David's "Sketching Utah" thread.

[Davkin]

Thanks Joan, John. I got a good start on an 18x24 version at class Wednesday. Far too early to know how it will turn out but the monochomatic underpainting looks pretty good. 18X24 is by far the biggest I've ever painted!

David

[vhere]

I hope you show it here? it's a nice size to work - just bigger brushes and you'll keep the freedom of the original.

[Davkin]

Originally Posted by vhere

I hope you show it here? it's a nice size to work - just bigger brushes and you'll keep the freedom of the original.

At the least I'll show a link to the thread in Landscapes when I post it there, assuming it turns out, class is just once/week though so it will be a few weeks. Franky, I'm not happy with the plein air version so I'm hoping to come out with something far better. I did take the plein air to class and set it up to reference but I found myself using the photo much more so I won't bother taking the plein air to class again. I also have a couple Richard Schmid paintings of similar subjects I've scanned and printed to use as inspiration while painting this one. So, you see, my goal isn't really to just scale up the plein air.

I did lots of sketching today, a post will be forthcoming!

David

[Davkin]

Just copying this one from my blog:

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First I want to say I'm not happy with this sketch, but should I say that? According to the art marketers artists should only say positive things at all times about their work. Well, maybe that's true but I'm a long way from becoming a professional artist so I'm not going to worry about that, or maybe I should? What do you think? Anyway, the first sketch in this post was actually the last sketch I did today. Harrisville is a town North of Ogden and West of North Ogden, (confused?) I went to Harrisville to get out of town and to go to a car show where I did a few sketches, (later in this post). While there I hoped to get a sketch for the blog that captured the flavor of Harrisville. After I was done at the car show I went driving around Harrisville and found.....nothing. If Harrisville has a flavor it's that it has no flavor. I hope I didn't offend anyone with that statement but that's the way it appeared to me. I could find nothing resembling a downtown, let alone a historic downtown. While most of the businesses were local they were housed in modern box-like generic buildings. Elsewhere there wasn't much more than tract housing and fields. Ya, there were some interesting agricultural scenes and neat old houses but all rural towns around here have those things, I was looking for something that could be identified with Harrisville. So, I ended up where I started, at the car show. The only unique and interesting building in the whole town that I could find was a local restaurant/fast food joint called Daddy D's Burger and Grill, which happened to be next door to the businesses that were hosting the car show. I don't know if I was tired, disappointed or just plain uninspired but I just couldn't get this sketch done fast enough and it shows.

I'm sorry, this was a half-hearted effort but I wanted to show you something from Harrisville. This was done in my 7x9 Strathmore watercolor sketch book with an 03 Prismacolor pen and Van Gogh watercolors, but please don't blame the materials. If I had spent ten or twenty minutes longer so I could deepen the colors it might have come out okay. I didn't even have a sign to sketch since Daddy D's only recently took over so they don't have a sign on the building yet. One funny note is about that car that was blocking my view. While in the middle of inking the car the owner got in and drove away. If I had waited just a minute longer....

Now for the positive, (is this post getting long winded?). I very much enjoyed the car show and had a great time sketching there. I will probably attend again next year, and that's most likely the only reason I'll ever return to Harrisville.

I tried new sketching materials and I'm very pleased with the results. I used Derwent Drawing Pencils. These appear to be slightly modified colored pencils, the biggest difference is that they are softer. They also have a large 5mm core but I believe Derwent's Coloursoft pencils do as well. They are also tones that are more on the muted side, more natural appearing than the palette of most colored pencil sets. Like colored pencils mistakes are impossible to erase 100%, or even much more than 50% really, so compared to graphite that is a downside. There are a couple advantages over graphite however. For one it's much easier to get darker tones and they don't smear as easily, though they still do to some extent so make sure you work from top/left to lower/right if you are right handed. Another advantage is they don't have that graphite shine, so they scan much more accurately, the only adjustment I had to make post-scan was a slight bit of sharpening. Another advantage is color, it's subtle, not overpowering but adds a little something that gives the sketches a traditional feel.

First up was this '29 Model A Ford roadster hot rod. This was the first sketch with the Derwent Drawing Pencils so I was feeling them out. I ended up using three colors, Sanguine for the initial layout, then a bit of Terracotta in places such as the engine, but most of it was done with Chocolate.

These car sketches were all done in my 5x7 Strathmore Bristol Smooth sketchbook.


From this same spot I was able to sketch an American Bantam Sedan, a very diminuitive car built in the 30's. Not many have survived, this is the first I've ever seen in person. The Bantam was an even cheaper and more economical car in the 30's than the Model T Ford was in the 20's. Their small, lightweight bodies were popular on dragsters in the late 50's and early 60's, one of the reasons few have survived. As a side note, Bantam actually invented the Jeep but since they couldn't produce enough to meet the demand of the U.S. Army Willys was called in to take on production, (along with Ford).

This time I only did the initial layout with the Sanguine pencil and finished the sketch with the Chocolate. The owner was sitting a few feet away so I showed the sketch to him and he was quite impressed, his physical reaction made me confident he wasn't just being polite. I heard some interesting comments on the car by spectators. The most common was about it being the original "Smart Car". Frankly, I think the Bantam was smarter. The Bantam was inexpensive ($425 in the late 30's) the "Smart Car" is not by a long shot. The Bantam got very good fuel economy, as good as 40-50 mpg, the "Smart Car" does not, (especially taking it's size into account). The only similarity is that they are both very small cars and the only advantage I can see that the "Smart Car" has over the Bantam is it's performance, it definately is much faster and corners much better but it's not nearly as good looking! The other funny comment I heard was one guy saying he thought it was a '32 Ford that someone washed and it dried too fast and shrunk.


The next sketch was of an early 50's Mercury custom;



I used the same procedure with this sketch that I used on the Bantam. Another car was blocking my view of the rear, that's why it fades out. This sketch was also a lesson in patience. Not that the subject was particularly difficult but my experience with it demonstrated one of the hazards of sketching at a car show......there are lots of other people and stuff going on. Right about the time I finished the initial layout a golf cart parked in front of the car blocking about half my view. I figured it would move along eventually so I focused on sketching what I could see. Suddenly I understood why the golf cart was there. I noticed a crowd starting to gather in front of me until I could no longer see the car at all. I then looked over and saw two guys lying down on creepers in the middle of the parking lot. I just happened to set up right where they were holding the creeper races.....at least I had a front row seat. I took it in stride, put down my sketching materials and enjoyed the mini-event which was over in a few minutes and then I was able to finish my sketch.

The last car sketch was a '40 Ford pickup hot rod. While it wasn't a hot day, (a little warm for April, but not hot) I was starting to feel a little baked so I searched for shade. While standing next to a building I realized there was a good view of this '40 Ford PU nearby and found a spot next to a small tree that provided at least some relief from the direct rays of the sun while I sketched it.

This time I tried to do the whole sketch with only Sanguine. The darks weren't deep enough though so I went over them with Sepia. A kind of odd thing happened while sketching this one. 95% of the time no one seems to pay any notice of what I'm doing at all. However, this time a guy walked by, just as he passed me he stopped. I could tell by his shadow he was leaning my direction so I looked up and said "Hi" and continued sketching. He took that as an invitation and leaned in further. After another 30 sec, or so I looked up again, he had this look of astonishment on his face. He didn't say a word but turned and walked away. Now I am left wondering what in the world that look as about. Overall a very fun day!


This was a very long and wordy post with a lot of information and stories. Was it too much? Did you enjoy reading all that? Let me know, that was a lot of typing. I don't want to do that again if nobody appreciates it!

David

[poochemio]

I'd say you had a very successful sketchcrawl David. I've never seen a Bantam, it must have been a real treat for you. I would take that guys look of astonishment as a compliment!

[doug105]

These automobile sketches are sensational! You seem to be very comfortable with this medium! I love the "looseness" of the sketches, not overworked or fiddled with!

If I may offer one teeny, tiny observation on the Mercury custom...it's that the headlights seem different in shape,size. Maybe it's just me, it's just something I noticed.

Great Work!

DougN

[RainySea]

Dave, wonderful work on those old cars! Having tried to do one earlier in the month for the sketch thread photos, I know they have a lot of details to deal with but you do it so well.

[eyepaint]

Love the oil painting of the hay shed.

[vhere]

I think things have to interest you to make a good sketch/painting - and your interest in cars makes those special - good analysis of the problems of sketching stuff that doesn't 'speak' to you.

[Davkin]

Originally Posted by poochemio

I'd say you had a very successful sketchcrawl David. I've never seen a Bantam, it must have been a real treat for you. I would take that guys look of astonishment as a compliment!

Thanks Margo. I'll take that guy's look as a compliment but it could just as easily been a look of horror.

Originally Posted by doug105

These automobile sketches are sensational! You seem to be very comfortable with this medium! I love the "looseness" of the sketches, not overworked or fiddled with!
If I may offer one teeny, tiny observation on the Mercury custom...it's that the headlights seem different in shape,size. Maybe it's just me, it's just something I noticed.
Great Work!.

Thanks Doug and you're right and I did notice that the headlights were "skiddywampous". I think the distractions played a role in that. The other problem is the fact that the Derwent pencils were so soft it was impossible to maintain a good point on them and I didn't have a proper sharpener for them so getting the details in right was a challenge, especially on the front end of this car.

Originally Posted by RainySea

Dave, wonderful work on those old cars! Having tried to do one earlier in the month for the sketch thread photos, I know they have a lot of details to deal with but you do it so well.

Thanks Rainy. You can simplify some on a car, but not like a landscape, you have to keep at least a suggestion of those details to maintain the identity of the car, that is unless you are going for a generic auto look as a shape to take space and make context for a landscape like I kinda did in that pen and wc sketch.

David

[Davkin]

Originally Posted by eyepaint

Love the oil painting of the hay shed.

Thanks EP.

[Davkin]

Originally Posted by vhere

I think things have to interest you to make a good sketch/painting - and your interest in cars makes those special - good analysis of the problems of sketching stuff that doesn't 'speak' to you.

I agree, you can't often get away with sketching that which does not interest you. However I think the issue was more likely other factors here. I do enjoy sketching architectural scenes, and while this one was a bit cheesy with it's disingenuous false fronts at least it had some character that should have held my interest. I think the problem is that it was the hottest time of the day and I'd already spent 3 1/2 hours out in the sun at the car show and I hadn't applied the sun screen as thoroughly as I should have, (really paying for that today). So I was both mentally and physically baked by the time I got around to starting this sketch and was only getting baked further while doing the sketch. Lesson learned though, and that's what all this is about. You can't learn any lessons without going out and making some mistakes. I have a similar situation coming up next Saturday weather permitting. I'll be traveling to another city for a car show. I'm going to be smarter about it this time though. I'm going to get there early, well before the car show is even set to start. I'll do my sketch of some unique scene in the city first in the cool of the morning then attend the car show and rip out a couple sketches there and be home in time for a late lunch.

David

[DrDebby]

I enjoyed the story behind the sketches as well as the sketches themselves. I wouldn't know all this information about cars without the stories behind them.

[Davkin]

Thanks Debby. Not sure I'll get quite so wordy in the future though, it took me over an hour to scan the sketches and write the blog post. If I do trim the narrative down what do you think is more interesting, the info about the cars or the stories of the experiences I had while sketching?

David

[Davkin]

Went to the park after work today and did some gesture sketches armed with only a 5x7 sketchbook, a pilot pen and a waterbrush. More details on my blog.












David