Sketch: Across the Bay

"Across the Bay"
Charcoal on Paper

Here's a sketch I started a few years ago. I have finally finished it. Inspired by driftwood at the beach or a photo of driftwood, I left it tucked in a stack of sketchbooks until I was in Florida recently and saw a storm across Perdido Bay.  Then, I remembered why I started it at all.

I have many sketches in various states in sketchbooks scattered around my office/studio. Some of them remain unfinished and may always remain that way. I don't mean to leave them unfinished, but it's often hard to come back to something I've long ignored. In some of them I see some value and the spark is renewed, but in others I have let them smolder too long in the dark. I've simply forgotten why I pursued them.

Isn't that like life?

Amphibian Warrior

 

Here is a Pen and ink sketch of an amphibian warrior from my sketchbook. This sketch idea generated from a short story I'm working on in the fantasy genre. The story is for a specific contest this fall. I have not done much work in this genre, so i'm finding the sketches are a vital part of the story planning. Look for more sketches or story excerpts here soon.

Pen, ink, & pencil on paper

Peter and the Flying Turtle

While Max’s party was going on in the dining hall, Peter sneaked away from the noisy crowd and through the kitchen. His bare feet on the red tile floor barely made a sound. No one even saw him leave.

This was his moment. It was now or never. Just a few more steps and he would be free.

Peter grasped the brass knob and pushed open the heavy wooden door with one hand and squeezed Simon tightly in his other hand. They peeked out the door together.

The garden was dark and quiet except for the soft hum of tree frogs. The grass shined green and wet in the light from the doorway and he could just make out the live oak across the pond.

“This is it,” he whispered to Simon. “One more step and there’s no turning back.”

(from Peter and the Flying Turtle)

This is a small excerpt from a children's book I've been writing. The artwork is a little sketchy right now and far from final, but this small piece might give you an idea of the general direction of the book.

Pen & Ink: Cutting

"Cutting"
Pen & Ink + Watercolor

Another sketch from the sketchbook. I had a nice visit with family last weekend. In the stories told, we talked about how the land has changed over time around my Grandmother's house. We roamed the creeks and pastures (Once a dirt car track! What?!?) and woods around her house when we were children. Now the creek is overgrown and a new forest covers part of the land. I literally can't see the place where we spent our spring and summer days.

But is that more lonely and shocking than a forest clear cut from memory? Either way, it feels like a displacement of the self. Even if that self was seven years old a long time ago.

Pen and Ink: Sitting Bull

From my sketchbook. An attempt at a pen and ink + watercolor sketch of Sitting Bull taken from the iconic photograph. Trial and error on this one, but it was fun to give it a try.

Monsters and Flowers?!?

"Daisy"

Fun, quick sketch in my watercolor sketch book. Even monsters need to stop and smell the flowers. Right?

Watercolor and charcoal on watercolor paper.

Rocket Ride

Watercolor idea sketch for inclusion in a future children's book titled Rocket Ride. Friendship, boxcar racing, and adventure. I'm working on some thumbnail sketches and working out the middle bit of the story. Updates to come!

Watercolor and ink on watercolor paper.

Golden

A sketch from my digital moleskin.
Digital ink, pencil, and watercolor in the Paper by 53 app for the iPad.

All at Sea

"All at Sea"
Digital pencil, ink, and watercolor
Created in the Paper by 53 app for the iPad

Reckoning

"Reckoning"
Digital illustration using the Harmonious app for iPad.

Invasion

"Invasion: They Came at Midnight" / Digital sketch using the Harmonious app for the iPad.

You can see other Harmonious sketches by me on this page: http://harmoniousapp.com/search/user/Rok

You can also vote for or "like" any on my sketches on that page (any that say "by Rok").

Gaze

"Gaze" / Digital sketch using the Harmonious app for the iPad.

You're welcome at my fire anytime.

"A man can be hard to find in the mountains. You're welcome at my fire anytime." (A line about the value of true friendship from the film The Man from Snowy River.)

This digital ink and watercolor piece was completed on the Paper by 53 app on the iPad.

City View

Here's a glimpse at one of my first attempts using the Paper by 53 app for the iPad. This is a quick ink/watercolor sketch I attempted while we waited during the 14 hour spinal surgery on Pastor Marc Limbaugh. That's the Georgia State Capitol building and its gold dome as I saw it from the 6th floor at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Still Standing

Another creation using the Paper by 53 app for the iPad. Here's a shout-out to Ben Bonner for another great message on Sunday about miracles and being a miracle maker in a our everyday lives. Ben is the assistant pastor at Christ Fellowship Church: http://www.christ-fellowship.com/. He is teaching most Sundays as our Senior Pastor, Marc Limbaugh, recovers at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta following a bad accident two weeks ago.

As I listened to Ben bring another message of hope yesterday, I opened my iPad and begin to compose this simple watercolor/ink piece. Sketching and doodling have always helped me focus on listening close to a speaker (notes are great but art is better!). 

Marc Limbaugh is also my father-in-law and as we wait for positive signs and reports each day of his recovery, my imagination composes pictures. I think of how Marc and I both are in awe of creation and all its wonders. I think of how Marc loves the mountains and rivers and streams. I think of how Marc once told a story of how he woke his four sons up on a trip out west to see a sunrise in a national park and how they watched it in awe together and how he treasured that shared moment. As Ben spoke, my heart turned to a sunset over mountains and a forest, the last glow before the night comes sweeping in with a blanket of stars. The end of another day fading into darkness.

By faith, I hold on to hope. In the morning, the sun will rise again. There will be mountains to climb, but we will find our path and sure footing. 

And we will stand in awe.

Red Flower

I'm using a new app on the iPad called Paper by 53. You can check it out here: http://www.fiftythree.com/paper. It's like a digital form of the moleskin journal. The flower above is a combination of pencil, ink, and watercolor. I'm digging this new app. More to come.

Light #2

Light #2. A sketch using the Harmonious app on the iPad.

Tools

"Tools"
A series of sketches on the iPad using the Harmonious app.

Light #1

Another creation on the iPad using the Harmonious app. Light #1

Coming Home

Another sketch using the Harmonious app on the iPad. Inspired by a photo I saw of captured German soldiers in WWII.

The toll of war is heart wrenching. You can see it in the eyes of those coming home after their service has ended. I had a friend tell me once he killed enemies and saw friends die when he served in Iraq.

"Sometimes," he said, "I think I died with them."

"That's terrible," I said after a few moments.

He took a long drag on a cigarette and exhaled slowly, nodding, and then rubbing his hands together against the cold of an early winter in Georgia.I remembered when were both younger, just reckless youths, he confessed to me how he heard ghosts moving around in the rented row house his family lived in at the time. I told him the creaks and groans he heard were probably the result of an old house settling at night. He said no. I was wrong. They whispered to him.

His eyes were hollow then.

"I'm pretty sure your buddies would want you to live your life. You know...survive."

He stretched his arms wide against the blistered sky and shivered. A mockingbird flew across the parking lot and over trees and out of sight.

"I wasn't talking about my buddies. I meant the ones I took."

He ground his cigarette out with his boot heel. They were construction boots for his new job, his new life - sturdy and dark with steel toes. He dressed the part.

"Come on. Let's go inside. It's getting cold out here." He clapped me on the back and turned to go. "My nipples are so hard, I think I could dial a rotary phone with them." And then he laughed. Just like old times.

I couldn't see his eyes.