All Caught up on the Ten Minute Sketches

This post will catch you up on all my ten minute sketches, that's partly because it's been a few days since I've made a new one, I've been a bit obsessed lately over a medium I haven't used in quite some time so I've neglect the TMS', my next post will have details.  As in the last post these are all pen.

This one was a test for a minimalist landscape design.  It came out with kind of a graphical feel, I kind of like it for it's simplicity and boldness.

This is a vintage gas station scene based on a photo I took in Wallsburg, Utah. I may make a drawing of this.

A 1932 Ford tudor hot rod sedan, just for the sake of sharpening my drawing skills.

This one is based on a photo I took in Lynndyl, Utah.  I move some things around a bit and added the truck.  I think it came out a bit busy so if I do a drawing or painting of it I'll have to cut some clutter.

And finally my last TMS, a barn and trees based on a photo I took in Midway, Utah.  This subject will make an appearance in my next post.

More Ten Minute Sketches

I've been slacking off on posting my ten minute sketches so I'll catch up in this post.  These are all done in pen.  I think pen is the ideal medium for these exercises, there's no temptation to erase and the lines are automatically dark, you have no choice but to be bold and expressive.

Another rusty old Ford truck, this one with a wheel misplaced and backed by a chicken coop, I took the reference photo in Lynndyl, Utah.

This one was to test an idea for a painting. Luckily I did this before starting a painting.  The shed is too centered, if I make a painting I'll move the apple tree and shed quite a bit closer to the right edge, I'll also replace the tractor with something that doesn't look so awkward, probably with a more straight on view.

Just a simple rural scene based loosely on a photo I took in Morgan County.

A vintage country store with gas pumps based on a photo I took in Boulder City, Utah.

This scene is semi-fictitious. The building exists in Eureka, Utah, I added the visible gas pump and antique car. I really like the feel of this design.  I think I'll make a pen drawing based on this sketch some day.

Turns out I'm farther behind than I thought, so to keep this blog post at a reasonable length I'll catch up some more in a day or two.



Some Ten Minute Sketches

Here are the last few ten minute sketches, all in pen this week;

This 1930 Chevy flatbed truck is part of a monument on Main Street, Coalville, Utah

I made this sketch to specific proportions as an exploration for a possible painting.

I don't remember specifically where I took the photo of this 1946 Ford flatbed truck, I think it was somewhere west of I-15 in Utah County.

Offset High Crop

Does that title sound a little cryptic?  It's nothing too mysterious really, it's just the designation for the configuration of the tractor that's the subject of my latest painting;

"Offset High Crop"

14" X 11", Acrylic on panel

Original - $160

This is an old, derelict Farmall tractor I found in Wallsburg, Utah.  This configuration is unusual, in fact I believe this is the only one of this kind I've seen in person.  The front axle is raised to clear certain crops and the engine is offset from center to give better visibility to the operator, at least on one side.

I've been on a tractor kick lately, the last few ten minute sketches have all  been tractors, one of them based on the same reference photo as the painting.

#17, Case

#18, Allis Chalmers

#19, Farmall Offset High Crop

#20, Eimco Power Horse 4WD

#21, Fordson crawler

One More Miniature

I painted another miniature, this one based on another ten minute sketch, #15

I was going for an even bigger sky than I had in "Clouds over Sanpete County".  I believe my reference photo for this one was also taken in Sanpete County which is in central Utah where there is much more wide open countryside than most other parts of the state.

"Incoming"

Acrylic on panel, 6" X 8"

Original - $60

As with other recent paintings I painted this one mostly with a palette knife.  The ten minute sketch provided a perfect values road map and was very helpful in making the painting.  All these ten minute sketches I've been doing are becoming awfully handy!



TMS #12, #13 and #14

I indicated in my last ten minute sketch post that in the future I'll be blogging multiple ten minute sketches in one post from now on, so here we are.

Ten minute sketch #12 is a pen sketch for planning a 24" X 12" painting I'm working on.  I made a measured outline for this sketch to make sure the proportions would be right.  The scene is a mountain landscape, the season is autumn but you can't really tell that from the pen sketch but I've had one two hour session with the painting and it's going well so far so you'll see before too long.

Ten minute sketch #13 is another pen sketch based on a photo I took in a rural area so far North it was very close to the Idaho border. Just a simple sketch of a large oak tree next to a garage, probably not something I'd paint but it was a good sketch exercise. Maybe if I put a barn there instead.....



I switched mediums for ten minute sketch #14.  This time I got the graphite pencils out.  I used this as a preliminary sketch for a small painting.  Small, simple paintings you can paint in an hour or so are good exercises to do now and then as well, I plan on making the painting very soon.  I wanted to use pencils for this sketch because I felt graphite could capture the subtle values and soft shapes of this natural landscape better than pen.  I'm a little rusty with the pencil, I probably should do my ten minute sketches with graphite for a while.

TMS #11, Back to the Pen

You might notice that the last TMS I shared was #7.  I decided to not share the rest of the digital automotive sketches here. I've decided I've had enough digital for a while.  Every now and then I pick up my Surface Pro and play with the ArtRage for a while but I always return to traditional media.  While there are advantages to digital I don't find the process as enjoyable or the results as satisfying.  For an artist enjoying the process is of paramount importance.  A piece of art can take many hours to create, so no matter how good the result is or how convenient the medium might be, if the artist does not enjoy the process while creating the art he's likely to abandon it and even if he finishes the result will be lacking in some way.  Anyway, that's why I've ditched digital again....for now.  Spending a little time with the digital can be a good break now and then, so I'm sure I'll play with it more in the future.

Now, to TMS #11.  I used a Copic Multiliner 05 black pen to make this sketch of a common type of scene in the rural areas of northern Utah, 

An old, decrepit wood hay shed full of hay bales, one of those scenes that's so appealing for reasons we don't quite understand.  I think I might make a pen drawing based on this sketch, it's been a long time since I've done a pen drawing.

As for the Ten Minute Sketch thing, I'll continue to do them but I most likely won't do them every day, maybe four or five a week and I'll probably make my TMS post a weekly thing and post all of the TMS's from that week in one post, so check back in another week if you want to see the next batch.

TMS #5

Today's ten minute sketch is based on the same photo as the last one, just a different part of it.

It's still trees, a pasture and some cows but a somewhat different composition.  I left the ditch out this time.  Instead of a tall group of trees in the middle I put the tallest trees at the left side and they more or less get shorter as you move to the right then I balanced it out with hills in the background.  I used only one foreground cow but put a few in the far distance to give the trees scale. I used the 0l Micron sepia pen again.

TMS #4

I took Thanksgiving day off and even today I didn't get to it until late but I did get my ten minute sketch in.

This is a good example of how it's often possible to find multiple compositions in one photograph.  This sketch is based on a photo I took three years ago in Ogden Valley, Utah near Huntsville, but it's based on only a small portion of the photo.  The downside to this ten minute sketch habit.....it's giving me too many ideas for paintings!  I used a Micron 01 sepia pen.

TMS #3

Three days in a row now, the new habit is having a good start.  This ten minute sketch is based on a photo I took in the Middle Provo Restoration Area in the Heber Valley in northern Utah.

No barns in this one.  I think this one would make a good painting.  I guess that's another advantage to this daily sketch habit, it helps my find and test painting ideas, as if I needed more.



TMS #2

I bit off a little more than I could chew with today's ten minute sketch.  I knew that going in though, so I focused on the most interesting part of the barn, even so I get less done than I hoped even though I actually spent about 15 minutes on it.

The reference photo came from one of the many taken on my day trips to the rural areas of northern Utah, unfortunately I don't remember which town.

Ten Minute Sketch (TMS) #1

I've decided to try and get the daily ten minute sketch habit started.  The first thing I did when I came home from work was to blindly pull a reference photo from the middle of the stack sitting on my main art table and set the timer.

I used a Micron 01 sepia pen.  The reference photo was taken in Lake Point last year which is a small rural town north of Tooele and West of Salt Lake City on Interstate 80.

I'll admit I'm not good at sticking to ideas like this but I'll do my best.  I'm sure I'll miss some days and I'm sure I won't post everyday but I'll try to post every sketch I make, it just may end up being two or three or more at time in some posts.