Daily Sketch Challenge - Wheeler Farm - Day 25

You might have noticed that I skipped day 24, that would be because I didn't make a sketch on day 24.  I had a couple things come up that took up too much time and didn't get around to sketch, but never fear, I made up for it on day 25.

Daily Sketch - John Deere Tractor - Day 25

I took advantage of a beautiful Memorial Day morning and went to historic Wheeler Farm, a park owned by Salt Lake County that just reopened after being closed for nearly two months due to the pandemic. My first choice to sketch was an early "styled" John Deere tractor, I'm guessing it's from the early 1950's going by the disk wheels with rubber tires.

Daily Sketch - Shed and Box Elder Tree - Day 25

Next I sat on the ground leaning against a tree next to Little Cottonwood Creek and sketched one of the sheds at Wheeler Farm that had an old box elder tree next to it.  The shed isn't old, but the tree sure is, it was probably there when the farm was active many years ago. I used a fiber pen and brush pens for both sketches to keep it simple.

I wasn't the only artist at Wheeler Farm that day.  There was a plein air oil painter working on a very nice little painting of one of the many historic structures on the property.

Back to the Sketchbooks

I've been neglecting my sketchbooks lately, in fact I haven't taken them out this year much at all, geez, how lazy can I be?  Lack of time is no excuse, especially for me.  I decided I wouldn't waste another sunny autumn weekend day.  However, I got a late start, (that lazy problem again) and knew I'd have less than an hour before the sun hit the horizon so I just took a pen with one sketchbook and headed out to Wheeler Farm.  Using only a pen meant I couldn't get too fussy, my goal was to spend about ten minutes on each sketch.  I also had the goal of trying to quickly compose possible paintings.  I decided to stand while sketching as well in spite of my back problems, this forced me to sketch rapidly also.

This is the main hay barn, along with my favorite old Dodge truck parked in front.   I modified the fence line to create a lead in.  Unfortunately the cows weren't out in the pasture today.

This is the old farm house, a fairly elaborate structure that was a challenge to sketch fast. The only real composing I did on this was just to pick the viewpoint and to eliminate a structure from the background at the right.  I liked how the big tree interacts with the left side of the house.  Yes, it covers some of the house and supposedly that's a compositional no-no but I don't care, I like it, and it adds a little mystery.

Another of my old favorites, the orange Moline tractor out back.  This makes the third time I've sketched this tractor but from a different angle each time.  I eliminated clutter from the background and overlapped the tractor and tree more than what I was actually seeing.

Even though each of these sketches was done very quickly without editing this outing was very good exercise for both my drawing and observation skills.   These sketches combined with photos and previous color sketches give me plenty of information to make some new paintings, hopefully I'll get to them this winter.

I'm considering starting a daily ten minute sketch practice.  They won't often be outdoors since the weather is less favorable now and the days are short but sketching from imagination or photos is useful as well, it would make a good warm up for a painting session.  If I start doing the daily ten minute sketch thing I'll post the results here so stay tuned.

Another Tractor Sketch From the Past

This is another tractor sketch I made some time ago and published to my old sketching blog but not to this blog, so here it is now;

"Orange Tractor"

Pen & watercolor on paper, 5" X 8"

This is actually the same tractor in the pencil sketch from the previous post at Wheeler Farm, just a different angle and different time of year.

What is it about old tractors that make them such appealing art subjects?  Is it the nostalgia for the "simple life" of the independent American farmer?  Or is it the interesting shapes and colorful patina?  Or is it both?

An Oldie but a Goodie

Here's a little blast from the past.  I'd made this sketch a year or so ago at Wheeler Farm.  I'd posted it to my old sketching blog but have never shared it in this blog, it's one of my favorites so I figured I post it here too.

"Sketchy Tractor"

Graphite on paper, 7.75" X 11"

Prints Available

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Sketching at Wheeler Farm

The weather today was about as nice as it gets in the Salt Lake Valley in mid-November.  I decided I needed to take advantage and took a short drive over to Wheeler Farm to do some sketching.  Wheeler Farm is an historic living farm owned by the county. I've been on a pen kick lately, I don't know why but that's why I made these sketches using a Copic Multiliner .03 pen in my 5x8 sketchbook.  All of these sketches are straight to pen with no preliminary layout work in pencil.  I do this as both a challenge to my drawing skills and because I prefer to have that little bit of extra sponteneity in my sketches from life.


First up is the "Milk House".  This is actually one end of a larger structure, the rest of which is used to store hay.  I rushed it a bit at the start and got the angles and width of the end of the building a bit off.

Trying to learn something from the previous sketch I went a little slower on this one, trying to make sure I got those angles right.  The sign was missing from this little house but if I remember right it they call it the "summer cottage" or something like that.

I did this last sketch quickly, the temperature had started dropping below the point of comfort.  This is a chicken coop built way back in the early 1900's and restored in the 1980's, so even the restoration is old now!



It was sure nice to get outside for a couple hours and sketch at one of my favorite places today.  These opportunities will soon become very rare until spring!