To Remember

 A somber day for me. Three years ago, today, Wilma died. I've been in a funk today and can't focus on anything constructive. So, since I'm thinking of her, I thought I'd sketch something with that theme.

I am holding on to the key fob she used since we were dating 47 years ago. She never was without it. She showed it to me back then and said we had to question authority. That meant we should question what the government says, what the cops say, any authority figure. I tended to be more traditional and not so rebellious but I  loved her for that independent spirit and critical thinking.

She was the best partner and mother to our kids. I'll never forget her.

Fresh Produce

We've been busy lately. The garden and fruit trees are bearing fruit and we're in the throws of canning. I just love this time of year, even though it gets quite hectic. Wilma and I were both raised in households that had gardens and canning was the norm. Just like home. None of my co-workers get it. Not many of the younger generation do. It's a shame. I like seeing the new interest that some of the younger ones have. A renewed interest in eating better and reducing dependence on the convenient pre-fab foods is good. That's part of my interest, too. Studies have linked a correlation between cancers and the emergence of the "Western Diet" that we all grew up with. I love eating the products of our land, too. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Wilma and I have been doing this long enough that we don't speak much when we have the canning wheels in motion. We each know what the steps are. Depending on what the product is, one will be in charge and the other is the sous chef. It's not a perfect process, though. We're still not mind readers and sometimes we miss. It all works out in the end, though.

Holidays 2017

I've had a quiet spell as far as sketching goes. I finally took the time to sketch a black walnut shell that I've been keeping since Thanksgiving. This will represent the holidays for me. I was the favorite uncle for this holiday visit and took my great niece and nephew to the park a few times to play and walk around. We collected some black walnuts we found and I showed them how to take the husk off and break them open and pick out the nut meat. They had now idea you could eat something you found on the ground. We spend time coloring, too. We don't get to see them more that once a year, so at their young age every meeting is a big new experience. That broken nut shell represents a lot of family time.

This sketch also represents the holiday because of our families traditions of having walnuts around with the nut cracker and picks. Wilma and I both had this in our youth and still have it around in our home during the Winter. I was raised with home-grown black walnuts that mom and dad would spend HOURS processing so that mom could add them to banana bread, cookies and cakes.

From an artistic standpoint that nut shell jumped out at me. There isn't one straight line in the whole structure. The shading expands quite a range of values and textures. It just had to be sketched. I've been keeping it around and finally took some time on New Year's Day to finally memorialize it. This was my first sketch with the upgraded fine nib in my Lamy Joy. Much better feel!

Back On Task

It's happened more than once in my creative pursuits. First: brainstorm a new big project. Second: plan all the details and get in an excited pitch. Third: get a great start. Then: hit a brick wall and everything stops. Then I set there, like the morning after a night of heavy drinking (so I've been told) and ask myself - what just happened? Why can't I move?

Project: a family memory journal for my mom (dad is deceased). My three siblings will help. I bound the journal from scratch. I made it through about half of the illustrating of our childhood. When I'm done I'll rotate it to my siblings and they can write in details and memories of childhood through our day of marriage. But I came to a stop. Dead in the water! Don't know why. I sabotaged myself. It's been on the "To Do" list for a few months now. BUT I'M BACK ON IT NOW!

What I want to know is how does this happen?! It makes now sense. I love my mom and I WANT my mom to have this. My siblings are all on board and my sister will even help with some illustrations. My mom's not getting younger. I know she'll love it. So how does such a project come to a halt? This is illogical! I've run into this in my other hobbies, too. I've heard woodcarvers complain of it. Wilma's quilting projects can get this way, too. If anyone can explain it please do!

Christmas Cactus

This plant is not a consistent performer, but this year she's rocking it. It's been in bloom for a couple weeks, like it knew we're in the Christmas season. I knew I had to sketch it, but I had to wait until seasonal obligations (shopping, house cleaning, xmas cards, etc.) were done and our house was empty of our holiday guests. Not just any guests. We finally get to see our kids and their families. Sketching is not on the priority list of things to do. Wilma and I need to grab all the face time we can. But as soon as they left I had my sketchbook out and absorbed this beautiful plant. Felt better afterwords, too.

Spork Vandal

For Christmas I received a bamboo spork, among other things. Cody thought it would make a nice backpacking accessory, and I agree with him. Light. Strong. Functional. Multi-use. That's the type of item just made for backpacking. I left the spork on the floor in the living room for the night. 

A little more plot development is needed here. Brian and Michelle brought their adorable beagle Moab to stay, too. He's as cute as can be. Doesn't say much. He is a real slave to his nose, being a pure bred hunting dog. He'll trail his masters through the yard or through a city block of concrete and asphalt. A true master of tracking. He's got a run of the house because he's behaved. At least that's the prevailing belief.

We all go to bed and in the morning I find the spork is eaten in half, with the tines nowhere to be found. We ask Moab if he saw anything and he just looks at us with that cute mug. Couldn't have been him. I guess we'll never know.

The spork is made by bambu and marketed as picnic ware. I found where they bought it (a kitchen supply store) and went back and bought two. We'll try them out.

Manhattan Meeting

Had a meeting in Manhattan last night. That's Kansas, the "Little Apple". Our State 4-H Venture crew is planning our summer backpack trip with the teens. I've been a volunteer for a few years. This time we met at a coffee house in the little business/beer district near campus we call Aggieville. I decided to get there a little earlier so I could sketch the storefront. It was getting dark but with street lights it would still be sketchable.

I set up my little three-legged stool in a nook along the sidewalk across the street and was sketching away, in my own world, when I heard "Hello, John!" in an unfamiliar voice. Nobody knows me here and I'm invisible! I kept sketching but the voice got closer. It was a cousin of my brother-in-law that we camp with a couple times a year. He hails from the Topeka area like me, 60 miles to the east. K-State basketball is playing tonight so he must be here for the game. We exchange pleasantries and he leaves with a couple others I didn't know. Then I had a vision of a future conversation. He'll go back home and strike a conversation with my brother-in-law - "Say, I saw John huddled in a dark corner in Aggieville secretly doing something by himself, oblivious to the world. Is he OK?"

Wilma's Obsession

Ahh! The smell of a busy oven in the holidays. Food is such a part of it all. Watching Wilma cook up a series of confections gives me the idea for a sketch, so I get my gear out and sketch to the smells that only fresh baking can produce.

As the journal says, she has a love/hate relationship with the baking tradition. It's stressful and rewarding. She has trimmed down the quantity from a few years ago. Back then she did candies, too, like chocolate covered cherries. Very talented. Very addicted to creating confections. The whole extended family knows it, too, and has come to expect tasty treats when Christmas rolls around. They even put in a word for their favorites in the hopes she'll keep making them. We'll end up freezing some, too, so we can extend the good times.

A Late Present

I wanted to get a camping stove for my daughter and her husband. They're just starting out and don't have much in the way of camping gear. Unfortunately my normal retailers were all out of them. So, I decided to sketch it and give them an IOU. I don't think my daughter ever gets out to my blog so I'm safe in posting it before Christmas.

As for the stove, it's a model I've had for many many years. It's still produced, and still gets great reviews and hasn't been replaced by anything that impresses me. I'm prejudiced.

Time's a Changin'

Amy's wedding was Saturday. Wilma and I have been busy (mainly the women) getting ready. Saturday morning Amy and Wilma were getting their hair done etc. etc. and I was left at home, alone, until my first duty, which was to take her dress (which was in a plastic bag I couldn't see into . . . drats!) to the church and pick up a platter of sandwiches for the bridal party. Then show time. So as I set, passing the time of day and listening to music, cup of coffee, I see this champagne cork Amy used for a spiked punch for the girls. I was fiddling with it and, of course, it called out to me to be sketched. Had it done before I went to town for my assigned father duties.

The wedding went fine (other than the sandwich shop didn't see our order and had to do a mad rush to fill it). Words just don't describe it all. It's special (and that sounds so lame). I once thought watching weddings was OK but not THAT mushy. Then our kids got married. Wow!

Note: The purplish color is close to the official event color.

Invitations close to done

Well, I've been busy lately. Instead of sketching my creative time has been spent on wedding invitations for our daughter. My calligraphy originals went to the printers for the invitation, RSVP card, Reception card and Map card, and we like the results. Now it's time to address the envelopes. The finished product is shown at the left. I used some watercolor pencil to add a splash of color on the owls. At a bit over 100 invitations, that is 200 owls! That took me a while. The folder is creased (got to buy more gear!) and folded. The map card is creased and folded. Then I used transfer tape to glue the invitation to the backing to the folder. And, because of all the paper being cut (the invitation backing sheet plus misc.), I bought a nice table top rotary paper cutter.

As for addressing the envelopes, my corner of the basement is shown below. It's nothing fancy or expensive, but I like it. I have my hot tea and nice music and my quaint little domain. It's a slow process but it's worth it.



I'll be getting back to sketching after we get these in the mail. We had a quick trip for Spring Break to Seattle where our son just got a job. No time to sketch live, but I took pictures so I could work up the sketches later. That's in the work. Just not enough time.

More later.

To The Printers

Our girl's getting married and I'm taking on the invitations! I've dabbled in calligraphy for years and love it. My first big project was twenty nine years ago when I addressed envelopes for our wedding. I have a standing offer to my nieces and nephews that Uncle John will address their envelopes as a gift. Some have taken me up on it, and they were rewarding to do. Being of German descent I really enjoy writing out some of the traditional names. They look sharp in calligraphy.

For Amy I wanted to do it all from scratched. I pitched the idea after coming up with comparative costs to commercially available offerings, and they "gave me the job". Amy went with a pocket fold format, with individual cards for RSVP, Reception and Map. With invitation they are folded together in a pocket fold envelope. She had the idea of the owls, so I came up with a simple sketch after looking over the Internet for sample owl sketches. I needed to find out what "makes an owl" with minimum line work. All my work is done large scale and scaled down by the printer. I've gone with an off-set printer (good stuff) because my dad was an off-set pressman and I wanted it done in a way he would be proud of, since he's not here to see the event.

The last picture also has a mock-up I made to illustrate the concept. I'll have more pictures later of the finished product.

PS: I finished the roto-tilling this weekend and didn't blow my cool once!

Broken Borders

Wish I could say my absence was because I was abducted by a space alien and I was just returned home after months of human experiments. But nothing so grandeur. I just fell out of the habit due to a splash of activity and never got back in the saddle. There is probably a deep seated psychological explanation, but I'm not smart enough to figure that out. I do know that even though I wasn't sketching, I was viewing the world in terms of what would make a good sketch. I'm addicted. So here I am again.

Border's Book Store is going under. That's old news to anyone not living under a rock. As a family we like to shop book stores. Each of us may have a favorite but we like them all. In most towns in Kansas we don't have multiple choices in each city of the BIG book stores. Take out a BIG store and it changes things like family traditions. When we visit Lawrence, we usually hit Border's. Guess now we won't. We'll still have our independent book stores, but things will be different.

Our Little Girl

She's growing up and I can't stop it from happening. It's a thrill to watch it happen, yet part of me pines for the old days, too. She'll be fine. We'll see about me.

I had a 2-day business meeting in her town recently and crashed at her apartment for the night. That gave me a chance to sketch her chair. On my way home after the meeting I stopped to sketch one of many buildings at her campus. The final piece came when she was home for a weekend and I snapped a picture of her wearing her engagement ring. Then I figured what to babble about. I feel better now.

Spring Break 2010

This year we decided to check out Santa Fe for our daughter's Spring Break (her idea). We've visited once before a few years ago and wanted another look. Made a 4-day holiday out of last weekend and took Amtrak from Kansas City to Lamy (closest train depot).



The main purpose of the trip is a family short vacation with a full schedule of things to do. I usually like a loose schedule with a few anchor events, but when time is short ya gotta keep moving. So, travel journaling had to take back seat and I sketched when I could work it in. Luckily I still managed to get most sketching done on the trip. The writing and maps followed when I got home.




That's it for this trip. Don't know if my travel sketch process will stay the same forever, but it works for now.

Christmas Cards

Time to send out the Christmas Cards. The younger generation doesn't seem to be too interested in the tradition, but I won't let loose. We include a family newsletter that I try not to get too braggy or annoying. Digital pictures are easy to add. Then I use my calligraphy tools to add a personal touch on the addresses. It keeps my hand in shape, and is a satisfying project . . . a simple pleasure of the season.

Brian's Wedding

Finally finished my journal for Brian's wedding. Whatta weekend! Going down a day early seemed like it would have kept things at ease, but we were busy the whole time. Neat to see all the family coming together for the occasion, as it's a 5-9 hour drive for our side of the family. All went well. Brian and Michelle both like live music so we had plenty, with the two dads contributing (brought me joy). I also got to jam with their college friends at Bee Tree Park in the evening. Still doesn't seem like he's old enough to be a married man, but he's no younger than I was at the time.