Friday, March 13, 2015

1967 House Sketching


1967 house, corner of Kootenai Cutoff and Starr Lane
We've had a string of sunny 60-plus degree days and I've managed to take pretty good advantage of them. But it's to come to an end with some rain over the weekend, so this afternoon I paused on my walk to sketch this house. Its fascination for me is partly the unusual design - long sloping roof line, massive chimneys and oddly angled window - and partly that it sits squarely on the diagonal of its corner lot. My guess has always been that it was built in the sixties, and my other guess is that it did not always sit this close to what has become a main thoroughfare lined with commercial buildings.


Here's an aerial view so you can see what I mean, red arrow pointing to the house. When it was built (according to a google search, I was right - it was built in 1967), there may have been as dense a buffer of trees across either street as there still is behind it. It is not the lone residence - to the north you can see a few more houses perhaps of the same vintage, and out of camera range beyond that, a newer little residential development - the one that borders that shed on 3 acres I sketched last week. But in plain view are parking lots for a Home Depot, Frontier Communications, Wal-Mart and a strip of small businesses. How sad...I bet this was a prime location when it was built, and a somewhat innovative design.

I chose pencil today for sketching, adding only white charcoal to show off the house's still brilliantly white siding, and a little colored pencil for the fire hydrant. And guess what? I'm not going to complain about anything in this sketch. I am very pleased with the way it came out.

6 comments:

Living to work - working to live said...

That's a damn good sketch and as I looked at it I knew it was 60s. Part of the day job involves dating houses so I'm pretty good at that, though admittedly here in Blighty not in your neck of the woods.

Your sketching is actually really awesome. I really ought to practice more ( time, time, time.....)

H xxx

The Inside Stori said...

Call me totally impressed with your sketching!!!!

Cate Rose said...

Looks Frank Lloyd Wright-ish! Have a great weekend. Waiting for rain here, too.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thank you thank you. Not to sound egotistic but I'm pretty impressed with it too, and you KNOW how hard I am on myself. I'm wondering if I've finally hit a point where something clicked - I felt much different while working through this one than I have on the others. Yes, practice is the key Hilary! And then it's less stumbling and thinking and on to just doing! It's a little thing but I'm excited...

Felicity Grace said...

Great sketch, and really interesting building too! It's lovely when something finally clicks, I hope that means more sketches for us to see! Perhaps the materials help too - seeing this makes me want to get my white pencils out again. They really make a sketch 'pop' and it's fun to do. I keep meaning to say a huge thanks for your comments on my blog too, they have kept me going during a very long creative block!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thanks Felicity! And I'm glad my comments to you have be of help. You are such a talent, and I sure do understand about those creative blocks.