Walk-Sketch Randomness

10/18/24

9/24/24 

Most of my walk-sketches get posted on my blog chronologically because I have some kind of story to tell, either about the subject, media explorations, or whatever. Still, I realized I had some sketches from September and October that I hadn’t shared. I don’t want to get too far behind, so I’ll catch up here, along with a few for Pencilvember.

10/27/24

The one from Sept. 24 (top left) is something of an anomaly. Out for a walk with my daily-carry Uglybook, I wanted to capture the thick fog on that strangely warm morning, and watermelon red just wouldn’t do it. I didn’t have a white sketchbook, but I always have a Field Notes jotting notebook and a graphite pencil with me.

The only other sketch here with much of a story is Oct. 18 (top right) – an excavator digging up trees and roots from a driveway and yard. Back in August, I wrote a post about an old, dilapidated garage I see whenever I get a table at Macrina Bakery’s outdoor seating area. Out of place on that tidy street, the eyesore of a garage had been that way for years. Not too long after I made that sketch, I walked by one day and realized that it had been taken down! On Oct. 18, I saw that the entire yard was being excavated, including some small trees. The excavator operator saw me sketching and alerted the owner, who was attending.

“Is there a problem?” the owner said, crossing the street toward me with a worried expression. (People seem to interpret sketching as furious notetaking.)

“Oh, no problem at all – I’m enjoying sketching your excavation!” I replied. Relieved, he started chatting about his ongoing plans. His project is done now, and the landscaping looks nice, but strangely, I sort of miss the garage, even if it was an eyesore. I’m glad I sketched it when I did.

Included in this randomness are graphite sketches from a few days ago. The Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil that I started Pencilvember with wasn’t doing it for me, so I’m trying out different pencils now. The 8B Mitsubishi Hi-Uni Super DX and the Viarco ArtGraf water-soluble graphite pencil both hit the spot in terms of darkness and softness, but unfortunately, they both smudge badly and reflect light. Activating with water, however, takes care of both the ArtGraf’s smudging and shininess. That might be the best solution.

11/4/24 (ArtGraf, Inktense, white Derwent Drawing pencil)

11/4/24 (ArtGraf, Museum Aquarelle and 
Inktense)

11/4/24 (Hi-Uni Super DX 8B, Museum Aquarelle)

I’m also regretting that I chose the tan Uglybook . . . perhaps I should have gone with a white one, as was my first inclination. With white, it’s very easy and fast to get the high contrast I want, and I can probably use harder graphite grades if I want to.

(Fussing about media sure is fun! I’ve missed it!)

I'm having fun mixing in some color with the graphite! Ahhh, pencils -- how I've missed you!