Messy - Sketchy - Stuff - LEAN2 creative works

Warrick, a monster of good breeding - pencil & colored pencil in moleskin sketchbook, © Melinda Nettles 2015

Sketch of monster no. 7. Pencil, graphite, stickers, sticky notes. © Melinda Nettles 2016.

Sketch of pink monster, mixed media in sketchbook. © Melinda Nettles 2016.

Sketch of orange monster. Mixed media in sketchbook. © Melinda Nettles

MESSY - SKETCHY -STUFF

Making art is a messy business. It takes a great deal of experimentation before anything 'finished' comes along. (And is it ever, really, finished?) Much of the time, the best stuff happens when you're using a little scrap of paper and not thinking too hard. Art is also hard work; to give a picture truth, I need to spend a lot of time out in the fields, garden, streets, and cafés - sketching, sketching, sketching. Learning the structure of plants, the shape of landforms, the gestures and postures of goats and humans alike. Here are some of those studies and experiments.

Character Studies

Left and above are
Warrick, a monster of impeccable breeding, and several of his friends.
(with thanks to illustrator Kevan Atteberry for the idea of Monster Month and Cass Nevada for getting me to do it). (Pencil & colored pencil on Moleskine sketchbook, 2016.)

Drawing of the king at table. Pen on paper. © Melinda Nettles 2015

The King...
at one end of the table...

Drawing of the queen at table. Pen on paper. © Melinda Nettles 2015

The Queen
at the other...

(the royal family was drawin in felt-tip pen on butcher paper, for the kids at a party to color in, 2013ish.)

Place Studies

Sketch of airline cabin; Flight from Eugene, OR to Oakland, CA. Pencil drawing in Moleskin sketchbook. © Melinda Nettles 2011

Window Seat.
Not the most comfy place in the world. Drawing is always a good way to distract myself up there in the aero-plane world. And the forced perspective is a good challenge.
(Graphite on Moleskine sketchbook, 2011.)

Sketch of restaurant in Santiago, Chile from in-flight magazine. Graphite in Moleskin sketchbook, © Melinda Nettles 2014.

Santiago, Chile.
When I'm bored of drawing the plane, I draw images from the in-flight magazine; at left, a place I've never been: Santiago Chile, from the Hemispheres Magazine en route to Spain. (Graphite in Moleskine sketchbook, 2014.)

Plant & Animal Studies

Giraffes.
(Graphite on some sort of toothy sketchbook paper. Year?)

Chamisa, SW Colorado - pencil on moleskin sketchbook, © Melinda Nettles 2013

Chamisa, Saul's Creek, Colorado.
Somewhere east of Durango, on County Road 527. The family was hiking, but I had busted up my knee and couldn't go, so I drew chamisa, (which is, along with prickly pear and cottonwood trees, one of my favorite plants) instead. (Graphite in Moleskine sketchbook, 2013.)

Sketches of black-tailed jackrabbits. © Melinda Nettles 2011

Jackrabbits!
Quite possibly...no, certainly, my favorite animal.
(Graphite in some sort of sketchbook, 2011.)

Gizmos

Sketch of railroad crossing arm. © Melinda Nettles

Railroad Gate, Eugene, OR.
(Pencil on sketchbook paper, year?)

Graphite sketch of jetway gizmo, Eugene Airport, Eugene, OR. © Melinda Nettles 2011

Jet Bridge Dealie.
(Graphite on Moleskine sketchbook, 2011.)