Artwork Over the Holidaze: Hodgson Mill, Some Dead Stuff and My Wife in Vintage

Whenever I wasn't cooking or playing Santa to the whims of my wife and daughter this Christmas and the days leading up to and away, I tried to put a pen, pencil or paintbrush in my hands. Luckily, I managed to sketch quite a bit.

First up, a pencil sketch I did from a pic I took several years ago at Sleeping Bear Dunes Lifesaving Station. It's in Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan.

This next one is sketched from a pic of Hodgson Mill on Bryant Creek that I took a couple of years ago on an overnight canoe trip. The mill is inactive, having moved production to a more modern facility, but I generally buy Hodgson Mill flour for all of the baking I do.

These are sketched from dead stuff at Bass Pro Shops, here in Springfield. I meant to do a few more, but there were probably a couple thousand people in the building and no matter where I stood, I felt in the way, so I bailed on the idea. The best thing about sketching there is that the animals give you all the time you need to draw them. The bad thing, dealing with a lot of dumbasses just milling about at the camouflaged, furred and feathered spectacle.

And lastly, a watercolor of my lovely wife, sketched from a pic that I took over the summer. I'm working on my portraiture skills. I've dodge the portrait bullet for a long time, but I'm trying to work something of a happy medium out with my aversion.