Practice Practice Practice (various)

sneaky art

5 minute sketch

Lego man (artistic liberty)

 

Argo Mine (Idaho Springs, CO)

Driving the I-70 corridor, you can see several old mines. This is the Argo Mine in Idaho Springs. 

I was coming home from a trip to my cabin and wasn't quite ready to return to 'real life.' This wasn't the first time I stopped to do a sketch before going home from a quiet weekend on my own.

There's a little rest stop in Idaho Springs which gives you a view of the mine. I've stopped at this rest stop several times since it has a bathroom and the fishing in the middle of town isn't bad. When there is traffic, this is a great spot if you have young kids or just need to stretch your legs. 

 

Casa Bonita (Denver, CO)

Wife had to get an endoscopy during Covid, so I had to wait nearby. Why not do an iconic structure.

 

Tombow - Not So Sure About These (Arvada, CO)

Tried some Tombow markers. As much as I love bold colors, these are not forgiving like watercolor.

 

BNSF (Denver, CO)

Looking to kill time one day and did this sitting in my truck (not sure I was legally supposed to be there since it's a private rail yard...). I was experimenting with a steering wheel desk that worked well. 

Definitely had a hard time with the tower. However, this was great practice to do a future piece I did with cranes. So many angles and so much detail. 

 

Hey this is a Farmhouse (Arvada, CO)

There's still a little farm country near Ralston Valley High School. Cold day, but got to use my steering wheel desk. 

My new steering wheel desk even fits in my Mini!

 

Grainery and Gauche? (Denver, CO)

 

Decided to try guache today. Had an argument with my eldest, but she had to come with me to practice driving. Not sure I'm a fan of guache. 

Pearce Helps Cabin (Golden CO)

My kids go to school in Golden, CO. There's a little park off Washington Street (the downtown drag) that has these cool historic buildings. My wife and I were killing time one day. We got coffee at the Windy Saddle and set up shop by this cabin. There were lots of people taking their family photos for their holiday cards. 

This was an interesting piece because I hadn't done one of a chinked log cabin. So one of the difficulties was protecting the white space.

Lots of texture on this cabin that I had to forego to not make it too detailed!

 

Fraser Snowcat (Fraser, CO)

Another case of not wanting to go home right away after a quiet weekend on my own. I was on a zoom call in town (not enough signal at "My Happy Place") and decided to do a sketch of this snowcat. I'm sure this thing hasn't run in many, many years. However, this landmark is really neat. Some towns have a "Welcome to <insert town name>" while ski towns like Fraser have something like this!

 

Chamberlain Observatory (Denver, CO)

A fun day with USK Denver. People used a few different mediums including a friend (Mahdu) who did a full oil painting. My friend Michael did a piece where I was in the scene (see below)

This was a great learning experience because I had to think through that dome really carefully. I learned that looking up to a curve is like looking at a cup upside down. So the U shape underneath is actually more of an 'n'. If you look down on a cup, it's more of a U. Think about that one.

My own criticism (and that of my Dad) is that the shadows from the tree on the right is kind of confusing. However, I like the way this one turned out. It really shows my loose style well.

This was one of my last times doing a large sketch with crappy paper! 

Madhu working on her oil painting

Michael and Kayla

Michael's peice with me painting as a subject