Been away...

How time does fly.

At the end of the day I take off my glasses, and sometimes my El Cheapo Casio watch with the 10 year battery.  I use the mechanical pencil to make entries into my log book.

My log book is different than my journal.  My journal is written on a daily basis, for the most part, with the occasional drawing thrown in to keep it interesting.  My log book is done by the month.  For each day of the month I track if I am doing certain activities - pages of scriptures read, prayers, exercises, reading, weight, drawing, fasting, etc.  I am not terribly organized.  Without the aid of the log book (a daily to-do list of basics that make my life work better) I am liable to wander off in the morning without my socks matching.

Benjamin Franklin had a list of virtues that he tracked on paper every day to work at incorporating them into his life.  Charles Lindburgh had a similar system.  I thought I would do the same after I read about Lindburgh's system.

If you have not been over to Mattias Adolfsson's web site to admire his drawings and illustrations, you have missed one of the rare treats on the internet (http://mattiasa.blogspot.com/?m=1).  I have been copying some of his drawings to get a better feel for his genius.  This is not a direct copy - I have never seen any of his pigs with wings.  I put this sketch on an envelope with some colored pencil to give it some depth.  Mattias has two books out.  You can order them on his web site.

This is a sketch of Virginia, me and Eddy, The Wonder Dog.  This is from my journal.  I did this prior to my hip replacement last July.  I am very pleased with the results of that surgery.  I am able to walk quite freely with no pain.  The week of December 7th I walked 20 miles.  Working on keeping my slim, girlish figure.

Two drawings from San Francisco

I was in the Marriott Marquis in San Francis, the 23rd floor in room 2365. The view was spectacular.
The picture above was looking out over the harbor and Candlestick park.

This picture is from their restaurant on the 39th floor: The View. If you are ever in San Francisco and you want to have a spectacular look at the city or the harbor while you are eating dinner, go to the Marriott Marquis and take the High Rise elevators to the 39th floor. As twilight takes over the sky you really feel as if you could reach out and touch it.

Another acorn

The acorn in the last post was asymmetrical. This was another acorn from the sidewalk near the Hamilton Club.

Summer time and the drawing is easy...

I was at Scout camp again this year. It was perfect weather all week - no rain and pleasant. On the first day there I got this image down by the chapel. This is looking upstream. The air temperature is cool and you can hear the birds singing in the forest.

This next image was from our visit to Hershey Park last Saturday. It was a clear warm day with a little breeze. Nice puffy clouds.















And this is from our morning walk yesterday. The acorns are falling on the sidewalks of the city. It seems a little early. The coloring of the trees and lawns tells me it is mid-August while the calendar still says July. I touched up this drawing with some Dixon colored pencils.

Friday evening my wife and I were at a friend's home for a social gathering. About 22 of us sharing a potluck meal, laughing and visiting and enjoying a wonderful evening.

I quickly dashed off this watercolor to capture the beautiful view.


This is from a recent morning's walk with my wife. Our county courthouse has grown from the front part of the structure in the picture to most of the block.

The white hole on left side of the drawing is one of the three holes in the page - it is part of my daily journal.




At our local fire station the ladder truck was pulled out of its bay for a wash and a shine. I captured a picture of it with my cell phone and later added this drawing to my journal. Now that I am adding color with watercolor maybe I should go back and add the red and the reflections - maybe not, the drawing works well in black and white.







I ran across an interesting video demonstrating how to make an air conditioner for a college dorm where students may not have an air conditioner. It involves putting a copper coil on the front of a fan with some plastic tubing and two 5 gallon buckets. I was impressed with the ingenuity and recorded the process, in the form of the diagram to the right, in my journal.

Recent 2011 drawings

We sometimes fail to appreciate the art we carry around in our pockets.


Some evenings as I sit writing in my journal a glass of water is called for...



My wife and I have taken to walking in the morning now that spring has begun. This is the back of Eastern Market in town. The building is used as a parking garage and a housing agency (on the other end). The colors and the cherry tree were too much to resist.


The people on the trains are fascinating. This young lady listened to music on her computer and read her book for hours. A very accommodating subject for drawing.


It is one of life's great pleasures to ride on a train. All of the seats are first class and the view is wonderful - depending on what you're riding by. Riding a train is much more comfortable than riding an airplane.

Last night my wife and I were out walking around in our town admiring the aftermath of the blizzard - and it put snow in places where there weren't places. Wow! A snow emergency was declared which meant that residents could not park on the snow emergency routes. Everyone spent parts of the day digging out, as shown in the next photo.

The snow mound between the sidewalk and the street is between 3 and 4' tall. We have run out of places to put snow in the city. So the city got out their magic snow blower to clear the snow emergency streets curb to curb. They blow the snow into large construction dump trucks and haul it off to a dirt parking lot near the Conestoga River to let it melt with the changing of the seasons. This happened during the winter of 93/94 when we were on a similar storm track.

During the 93/94 winter, which started in earnest on January 4th with 4" of ice pellets, we got some frozen precipitation every week for a period of time. The dog and I enjoyed running in it. By the end of the year we had 75" of snow - about twice what we normally get.

This year we got snow on February 5th and 6th. That shut the DC area down and effectively closed us down too. That was last Friday and Saturday. That must not have been sufficient snow; so, the following Tuesday (February 9th) we got the blizzard.

Here are some cars blown under the snow while their owners are at work in the prison (the big stone structure in the background). The loose snow on the street is between 8 and 12" deep. There were snowmobiles running loose on the streets (legal in snow emergencies). Unfortunately, there was an accident nearby with a snowmobile striking a turning car and both riders on the snowmobile being killed. Very sad.

The image above is what we woke up to on February 6th - 20" of landscape changing white stuff.

Above is what the back alley looked like that morning. This was all before the blizzard on February 9th and 10th. That event just added to the excitement.

I have been using a Wovel to remove snow. I recommend it. I have no financial interest in telling you about this great tool - it incorporates a large wheel with a snow shovel to give you a mechanical advantage. That means no sore back. However, your arms and shoulders will tell you they have not had any exercise if that is the case. Go Google "wovel" and take a look at the video. If you are in the Middle Atlantic area you might as well just get one. You can thank me after the next few snow storms.