Primed and Ready

 'Tis snow season. In eastern Kansas in the last few years we haven't received many big snows. But we did last week, with lots of wind and the resulting drifts. My driveway blew shut four times. Now that I have a side-by-side with blade I can handle most of the storms we get, but this was the first true test.

Since it's just me now, I have the luxury of dedicating one of my two garage stalls to this machine, ready for action on a moments notice.

I only have this machine because I'm a volunteer in a trail group that maintains 15 miles of trail up my me. However, I will admit I have lusted for one even without the trail work.

This year I decided to help out some neighbors. I live in a rural area where the roads are on a 1-mile grid (mostly). On my 'mile' we only have twelve homes. Most of us are self sufficient and have the equipment to push snow. However, four don't. Three I know and like. The forth one drove by as I was clearing my driveway and asked to hire me. I went over (they weren't home) and their driveway was really drifted in. They could not drive into their house for four days! It was -8F with -10F wind chill but after 2.5 hours of work I cleared it. The biggest job I've ever done. Left my contact info in their door. That was four days ago. They are back but haven't thanked or paid me. Maybe I won't be helping them in the future. The other three neighbors were very thankful and I was glad to help.

The snow plow was a prime example of the brain telling me it's all black, but the eyes are telling me it has shiny very light value areas. I went with the eyes and it worked.

Denver REI Store Visit

 REI is an outdoor gear store that is not focused on going out in nature and killing things. I say that as a hunter and fisherman, but it's true. I've been an REI member for over 40 years, and Denver has one of their flagship stores. If at all possible, on Denver visits I spend some time here. On this mid-December trip I had a couple hours to kill so I went. 

There is SO MUCH STUFF in a retail store like this so I needed to focus on something. The climbing wall wasn't being used but it always draws my attention. I found a spot on the stairs I could draw from, and incorporate people in the sketch (a weakness of mine that I'm working on). Very enjoyable time. The only drawback was the price of parking in their parking lot. I was over 2 hours here so the charge was something like $20. Rather punitive if you ask me. I spent plenty of money inside and outside of the store.

I have a thing for maps and compasses. In Topeka, Kansas nobody has a serious compass. So, when I'm here I always check on them. This one was sketch worthy. Using one is a fading skill. I use a GPS, too, but you're depending on battery life to keep you alive and I don't like that. Worse yet is a trend of depending on your cell phone GPS and map to keep you alive. Never!

Sketchout with a friend

 A good friend of mine, in a similar place in life, has done formal art many many years ago, before marriage and before kids. Then life happens. She wasn't familiar with the type of sketching I do in my journals. I figured we could go out to a coffee shop and I could show here what I do and give her some supplies to do it. She didn't buy into my no-pencil-layout ink first approach but that's OK. Once she laid pencil to sketchbook I could see it reignited those past days of emersion into the creative process. It made my day!

More Bookbinding

 I decided to make each of my five grandkids a sketchbook for Christmas. Then I could sit down with each one and design a vinyl sticker to customize their book using my Cricut machine.

First I tore down 25 sheets of Mohawk Superfine (regular bond) paper. I always feel good after they are gathered into signatures and holes punched ready for hand sewing. This is the first feeling of accomplishment.

Then sewing the signatures together, creating the textblock, then the case, casing the signatures, then book cover treatment. Five for the kids and two to use up all the paper. The finished products:

Then we must have customization from each grandkid:

The kids (ages 3-9) loved them! 

The Ships

 After my night at the Androy Hotel I address the purpose of this part of my journeys: visit the shipping lane at Duluth at the southern tip of Lake Superior. I've been here a few times before and it's a trip requirement. The big lakes have a ship culture. The big lake freighters can exceed 1000' in length, carrying various cargos but an emphasis on iron ore and coal. Internet has a site with the canal schedule. I have two freighters I can witness: the Hon James LO Oberstar and the American Century.

First up is the Oberstar at 8 am (give or take). She was built in 1959 and is the same class of freighter as the Edmund Fitzgerald, at around 700'. The control tower is at the bow. Therefore she probably has a fuel oil boiler that drives huge steam pistons to drive the propeller. They always have steam exhaust just like a steam locomotive has. I sketched her live (August 19) to see how far I could get. They come through the canal very slow, but still not enough time to do it justice. 

I had some time before the American Century came through so I sketched the walkway that the public can access. Trying to apply what I learned at the week workshop. People are tough but I'll slug my way through this skill. I learned here that the walkway does not fade away into the sky (like my brain was telling me) but it fades at just under eye level. Oops.

Then it's time for the American Century. She was built in 1981 at 1000' long. This is the standard modern size of the lake freighters. For her I took pictures with my cell phone so I could do a realistic drawing back home. Being a newer ship, she has diesel engines that probably drive electric motors that drive the propeller shafts. These are much quieter and exhaust is minimal. Very impressive! 

My usual sketching process uses fountain pen linework without pencil layout. Then watercolor pencil with a waterbrush. For this one I used just a little pencil layout. Then a fountain pen with a (new) fude nib. Seems to be the craze now. I hate crazes, but this one works out just fine. I can vary the thick to thin linework. I also used a trick I learned from the watercolorists at the workshop. I created a wash using pigment from the pencils in a clean half-pan with added water. This was for the water and sky. I also wanted to fade the colors of the bow as the ship gets longer and has subdued tones.