EDM #147 - Draw Something Made of Wood

All of my wooden soldiers and rocking horses are packed away with the Christmas decorations, so this one is made up.

Choo-Choo 07

Finally, another locomotive. This is the Lafayette, circa 1840.

Between my very short attention span and mild dyslexia, sketching these trains can be more complicated than they should be, but it's good to have another locomotive completed.

People Practice 01

After purchasing a sketchbook that really doesn't suit me, I decided to use it as a practice book for people sketches. Now I have a building book and a people book. Oh, and the folding train book too.

Multiple books bothered me before because I was focused on which media to use where and when. Switching the focus to subject matter feels good, especially since I really need to work on buildings and people. We won't discuss other things on which I need to work. The train book is more of a line-drawing and colored-pencil book with my model trains as the subject.

Left: Doll
Right: From Photo Album

Choo-Choo 06

The front half of my John Bull train sketch in my Moleskine Japanese Album.


The back half of the John Bull sketch. I have one more carriage, but my attention span couldn't take it!


Here's the complete train sketch of the John Bull.

I finally took the time to take a good look at the Moleskine Japanese Album. The count of 60 pages includes the front and back of the paper (duh!), so I will only be using 30 pages for my train sets. Thank goodness! It's still a long project, but not as long as I first thought.

My Prismacolor pencils were full-length or close to full-length before the start of this project because they had been used very little. The pencils are now getting a good workout while getting shorter and shorter. Yikes!

Choo-Choo 05

Here's the business end of the John Bull train, and two passenger cars will be added next. Though I should have waited to do the foreground, I got carried away.

Choo-Choo 04

The start of my second train.

Choo-Choo 03

One train completed, and many, many more to go. When I get to the larger trains, fewer passenger cars may be shown to save both space and my sanity.

The Moleskine Japanese Album has 60 pages (or one page folded into 60 sub-pages). 57 pages more to go, and I suspect I will not run out of trains to sketch.

Choo-Choo 02

One of the carriages has been added, and two more will follow. The original train carriages were horse-drawn carriages that were refitted with railroad wheels.

This is the DeWitt Clinton locomotive, circa 1830.

Trying to work with an accordion-folded sketchbook in a scanner and getting a flat scan is beyond my capabilities. Skewed, distorted, poorly lighted photos will be taken in the future.

Choo-Choo 01

With a Moleskine Japanese Album in my possession, a decision needed to be made about its content. Since it's actually one very, very long page, I decided it is time to pull out some of my toy trains. This is a start to a long-term project, and I can go back and forth among the pages to add elements and color whenever I wish. It should be fun, but will it ever be completed?

Oh, That Feels Good

It's a wooden back massager! I drew the wheels all wonky, but you can get the idea. It was originally purchased because it was interesting, and it works much better than expected.

EDM #46

It's June and my Christmas things are packed away, so I made this one up. There are white bears hiding in my attic until it's time to sit around my tree. Sometimes they are just nice to hug.

EDM #42 & EDM #43

This challenge was obviously started around Thanksgiving time, so I'm being thankful for the ability to go to the store to purchase groceries.



A pink piggy bank is always a delightful place in which to stash one's cash.

Squeeeek !!!

There are several of these critters inhabiting my home, and there's nothing scarier than accidentally stepping on one in a dark room. There's also a stash of them hiding in a cabinet since my friend Marley sometimes chews them until they no longer squeak, and it's nice to have replacements handy. They are great for playing fetch.

EDM #32

For something metallic my little old cannon will do. I've had it for 40 years. Please note the round opening in the front of the base. That's the opening for this pencil sharpener. The cannon barrel is three inches long, and it can fire small objects, though not far.

EDM #31

Yes, I collect dolls. There's also a collection of HO trains, but an engine has already been done for an EDM challenge.

EDM's #16 & #17

The blade is actually longer on this little letter opener. I picked it up in Toledo, Spain, in the early 70's. On the flight back to the U.S. it was confiscated from my purse before the flight, though the one in the purse of a friend was not confiscated. It was returned to me on landing. I guess I shouldn't have laughed when the security guard didn't know what it was but thought it was a weapon.

U.S. customs waved me through and checked the luggage of my friends. Ha! I either looked totally dumb or totally innocent. Whatever the reason, there was nothing of interest in my possession.


Rather than sit in the living room and draw my piano, I copied this one from a magazine.

EDM #6

From my collection of HO trains. Have you ever tried to draw a train as it races around the track?

I need to do things with less detail because I'm not learning much filling in small details; however, it was fun.

I used a copperplate nib on a calligraphy pen with Noodler's ink. Interesting, but I wasn't pleased with the scratchiness of the point and the ink flow. Since I'm not very practiced with ink, I'll try it again another time.

Dolls Are Great Models

A doll will patiently pose forever, and it will take me that long to learn to do a decent drawing.

There was too much fabric drape and lace for my skill level. Just her face would have been a better starting point. Then her hands. Then maybe the whole doll.

I never learned to shade so the fabric folds are a major problem.

Tomorrow I'll try something simpler.

Moleskine sketchbook and pencil.