Metro Sketchers - Lakewood Cemetery sketch out

Fall colors

I am really going to miss the leaves when they are gone. This year if embracing color understanding has made this year the most beautiful I can remember. I see things differently now.

Someday I will be patient enough to wait till these things dry.

The Pumpkin Process..maybe too much process

 I love love love process shots. Plus I love the golden mean.  Maybe I use it too much...but it works for me. Often I will layout a golden rectangle first. I will say every building I have ever designed this way (I work the foot print and elevation until is matches a masonry dimension and from there everthing "lines up" and I get more feedback..more on that later.. but proportion really means relationship and relationship is everything)

 I started yesterday morning in my mens group (my turn to lead) getting people to draw and preached my allegiance to proportion so I thought I would show it in a way I typically just incorporate (vs put it in red pencil)

 The first sketch out. I have been drawing this same pumpkin in my study of "making colors sing" for the past few weeks. The pumpkin should be glad because squirrels have taken 3 bites and then left every other pumpkin in our garden.

 Working out the shadows given two light sources

 Finish the sketch, then the tough part, getting this onto the watercolor paper. This sketch was done on trace paper, the next step is to sketch under the trace paper while holding it in place. Kind of clumsy but it works well enough with touch up.

 The under trace and the trace sketch. I really like the trace sketch and may keep it.

 Time to touch up the undertrace on the real paper

 I have to include my buddy who is drawing beside me. Way past his bed time, but if he is drawing with me...I will break the rules a little!  He is quite good, but both parents draw all the time in front of him.

 Wook it Daddy!

 The best part of Leo's sketches is that they come with a story. A great story

 And it gets pretty elaborate. Plus, I need to burn time while my paint dries

 I did the yellow first because I read that yellow afterwards muddies things. On teh dry parts I started to use blue. The point is undertones that will be knocked down by cadmium orange later. Cadmium Orange has two advantages. The rest of this palate is really transparent and it is a very opaque, plus it happens to the the exact color of my pumpkin!

 Working on the shadows on my green glass table

 I cheated and added transparent yellow because it middle ground the yellow and eventual orange.  Everyone seems to love transparent orange. I now know why. I squeezes out as mustard ochre but with water becomes the exact color of a good beer (say a Boddingtons) anyway I thought is would be a good bridge to the last step

 Working it more and showing the model

 Alittle more shadow work

 Adding the Cad Orange in layers

A semi wet finished product. I have learned I need to wait a few hours for the final and nice things happen as the paint settles out and makes friends. I will take a final picture tomorrow for the final.

I am really enjoying the making colors sing palate.

Tough day, fun night of painting. During this project I fed a kid, loaded and unloaded a dishwasher, watched the news, cleaned a kitchen, paid bills. Some decent multitasking if I do say so myself.

Sketching at Clear water

Sketching at Clear Water

I am reminded of one older (although it is so fresh in mind I can't believe it was 2002) sketch from Still Water, MN and couple from North of the Twin Cities a few weekends ago on a Men's retreat at Clear Water Presbyterian camp. I have gone every year and always try to draw as much as I can.  This year I did get a few in that I was proud of.

 I woke up before the sun and set up my drawing kit. This was a great way to start the day.

Group Discussion

Some of my favorite Minneapolis sketches

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I recently joined Twin Cities Urban Sketchers website and it reminded me of some of my favorite Minneapolis sketches.  For a while I would try to sketch at lunch. Mostly small and quick.

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The absolute best seat in the house to sketch that I know of the second floor of the Barnes and Noble.  I had many successful and unsuccessful sketches here.

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The amazing Bob's Java Hut. I drew this waiting to talk with Mike Janasz way back when.

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One of many many many cold bus rides

 

 

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I loved sketching Gavidee commons. It is a little busy for my taste but the details are truly thought out.  It also struck me how much the proportions are similar to a church.

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I was design architect For Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and the Colin Powell Leadership Center. I believe this was graduation and I stepped back for a quick 5 minute sketch.  What an amazing project helping at risk kids.

I took my birthday off and roamed and sketched. At the time this building was about to close. I think there has to be money to keep these great churches up. The hold so much memory and are such a part of the skyline. I know that it was bought because on the Zoning Board of Adjustments we approved a variance for temp screening for air conditioning.

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Waiting for the bus on day. I love this building. The floors are literally hung on a cantenary curve that you can  see in the facade.  This is a building we studied in school.

Tonight I had the privilege to see the Red 5 at the Artist Quarter in St Paul. A good friend and important  mentor to me has side stepped architecture for a bit to produce a record company and help a great group. We got there slightly early to get good seats. 

Also, I have been on a mission to capture people better. The first sketch of the guy introducing the band is my favorite so far.  I showed it too him. He said he had been sketched many times but he thought this captured him the best. Especially the beard.

 A you can see I was really enjoyed sketching the shape of the stand up base.   The second sketch leaves out some of the band  but my favorite part is watching these two brothers work together.

This last sketch was of the saxophonist and the bass working together. The tune is "my leg is bouncy" and my sketch should have caught more of that!

Any way, sketching in a dark club is a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.

Metro Sketchers MN State Fair Sketchout!

Thanks to everyone for setting this up. This was my kind of day off. State fair, by myself, with the intent of drawing. And drawing I did.  The meeting at 4:30 was great to meet and see all the great work.  Check out this site for posts from the group - http://urbansketchers-twincities.blogspot.com/ and http://urbansketchers-midwest.blogspot.com/.

I got 7-8 good sketches in and took lots of progress shots.  I will do a blog post on each individually with the progress shots and the story, but for now, these are the finished product.