anything that simple that makes her happy suits me. Anyway she was reading me the temperatures predicted for the next week and I think I heard something about high forties and maybe she said a fifty in there somewhere. About time I'm thinking.

Young Lady, head and shoulders

This girl is inspired from a photo I have on my hard drive, an auction I bid on but didn't win, someone wanted it more then I. I kept the image though, not that you can tell from my drawing ( I have changed her a lot) as the girl in the photo has a haunting beauty about her.

The drawing is Neocolor II, pen and ink and some watercolor pencil, not everything in my toolbox but spreading it around a little.

For anyone that checks the photo blog I haven't posted there for a good while and do intend to start up again but maybe focused more on the ads then photos, mix of both at least. I always feel like the photos don't mean much to most people as I lack information for many of them. Usually I buy them because I just like the image and the info was never there or sometimes I have carelessly lost it. Anyway if you like the old magazine ads check there in the next week or so and I will have something new up.

I wish all that read this a happy and safe Thangsgiving.

Farm

This started out to be an ink sketch I was going to add watercolor to but I got carried away with the ink so not sure now if I will try to add color. When you do too much inking it makes it harder to add color I suppose because the ink soaks in and fills the paper fiber and leaves little room for the pigment of the paint.. I have a couple other sketches in the wings that I didn't take too far and have some new watercolor I want to try out so will likely post them soon.

Grandpa by the shed

This is a picture I have done a number of times. I think I posted a different version of it way back when I started the blog. It's inspired by a photo I have of my grandfather stiing near the shed on the farm he lived on the last years of his life. ( He and grandma weren't farmers but always lived on farms, this one belonging to her family who were farmers)

I don't know that there will be more posted but this isn't the last I will do of it, keep at it until I get it right. Like a lot of things I see in my head, I know there is a great picture there but getting it on paper or canvas falls short.

Vintage Gas

This pretty much out of my head of course influenced by my collection of old photos etc.

As usual mostly pen and ink and Neocolor II, my favorite stuff to try and make pictures with.

Nice quiet day here today, a break from Dave and Kathy's taxi and babysitting service. The wife nagged me into mowing the front yard ( it did need mowing) but it's pretty much all I had to do today. The Bears even won alhtough it wasn't looking pretty at the start so mark this day up as a good one.

Another Girl

Another kind of pin up girl picture, pen and ink and Neocolor II. When I was younger I would draw girls like this more often but for some reason my wife didn't like it. I would tell her it was just artistic expression but she would say I could express myself by drawing a nice bowl of fruit.

Of course that was back when I would let her see my drawings to get her judgement on how I was doing. I don't do that anymore, pretty much knowing what she thinks and unable to take criticism that well.

I don't think it matters to her much now what I draw, she doesn't pay any attention except for the rare time I might ask for an opinion on something and besides we both know I'm pretty much harmless as far as women go by now. I like the picture, not going to ask her what she thinks.

Weather around here is good but late September always sucks to me. Getting dark earlier, getting cooler at night ( wife just went around closing the windows in fact.) Halloween stores already popping up. All of it reminding me that another winter is closing in on us.

Dangerous Babe

Change in subject matter a bit and style a bit. I've been having trouble finishing anything and more being happy with what I finish and thought maybe it's from drawing the same old same old day after day so playing came up with this. I always liked comics and still do for that matter. Most of my drawing is "cartoony" although I admit its just how it comes out, not really on purpose but this at least is intentional. Anyway, I had fun with it so if your looking here your likely to see more like it. I thought of putting more color in the background but stopped on purpose. I can't afford the fancy art programs but have a free one called the "gimp" I downloaded some time ago but haven't put much effort into learning it yet. Maybe I'll use this to play with it and see if I can figure it out.

Street

I finished this cartoon a couple of days ago and wasn't going to post it but haven't put anything up lately so might as well. Not that I was that unhappy with it even though I kind of lost the whole perspective thing at one point. The drawing below I started as a wip didn't end well. I wont do that again unless I have already finished the whole thing first.

WIP 2

Same picture as yesterday a little further along. I am not thrilled with the picture but I like doing this, might become a regular feature here. Thing about what I am going to write that I did actually helps me think more about what it is I'm going to do as I work.

Today I wanted to increase the contrast between the background and the hair so I darkened the background and added opposite crosshatching to the blouse again to create texture, give it the appearance of cloth weave. I also added some stippling to the face etc.

My advice to any artist is never point out your mistakes, people find them on thier own and if they don't all the better but as this is an exercise it seems proper. Theres probably plenty wrong with it but the necklace leaps out at me, no reason for it to lay that way and doesn't add the lack of 3d which I'm not happy with to start with. Sure there is more but that just off the top of my head. Anyone reading that has something to add feel free, go ahead, rip it apart.

I'll probably finish it up, see what I can do but wouldn't if it wasn't for starting this thing here.

Maybe documenting it all will help me improve, add to that thinking process I talked about.

Oh yeah, the light, someone with a good eye and pickly will no doubt say my lighting is uncertain. I had that thought but at the moment more concerned with the contrast then where the light is coming from but that does need change as well.

WIP, pen and ink

Still don't have anything really to post so thought I would show what I am doing right now and update as I finish it unless of course it hits the round file. This is all pen and ink with a lot of stippling, kind of an experiment to do the shading etc in stippling. I like the effect some get using stippling, of course the bad part the time consuming part of it. I use the stippling also in the background with gray over it to give some texture. I suppose right now a couple hours worth to answer the oft asked question.

C**mcast was here today, put two more tvs up at least and installed internet although I can't use it yet. I was afraid of that, because of where they installed it he couldn't or wouldn't run the wire to where my computer is two rooms away. They chose the location for the modem when they installed the phone and I should have objected then but it wasn't on my mind then. I ordered an ethernet cable and a router so by next week I should be able to do the hook up myself. I still end up paying the same outragous amount which was one of my complaints and even a few bucks more although I supposedly got the internet for freee but worth it not to go through the hassle of switching everything. I'm not thrilled with the company but I should say every technician they have ever sent out has been really nice and willing to take the time to make sure its all done right ( except for installing the wire today which I suppose he couldn't do)

Princess of ?, Pen, Ink and water stuff

Just finished this, haven't thought of an appropriate title yet but like it enough I have to give it one. I don't name most of them but when I finish something I like I have to give it an identity. It's ink and different waterbased media, neocolor II, watercolor pencil. 9x12, so we are in for a wait while it uploads.

I have promised myself to call comcast this week and get the high speed internet, either from them or someone else. They started us out sometime back with the "introductory rate" for phone and tv ( remember when tv was free? or when it cost a little but there was no commercials and now we have the large fee and commercials and it's going up every month.)

Anyway we started out paying around $100 a month for the phone and tv with a movie package and after the rate ended it started going up and up and now averages around $160 for the same stuff. I know someone that just got a three bundle from them for the same hundred a month and they threw in a free notebook computer. So I'm going to call and if they don't lower the rate and give me internet I'm thinking a switch to someone elses introductory rate. It's a hassle but I guess the thing to do is switch carriers every year.

Kids are back in school , got up today and had to go get my daughter and bring her hear so she could take a shower as they are working on her water and then take her to work, an hour later pick up the grandson and the other boy from the busstop and bring them here so that an hour later we could pick up the daughters boyfriend from work ( I let the wife do that). It's a good thing they don't pay us or we would have to get a taxi license. Man it's good to be retired and have nothing to do all day long.

Vintage Lady Pen and Ink

Another pen and ink. The woman is a combination of a couple of different old photos and the rest is out of my noggin.

I wasn't being truthful about the tomato plants, the dog doesn't really pee on them. Don't want anyone throwing up if I offer them some tomato or something with them in it. They are set back far enough and I promise we wash them real good. While I am on it though and again waiting for a large image to upload, does anyone have one of those hanging tomato plants they advertise every year. We bought one this year and I'm less then impressed. Not sure what it is but it seems like the bag doesn't hold enough water. The leaves are alwlays withered and dried up looking. We have other plants in big pots and they are doing ok but the hanging plant hasn't anything on it yet and although we haven't given up I don't think it's going to produce. So if anyone was thinking about buying one my reccomendation is save your money.

Faber broad tip

I used the Faber Castell broad tips for most of this,didn't start out to but ended that way. I like using them as it kind of makes me work looser. Sometimes I get anal about working over little details and trying to make it look right in the end making it all just awful. The broad brush tips are more like painting and it seems to kind of just flow. Anyway it seemed to here.

Hard to believe its the middle of August already. I'm still waiting for summer to start and it's almost over. My wife is happy being the family bill payer as the air conditioner has hardly been run at all this year. It was hot around here the last few but cooled last night and we turned it off again. I like to be comfortable but would rather sweat a bit then go a long time with the house all closed up. Get those windows open and a little fresh air inside. ( it could have something to do with the animals and my smoking I suppose.) Also a public service announcement while I'm waiting for this to upload. Last year we had to replace the air conditioner. The guy said it went bad due to our male dog constantly urinating into it, acidity burned something out. We now have a fence around it so when he lifts his leg it protects the air conditioner. Of course now that the fence is there he takes his business elsewhere, like the tomato plants or such. Anyone care for a nice BLT?

Pen and Ink Stret Scene

A pen and ink drawing, mostly fantasy although a couple of the figures are from my collection of vintage models as in the old photos I collect. All faber castell pens, my favorite drawing tool. Better to me then most ink pens as it is india ink and waterproof instead of "water resistant" like a lot of pens read in the fine print. They also make a wide variety of inks and nibs in thier ready to go pens.

Another Barn

Actually the same barn as last week, inspired by the same photo anyway. Again a mix of Neocolor, watercolor pencils and ink.

Molson

This a detail from a drawing, the full thing too large to post here. From a vintage photo in my collection. I think I remember seeing ads like this on barns when I was younger. I say " i think" because I've seen them so many times in pictures that I don't know if I remember or if it's one of those memories you make up. I do remember the old Burma Shave signs along the road. Those were neat and something I haven't seen in a long long time. Driving to Kansas City as a kid (passenger of course) those signs would make the trip so much shorter waiting for the next group to come up. They had some good ones but I don't remember any now, going to have to google it soon as this picture gets loaded.

Girl with flowers

As often the case my model is from a photo in my vintage collection. They work for cheap and rarely complain. I change them enough they wouldn't recognize themselves even if they do follow blogs at the really old folks home.

I have a lot of things to draw from now, yesterday uploading pics from my digital camera, something I hadn't done in awhile, 280 pics being awhile. Not sure why I let it go that long except to say prograstination is an art form and I am a master at it. Lot's of family stuff of course, holloween pics and baseball pics from two years ago but also pics I took with the thought that it would make a great drawing or even a painting. My wife also has a digital camera that she relies on me to upload but she'll have to wait. Only printed out a select "few" of mine and used up all the ink and photo paper in my budget until payday.

Victorian Gal

A sketch of a victoian type woman, pen and ink with a little watercolor pencil for accents and the background. A lot of my heroes are illustrators from the turn of the century (20th). There were so many really good ones but of course they had a much larger market then today with all the magazines, advertisements, etc, etc. Anytime I see a woman with her hair piled up like this I think of course of Charles Dana Gibson, one of the best. I have bought more then one old magazine just because it had one of his drawings in it.

Rainy here today, not April yet so I guess this rain wont bring May flowers as the saying goes. All it does is make the dogs feet mudy so I have to play manservant and wipe them off when he comes in from his potty walks. At least the snow is gone.

A few days ago I was writing about the newspapers and today word came out that the Chicago Sun-Times parent company is declaring bankruptcy. I usually read the Tribune so no loss to me but again I hate to see the newspapers go away.

Ink drawing cars

I've been posting car pics in the other blog and started drawing this today from an old picture of a car ( the one in side view, the rest made up). It was a hectic day to sit and draw anything. Two of our grandkids were over plus the son of my daughters boyfriend. Not that they bother me that much but they run my wife ragged, asking for this and that and squabbling etc. etc. . I, in turn have to go intercede or her frustrations will soon turn on me. I do love having them over but maybe only because it makes me appreciate the quiet so much when they go home.

They'll be back tomorrow along with more, my granddaughters birthday April 1st so we are having a little party for her here.

Weather here today could be summed up by the weather man as it "sucks", all gray and rain and sometimes freezing rain, like winter fighting it, not wanting to let go. I'm real jealous of people smart enough to live somewhere like Florida (Mike).

Vampire

This is a detail of a work in progress, drawing of a lady vampire. I have always liked the vampire movies and even television, for a while my favorite show "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer". Yes I know it was a silly show but it was supposed to be now wasn't it? Not denying that Buffy was hot I think maybe spike was my favorite character. If you never saw the show, Spike was kind of a good guy- bad guy, starting out bad but then wanting to be good but slipping back to bad, so on and so on. He was at the end in love with Buffy which is kind of a dangerous affair of course, the vampire being in love with the Slayer. The show isn't on anymore around here anyway but it will be back, one of those that will be in reruns forever.

Actually the whole thing started out wanting to draw gargoyles because I like them, gothic architecture in general but it all led to this. As I said it's a work in progress but you likely wont see it again as the paper is 9X12, too large to scan and upload with a dial up connection. Next I will try to sketch something nice, warm and fuzzy like.