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I think I might do a few drawings of train depots located in Iowa. Here is a close up of one I am working on now.
Comments are welcomed.
Hey Bill! They’re like the ghostly footprints of those who came before us. The allure of travel into a bygone time. They have a mystique about them.
I debate sometimes whether to draw them as they may have looked during their hay day versus how they look today. I opt for how they look today. I think , for one, because I am mostly an observer rather than an inventor or creator. I’d be creating an image of what I imagine them to have looked like. Maybe I don’t think I could pull it off well enough to honor their memory. Although I do think the attempt to do so says something. Two, they survived to make it to now. And I think that says something important about them and those who keep them at this point in time. And three, a drawing of them today will be a glimpse back to now in the future. If I can do it well enough. If I can’t, the drawing won’t last and it will be forgotten and lost. Which is fine. I have this moment to enjoy drawing them.
Definitely do! I’d love to see them! It would be interesting to compare/share thoughts and impressions of drawing them. To me, drawing a place allows me to embrace it. It gives me time to imagine being there when I’m not. But then my drawings take me twenty some hours so I guess I get plenty of imagining\embracing time.
I am a transplant to Ames. I have only lived in the area since 1997. I don’t have many childhood memories of the town, except coming here on Saturdays in the fall to see college football games with my family. I do have one link that I have thought about while drawing and that is my grandfather worked for the railroad when he was young and many of his stories told of coming through Ames and Boone riding on the back of the train.
Hey Mike! 3″ x 5″ is the size of the area I show here. I use a Koh-i-noor rapidograph pen. Size .25 mm. I think it is awful for sketching. But ok for crosshatching as long as I pull the line towards me. I wind up rotating the drawing around so that I always pull the line, for the crosshatching. I think if I did a time lapse of me drawing, the paper would look like its spinning like a fan.
I once read somewhere that an “illustrator” creates to be published and an “artist” creates to answer questions. I can’t remember where I saw it or who wrote it, but I found it interesting to think about since I don’t really think of myself as an “illustrator” nor do I enjoy doing illustration work. And I do believe most of my work is trying to answer a question, but I’m not always sure exactly what that question is. I think once I figure out exactly what that question is I can begin to produce work that I can actually believe is “art”.
Here is the current state of the drawing. Sorry about the poor photo. The poor lighting is flattening the tonal range. And its a little blurry.
Oh now I see, you are working at a large size to have it read really clear tonally with few signs of the creators passion left in the marks that go to make it up, So what question might this style of working answer for you ?
& Is this the same guy who done the concerned face sketch ?
Mike 
I have decades of this done at work.
And this.
I don’t know. Maybe my hands just need to be busy.? I guess I don’t understand why I need to draw. It is never ending. At times I draw in my dreams. The larger drawings give this need a purpose or practical application. ?
I’m not sure. I think my question is why? Why do I need to do this? Why when I do this do I feel one with the world or at least part of it? Why do I feel like this is what I’m suppose to be doing?
I will draw with a pen, a stick, a brush, a rock, … but not a mouse or a stylus?
Why? If I can figure this out I can do something with it. Until then, everything gets covered with ink.
[IMG]http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/03-Apr-2020/211333-IMG_3318_sm.jpg[/IMG]
And this.
I don’t know. Maybe my hands just need to be busy.? I guess I don’t understand why I need to draw. It is never ending. At times I draw in my dreams. The larger drawings give this need a purpose or practical application. ?
I’m not sure. I think my question is why? Why do I need to do this? Why when I do this do I feel one with the world or at least part of it? Why do I feel like this is what I’m suppose to be doing?
I will draw with a pen, a stick, a brush, a rock, … but not a mouse or a stylus?
Why? If I can figure this out I can do something with it. Until then, everything gets covered with ink.
You do it because it is a you HAVE TO , It is a entirely natural human compulsion,an essential part of us -remember the cave paintings ? :wink2:
Forget entirely the concept of questions ! by deleting the last three letters of the word “question” ,you will find your answer – Art is a quest a journey , for those who are called to it .
On this quest we explore the inside of ourselves & then maybe share the fruits of this journey with others or maybe not, the most important thing is that you do it for yourself first & with honesty & integrity . Making money or ego enhancement as the prime motive are just obstacles to be hacked though & discarded , they will just slow you down.
A quest for what though ? – To see what’s round the next corner of this inner journey , to express yourself – to clarify YOUR current position on this journey to your self understanding.
Nobody can tell you where your personal journey is going of course ,only YOU will set your own destination/holy grail.
On this journey of art your tasks will differ over time , at first challenge is technical – getting the fitness & skills to tread this road. After that you must decide which of these hard won skills you value & are of use to you on your personal journey. Some may even be discarded as being too heavy to carry .That’s fine you’ll have the essence of them anyway.
You will set your compass on your holy grail & stride out with great determination , you will struggle & strive & then eventually you will realise ….. SPOILER ALERT – It’s all about the journey not the destination !But you will not have wasted your time – quite the opposite , it will have been fulfilling & “worth it”, you will have trod your path.
Expressing your self, developing self understanding, finding peace
MikePS. This fellow comes to mind –
Abraham Maslow was and still is a very highly respected humanist psychologist ,he wrote a definitive work on human needs that apply to all races ,genders & nationalities. First there is the obvious air ,food,water, shelter. Then he describes in a short list of psychological needs, both lower & upper – he describes self-actualization as one of a person’s innate needs – to be and do that which the person was “born to do.” “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write.”
These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it
is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It
is not always clear what a person wants when there is a
need for self-actualization.
No hassle at all Joel , just you understanding the point I was trying to put across is a way over generous reward for me.
Mike
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