Inktober 30: Jolt

I was looking for something to sketch inside the Bruce Museum but couldn't find the right one to start with.  This after Arthur, a docent, gave me a quick tour of the current exhibit - ReTooled Highlights from the Hechinger Collection.

On the way home, I passed by this vintage 1930's Ford V8 red pickup truck loaded with festive Thanksgiving holiday decorations of pumpkins and bunches of dried corn stalks.  It was parked by the entrance to the Hotel Delamar.  This was good enough to keep me going for a quick sketch.  One more Inktober day...

Inktober 29: Double

I found a double LED reading lights that I haven't used in a long time.  Perfect for today's prompt.

Inktober 28: Gift

Found this boxed luggage tag gift set lying around so I went ahead and tried to sketch it last night.

Inktober 24: Chop

The sketch is three days late and not in sync with inktober because I couldn't find the right idea for this prompt.  Maybe this cutlery block is the closest I could use for a sketch.  The way I was looking at this subject, it took time to resolve the angle lines.  That darkened area on the left corner camouflaged the incorrect lines I laid down initially.  Direct ballpoint pen sketch.

Parked Cars

Across the other side of the parking lot, two cars became a nice subject for a ballpoint pen sketch. 

Inktober 26: Stretch

I settled on stretching a green rubber band over my left hand finger tips for a good sketch.  Nice to have the green color with this mini Bic 4 color ballpen.  Then I thought I should darken the background a little bit.  Oh well...

Inktober 22, 23, 25: Expensive, Muddy, Prickly

It was quite a busy afternoon yesterday from 2:30-6:00pm doing the catch up Inktober sketches.  Nice opportunity to try the 4 color mini Bic ballpoint pen I bought the other day.

First prompt - muddy.  Found a parked payloader with dried up mud splattered all over it at a local park and luckily, there wasn't any construction activity.  Great subject!  There you see the muddy wheel tracks on the ground.

Second prompt - expensive.  I went over to the Ferrari dealership and zeroed my eyes on this red Ferrari F12 Berlinetta among several parked at the adjacent lot.  Just as I was getting the hang of sketching the car's shape, out came two guys who started moving the cars back into their building storage.  One of them said ok to sketch but no pictures allowed.  And just like that the F12 was gone.

Third prompt - prickly.  Went to Port Chester WholeFoods store and "borrowed" one of those prickly cacti from their flowers section.  I settled on one of those empty tables for diners and made my sketch before returning the cacti back on the shelf where I "borrowed" it.

Inktober 19 & 21: Scorched & Drain

It felt nice looking at this artificial fireplace at the Marriott Hotel in Trumbull, CT.  Good entry for that one prompt - scorched - I missed a few days ago.  Yet I'm still two prompts behind after I sketched the drain from my bath tub.

Inktober 20: Breakable

I fell behind a couple of days for Inktober.  Couldn't find a scorched scene for prompt# 19.  For prompt#20 - breakable - a wine glass fit the prompt.  Ballpoint pen.  Flexbook 3.5 x 5.5 inches Ivory Fabriano Paper 85 gms.

Portrait sketching

I looked closely in the mirror last night, a sketch book propped with my left hand, a Bic ballpoint pen with the other.  I first started with the eyes, then the eyebrows, the nose, the lips, ears, hair line, etc.  It helped that I didn't have to wear my eyeglasses until I needed to add more details.  Three hours later and I thought this was a mirror sketch reflection of me.

 

Scooter

Last Thursday, I came upon this vintage scooter on the Avenue.  Luckily, there was a sidewalk bench to get comfortable sketching it.  Ballpoint pen. 

 

Dog sketches

Using the Bic ballpoint pen for drawing in this month's inktober challenge is a fun thing.  Here I watched and sketched our dog in few different poses last Tuesday at home.  Flexbook 3.5x5.5 inches 85gms ivory paper.

Lovers Leap State Park

Last Sunday afternoon, we took a leisurely drive to the Lovers Leap State Park in New Milford, CT.  It featured a restored iron bridge over the Housatonic River.  A short hike up the Lovers Leap Trail led us to a very scenic lookout.  The "tranquility" lost and disturbed by a drone enthusiast that kept hovering the craft over us.  A husband and wife photography team kept focusing on that perfect foliage picture in the distance.  On my little sketchbook, I managed to sketch the wife but not the husband.  Before we left, I showed it to her, then to the husband who nicely asked,  "Did you sketch her?".

Mislabeled New Preston, CT instead of New Milford, CT.

Inktober 17: Swollen

Model Susan was wondering where all others have gone since there were only three of us that showed up in the Silvermine Open Studio drawing class.  The four 2 & 3  minute poses I did them with a Bic pen.  Then I switched to the 4B and 9B graphite pencil for the 5 & 10 minute poses.  Still not satisfied, I switched to charcoal pencil for the first 20 minute pose.  All this time, I was feeling unsure what feels right to use until I selected another pencil - the Red Chalk.  The last two 20 minute poses were done in Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth GIOCONDA Red Chalk.

Charcoal pencil on left.  Red Chalk on the right.  I like the Red Chalk results better.  

Inktober 16: Angular

This vintage Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1 Cordless phone has a very angular design and is the ideal subject for Day 16 prompt.  It took me about an hour to sketch with some reasonable ballpoint pen shading.  Several restatements were made on the base and the handset notch because I sketch directly and don't use a pencil to start.  Another half hour for the finishing touch and there's the sketch of a 1980's angular phone.

Inktober 15: Weak

A stress point usually becomes a weak point over a period of time.  Thus the sketch I made for this prompt is that part of the USB to lightning charger cable end that goes in to the bottom of the iPhone.  If you use this connector, you know what I mean.

Inktober14: Clock

I no longer wear a watch regularly.  Instead, I check for time on my mobile phone, the computer, the car display, the cable box, etc.  It looks like there's no shortage of devices to tell you of time if only there's juice to power it.   Here's a clock in need of one AAA size battery to keep it running.

Inktober 13: Guarded

The first idea that came to mind was a bank.  Of course, it's guarded but how do you sketch that in this era of high security concerns?  Scratch that idea!  I'd settle for a mud guard...Ha ha

Inktober 12: Whale (NOT!)

Day 12 Inktober prompt is Whale but I'm not in the city where there is one big blue whale hanging inside the Museum of Natural History waiting to be sketched.  Instead, I decided to just use a couple of observational sketches I did of my left fist and our dog.  Sketches done using Bic ballpoint pen.

Inktober 11: Cruel

This is one of those mind-boggling prompts for #inktober2018.   

Model sketching

It's fun to do the live model drawing so upon learning of the Silvermine Open Studio drawing classes in New Canaan, CT, I checked it out last Wednesday.  The three hour class was barely just in session when I first walked inside Studio 1.  Five sketchers were there.  One of them using the larger iPad Pro while the rest had 18x24in drawing pads on easels.  Mine was the 6.25x10in sketchbook.

Mostly drawn with Muji Mechanical pencil 0.3mm HB lead.  Model Sara executed beautiful poses.  Very challenging but I enjoyed it a lot!  The ghostly scans were due to the back-to-back page drawings I made.  Now I know not to sketch on the back page next time.

2-5 minutes each, 2B pencil.

5 minutes each, Mechanical pencil 0.3mm.

5 minutes each, Mechanical pencil 0.3mm.

Upper image 5 minutes; Lower two 10 minutes each.  Mechanical pencil 0.3mm.

20 minutes; Mechanical pencil 0.3mm.

Direct Ink drawing. Pilot Custom Heritage FA nib.

30 minutes, Mechanical pencil 0.3mm