Fun Sketches

Last year we had our photos made.  The first time in our married life to really have a professional photo and there was an old pickup that they use for some of their shots.  I took a photo of it, and am just now getting it sketched.

The chair is my Grandmothers Chair and Kens hat with the sun coming through the window.

Plein Air Sketching

A friend stopped by for a couple days to visit and paint, so we went out to a friends house and sketched.  it was such fun.

Days 17-19

I am having problems keeping up with posting but is OK I guess!
Days  17-19
The blue grass band in Pigeon Ford was really good!

 This bear is from a pamphlet for the Smoky Mountains.

We got to eat at Paul Deen's.  It was very good. 

We got to go to a concert with Montgomery Gentry.  It was so good. I hope they don't see this!

 The milk shakes are from Johnny rockets. They were so good!

 Actually the wheel chairs aren't from the Tennessee trip, but I did them in the Drs. office.

Day 15 and 16

 

 

Day 15

 

A lot of the barns there had quilt designs over the doors. It was very interesting.

I googled why they had them, and it is called a quilt trail. pretty interesting.

 Day 16

I used the real photo, cut out the sign and Keri, and painted trees around it.

This is a fun way to do a sketch book. Especially for beginners! The bottom one is an old hound taking a nap by the firewood.  We just thought it was a neat scene.

Day 14

This is Day 14.  I had to miss 13. We were out of town all day, and I just couldn't get one done.
Here is the first version, then I thought it needed some more ink, and so I added some on the building. I am not sure which is best but I quit on it. I loved all the signs in Nashville!

Day 11 and 12

I got a little behind so I am posting for day 11 and 12.
More Tennessee Sketches.  Don't know how many more I will do.  They have been fun. Some not so good. some better than others!

More Tennessee sketches

This day 10 already.  This post is just more buildings from Tennessee. I am still experimenting with the black lines. But when it's all said and done I love color!

Another Tennessee Barn

For some reason the day whizzed by way too fast today! I didn't get much done.
Here is what I got sketched though! another Tennessee Barn. and I found another picture of the mama bear so I quickly did one more.

Twins - More experimenting with Lines and Dots

I love the mama bear with her twins, so I wanted to try them again, and use the lines, and this time I added dots. I got carried away with the grass.  Maybe the next one will be better!
I only got one sketch done today!

Tennessee Barn Sketches

I just did some ink sketches today, experimenting with some ideas.  I also used a Tombow marker.
and a new pen that I love! It is Platinum Carbon extra fine pen. I can tell it will be my favorite.
This is a barn in Tennessee, and I wanted to experiment with lines.  I also used the water soluble marker for the shadows.  In the second Picture, I wanted to try a little color.  I think I prefer it with out color.  The last one is from the historic beautiful  Cemetery.

Tennessee Scenes

More Sketches from Tennessee.  Only 2 today.  We were in the Smoky Mountains and got to see a Mama Bear with her cubs. She had 2. I only drew one but think i will do another one later since I enjoyed doing these.
Both sketches today are done with a Tombow marker. I draw with it or put markers where I want to make it darker or softened.  To soften it you use a wet brush. I used a dark gray on the bears and a black and dark gray on the windows.  The windows and sign was drawn first with my Lamy fountain pen.

Tennessee 2015

 This is day 5.  The steeples there just get lost in all the trees. and there are so many wires everywhere.  I wonder how the electric company know what's what! It doesn't matter though because the steeples sticking up out of all the trees are so pretty.  I loved seeing them, and wondered why churches are built like this.  Here is some info I found about it. Makes sense to me!

One reason: It was simply an architectural style that happens to inspire us to look heavenward.

These early church architects designed grand cathedrals and churches that had intricate, soaring steeples. The vertical lines of the steeple helped to visually enhance the lines of the church, directing the viewers' eyes vertically to the heavens. Obviously, this verticality complements part of the mission of the church, to keep us in a heavenly frame of mind, but from an architectural standpoint, this vertical lift gives the architecture a more graceful and pleasing look. The shorter the building, the more squat the appearance; the taller the building, the more graceful it becomes. The early church believed that the church could communicate the truth of the Bible in pictures and symbols to those who were illiterate, such as using the picture in the stained glass to tell stories, as well as the steeple, which helped by pointing upwards devotedly to Heaven. Therefore, the steeple has a dual role in that it helps the congregant in his or her spiritual mindset, and the steeple also helps the architect with a design feature that enhances the overall harmony of the architecture.  This is from an article, The History of Church Steeples,

 

Tennessee 2015-Day 4

Here are the sketches for today.
one was an old weathered barn.  It was still red though. Overgrown with trees.
another one is a house all grown up and I just used a water soul-able pen. I really like to use this Tombow marker.
Then there's the old feed store.  I realized I probably used the wrong book for these sketches because so many of them are vertical.  The Acme Feed store turned into a restaurant was a smart move!  The building was awesome and so old. The food was very good.
The last is the sun shining through a window in an old cabin. I didn't capture it like I wanted to.

Tennessee 2015

This is day 3 of Tennessee Sketches. I will probably have problems decided which ones to include.

The parking sign was so cute! I had to get a photo of it. The parking was horrible and very expensive.
There were steeples every where peeking above the trees and so pretty.  There definitely will be some more of these.  The signs were for sure an eye catcher too!  There will be some more signs too. Such fun to do! I love to draw these, and remember our fun time that we had!

Tennessee 2015

In October Keri and I went to Tennessee for our yearly 'trek'.  We had such fun and it was a beautiful time of the year to go! We couldn't believe all the color!  I am going to try to do a book full of sketches to remember our trip.  I am blessed to get to travel with my daughter!
The first one is my cover page.  This was one of my favorite signs in Nashville!
The 2nd one is obvious! driving into Nashville. The third one was a fun one! Keri was so excited to see a piggly wiggly because we don't 'have them anymore! I hope you will enjoy our trip through my sketches as I go!  Sign up to get notices if you are interested in knowing when I post new stuff!

January 1

Another year has come and gone! It is already Jan 1, 2016! Wow! It goes by way too fast.
I did a couple sketches of some of the Chrismtas gifts as well as a sketch of part of our living room with the tree up, and of course I had to do a new Years sketch as well!
SO Happy New Year!