Sketch group 2

This post originated as an email to Kieran Kramer.

When I first heard about the sketch group and decided to join, I went all in! First I went to llbean.com to find just the right chair. My first thought was a straight-back camp chair, mainly because I figured this was the only kind they made, but I thought I'd never be able to sit upright like that for two hours. I figured I'd have to set it against a wall, but I knew there wouldn't always be a wall. But then I saw this reclining chair and it is perfect. It's funny. Most everybody either uses the straight-back chair or even just a stool, but I have broken the paradigm, and I think it's just one of the reasons they think I'm cool (if I may say so myself). 

Then I started thinking about my wardrobe. I haven't done anything socially for a while, so I thought maybe I could spruce up my look a little bit. You've seen my new T-shirts. I also bought another pair of Adidases, white leather with black stripes, and some new jeans to go with them. When I got the first notification of the week's location, they said to bring your own seating, water and hat. The only hats I had were baseball-type caps. There's an outdoor outfitters-type place just a couple of blocks from my apartment, so I walked down there and found a hat. It's a Tilley, which evidently is a well-known hat among outdoorsmen and hat aficionados. They had about thirty, all different styles and sizes, and I feel like I got a good one. I know it's rude to talk about money, but this hat cost a hundred dollars. The hat cost more than the chair!

One of the ladies in the group recently took my picture and I didn't even realize it until she sent it to me in an email:

Sketch group

This post originated as an email to David Summers.

Hi, David. I just wanted to share a couple of things with you. I recently joined a sketch group. It happened completely fortuitously. I was in the waiting room at the auto mechanic's when another person waiting on her car walked in and started sketching. I struck up a conversation with her and she said she was a member of a sketch group here in Staunton that meets once a week around town for two hours to sketch. The more she told me about it, the more I thought to myself, "Yes, this is what I need." I've been wanting to sketch for years but never got up the gumption to do it. Having a group to do it with at a set time makes it easier to commit.

I took a drawing class in college (at the College of Charleston), and I was kind of the "artist" in my family as a kid, working mainly in felt pen and copying MAD magazine covers! I don't have any innate talent, I'm mainly doing it for the therapeutic benefits, and for the fellowship. It's nice to get out and meet some new, like-minded people!

Like Vincent, I have to "wrestle with nature," looking closely at my subject and focusing on drawing what I see (not what I think I see). My basic method is to draw one small element at a time, making sure that each next element is in proportion to the last. The fun part is seeing if things match up when I get back around near my starting point!

I hope you and yours are doing well.

View looking south from the corner of N. Washington and W. Frederick streets.

The view from Bluestone Vineyards outside of Bridgewater.

Along Church Street. I'm obviously not real pleased with the way I drew the power lines!

Looking south down New Street, from E. Beverley St. Here's an example where things don't quite match up. The two front buildings, left and right, are on the same plane in reality.

Cars, for some reason, are a challenge! Fortunately, that's not what this picture is about.

Thanks for looking!

Click on images to enlarge them.