Lesson 3: Outdoor Exercise, Adolph Block

Lesson 3: Outdoor Exercise, Adolph Block

I drove downtown (Salem, Oregon) and parked across State Street from the Adolph Block building which was built in 1880. It was a cold and rainy morning, so, I sketched from inside my car. Parking on this street is diagonal parking, not parallel. I had to turn and look back from the driver's seat to see the building. Holding my large journal and handling my supplies was difficult in the cramped space that I had.

I took a reference picture with my iPod Touch and used it to analyze the building's design. I did a quick pencil sketch on a small piece of paper. The building is three sets of squares top and bottom with a small piece added onto the right side which I assume is a stairway to the second floor. I also determined the placement of the windows and doors. The top story windows are three to a square, are the same size, and are spaced evenly. The first floor is divided in half vertically with windows above and entrances and display windows below. I also used three dots to find the height and width of the triangular shaped tree foliage.

I then used this knowledge to draw setup lines in my journal. I drew with a Pilot erasable FriXion orange highlighter pen. Next I used a Kaweco Sport fountain pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink to draw the details over the setup. All this took about an hour. I ran out of time and energy and had to stop before I could add the watercolor.

I used a hair dryer at home to erase the orange highlighter pen, and then added watercolor while looking at the reference photo I had taken on my iPod Touch blown up large on my desktop computer's monitor. I used Daniel Smith watercolor and two brushes - a 5/8 inch filbert to start and a #6 round for added detail. I worked in successive steps of color from light to dark. I used a hair dryer between each pass to speed things up.

Working on location is more problematic than working in the studio. In this case I couldn't see very well through the rain on the car window. I misjudged the placement of the halfway line between the stories which made the top story windows too long and the ground level windows and doors too short. I should have caught that by comparing the setup sketch with the building or photo, but I didn't. Next time I'll try to remember to check before adding ink.

Jim