Yes, kiddos, this is indeed my THIRD post this week. Having this tablet allows me to putter away at things during times when I’d normally not be able to be very productive (though right now, given the time of day, I could be in my studio, but I’m still recovering from being sick, my foot hurts, and lounging on the couch with my leg up is much more appealing than being in my studio chair right now).
Alright, time for round two of the recent moleskin sketching bonanza. These sketches were done while I was at Camp Carpenter with my youngest (still a Cub Scout for one more year) and my oldest (who came along as a helpful Den Chief for the week):
This first sketch was of a weathered bolt in a picnic table at the water front. I usually don’t go swimming myself unless it’s crazy hot, I often wind up sitting at this picnic table drawing things I see and chatting with my fellow leaders.
Another water front doodle. I spend a lot of time zooming in and focusing in textures and details (because it’s fun), but I need to force myself to spend more time trying to draw the “larger picture”. It’s an area I think I’m weak in. This is the view across the lake from the aforementioned water front picnic table.
Another sketching aspect I need to work on is including the context of the subjects I want to focus on. I wanted to draw these radiating leaves, but they wouldn’t look quite right without some sense of all the leaves and twigs and grass that they were a part of.
There’s a really cool post and beam structure at Camp Carpenter called Fort Friendship. Every year I enjoy wandering around while the kids are engaged in the program activity and just observing all the character of the wood and the joints and connections. This was just one of many that caught my eye this time.
This is a really neat, old tree at the water front. I’ve been sitting by it for 4 years, but I think this is the first time I’ve bothered to draw it (I”ll have to go back and check, now). These old trees have lots of great texture and character.
Sitting at the water front picnic table yet again, I decided to tackle the intricacy of my paracord survival bracelet. I wasn’t so much going for the micro detail in the cordage itself, but the overall volumes and connection points. It would be a great challenge for a longer drawing.
Like last year, another unfinished pinecone sketch from the handcraft area. Pinecones are fascinating structures.
I wasn’t satisfied with yet another unfinished pinecone sketch (like last year), so I decided to pick up another one when we were at the sports field.
There were quite a few cool trees begging for attention at our campsite as well, but we usually aren’t in the site for long enough stretches for me to sit and draw. This was one of the exceptions.
There is a nice row of beautiful red pines lining the sports field at camp. They catch some pretty interesting light in the mornings, though it moves too fast for me to capture usually. Even though this was a quick-ish sketch, the light was pretty different from when I started to when I stopped. Most of the light play I had to draw from memory.
This is the last sketch I did at Camp Carpenter this year. It was pretty rushed as we were in the nature area and the group was getting ready to hike to the lake to search for “specimens”.
So there you have it, my 2016 moleskin diary of Camp Carpenter. I’m trying not to think too hard that I only have one more year at this camp, since my youngest will have aged out into Boy Scouts. I have a lot of good memories from this camp, with both the boys and my fellow adults. I wish I had thought to carry my moleskin with me during the first few years. Even though my sketches seem like random nature drawings, because of the nature of drawing, each one reminds me of the time and place I drew them, and all the memories that were made there that summer.
The last installment of my camp-based moleskin sketches will happen sometime next week, I think. There is some family vacationing going on soon, so we’ll see what my schedule allows (though the tablet makes that easier, it’s only easier if I’m somewhere with an internet connection). I’ve got another book cover to start working on, I need to get cranking on IPMDT! again, I still want to get my t-shirt shop up and running before the end of the year, there’s still a few pages left of 10 Things, I want to experiment more with some concept art on the tablet…I have plenty to keep me busy!
Please let me know what you think, it makes my brain happy.