Marker Drawings 38

                                                                                 



















Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

More marker sketches.498,499,500,501

Marker Drawings 37

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are a few more of the marker drawings. I haven't posted as much recently and have gotten behind but these were mostly done while sitting down at Laguna Art-A-Fair last year.494,495,496,497

Marker Drawings 35

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

I'm back up and running again after my computer debacle. We have come to rely on tech so much I felt a little lost without it. I was able to Restore System from backup after all and a few little glitches remain I'll have to fix but now all is working. Other than that I have to learn the new OS which I updated as well.
I will start more regular postings as soon as I can.
Here's some more marker sketches for now. 481,482,483,484

Marker Drawings 34

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

And a few more.477,478,479,480

Marker Drawings 33

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Once more, marker sketches primarily done at Laguna Art-A-Fair.473,474,475,476

Marker Drawings 32

Sketchbook Drawings
Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016
sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)


More booth drawings done while at LAAF this past summer. The third page down from top was done elsewhere.
469,470,471,472

Marker Drawings 30 - LAAF Thank You's

Envelope drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

(top) envelope 3½" x 6½" (8.89cm x 16.51cm)

(bottom three) envelope 4¼" x 5¼" (10.795cm x 13.335cm)

More marker sketches drawn at Laguna Art-A-Fair. I have done some watercolor painting in my booth too but I do enjoy doing these for their quickness.

I draw directly with the markers without any pencil lay-in. It's a good way to work because it forces me to think differently than painting. Similar to working traditionally in watercolor I really have to plan ahead to preserve the whites.

I generally have some vague idea of what I will be drawing and just start blocking in the large dark masses to find the graphic shapes for compositional purposes. From there I look for suggestions of smaller shapes and forms and let it develop on its own somewhat. Drawn from my imagination, and of course plenty of experience in industrial subjects, I am using no reference of any kind.

Satisfying simple drawing.

The top one done on a white envelope (my photo is off a little in its tint) and as the large Magnum marker begins to die I can get these great soft edges. Love it.

The other three were done on a heathered putty gray envelope.

Why am I drawing on envelopes and signing them unlike the sketchbook marker drawings? Because these were given as Thank You's for various reasons. To collectors, a supporter of Art-A Fair and fellow Art-A-Fair artists who did me big favors.455,456,457,458

Last weekend for Laguna Art-A-Fair! Don't miss your chance to pick up some great art or just visit and have a relaxing day near the beach.

Marker Drawings 29 LAAF

Sketchbook/pamphlet drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016
LAAF pamphlet 4¼" x 11"(10.795cm x 27.94cm)
sketch page 5" x 8"(12.7cm x 20.32cm)

More maker sketches done while down at Laguna Art-A-Fair.
The top one done on the cover of the LAAF pamphlet simply because it was what was at hand.
I do like the yellow showing as it does in the drawing.
The other sketch was done on a page torn from Moleskin sketchbook.453,454

Marker Drawings 28

Sketchbook drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

envelope 4¼" x 5¼" (10.795cm x 13.335cm), sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Marker sketches, having some fun experimenting with the huge Magnum marker, especially at such a small scale.

The top two sketches are on gray envelopes.
Yeah, I started doing these at Art-A-Fair last year and here we go again for the 50th Laguna Art-A-Fair as it is now known and I'm still doing them.
I can't believe it is already upon us. 447,448,449,450
You can see my page here.

Marker Drawings 27

Sketchbook drawings

Sharpie markers bullet, fine point, ultra fine point, Dick Blick Studio markers, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Well, I can't seem to stop, for now, with the marker sketches so here are some more. I keep telling myself to jump to another sketching medium for a while like pencil or india ink but I am able to get into these on a moments notice. Just uncap and go. Perfect when I am out and about. I know that is also true of other sketching mediums but I like being able to go pure black with just a swipe of the tool. No pens to fill, pencils to sharpen etc. I also like ballpoint pen for its quick and permanent application except for its fine-point-only limitation. Markers, from thin to bullet to nice wide swaths of tone. Black with no fuss, no building of tone. Commit to it and lay it down.

I suppose I should post some of my works in progress, something I don't do very often in part because I don't usually think about photographing them as I am working and because, well, I usually hate the way they look in progress.
This is especially true of my watercolors. Maybe its me since I enjoy seeing watercolors in progress from others but don't see mine the same way. Mine in progress are just scary. I don't like looking at them and will push them as quickly as possible through those beginning stages. If I didn't know better I would give on them early in the painting process. But I do and just keep pushing until I can bare to look at them.441,442,443,444,445,446

Marker Drawings 26 - Juries

Sketchbook drawings

Sharpie markers bullet, fine point, ultra fine point, Dick Blick Studio markers, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Juried and Jury Duty days.
I always have the sketchbook in the car and when I can or have waiting time I'll sketch. No problem concerning the word jury. It means waiting. Just cooling your heels as my Dad used to say.

Surprisingly though when I was called for jury service I ended up with less waiting time than I expected. Good? No. I was called to a court room for the interview process almost right away and was sure I would get seated on a jury and I nearly did but 'escaped'. I really don't mind jury duty, I have sat on 3 cases over the years. I don't dread it except for the loss of income. This time I could not afford the time. Whew!

The jury room sketches could be better but from where I was sitting all I could see was the backs of peoples heads. I had just begun drawing from my imagination, the third page down, when I was called up.
The top page I was sitting outside at the cafe' for lunch and had a nice view of the old courthouse which I thought was being re-furbished. Then I later overheard it was being demo'ed, demolished, razed, hence the notation correction.
As I returned inside to the courthouse after lunch security took away my wide marker. They had missed it in the morning but not this time. I guess the wide ones are not allowed because of the putz taggers who like to graffiti where ever they can get away with it, mostly in the bathrooms.

I thumbed this new courthouse when it was being built, see this post, so it was fun to be able to sit at it drawing the old one now. The top thumbnail from it would be roughly the same view looking back the other way from the old courthouse. In it, I would now be sitting right about where the far right of that angular structure meets the ground, looking back at the old courthouse. Does that make sense?

My other brush with jury was jurying in a second medium for this years Art-A-Fair. Drop off in the morning, pick up in the afternoon. In between, wait.
I drew the hillside and rock formations across the street from my car for a short while but dang-nab-it it was one of those days when it just wasn't flowing so the bottom sketch is all I have to show for it. The other sketches just died on the page.
It's okay though. I was in Laguna, art galleries galore. I visited a couple of those, including two painters I got to know at Art-A-Fair last year and also had the chance to visit with a third friend who was sitting in her artist co-op gallery for the day.
If I could not make the art I could at least talk it.

On a good note the second medium was juried in! Watercolor.
It is Art-A-Fair's 50th year so I am happy to have two mediums in my booth for 2016.
But that's a story for another day!437,438,439,440

Marker Drawings 25

Sketchbook drawings

Sharpie markers bullet and fine point, Prismacolor Premier dual tip warm grey 40% marker, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

The final post from this series of black and white and tonal marker drawings.
I started doing these down at Art-A-Fair while sitting in my booth and just kept going.

In total there are 25 posts (25 is such a nice number, ¼ of a hundred but ½ a year for me, see below) , 116 pages (based on my Pinterest pins) x 2 per page - 6 + 1 = 227 individual sketches, representing 4 sketchbooks worth and done over a period of roughly 6 months (180 days) which comes out to 1.26 sketches per day, or 1 ¼ sketch per day.
Hmmmm, just slightly ahead of Aussie blogger friend Wendy Barrett's 30/30 challenge of (only) one painting a day for 30 days or 1.0 per day. ; )
Oh wait... paintings... yeah, she probably spent more time.
Well, then let's call it a draw (pun intended), we're even. 

I had a lot of fun experimenting with very different approaches.
Some were more abstract, some graphic (notan), some tonal using value markers, some tonal through a linear-tonal approach and/or hatching crosshatching and various combinations.
Some I did from life, a small handful from photos, but most were from my imagination, especially the more recent ones.
Most often I went directly into the drawing with marker, no lay-in, other times I did a light pencil or ballpoint pen construction lines of the big shapes.

I preferred the marker directly to the page, have no fear and just start laying it in.
On that note I often worked faster and more intuitively when going direct and would get more fluid results and better shape design. That is about trusting yourself. We usually know more than we think and if we just let it flow we see it on the page in black and white, pun intended.

But my temperament was not always suited to that approach so I also did some more thoughtfully and carefully and was still happy with those too.
All in all it was about sketching for its own sake, no pressure to produce finished work and that is what made it enjoyable, as it should be. If some did not work out it was okay.

Been fun, hope you enjoyed them too. I'm sure I will do and post more but for now that's it.

If you want to see them all on one page visit my Pinterest page and the Markers Sketches board.423,424,425,426,427,428