Sunday, October 20, 2013

Craven Farm

10/20/13 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, water-soluble colored pencil, Strathmore 400 (left) and Canson Montval (right) papers
It’s what I would call a low sketch-to-mileage ratio.

As usual in the morning, it was foggy and gloomy as I got ready to leave for the Seattle Urban Sketchers gathering, and I was thinking about how nice it would be to have another cup of coffee and finish reading the funnies. But since I didn’t get out yesterday for the 41st quarterly Worldwide Sketchcrawl (even by myself), I was itching for a sketch, so I pulled myself out of my chair. In fact, recalling how cold I was Friday sketching in the fog in Port Townsend, I pulled on tights under my jeans, down jacket and fingerless gloves.

According to Google maps, Craven Farm in Snohomish is only about 35 miles north of Seattle, but I got a little lost, so it took me more than an hour to get there. What with being late and standing in line for the Porta-potties, I managed only one sketch – thus, the low ratio.

Nonetheless, it was a fun place to sketch. Craven is no ordinary pumpkin farm; I’d call it a “destination” pumpkin farm complete with a haunted barn, games, concession stand and lots of props and Halloween vignettes for kids to pose next to for their parents’ cameras. And even though tights and down jacket might seem like overkill, I was happy I had put them on!

Paper note: The signature I sketched this in contains a mix of 140 pound papers, so the left and right sides of the sketch are on two different papers. I can’t see any difference in the way the paint went down, but where the difference is visible is in the surface texture. I used a water-soluble colored pencil on the foreground, and the Strathmore 400 (left side) shows a lot more pebbly grain than the Canson Montval (right side). I have only one more mixed-paper signature left after this one, so I’ll probably make some kind of assessment about papers soon.

1 comment:

  1. Aside from the foreground there doesn't seem like there is much of a difference color wise. I like that cute pumpkin totem. The farms out here have a lot of similar things...mazes, haunted barns, etc. The road that goes out to the farms here on Long Island are one lane each way, so you can imagine the traffic. I make sure I go out during the week instead of the weekend. Nice sketch!

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