Abandoned Mack Truck

 I love just about anything classic from the 1960's and earlier, cars and trucks especially.  Mack trucks from that era especially have a certain special distinct look, the B series in particular.  The Mack B series was manufactured from 1953 thru 1966 and represents a design aesthetic that straddled the line between art deco and modern.  The styling still contained elements of pre-war industrial design combined with the modern style that all vehicles were moving toward, heavy trucks lagged a few years behind cars and light trucks in that regard.  I recently made a line and wash watercolor sketch of an abandoned green B61 Mack truck.

"Abandoned Green Mack B61 Truck"
11" X 14" Pen and Watercolor"
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I found the truck I used as a reference for this sketch in the small, somewhat remote desert town of Hanksville, Utah a few years ago. To make a more interesting composition I added some barrels, wood spool and gas pump to the background.

My Dad owned a Mack truck though it was 1936, well the cab was, the frame and engine came from some other model of truck from the early 1950's.   This truck had a gas engine and no sleeper. My Dad's main truck broke down just before he was going to take my brother and I on a trip to California where we were also going to vacation for a few days at Disney Land and Knotts Berry Farm, (this was in the late 1970's).  He was committed to getting a load to California and committed to taking my brother and I on vacation so he hooked the old Mack up to the trailer and away we went...very slowly.  Even though our destination was southern California we had to make a stop up north first which necessitated climbing Donner's Pass...at about 20-25 miles per hour.  The Mack had a problem with overheating, so about every 15-20 minutes during the climb My Dad had to pull the truck over to let it cool off.  I swear it took us half the day to make it over the pass.   Remember how I mentioned the truck didn't have a sleeper?  Heavy trucks usually only have two seats. My brother was much younger and smaller than me so he got to sit on the mini fridge my Dad had sitting between the seats while making sure he kept his legs clear of the shift levers. Another fun feature of this truck was the "Fred Flintstone" floor.  That's right, the floor had holes in it, I could actually watch the pavement fly by underneath the truck. The world was quite different back then, in today's culture this probably sounds like child abuse or endangerment but these experiences are some of my most fond, these are the kinds of memories that come flooding back when I feel nostalgic.  I actually feel sorry for the youth of today that they don't get a chance to have these kinds of experiences I had in my youth, I really believe my life has been much richer for it.

More Experimenting With Line and Wash

 I picked up the pens and watercolor brushes again last week.  I decided to try doing things just a bit different, play with different techniques, change the amount of inking vs what I'd normally do.  Here are the results.

Abandoned 1950 Ford Truck, pen and watercolor, 8" X 10"

This is a front view of an abandoned vintage 1950 Ford truck sitting in a field of grass and weeds.  In particular in the foreground I experimented with using salt and drips to creating interesting texture.

Abandoned Chicken Coop, pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

This painting is based on a scene near my home that I often walk by when I walk down to the park.  There are still pockets of horse property in my suburban neighborhood and this is one of them, this disused structure however appears to have been used as a chicken coop, that's my guess anyway.  My experiment on this one is to use only small amounts of line in the foliage, rather than identify all the foliage with pen I let the watercolor paint itself do most of the talking.

Daily Sketching Challenge May 2020 - Day 1-2

I've decided to challenge myself to produce a new sketch every day for the month of May.  Why?  Well, sketching regularly is just good practice for any artist and I've been very lax about sketching lately.  I'll try to post a blog about these daily sketches every day or two. Here's the first one,

Day 1 - Abandoned Tractor - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

Day 1 sketch is an abandoned antique non-styled Farmall tractor rotting in the grass.  The sketch is based on a photograph I took while exploring the "junkyard" out back at the Erickson Ranch in Wallsburg, Utah during the Antique Power Show. I used a Faber Castel Pitt Artist Pen which waterproof and watercolor paint to add color.

Day 2 - Autumn Landscape - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

Day 2 sketch is an autumn landscape, somewhere near a rural area with a bit of a fence line and a walking trail up the hill through the fields and trees.  Again I used pen and watercolor.  My reference photo was taken in Ogden Valley near the Pineview Reservoir in the town of Eden, Utah.