It's a Car, it's a Boat, no it's an Amphicar!

 Amphibious vehicles aren't just for the military, at least they weren't in the 1960's when the Amphicar was produced.  Manufactured in West Germany less than 4000 Amphicars were made and about 3000 of those were exported to the United States,.  In spite of such a low production run and the fact that only about 300 are known to still exist in the United States I've encountered a couple at local car shows.  I decided to make a line and wash sketch of one.

"Red Amphicar Classic Car"
8" X 10" Pen and Watercolor
Click on image to purchase

As you can see the Amphicar is a very small car with an almost comical appearance due to that boat-like front end.

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"
Click on image to purchase

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.

Sketching a Kenworth

 When I was a kid my Dad was an independent truck driver.  It was the 1970's and trucking was a big craze, in the late 1970's in particular.  That was when my favorite movie came out, Smokey and the Bandit, I dragged my poor father to the theater seven times to see that movie, looking back I can't believe he went along with it.  I also spent many hours in the cab of his trucks during the summer, at least before I was old enough to start working.  One of the trucks he owned was a Kenworth W900 that he built himself from parts he had gathered.  That's right, my Dad was a mechanic before he was a truck driver and built his own trucks out of used parts for a fraction of the cost of buying one. I have fond memories of many of his trucks but especially of that fireball metallic red Kenworth conventional.  

Unfortunately we don't see many vintage semi-trucks at the local shows but when they do appear I get very nostalgic for those days of my youth riding cross country in a big rig and of course take many photos.  I used one of those photos as reference for this sketch of a Kenworth W900, not quite the same as my Dad's truck but very cool nonetheless.

Red 1994 Kenworth W900 Truck
8' X 10" pen and watercolor
Click on image to purchase

Dip Pen and Watercolor

 Recently I decided to try using a dip pen to do the line work on a line and wash painting.  I wanted to see if a dip pen might put some more irregularity in my line work.  I also worked a bit larger and with more detail on this one.  I also used cold press paper instead of the usual hot press paper I use, I did this for two reasons, one because I accidentally ordered cold press and two because I wanted to see how the watercolor acted on cold press as opposed to hot press.  Using cold press however was difficult with the dip pen, the extra texture caused a lot of interference with pen movement but I suppose that resulted in even more irregularity.  

The subject is an abandoned 1963 Chevy C10 fleetside pickup.  The truck is from a reference photo I took in a fairly remote rural Utah town, the landscape around it was developed from my imagination, or maybe you could call it muscle memory from all the drawing and painting I've done in the past.

I decided the line work was good enough and complete enough to scan it and offer it as a pen drawing print.

"Abandoned 1963 Chevy C10 Pickup Pen Dwg"

After the line work I applied color using Holbien watercolor paint.  I can't say I noticed much difference between using hot press or cold press paper while applying the watercolor washes but that's probably because I'm not really a watercolorist and don't know how to take advantage of cold press paper.  The original is available in my Etsy store.

"Abandoned 1963 Chevy C10 Pickup" pen and watercolor 11" X 14"

Well, I still have two full watercolor blocks of this cold press paper, I'm definitely not going to let them go to waste, however I'm not going to use a dip pen on them either. I'm already working on another line and wash painting using my usual Faber Castell fiber pens and they handle the cold press paper much better, though I do think the cold press texture is wearing them down much faster.

Colorful and Sketchy

 I've been creating a new series of artwork lately, I call it "Colorful Sketchy".  It's an all automotive series, consisting of classic cars, vintage trucks, hot rods, custom cars, abandoned vehicles and more.  They are all "line and wash" sketches, which means I use pens and watercolor.  My goal is not realism, rather I purposely try to make the drawing and washes of color loose and give the subject extra character. I have been doing as many as five of these a week for a couple months now.  Below are a few of my favorites so far, but you can see all that are currently available in my Etsy store here" Colorful Sketchy 

"Blue Hot Rod Ford Pickup" pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

"Yellow Hot Rod Ford Pickup Sketch" pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

"Green 1946 International Farm Truck" pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

"Orange Ford T-bucket Hot Rod" pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

"Purple Custom 1956 Mercury Hardtop" pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

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.

Sketching and Painting a Kamas Barn

 Some subjects just seem to grab you.  I don't mean a whole genre, but rather a particular subject within a genre.  Anybody that has paid any attention to my art knows I really enjoy rural scenes, scenes that feature old barns in particular. I can't say specifically why I find old barns so appealing but affection for such things seems to be pretty common. There is one barn in particular that has received more of my attention than most others I've seen. 

There is a large, old, seemingly abandoned barn with rusty corrugated metal siding along the Mirror Lake Highway in Kamas Utah.  Kamas is often referred to as the gateway to the High Uinta mountain wilderness area as what is commonly referred to as the "Mirror Lake Highway" originates in the middle of town and leads to a land of lakes, mountains and hiking trails.  Shortly after leaving town on the highway, if you glance over to your right you just might spot this iconic barn.

One summer day in July I stopped at a wide spot on the highway near the barn and got out my sketchbook.

Kamas Barn Sketch

As you can see I used pen and watercolor to make this sketch, I did it while sitting on a chunk of concrete that was part of piles of it that were dropped there apparently to help retain the road bank as the road elevation was quite a bit higher than the field below at this point.  Prints are available, click on the image.

More recently I did a sketch of this same barn from a different angle in charcoal as part of a 30 day, daily sketch challenge.

Kamas Barn Charcoal Sketch

Prints are available, click on the image.

I decided I liked the charcoal sketch enough that I would make a painting of it.

"Kamas Barn Study", Acrylic, 9" X 12"

I decided to stick with brushes on this one and use lots of layering to build up texture and color.  I like the result enough that eventually I'll mostly likely paint a larger version. The original painting is available on Etsy, click on the image.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 31

It's finally the last day of my daily sketch challenge. What better way to top it off than to head up Big Cottonwood Canyon and do some sketching in the mountains. I picked kind of an unusual subject for a mountain sketch but I couldn't resist it when I saw it. Mountain homes have always intrigued me, they usually have a very distinct design and usually an interesting interaction with the natural shapes around them. I never noticed this house before, I suspect before long the foliage will be full enough that you can't even see it from the parking lot of Brighton Ski Resort which is where I was when I sketched it.

Day 31 - Mountain Home - Daily Sketch Challenge Day 31

When I was young I seriously considered pursuing a career in architectural rendering, I'm glad I didn't for several reasons, the primary being that computers took over and took all the fun out of it.

As I mentioned before I said I would share my larger sketch kit that requires a backpack to carry around.

Pencil Case

The first photo is my pencil case full of not only graphite pencils but pens, erasers, a water brush and a sharpening pad. 

Watercolor Palette

In the second photo is my watercolor palette. I don't know who the manufacturer is, it's a clamshell type and has a rubber seal but doesn't really seal all that well. I screwed a piece of aluminum to it that I can clip medium cups to. The paints are all Holbein.

Easel and Tripod

In the third photo you can see my watercolor sketch block resting on a board that I installed a 1/4-20 nutsert on to allow it to be attached to the mini tripod below.

Brushes

The last photo is my brushes, a Jack Richeson portable brush set. 

I also sometimes use a 6X8 mixed media sketch book (spiral bound) and set it on the lid of the watercolor palette and just hold it to the palette with my hand doing away with the board and tripod and use a water brush instead of the medium cups and brushes for a more simplified setup.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 26-28

A good variety of sketch styles in this post, from graphite pencil, to charcoal pencil to pen and watercolor.

Day 26 - Stripped Junkyard Car - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

I kept this one simple, just a quickie using graphite pencils and mostly hatching strokes. The reference photo was taken In Mcbride's Auto Wrecking in Grantsville, Utah.  This wrecking yard was full of classic cars, mostly from the 1950's however they were mostly stripped of useful parts, in this case stripped almost bare, I believe that's a 1956 Mercury Montclair hardtop . Mcbride's is gone now, another victim to dirty politics to push the little guy out in favor of lucrative development. I was fortunate to be able to spend a couple hours there several years ago taking photos, little did I know it would be gone in just a year.  That's a warning for any artist I suppose, don't put off that painting trip or that sketch or photograph that old barn or truck or whatever else you find interesting, it might not be there when you go back if you put it off too long.

Day 27 - Spring City Barn - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

Sketching with charcoal is simple enough, but I went larger on this one and with a more involved subject, this one took a while.  My reference was a photograph I took in Spring City, a small rural town in Sanpete County, Utah.  I liked all the angles provided by the barn shapes and that it was surrounded by the abstract shapes of foliage.  I toned the paper with sepia watercolor first, for some reason I really enjoy that warm undertone on charcoal drawings.

Day 28 - Antique Toy Truck - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

For day 28 I decided to grab one of the antique toy trucks from my collection and set it on the kitchen table for a life sketch in pen and watercolor.  Every toy truck in my collection is older than me, one by about 30 years.  Why have collected these toy trucks?  I really don't know, I just think they're cool, back when toys were made to last, out of pressed steel, not junk plastic.

Mini Portable Watercolor Sketching Kit

Here's a photo of the mini portable kit I sometimes use for life sketching on location.  Included are; a mechanical pencil, two pens (.1 and .05) two Arteza water brushes, Strathmore 5 X 8 sketchbook, a Sakura 24 color watercolor kit and a paper towel.  The colors in the Sakura kit are a bit weak but this is a very convenient kit as it fits in a regular fanny pack so it can be taken anywhere.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 22-23

Two intricate pen and watercolor sketches in a row for Day 22 and Day 23

Day 22 - Old Chevy Truck and Shed - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

This rural scene is based on a photo I took somewhere in the rural part of southern Utah County, probably near Spanish Fork.  However, the original photo was taken in summer, I decided to change it to fall.  I also added the old Chevy truck from another photo, it was red, I changed it to blue.

Day 22 - Junkyard Dodge Dart - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

This one is a rarity for me, a sketch not based on one of my photos or from life.  I saw the reference posted on twitter by someone I follow and who follows me.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to sketch it, and I also knew that the woman that posted it had taken the photo herself so she could give me permission and did.  If you are into old cars, especially Mopar you might want to give her account a follow: https://twitter.com/AmberDawnGlover The photograph was very well composed, the only change I made was to simplify the background. The other thing that drew me to it was that grill, even a perfectly preserved 1960 Dodge Dart grill is pretty wild looking, but this was all bent up and took it to another level.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 19-21

Again, three more days, three more sketches.  I think this is the longest I've ever stuck to a challenge like this.  It hasn't been easy and it has eaten into my painting time but I think it's been worth.

Day 19 - Abandoned Dodge Truck - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

I decided to stick with a fine pen for this one, a Copic Multiliner .05 except for the darkest parts where I used a .1.  This means all shading was done with hatching.  I found this old abandoned Dodge farm truck in the rural central Utah town of Loa.

Day 20 - Abandoned Country Store - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

I stuck with the fine pen for this one but then colored it with watercolor washes. The old country store actually exists, at least it did the last time I visited Boulder City, Utah. The vintage tow truck out back was taken from another reference photo.

Day 21 - Winter Barn and Fence - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

Time was short this morning so I had to keep today's sketch simple, so I went with a winter scene, the fact that most of the ground is covered in snow helped keep it minimalist.  The composition as it sat in the refence photo was almost perfect, everything leading to the focal point, the abandoned barn.  I especially liked that wrecked fence gate in the foreground, it pointed right up the snow ridge and to the barn, I did add a little tuft of grass in the lower left to point to the fence.  I found this scene in the small rural farming community of Eden, Utah in Ogden Valley.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 16-18

Another three days, three more sketches.

Day 16 - Abandoned Feed Store - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

I'm not a watercolorist, I generally just use watercolor to just color pen sketches.  I decided to try a pure watercolor sketch to take a shot at improving my skill with watercolor.  I think it will take a lot more sketches.  This building is an abandoned feed store in Castledale, Utah.

Day 17 - Jordan River Parkway - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Sunday I decided to take the sketching materials outdoors and down the street to the Jordan River Parkway to sketch this scene in pen and watercolor.

Day 18 - Rural Winter Scene - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

I got the black dusty sticks out again but this time I left the paper white.  It might be hard to tell but this is actually a winter scene, based on a photo I took somewhere west of Provo, Utah. 

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 12-13

I'm nearing the halfway point of this challenge and I've actually kept up with it and am generating plenty of future painting ideas along the way, however right now it is cutting into the painting time a bit but I think it's worth it.

Day 12 - Country Driveway - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

This sketch is based on a photograph I took a few years ago in West Mountain, Utah. It's interesting how many towns you discover that you never knew existed while exploring rural areas.  The photo was actually taken in autumn, I decided to give the trees summer color.  Also in the reference there wasn't so much open field in the background.  That shed at the end of the driveway is awfully small, I wonder what they use it for. I've attempted to make a painting based on this before and essentially failed.  With the composition adjustments I made in this sketch I think I might give it a try again some day since the sketch seems to work pretty well.

Day 13 - Two Granaries - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

I took to the pencils for day 13.  I think graphite is especially effective for rendering rustic rural scenes like this one.  What is interesting about this scene is what you are seeing here is two very different types of granaries.  How do I know the wood structure is a granary?  Because the studs are on the outside of the wall.  To make it easier to clean out all the grain, old style wood granaries were paneled from the inside so there were no obstructions getting in the way of the shovels to clear out the grain.  The granary behind is a "newer" style corrugated metal pre fab type.  I found this little scene in Hennefer, Utah.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 Day 9-11

I really should post these updates more often, but at least I am doing it.

Day 9 - Scrub Oak - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

On a summer evening some years ago I ventured up to the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley with a small set of pastels and hiked a little bit up the Mount Olympus trail and did a bit of outdoor painting.  I also took some photos and this sketch is based on one of those.  There really isn't much red rock in northern Utah but there is a bit on the east bench of the valley.

Day 10 - Abandoned Granary - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

I toned a piece of hot pressed watercolor paper with sepia watercolor before drawing this little scene of an abandoned metal granary with charcoal.  You see these little cylindrical metal granaries all over rural Utah and they are often abandoned, left to be reclaimed by Mother Earth, or maybe cut up for scrap some day.  Looks like the former is the case for this one, as the vegetation appears to be slowly swallowing it.  I found this little scene in some small farm town near Tremonton, Utah.

Prints Available

I can't pinpoint exactly why but I really enjoy abandoned vehicle scenes. I find scenes like this one especially interesting, where the abandoned vehicle is so obviously slowly returning to earth, this one is even being hosting a small tree.  I discovered this little scene in Mcbride's Auto Wrecking in Grantsville, Utah.  I was fortunate to be able to spend a couple hours wandering their yard photography dozens of similar scenes. Unfortunately McBride's is no longer there, the victim of questionable city politics, housing developments pay much more in taxes than junkyards.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 Day 6-8

A couple more days have passed, time for an update, three more sketches to share.

Day 6 - Rural Landscape

Prints Available

This sketch is based on a photo I took in Castledale, Utah, a small desert town in central Utah.  Obviously there's some water there too since there is some farming in the area, basically a bit of an oasis in the desert, this scene in particular is quite green, not just in my sketch but for real too.  While exploring the town I noticed an old, unused bridge at the end of a dead end street.  I went over to investigate, walked across the bridge and encountered this bucolic farm scene.  I think I'll have to make a painting of this one too.

Day 7 - Abandoned Classic Chevy

Prints Available

I found this scene also in Castledale at the north end of town.  I liked how the dilapidated fence echoed the sorry state of the abandoned 1950 Chevy sedan and I even "enhanced" the disrepair of the fence in the sketch.  This one also goes on my "to be painted someday" list.

Day 8 -Rural Hay Shed

I kept this one simple and small, just used sepia toned pens.  This scene is in Wanship, Utah, a very small rural town a ways east of Salt Lake City just off I-80.  The Weber River runs behind this rustic old hay shed.  I've attempted paintings of this hay shed a couple times before and didn't care for the results, that was several years ago, maybe it's time to try again, this time using the knives.

Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020 - Day 3-5

Day 3 - Dilapidated Abandoned Barn - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

The day 3 sketch is a graphite pencil sketch of a dilapidated barn based on a photo I took in Ogden Valley, in the town of Eden, Utah.  This one might make a good painting.

Day 4 - Abandoned Ford Deliver Truck - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

Prints Available

The day 4 sketch is an abandoned antique Ford delivery truck rusting away in the weeds in pen and watercolor. Based on a photo I took at the Antique Power Show in Wallsburg, Utah.

Day 5 - Rural Farm Landscape - Daily Sketch Challenge May 2020

The day 5 sketch is simple pen sketch of a rural farm scene to test the concept for a painting. Based on a photo I took in Oakley, Utah.

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.