A Sketchy Black Friday

I've never been one for hunting for Christmas time bargains, in fact for a very long time I've felt the holiday has been way too over-commercialized and it only gets worse every year.  For me the Friday after Thanksgiving is another day off work, (now that's something to be thankful for. <G>).  We have been blessed with milder than normal weather for this time in November which allowed me to get out and do some sketching. I headed to one of my top five favorite sketching spots, Wheeler Farm, a historic farm owned and run by Salt Lake County.  I knew they had liberated the old Dodge truck from the garage and placed it out in the garden so of course I sketched that first.

"Derelict Dodge"

I kept it simple, just graphite pencil in my 9x12 bristol smooth sketchbook.  After a break for some lunch I walked over to the antique machinery building planning on sketching the John Deere they always have on display outside.  I was surprised and excited to see they now have another tractor on display outside of the building, a Moline I believe, so I sketched that one instead, this time in pen and watercolor.

"By the Barn"

There was a lot more foot traffic in the area where this tractor was parked so I got a lot more attention, in fact I gave out more business cards in one sitting than I ever have before.  One person even said he thinks he likes the sketch more than the real thing. I think that is the best compliment an artist can receive, thank you kind sir!  One boy even asked if this particular sketch was for sale, I had to tell him no, not yet for a couple reasons I won't go into here.