Hanukkah, in a church, before Hanukkah? (Denver, CO)

 

On Sunday night (December 11), I went to a Hanukkah party hosted in a church's fellowship hall. Hanukkah doesn't start until December 18th. The irony of all of this was funny to me. 

My wife was helping to host the party, so I helped set up for a few minutes then got out of the way. I had time to kill before the guests arrived and I came across this beautiful reading room in the church. It had really high ceilings and it just felt so inviting to sit in one of these leather chairs. 

I had a little 3x5 notebook in my jacket and a Pilot Vanishing Point pen on me, so I figured I'd try a quick sketch. It was really confusing with the reflective lights and the shadows on the ceiling, but it put me in a calm headspace before going to a party.  

I have to call the church later today to see if anyone turned in my beloved Celtics beanie hat that I seem to have misplaced. Boo. 

Snowy Flowers (Wheat Ridge, CO)

 

It was a sunny but chilly day in November 2022. The Flower shop faced north, so it was completely in shadow except for a little of the snow on the hood and roof of the truck. That snow had been there for days. The snow was dirty and icy from it melting and refreezing, along with thousands of cars driving by daily. 

I've driven by this shop many times and thought this truck was so cool with the fake flowers (I assume they use real flowers when the weather permits). 

I was standing on the other side of 38th avenue; a busy street in Wheat Ridge. My tripod was set up and there were several people walking by and cars driving. It's always fun for me to have people chat with me while I'm painting. Someone asked if I was going to sell this piece, but my intention was to send it to my parents.

Note: In true Mark fashion, I misspelled Flowers (leaving out the R on the left sign) originally. I thought about leaving it that way since my parents always comment on how bad my spelling is, but was able to make it look not so obvious.

See the spelling error?

My Happy Place (somewhere in the woods)

This cabin is "My Happy Place." It's a long story how I purchased it and spent a couple years rebuilding it.

I met a new friend at the San Francisco Pen Show. When I saw her again at the Colorado Pen Show, I promised to do a sketch for her. I think this one turned out great.

It was done on a Strathmore watercolor card and I wrote her the story of how everyone thought I was crazy for purchasing the cabin. 

The day after doing this sketch, I decided to try to do it again in a sketchbook. Amazing how different these two turned out and how much better this card was. Guess it has something to do with this being for someone else vs just for me. Intension must matter.

 

Fairplay, CO

I went on an all-guys camping trip. The guys were big time partiers cutting loose for the weekend. They were all participating in a cornhole tournament that day. 

I, on the other hand, am about to celebrate 2 years of not drinking. I spent the day hiking through an ancient forest. I then did some fly fishing catching (and releasing) at least 30 fish in a couple of hours.

I wasn't quite ready to head back to camp, so I stopped at this historic building in the town square. This is basically where South Park, CO is. 

After standing in the cold river for a couple of hours, I was chilled to the bone. Sitting out as the sun was setting on the high plains with it being overcast, I couldn't feel my hands. 

The building had really neat inlayed stone that I tried to capture.

 

Sutro Tower coming out of the fog (San Francisco, CA)

In August, 2022, I flew to California to attend the SF Pen Show with my Dad and my friend Malachi. Malachi had never been to the Bay area, so I wanted to show him a days worth of events. We started in the South Bay and drove out to Half Moon Bay. From there we went to Haight-Ashbury and wandered for a little bit. Our minds were blown when we saw our first autonomous vehicle cruising around at arguably the epicenter of the world. 

We then went to Alamo Square where I did my Painted Ladies sketch (A5 Landscape). Malachi went off to play with dogs at the dog park. Once I finished the Painted Ladies, we hiked up the hill since I had never been to the park. The Sutro Tower was coming out of the fog and I asked Malachi if he'd be patient so I could do another sketch. This one was done in my little 3x5 sketchbook since I didn't want  to spend much time on it (we were on a schedule!). The pictures don't show it well, but there was a big California Elm that was framing my shot. 

From there we proceeded to Pier 39, the SalesForce tower, across the Bay Bridge to Telegraph/Berkeley before returning the SouthBay

 

The Painted Ladies (San Francisco, CA)

In August, 2022, I flew to California to attend the SF Pen Show with my Dad and my friend Malachi. Malachi had never been to the Bay area, so I wanted to show him a days worth of events. We started in the South Bay and drove out to Half Moon Bay. From there we went to Haight-Ashbury and wandered for a little bit. Our minds were blown when we saw our first autonomous vehicle cruising around at arguably the epicenter of the world. 

We then went to Alamo Square where I did my Painted Ladies sketch (A5 Landscape). Malachi went off to play with dogs at the dog park. Once I finished the Painted Ladies, we hiked up the hill since I had never been to the park. The Sutro Tower was coming out of the fog and I asked Malachi if he'd be patient so I could do another sketch. This one was done in my little 3x5 sketchbook since I didn't want  to spend much time on it (we were on a schedule!). The pictures don't show it well, but there was a big California Elm that was framing my shot. 

From there we proceeded to Pier 39, the SalesForce tower, across the Bay Bridge to Telegraph/Berkeley before returning the SouthBay

In hindsight, I wish I had put the outline of people in front of me to show how busy the park was. Drawing people scares me though!

 

5 Points (Denver, CO)

I was feeling down at work so went for a walk and did this little sketch in less than 30 minutes. It was done in my 3x5 sketchbook. When I'm pressed for time, I usually go with water color pencils. You can see in the ivy that there are two colors to it (green and yellow). A little touch of water activates and blends these colors together. 

I'm lucky to work in such a cool, historic part of Denver where the architecture is quite unique.

 

Squiggles at the Arvada Center (Arvada, CO)

 

Meet Squiggles. Squiggles is the 'mascot' of the Arvada Center for Performing Arts. 

I've lived in Arvada for almost 20 years now. The Arvada Center is the crown jewel of Arvada. It's awesome. I took my first adult art class there (medium: chalk pastels). My kids have taken dance, orchestra, acting, etc. My wife is a volunteer usher. We've been season ticket holders for years and have seen countless performances there over the years. You can find at least one of us there several days a week.

Squiggles is on the west side of the center. Kids love to play on Squiggles any time of day. My kids, even as high school students, still sit on Squiggles with their friends. 

Squiggle's tail is very long. I'm actually sitting on one of their humps. I climbed up on it and did this sketch. This is one of the rare times I did the watercolor first then the ink.

Climbing up Squiggles, no problem. However, in my advanced age (43ish), I had a really hard time getting down. I actually had a kid help me down which must have looked very strange to their parent. 

Auraria's Mercantile Store (Denver, CO)

I love this little section of the Auraria Campus. Golda Meir officed on that block along with so many other historical events. I had a morning to kill, so I went down to do this little restaurant with a couple of fellow USK Denver folks. 

When we got there, it was peaceful and serene. The restaurant started getting busy mid-morning as they were setting up for an event. Fortunately, I had gotten the structure done before they erected a canopy in front of the restaurant. 

This is one of the first sketches I used a white marker to do the brick. In the past, I always just used black ink to show the bricks. This always bothered me because the mortar is white. I've had a lot of issues with those white out markers (sometimes dripping a big drop on my scene), but I'll keep playing with them since they are great for adding some detail after the sketch is done. 

See those darn tents!

 

So Many Cranes (Denver, CO)

After doing the Auraria Mercantile, I wasn't quite ready to go home. I had just purchased this little 3x5 sketchbook and this was actually the first sketch in it. 

It's always a challenge to start a sketchbook. 

First, there's a lot of pressure when looking at a fresh book. I read somewhere to put a dot on the first page and call it a polar bear in the arctic. I now do that in all my books. Second, figuring out a sketchbook vs your framing sometimes takes a little practice, especially when you aren't used to the size. This seemed like a fitting start though.

The bushes were framing this scene. There were cranes all over the place. Having never done a single crane, I figured what the heck, why not do three that were overlapping!

Security and the police came by since I looked a little funny sitting on a stool in this little area where homeless people probably had been a problem in the past. Always fun to show off your work to law enforcement!