SKETCHBOOK: "Thanksgiving 2013"

This Thanksgiving, I took a trip to my hometown of El Dorado, Arkansas to spend the holiday with my Mom, my brother and his family.  Since I was there the whole week before Thanksgiving Day, I had a lot of time to spend with Mom sketching.  I told her that this is sort of like our version of when Dad used to take my brother and I hunting and fishing back in our youth.

The sketch above is one of my favorites from the trip...SPUDNUTS, the breakfast of champions!!  For the uninitiated, spudnuts are made from potato flour.  The Spudnut Shoppe is a landmark in that town, and is always busy in the mornings.  Mom brought out her festive plates for the season...and a cup of tea made it all "just right" for drawing.

The weather was really cold and wet for the first two days I was there.  So we set up a "still life factory" and had a great time drawing some of the many interesting objects Mom has all over her house.

I tried something new this trip...a cartridge "calligraphy" pen.  Unfortunately, the ink was NOT waterproof...so it was a mess.  I also did not care for the flat nib of the pen for drawing.

I decided to go back to my standard approach...a felt-tip artist pen.  I liked the decorative stein we were sketching, so tried it again, with more pleasing results.

Here is an interesting candle holder, and some brass objects in the background.

Though the drawing is not flattering (Sorry, Mom!), it was fun to catch "Miz Dee" in action!

I decided to give my calligraphy pen "one more chance"...hated the results.  But it's nice for lettering my notes, so I may keep it for that purpose.

Once the weather cleared up, we were able to get out and about to draw some.  This view is from a church parking lot, looking off into the distance at the oil refinery.  El Dorado was an "oil boom town" from it's beginnings, and oil still plays a major part in it's identity to this day.

This view was something I had never noticed before.  Mom's blinds are usually drawn.  After I peeked through them to see the early morning sunlight hitting some birch trees, I had to sit at the little table and capture the moment.

Finally...this was at the end of Thanksgiving day.  Mom was napping, and I sat on a little bench by the fence and drew my Ford Focus and the trees at the end of the driveway. The next morning, I left at 6:30 a.m. for the 9-hour drive home. A wonderful trip all around!