Sketchbook page and oil painting 4/16

Lone Wolf Interior

H₂O UMass

Connecticut River from Bike Bridge

Sketchbook Pages 3/16

Looking across a field of corn stubble at a house in late afternoon sun with Holyoke Range in background.

Cows at Cook's Farm.

Emma Swift at the Iron Horse.

Breakfast at the Lone Wolf.

Tree atop Mt. Pollux.

View of West Street across open valley.

Watercolor box labels

Built table in Excel, fiddled with fonts, sizes, and cryptic abbreviations to make it fit, and printed out. Applied strip of Scotch tape before cutting into strip and placing in paintbox.

Sketchbook pages 2/16

Hartsbrook Farm from East Hadley Road, against the light.

Hartsbrook Farm from the Bay Road side.

At the Lone Wolf having breakfast, I started sketching a rather dapper fellow sitting alone in a booth. He seemed kind of bored and despondent , and was leaning forward staring into space. Just as I was getting him blocked in, however, his friend showed up and slid into the booth across the table from him. The first guy reared back and lit up with pleasure. The very rapid sequence struck me as archetypal and I tried to get it down as quickly as I could.

Sketchbook pages 1/16

Lone Wolf People.

I was driving east on Bay Road around half past four and was struck by the sight of a yellow house brilliantly lit up by the late afternoon sun. I couldn't pull the car over right there, so the next day I returned on my bike. However, the day was overcast and it wasn't clear if the sun would come out at all. I decided to take a chance, and set up by the road and started blocking in the drawing. Sure enough, around 4:20, the sun emerged below the clouds and blasted the house with its billions of peripatetic photons. I did a little victory jig and started this watercolor.

This guy was reading and making a notes with a pencil while eating breakfast. I liked his white beard and black sweater emerging from the light and shadow of the window corner.

Farm buildings on Moody Bridge Road.

Featured on Gurney Journey!

My entry to James Gurney's Six Word Story Challenge was chosen to be among five spotlit on his blog, Gurney Journey
To see all of the entries go to the challenge Facebook page.