More harbor sketches

Although I had brought digital files of design projects for clients along with me to Baltimore on my laptop Friday night, I took the day off yesterday from working on them. And while it made me feel like a lazy slacker, I needed to do that. As much as I've trained myself not to use the common excuse of artistic types that "I'm just not feeling inspired", there is such a thing as burnout, and I'm trying to pay attention to the signs. But I still can't stand much lying around, so turning to my sketchbook, even when I'm feeling resistant (often), rescues me from feeling guilty about wasting time.

sunset, fells point, 11-1/4 x 7-1/2, Derwent Inktense pencilsI do have to confess that I napped briefly in her living room while Linda was out on errands, but the late afternoon sun shining through the windows made it impossible to really snooze soundly. Noticing that the glass in my direct field of view was less than perfectly clear, I washed the windows inside and out. By the time I finished (I only did one set but they got durn burn clean!) the sky had started going that winter creamsicle color that sometimes happens on cold, cloudless January days just before dusk.

I'm not a huge sunset fan, because sunsets make me sad. Something about things coming to an end. I'm much more of a sunrise kind of guy. But the quiet drama of fading light on the Domino Sugars plant, the docked bulk freighter, and those gorgeous, rapidly shifting colors on the harbor, made doing a drawing a compulsory exercise. The scene felt so alive and almost conscious, like an entity in and of itself.

And this morning before heading back up to Marietta to get a head start on the week's work, one more quick graphite pencil study just for good measure (while my breakfast got cold) satisfied my little obsession with this industrial harborscape. Temporarily.