Really stretching the art muscles lately! First landscapes and now vehicles. But this truck is special to me and when I saw that it was on the calendar in the garage, I just had to channel my inner "Lapin" and sketch it.
Art and Oatmeal with Peaches: during breakfast I sketched in the green truck. While painting it with watercolors, I added the primer red fender because that is what the '49 that my ex and I bought in California back in 1970 looked like.
Big trip down memory lane. While inking and painting the picture, I thought of the adventures we had in this vehicle. We drove it the length and breadth of the Golden State: sleeping in the truck bed on the beach in Capistrano, using the large water container that we hauled with us to dowse a fire in Yosemite (inebriated campers trying to build a camp fire); putting my feet up on the dashboard so that they wouldn't get burnt while I watched the Mojave Dessert pass by through a hole in the hot metal floor of the truck. Yes, I've been through the dessert in a truck with no AC. Ahhh, those were the days.
Love the iconic grill! We also drove the truck from California to Connecticut in 4 and 1/2 days. Once when it was my turn to drive, I got pulled over by a State Trooper. "If you can't make this thing go any faster, you are going to have to get it off of the highway!" I got a warning, but not a ticket, for going too slow. Not my fault, no speedometer, and at that moment, no traffic to judge how fast, or slow, I was going.
While the ex was in Viet Nam, I drove the truck everyday to work. With mechanical steering, (there was no power anything - not steering, not windows, etc.) parallel parking was a bitch. There was, however, a built-in metal tool box behind the seat that could easily be overlooked. That is where I kept a bottle of Boone's Farm Apple Wine for when I picked up my friends over at the college. My friend's brother was a city cop and he laughed hysterically to see me driving around in that old green "tank" and decided to give me a handle. "Mother Trucker" signing off.
Nature Journaled on Neversink Mountain. The forest seemed to be mostly a variety of oaks, chestnuts (young ones growing from old diseased trunks, and scrub pine at the point in the trail where the overlook was. I picked a few oak leaves for comparison: Black Jack, Chestnut Oak, and White Oak. Note: The leaves were all green. 
Sitting in the mowed "lawn" area next to the parking lot at the lake, I noticed several butterflies aflit (which in the Ancient Romulan tongue means something akin to "afoot" but with a fluttering motion) . 
An oppressive hot and humid Monday evening and here I am Nature Journaling at Speedwell Lake with PA Master Naturalist Carol and Secretary of the Butterfly Club, Jan. The lake is formed by a small dam so it is man-made. The non-native Bradford tree in the picture was planted as a memorial. 
Friday August 12th. Traffic jam on NJ Rt 78. Tractor trailer truck on fire. Sketched in the car during the delay. Thought I would revisit my new favorite rabbit. I sketched this with a Stablio All pencil and a water brush. I had one watercolor pencil with me so I used that for the background. 
Last Monday we traveled to Washington, D.C. just to visit a few museums. I was immediately enamored of this whimsical statue in the Art Sculpture Garden: Thinker on a Rock by Barry Flanagan.
The red paint lines are a first impression to "capture the energy" as Danny Gregory taught in his course "Seeing" in Sketchbook Skool. This was done in about a minute. Then a more careful ink study was drawn over it while noticing mistakes and correcting them. 
This exercise is really fun to do. I used the area around the study just to copy some notes and refresh my memory about doing the "Fast and Slow" exercise. 
