Crazy Debbie's

This building was prominent in my childhood as it held the many mysteries of fireworks and Fourth of July fun. Every year near Independence Day, the commercials would roll for Crazy Debbie Fireworks, and this was the biggest dealer around. It always smelled of gunpowder, sawdust, and Kool-Aid. One of my friends was the red-headed Crazy Debbie on TV, and she enjoyed every minute of it. (At least that's how it always seemed.)

I sketched it with a few colored pencils breaking up the general atmosphere of the picture. The building is nondescript without the giant labels and signs on every square inch.

On a side note, when I was sketching it, I met a few residents who told me the building also used to be a school years before it was a fireworks stand.

Abandoned House

This abandoned house is in the small town of Wentworth, Mo. It sits just off the state highway, and it gives me the sense of years gone by. Wentworth was once a thriving zinc mining town with several thousand people coming in and out of its streets. It had a school up through a few decades ago, but now its population is down to around 130.

I went through the full tonal range on this, as it seemed appropriate to give some depth and feel to the age of these old buildings.

8"x16" on Strathmore 400 Sketch

The Old Gas Station

Growing up, this was a place where my friends and I could hang out, get first jobs, and fill up our first cars. Over the years, as all places like this go, it had several names. We always called it Murphy's, but some called it EJ's. It still has power to the diesel pumps, so they light up when the sky gets dim. It's an eerie site, and I always enjoyed seeing it.

I don't know what is going to happen to it, so I wanted to make a sketch of it before it disappeared.

Lockwood IOOF and Farmer's Exchange

In honor of the International Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl, I went to a place where I have wanted to sketch for awhile. This building is an old IOOF (International Order of Odd Fellows) building near the Farmer's Exchange in Lockwood, Mo. This combination of old and more modern buildings always fascinates me, especially when the more modern buildings are the development of the older buildings nearby.

This was a three-hour effort, trying to focus on the composition of the shapes rather than the overall feeling of the tonal shapes. I like looking at buildings from areas off the sidewalk and away from passing traffic. This gives them parallels to other elements in the environment. The rail crossing lights and poles force your eyes to roam the semi circle of this scene.

8"x24" on Strathmore 400 Sketch Paper

Train Spotting Tower

Once upon a time this tower was used to spot trains as they came into the rail yard. They were also used to relay information and keep an eye out for security issues. I've sketched this area several times, but I wanted to encompass the whole scene. I may have stopped short, but I like the way this turned out.
8x24 400 Strathmore Sketch

Old Carthage Press Building

This is the back of the old Carthage Press building. According to a friend who worked there, the building is "full of concrete."

I went to Carthage's Food Truck Friday before settling into a few hours of sketching. This was a fun image to create, and I am really pleased with the outcome. The clock tower in the background belongs to the Jasper County Courthouse.

Flummerfelt's Town and Country

This is a bit of a departure from the other panoramas I've been doing, but I did this as part of James Gurney's Paint a Storefront challenge. I incorporated my panorama size into it, so it would fit my series.

This is Flummerfelt's Town and Country. This store used to sit on Commercial Street in Pierce City, Mo, but it was damaged in a tornado in 2003. The owners moved the store to its new location on Hwy 97 North. The family-owned business has been in operation for several decades, and I wanted to capture the steadfastness of the storefront in casein.