Sketchbook Snapshots
WEEKEND COFFEE
Get a move on and get it done. Gave myself The Boot yesterday to do it. Settled down and shot some sketches to show or at least a curated selection from my multitude of sketchbooks. This wouldn’t have crossed my mind to bother doing, were it not for inspiration from @aagabriel; thank you.
I’ve been trained to take a sketchbook with me everywhere for, well, a very long time. It’s a practice I have continued to the current day. I’ll draw anything, anywhere, anytime, in any medium. No thought process involved, just do it. It’s relaxing. It keeps me honed. It teaches me every time.
A weekend routine that I used to have, was hanging at a local coffee shop for a bit. This first drawing is pen and ink from that time. The lucky victim was the guy sitting at a table in front of me. Most drawings of people in public are done very quickly, usually within three to fifteen minutes. People are constantly moving, even when sitting, so one has to observe accurately and draw quickly. This kind of practice really sharpens the eye.
The next four sketches are all from the same area, located at a main intersection in the city. There are always plenty of people and rest spots for about a block on both sides of one street. Each of these four were drawn with pen and ink, approximately five minutes per drawing.PEOPLE ON THE STREET I
PEOPLE ON THE STREET II
PEOPLE ON THE STREET III
PEOPLE ON THE STREET IV
In the last drawing above, both women were standing and moving around while I was drawing. I focused on capturing an essence of their facial features and expressions. Floating heads in space.
There’s an old cemetery that is another favourite spot for drawing. I’ve spent at least twenty years drawing and photographing there. They’ve also given me permission to remove wood from cut down trees to use for carving sculptures.CEMETERY MAUSOLEUM
This is a family mausoleum that I’ve photographed many times. The drawing was done in pen and ink, while sitting in the grass nearby. Structures don’t move, but light changes are noticeable within fifteen minutes. This drawing took about twenty minutes to complete in pen and ink.CEMETERY STATUE
Many headstones and sculptures are eroding, such as this one, where the facial features of the figure are barely distinguishable. I’ve always been fascinated by watching how anything changes and decays. All things of this world are temporary. They come into being, go through their process, then decay and fall away in a perpetual state of change.CEMETERY HEADSTONE
This headstone is also in the process of decay but has been vandalized as well. There used to be two headstones side by each. One has been deliberately toppled over, broken and lies in pieces to the left of the in this image. I drew this with the brush end of a marker, in a reddish brown colour similar to the headstone, a ten minute drawing.
Trees are a long time love affair for me. I’ve drawn, painted, photographed, sculpted, and carved them. The following five drawings are of trees that inspired me.TREE I
Ten minute drawing, detail of a tree trunk, done in brush and ink.TREE II
Ten minute pencil drawing of a tree that was struck with lightening, splitting off one main trunk. Often I do sketches as reference for sculptures I intend to carve. This is one of those drawings.TREE III
Twenty minute brush and ink drawing using only black and white with no tones, a way I like to draw at times. This approach creates a different challenge for me in terms of how I see light and dark, the duality of black and white, side by side.TREE IV
Twenty minute pencil drawing of a gnarly tree torso and roots with a huge burl near the base. Every tree is different. Every tree has a story. Every tree has a personality, although not in the sense that humans do.TREE V
This last tree was drawn with markers, the kind that have both brush and point tips, a fifteen minute drawing. One tree, with a very deep divide, so I decided to draw the left in mostly blues mixed with brown in some areas and the right side in mostly oranges and brown to enhance the divide between the two.
The next three drawings were at the Distillery District area of the city. The first drawing was done in the 1990’s when the area was used as film studios. The second two were done long after the area was completely overhauled, “beautified” (read, made profitable) and turned into a city attraction, complete with the requisite ugly in modern sculptures.DISTILLERY DISTRICT DETAIL
This drawing is a pen and ink detail of one of several film studios in the nineties, done in ten minutes. Biking for the day with a friend, so we didn’t stay here long.DISTILLERY DISTRICT CLOCK
This clock really caught my attention. Drawn in about twenty minutes in pen and ink. The actual clock can be seen in the first photograph here.DISTILLERY DISTRICT DECORATION
The second thing that caught my eye was this old, corroded, falling apart car, with the door left open, as a decorative element in the square area. Behind it is some metal sculpture that looks like…I don’t know what, call it a shiny metal thing with no purpose and no meaning perhaps.WALDORF SCHOOL EXTERIOR ART
This was a very interesting series of stone sculptures on the front lawn of a school where they had a farmer’s market every weekend. I couldn’t resist sitting in the sun, looking at the forms and shadows while drawing them, which took about twenty-five minutes.VEG STILL LIFE
This last drawing is a still life of two acorn squash and a red bell pepper on blue fabric that I set up to practice drawing from life, something I’ve done often. This was drawn in pencil crayons in about forty-five minutes. Still life set ups offer many opportunities to practice different aspects of drawing, depending on the arrangement chosen. It also gives a much more controlled environment. Nothing moves around (unless you put something wiggly in it). Light conditions can be controlled. This sort of approach helps one train the eye to see without feeling the pressure of time, such as most of the previous drawings in this post.
There are many things in my sketchbooks; writings, poetry, thoughts, ideas, designs, recipes, address information of friends, sometimes notes from friends and maybe a drawing here and there. There’s a lot I leave out because it’s so personal. I rarely ever allow anyone to freely look through a sketchbook. I curate what people see in person as well as online.
That said, here’s one tidbit I found written in a sketchbook from at least six years ago. I’ll give you the opportunity to stumble on it like I did.NOTE TO SELF
All drawings are the original creations and property of Nine. Photos were taken with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron macro lens.
Great wind-up to my day, it's been a while since I “!discovered” such pieces of art, thank you :)) !discovery 30
Must have been some kind of day 🤪 (I need that code, btw). Thank you so much @stayten, always appreciated!
You're a pretty decent illustrator! Using a scarcity of medium but enough to depict all the lines needed to capture the likeness very well.
Thanks @aagabriel! The firm presence of one particular prof broke so many of my bad habits at the tender age of eighteen. If there'd been a whip, I'm sure she would have whipped all of us, lol.
Oooo, these are splendid. I like a pen and ink sketch. The Clock and the Cemetary statue are my favourites.
Cemetary statues are fascinating, always haunting, a little bit otherworldly. Your sketchbooks must be full of some good schnizz!
Thank you @meesterboom. These are all sketches really. The more involved stuff is big and well, a lot of nudes 🤪. I'm always holding back posting drawings that are nude figures, plus some other stuff along those lines. I'll nudge myself to plunge.
I do love the cemeteries, the old ones. Modern ones are not that interesting. Yeah, my sketchbooks kind of capture my life since I was eighteen.
The Clock is one of my favourites of this bunch too.
Polls cemeteries are where it's at. I love the eerie feel of em. This stairs often with an arm or something missing and their kitchen stained expressions. Top donk!!
Hehe, yeah. I get the reticence there. Some people just freak out at nudity and associated stuff. Amazingly my phone didn't seem to have nudity in its dictionary, FFS!
Oh yeah, totally! "Kitchen stained expressions"....hahaha, love that.
I don't get the freak out over nudity in art and yet the acceptance of porn by society. Makes no sense in my head. Your phone is too updated to include the word "nudity". I'm scared to think of what's in dictionaries these days. Aw heck, just make up words randomly and assign your own meaning. 🤪
Damn, that's my posting style busted! 😜
I have never gotten it either, I bet the most puritanical about nudity in art are the most porn hungry!!
This is why your posting style is so delicious....sort of like the fresh made flourless brownies I took out of the oven a half hour ago.
Hahaha, you do know that when nudity is in art it's offensive, but when in porn it's not? Yes, you'd be right on point with that comment, from some of the likes that I've been acquainted with. 😏
I want a brownie!!
You have to acquaint with all sorts, that's where the spice comes in! :OD
Daaaaaaamn you gots da skillllls. I like the gravity in your people sketches. All of them are amazing.
Thank you @corvidae! LOL 🤪....practice does the trick every time. A friend said to me once, in relation to carving, "Now that you've done it once, do it over and over, hundreds of times."
Nice illustrations Nine!
I really love how you capture the vibe of the places and of the people you are drawing.
This is so inspiring, I think I will do the same someday. It's so nice to go to a random place and just make some art, thanks Nine and keep up the good work! 👌
Thank you @mariano! Yes attempting to capture the vibe, you got it. I hope you give a go at some point. It's a very different experience than working digitally. Cheers!
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This is really creative.
Thank you @mcsamm!
I found the cemetery Sketches a bit creepy, but actually amazing artwork anyways, i loved the mary statue sketch and the tree ones are amazing, especially the Vth of them <3 Big hug and thank you for your drawings :D
Cemeteries can be creepy and I've been told some stories about this one that fit that. Thank you @jesustiano I'm glad you've enjoyed my drawings, big hug back to you!