I finally got to draw something outdoors. I wasn't in the pastoral country but downtown, continuing my architectural studies of the interesting buildings which will soon be lost to "development." I sat on the tailgate of my car in a parking lot, shaded from the sun by the raised hatch of the rear cargo bay. This is one of the reasons why I got the Honda Element, because of this configuration. My dwelling doesn't have a back porch, but my car does, so I can have a mini-porch wherever I go. I hope I can do more drawings before the yellowjackets, the scourge of late summer, appear. August and September bring these menacing insects which seem to find you wherever you are. If I still want to draw outdoors during yellowjacket season, I have to close the hatch and draw from inside the car. I have heard that many artists, even ones as renowned as Edward Hopper, also drew while sitting in a parked car.

This drawing is of "Mail Box Extra," a postal and packaging store which is right in the center of downtown Falls Church. It is actually a colorful building, with bright accents of turquoise, and I'll probably go back and do another portrait of it in color. But here I choose to show my black and white sketch, done on site, complete with fair-weather clouds.

On another artistic front, I have finally figured out how to do what I want to do with Photoshop layers, thanks to some help from an online correspondent who is a graphic designer. Now I can proceed with colorizing black and white drawings. I still think Photoshop is not the most artistically inspiring program.

Posted at 2:12 am | link