If I did a statistical analysis of the my sketching subjects, it would be clear that I’m a building portrait kind of guy.  I just love ’em and enjoy going out, finding them, and sketching them.  In fact, being out in the city, sitting on a stool as people walk by, is a major part of what I enjoy about it.  I’ve never been much for sketching from photos and this is probably why.

This little guy was hanging out over a path I was walking on in the park. He was actually moving quite quickly, for him, but I had time to do this quick sketch.

I guess it’s true for most people, regardless of how or what kind of art they do; we all have a preferred subject type, whether it is flowers, landscapes, boats, or still lifes.  But sketching provides something that other forms do not – the ability to sketch something quickly.  This translates into sketchers drawing a much wider variety of things than an artist who must set up an easel and has a mindset of hanging the result on a wall.

I was out for a long walk and sat down in a park. Something suggested that I sketch this basketball hoop that was sitting idle. Definitely a ‘no big deal’ sketch. Took less than ten minutes but it was ten minutes of fun.

We sketchers are happy with these quick sketches, often of subjects that no other group would ever do.  We proudly show off our sketch of a garbage can, a fire hydrant or maybe even a dead fish.  Why our brains work that way I do not know but I do know that our ability to do this without devoting a lot of time to it is the reason we do it so regularly.

They’re repaving a street near my house and I thought this small roller was unique.

This occurred to me as I was looking at the last few sketches I did in my little Moleskine watercolor book (3×5).  Excepting the roller, which took me twenty minutes or so, these sketches were done very quickly, with no particular goal in mind other than to be sketching.  All were fun.

I went birding on a ‘too windy’ day and ended up huddled behind a tree. Did this sketch of a fungus.