Broom tractor

It's been a while since the last post. Spent the summer working on our house. Now I can start back to sketching again. I hope so any way. This little broom tractor was sitting at the construction site where Farm Lane on the campus of Michigan State University was bridged by the CSX railroad. Looks like it would be fun to drive.



Pitt sepia pen with watercolor in a Hand*book journal.

This past Saturday the 13th I went north to Baldwin Michigan to deliver some work to the Pamela Tripp Gallery. What a day it was. Sunny, warm. On the return trip I stopped in the town of White Cloud and took time to sketch this old grain elevator, Some of the reds are a little too much as a lot of the steel siding and roofing was rusty. The roof though, on the main part of the building was fairly new and was as white as snow.

Pitt pen, watercolor in a Hand*book journal

Tuesday June 16 I had some time before a dentist appointment so I parked in the shade in Raynor Park in Mason, Michigan. This fellow was mowing lawn and made enough passes that I was able to get a quick sketch of the mower and him.

Precise rolling ball pen in a Hand*book journal.

Indiana Blacksmithing Association

We spent last Firday and Saturday, June 5 and 6, in Tipton Indiana at the annual conference of the Indiana Blacksmithing Association. Didn't do a lot of drawing but here is the best of the ones I did. Above is an old Champion coal forge that had been donated to the auction.

A coal forge is a piece of machinery that a blacksmith uses to build his fire in then to heat a piece of steel to forging temperature, usually about 1800 degrees or so and a light yellow color. The top tray is usually of cast iron then covered with clay to protect it from the fire. A blower is below to put a blast of air into the fire. Without the blast the fire will go out. This particular forge has a hand crank blower but the forge I use every day in my shop has an electric blower. I hope that helps explain what a coal forge is. I work over one most every day and forget that everyone doesn't know what the equipment is. Thanks for asking.

This is a quick sketch of an anvil bridge that one of the demonstrators was using. It allows you to work easier on smaller pieces. I'm going to build one of these as soon as I can get caught up in the studio. Also I found out when we got home that Saturday was International Drawing Day. So without knowing it, I participated.

All done with Pitt pen in a Hand*book journal.

Past & present

It is Saturday morning and the job site is working but it doesn't appear to be a full crew. This excavator was parked for the weekend. It would look like I may have misjudged the scale but this machine had a very long arm and it just wouldn't fit on one spread. This is at the Farm Lane bridges project on the campus of Michigan State University. The bridge girder behind the machine is for CSX railroad. Just north of here is the bridge for Canadian National railroad. Both bridges now have train traffic on them and they are in the process of digging Farm Lane down to final grade in preparation for opening to traffic this fall.

This old grain elevator is in Grand Ledge Michigan. It is no longer in use but there are several newer buildings around this that are part of a thriving grain business. This is a bit out of proportion but you get the idea. It is almost all steel siding and roofing with some of the red paint still visible and a lot of rust. This building sits to the south side of CSX main line tracks.

Both sketches Pitt pen, watercolor in a Hand*book journal

Sketchcrawl #22

International Sketchcrawl #22. Old Town Lansing, Michigan, April 11, 2009. It was a great day, sunny but not warm. But there was no lack of subject matter and the folks at the Portable Feast restaurant were very friendly and had lots of good coffee.
1221 Turner Street. The door on the right was very interesting. I didn't quite get it right though. It is actually narrower that I have it shown. And the window above it on the second floor is also narrow and all the rest are wider.

This building is on the north side of Grand River Avenue in the 200 block east. There are old rail road tracks next to it and I suspect that it was, at one time, a passenger terminal. I had never noticed there is what appears to be a platform along the east side, by the tracks. This sketch didn't do justice to this building and one day I will re sketch it and add color and hopefully learn more of it's history.

And this is North Lansing tower. Probably controlled train movement in this part of Lansing. I would assume the stairway that went to the second floor of this tower has long since been removed. It would be quite an effort to go to work without them. This tower is in very good shape and is clad in a pale green aluminum siding.

One of many lamp posts in Old Town Lansing with a banner flag promoting Old Town.

This building is the Southern most on the west side of Turner Street. My planning is off a long way here. I should of drawn it with the first floor showing as the store window is very colorful. Maybe another time. The brickwork on the side of the building is interesting. There are several course of bricks that are not parallel with the plane of the building but are running and maybe a 10 degree angle from the rest of the bricks. I would guess that there was another building next to it years past. There is a parking lot next to it now.

all in this post, Pitt artist pen, watercolor in a Hand*book journal drawn on location with color added in my studio.