Things to do with a 3X5 card

How do you carry a drawing pad around with you during the day?

I have been using several different sizes of drawing paper - generally spiral backed - and my favorite size is roughly 10X12. Sometimes that is not practical. Over the years I have used 3X5 cards to carry lists of things to do, or I carry a few 3X5 cards in my pocket to jot down notes as thoughts strike me at the odd moment. It became apparent that I could use that good 110 pound card stock to draw on and it was just the right size to always have "drawing paper" with me.

So, here are some examples of what you can do with a 3X5 card and my favorite pen, the Pilot P-500 in black.

This one is from a visit to Red Lobster. Red Lobster organizes the customer experience so you have to stand around a while drooling on the carpet before they feed you. I took advantage of the wait to draw one of the condemned.













Kurt Vonnegut was a counter-culture writer who connected with many people. For years I had a news clipping about a visit he made to Lancaster PA with the quote on the card.




















This is one my most recent 3X5 adventures. If you like to have stories read to you there is a wonderful writer who reads the most riveting story to you from a video. He was promoting his new book (The Graveyard Book) on a 9 day book trip in early October 2008. At each stop he read one chapter from the book for the crowd, had it all taped and put it on his web site (www.mousecircus.com). This is a great book - bound to be a classic. Neil Gaiman has a British accent and excruciatingly correct diction. It is a pleasure to listen to him read but what do you do while he is reading an hour long chapter? Well, since it presented in a video format you draw a picture of Neil reading.















The drawing below is another chapter of the book. So why do they look like two different persons? Because when you're hot, you're hot, and when you're not you keep drawing anyway.















In one of my future posts I'll put together a posting of houses I've drawn pictures of over the years.

A new start - see things through my eyes

I have been traveling during September and during my travels I draw. I draw other times too but I have a series of drawings from airports I would like to share with you.



One of my flights was through Philadelphia, as seen on the left.







Since I traveled through Charlotte NC I have a few drawings from that airport. Bill Whitaker, see www (dot) williamwhitaker (dot) com, said that all we are doing is recording the effects of light on the surface of objects. The light on airplane hulls does beautiful things.





So, to all my scouts and friends who have encouraged me, I hope you will enjoy my drawings as much as I have enjoyed creating them. If you really want to have a great adventure read Danny Gregory's "A Creative License". Danny teaches you how to draw and then gently leads you along as you do your first drawings. You will learn how to make an illustrated journal and in the process you will change the way you look at everything around you.

The drawing to the right was some very tasty spumoni ice cream at the Napolli II restaurant in the Shakespeare section of the Montgomery area. Sometimes the lines do not connect up the way they should. Oh well. I enjoyed the spumoni anyway.













The last week of August I was in Chicago IL. This is a drawing of the Downtown Marriott's lobby. It is a very open and airy expanse. I sat in the restaurant on the 2nd floor and drew while I had dinner. This was the evening Bill Clinton addressed the Democrats' convention.

I had to draw this twice. The first time was less successful. Such is drawing - not every drawing is suitable for presentation. The drawings that are less than successful are the ones that teach you. With each successive drawing you become more familiar with your subject and you see more details and little things you missed in the previous drawings. I draw to see clearly.