July sketches

I wasn't able to join in virtually for the 13th Street sketchcrawl on the 18th but I did want to do something to post. These are 2 more sketches of Bristol; A local Seafood store that takes in catches from local fisherman (our neighbor in the apartment above goes out to rake in Quahogs and clams, which according to many is a hard and messy job, he then delivers his catch to this shop). In the other sketch I am still working on finding a good blue for shadows.....try, try again!

Bristol RI- 4th of July Parade...on the 5th!

This parade is known as the longest running 4th of July parade in the nation. It has been running since 1785 and well attended by the neighboring towns and beyond. Because the 4th was on a Sunday it was held today on the 5th. I sat around the yard in various places and on a balcony to try to get a view. Of course, it was not possible to get it all, people and vehicles moved, bands marched and pipers played too. There were minute-men and Fife and Drum units, everything patriotic....very colorful and exciting. The spectators were apporpriately garbed in red, white, and blue as well. Here are some vignette sketches of the offerings....sadly I am way out of practice on sketching people (I desperately need a refresher course from Rita Stabler!) but I did my best. Here are a couple of warm-up sketches

Then some attempts to get the flavor of the day.

June 2021sketchcrawl- my remote sketch and others of my temporary new home.

Bristol is a pretty typical small New England town. Here I am at the weekly farmers market held year round at Mount Hope Farm.

Since Curtis has joined me here we have been living in an apartment on tiny Cottage St. These are some sketches of the local color.

This town is known for its Fourth of July celebration and Parade....as a matter of fact it claims to be the longest running 4th of July parade in the US. And the residents take this seriously by putting out flags and bunting on almost every house and town building. This last sketch is a view out of our kitchen window showing some of the many Victorian homes here. The architecture is mostly 19th C. with a couple of 18th C. homes still in existence. The town of Bristol was incorporated in in 1681. Of course the area was well inhabited by the native tribes; Narragansett on the west shore and Wampanoag on the east shore.

May 15th- my Virtual Sketchcrawl

Here in Bristol RI the weather has cooperated for their scheduled Street Fair. Current state guidelines are on par with the latest specifications from the CDC. So here we are. Personally I am double masked and keeping distant while sketching. I reside in a home of a compromised individual (my brother) so am doing the best I can to keep us all safe.

I have used pens with watersoluble ink; black, Apache Sunset, and Kiowa Pecan. The last two are Noodlers inks. Also Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils in both sketches.

Virtual Sketchcrawl #12 - Winter

 These two sketches (done over the last couple of weeks) are of a huge Catalpa Tree (trunk diameter is approx 3' at waist height) that I see outside of my bedroom window. The room is on the second floor so my view is slightly from above and looking at the neighbors interesting Victorian house.

I used my Pentel pocket Brush, Waterbrush with Noodlers Lexington Grey ink diluted with water, a Fude fountain pen with water soluble black ink, and some white gouache.

Looking out of northwest window

Looking out of the north window

 

Nature preparing for Winter- pdxusk challenge #9

 This coastal town (Bristol RI) has not seen a real change in leaf color yet. There have been a couple of high gusty wind events though earlier this month that have contributed to some leaf loss and maybe that is why the color is not very brilliant....there just aren't that many leaves.

I chose this scene because of the very extreme difference in scale between the very tall tree and the houses underneath it. I may revisit this scene sometime in the future to see if there are any color changes.

 

Some sketches from my travel east

Just a few of the sketches in Portsmouth NH, Eliot ME and Bristol RI...more on my blog.

Portsmouth NH- Market Square

Eliot ME - Farmstead B&B

Bristol RI - British Motorcars

travels east to Bristol RI

Bristol is the home of Herreshoff boats and Museum and although no longer building boats the museum and shop are busy restoring and caring for their fleet of vintage Herreshoff designed vessels. On one of our first nights we sailed on 'Kestral' a Fisher Island 41 Herreshoff design. The wind was a fresh 15-20 knots so the sailing was dramatic....with some 'rails in the water' too. Wonderful!

Coggeshall Farm is another notable place in Bristol. It is on the pennisula of Poppasquash and is a 'living museum' relating the lifestyle of an early 18th century New England farm. It is a small operation with one couple living and working the farm. I was perched on an old rock wall while doing these drawings and wanted to continue some other scenes but a rooster thought I was pretty interesting and just wouldn't leave me alone....the crowing was annoying but the thing that eventually got me out of there was that one huge, sharp spur. I didn't think I wanted to stay and annoy him further!

The Herreshoff Museum also houses some great America's Cup memorabilia and this boat "Defiant'. Not sure but this could have been Dennis Connor's attempt to bring the Cup back after the Australians took it...it has one of those keels with double 'pontoons' on the bottom (not shown in drawing).