"A Place To Sketch Or Write Your New Screenplay..."

A sketch of the plane I'm commissioned to paint.

Good Thursday morning, all bodies.

Had a fun meeting with a prospective client at Giddy-Up this morning. She is looking for someone who can paint her in a PT-17 Stearman flying over Lake Ponchartrain. Sounds like she found the right guy!

She seemed to like the western decor at the Folsom coffeehouse, Coffee and panini's... I always try to get folks to drive up to Folsom to see this beautifully laid out place. Very relaxing with computer plugs ins at just about every table or sofa... just perfect to sketch or write your new screenplay, ha!

Man, I got up early and took 'da Pup for an early morning, thirty minute walk. So glad I decided to shower after the walk. Whoa, it is gonna be a hot humid day today.

But, for now, it is a panini and a second Giddy-Up cup!

Copyright 2017/ Ben Bensen III

"A Luncheon Doodle..."

In between bites!

S'been a while since I pulled out a sketchbook, but two days ago I dropped my car off in Slidell for servicing. There goes 300 smackaroos!

Anyway, I always have a driver take me to a restaurant instead of vegging at the dealership for an hour or two. This is what I decided to sketch this radio controlled F4U Corsair in between bites at the Southside Cafe where, it seems, retired Marines hang to raise a few and talk about the "old days." I chowed down a reuben with a side of coleslaw and a draft beer and managed to not get any thousand island "texture" on the sketch.

Copyright 2017/ Ben Bensen III

Transitional Landscape Storyboard Frames...

Having dinner at a Lebanese restaurant here in St. Francisville, LA, Al Aqaba. I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of sleep. A new briefing of twenty-five frames will probably occur later this evening. On to the final confrontation at the Plaquemine sugar cane factory. It will be a real challenge for all involved.

I attached some gratuitous landscape wide shots ( WS ). It's kinda fun because I get to create my own visuals... as long as they pertain to the appropriate scene. I say "gratuitous" because these pics don't reflect any dialogue or require any specific angles for the film storyboard.

For added flavor, I entitled each one of my location frames. The one with the turtle is called,"Blew By You!" It was part of the many car chase scenes I've had to draw.

The one with the heron I entitled, "Carol" for obvious reasons! My friend, Carol Hallock, has an egret named Geraldine as her brand. Carol is a painter of the Louisiana marshland and quite successful doing it. 

BTW, my Beach Boy collection of eight and a half hours made to sunrise, today, with plenty to spare.

Onward, and, uh... onward!

Copyright 2015/ Ben Bensen III

"Hey Mister, You Wanna Buy Some Popcorn?"

It's for a good cause!

This is a sketch I drew while waiting for my wife to finish shopping at a local thrift store. Therese is always looking for bargains for her class, either for projects, gifts or supplies. So a few weeks ago we drove up to Franklinton, LA, which is only about ten or twelve miles north from "downtown" Folsom to checkout the deals going down. A friend, at Gus's restaurant, suggested she go there if she was looking for some inexpensive spiral bound notebooks for the class.

With our crazy schedule, if I want to spend some quality time with my teacher/wife, I have to occasionally go hunting for bargains with her, but I can only "circle" the tasty tidbits so long and then I get really bored... especially if I'm not buying, but looking.

I, begrudgingly, moseyed from the parking lot to the thrift store where I was intercepted by the young, cute as a button, but rather scruffy nine or ten year old Cub scout. He was being chaperoned by his grandmother, who looked very thin, weather beaten and world weary with a few missing teeth, wearing a rather worn and disheveled "hoodie." With a "ciggie" in her hand, she guided the rather elf like Cubbie in my direction.

"Go ahead, go ahead, ask the man if he'd like some popcorn." Tell him, it is for a very good cause!" she said, encouraging the boy to put his best salesman act on.

It was a very cold Saturday morning, dark, damp and cold, and therefore,  the little guy was so wrapped up that I really couldn't tell if indeed he was a true Cub scout. Therese, who was on a mission, continued towards the door since the budding salesman had singled me out.

"Hey Mister, you wanna buy some popcorn for free?"

"Free?" I inquired. "Now, how much is the free popcorn?"

He stopped in his tracks, looked back at his managing partner, and mumbled something to himself, as I smiled and waited for an answer.

"Well son, said his grandmother, That's not exactly how we practiced it, is it?"

Now, grandmother, every now and then, taking a toke on her cigarette, explained to me in a rather raspy voice about how we are letting down our younger generation and losing them to the devil.

Oh boy, I thought to myself, as the little lost soul was trying his best to remember his sales pitch amongst his chaperone's preaching. I decided to intercept her oncoming Bible recitation by asking the little guy, how much are you selling that big can of candied popcorn... with the nuts!

"Uh, um... twenty dollars, sir," he said, looking for approval from "management."

As the grandmother backed away from her "hell in a hand basket" sermon, I turned to the Cubby and told him, that I'd give him another try when I come out from shopping at the thrift store. Thirty minutes that seemed to go on forever, I decided to go the car to snooze and listen to sports talk radio,  since my wife was still on her mission, but before I got past the exit door, the little guy hit me again.

"Hey Mister, you wanna buy some holiday popcorn... for free?

I spent the next hour, in my car, sketching and chowing down on a tin canister full of candied popcorn with nuts as I observed the little capitalist raking in the dough...  and, all for a good cause, ya know?

And, it's free!

Copyright 2014/ Ben Bensen III

"Gus's Ode To A Farmtool!"

A horse drawn harvester?

A friend requested that I, one day, sketch the interior of Gus's restaurant, which is the local Greek Parthenon, or forum here in Folsom, LA where everybody's got an opinion on practically everything. I have done sketches of people in the restaurant eating, chewing the fat, hanging out, and just about hanging all over. But, as some sort of ode to the farm world, the good natured, laconic Greek, has a couple of old rusted plowboy "objects d'art" situated as accent pieces around the premises, which are generally ignored.

I drew this sketch, seated in my car in the restaurant parking lot... just before the lunch crowd blasted in. I believe it to be a horse drawn harvester, of sorts. I've seen it a couple of times, and investigated how it basically works, but if my investigations are correct, it seems like a very ineffectual way of gathering anything.

Copyright 2014/Ben Bensen III

"Passing A Good Time At A Tractor Festival"… Number One!

A Ferguson Tractor?

I must admit, though it is hard to agree from my sketch, this medium sized tractor actually has really gorgeous lines… for a tractor. I learned a lot about tractors at this fund raising tractor ( Second Annual, I think! ) festival. It is amazing what you can learn if you are willing to exhibit some ignorance about a subject and show a little curiosity.

And, I got a whole lot of that!

There were so many friendly people there who were willing to share their love for tractors, it was truly refreshing. But, with so many tractors and owners with their stories, I couldn't remember all the details of each machine. I learned that there is a specific design for whatever need you had. Tractors are so basic and hard working that one wonders why there are so many variants. At first glance, a tractor is a tractor is a tractor! But, there are. I learned that if you're growing corn, you better not be also growing cotton.

Otherwise, you'll need another tractor… or borrow one from a neighbor.

Anyway, I found this wonderfully and, I think, beautifully designed tractor to be an award winner. Not only was it beautifully restored, but it had some really nice lines and appeared to be a real show boat with creature comforts for the back forty. There were many makes and models represented at this festival, from companies like International Harvester, John Deere, Case, Ford, Massey-Harris and this standout from Ferguson.

A Ferguson… who knew?

Copyright 2014/Ben Bensen III

"Grown Man's Tonka Toys... A CASE Tractor!"

Forgotten Junk or a Storefront Icon?

About six months ago, someone decided to park this old tractor in front of a supply store on LA Highway 59 just aside of Abita Springs. Two days ago, someone moved it from the left of the building to the center which means the store owner or manager either wants it to put out to pasture somewhere else, or they are centering it as an attention getting icon.

Well, the move got my attention.

Ever since its first appearance, I've been wanting to stop and sketch the red, rusted "Tonka Toy." But, I'm never, it seems, in the right frame of mine to give it the justice it deserves. It seems my "muse" isn't lately and so days, weeks and months go by and still, I haven't taken the time.

Well, two days ago, on Sunday, I decided to sit in my parked car and sketch this baby. I "sumized"that there would be no traffic in the store's parking lot which gave me time to do some kind of justice to the tractor.

Well, this is a nice edition to my "Grown Man's Tonka Toy" series and now, whenever I drive by, I will no longer suffer that irritating feeling that comes to artists when they have sense they have missed a rare and monumental moment.

If you're an artist, you know what I mean.

Copyright 2014/ Ben Bensen III

"Another Catchy Eyesore... Or A Valuable Find!"

A rusty and dilapidated old yellow truck...

This old Ford ( I think! ) has been out in front of an auto body store for years. It is painted yellow and is really easy to spot from the highway in Covington. Like the old Plymouth that I sketched a few months back, I've been meaning to stop and sketch it for years, but once I am on that road sitting in traffic, all my energies are geared to just getting off that highway and back home!

I checked the interior, and it seems to be in fairly good condition, but the window on the drivers side is stuck halfway up and facing towards the south... where most of our weather comes from.

Walking around it to first decide what angle I would draw it by, I wondered...

I wondered how valuable this little rusty pickup would be in Southern California!

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

Table Cloth Art #3..."Look Through Any Window!"

Look Through Any Window...

Look Through Any Window... and tell me what'cha see. And then, draw it. 

This is another in a series of sketches I enjoy doing on restaurant paper table cloths. I just put the pen to paper and doodle away while I am waiting for service or, if the art is promising, continue on as I eat.

Naturally, I would never ignore a lovely lady or someone else sitting across from me sharing a knosh in order to accomplish this. It is best performed solo, preferably at lunch. The sketch is from a restaurant in downtown Covington called, "Mattina Bella", which serves up some pretty interesting Italian lunches besides great all day omelets and benedicts.

Today, I just had a hamburger and fries, ha!

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III

"Coffee and Beignets... Metry-Style!"

A late night "schnack."

A long day included taking my son to the airport, not to fly, but to return his rental car before 9 pm on a Sunday night. I hadn't had any dinner that crazy evening and neither did my mom, who went along for the long seventy-five mile ride from Folsom.

It seemed like one SNAFU after another on that "day of rest" and returning our son's car was no exception. After losing the car keys to his own car after it broke down, when we dropped off the rental car, my son, Brian, also left his cellphone at the front desk and we had to return to the airport again to retrieve it.

Determined to put a positive spin on a horrible Sunday adventure, we stopped at the Morning Call restaurant in Metairie, LA ( pronounced "Metry" by the locals ) to have a couple of orders of beignets with a few cups of cafe au'lait before tackling the drive home.

It must have been about eleven pm when we drove into the parking lot. I remember long ago, when this coffeehouse was located in the French Quarter and where parking is always at a premium, when servers came out to your car and took your order right there at your car door and then, deliver it to you in the parking lot.

I don't think the waiters were on roller skates.

This night, we were lucky to find a table without having to wait, though the place was still quite crowded. Had this been a Friday or late night Saturday, we would have had to wait our turn outside and maybe thumb through a couple of magazines at the Lakeside newsstand till our names were called.

The Morning Call has always been open twenty-four seven!

I don't know if it was because I hadn't eaten in a while, or because I was exhausted by the day, or because it had just been quite a while since I ate there, but those three beignets were the best I've had in a long time.

I decided to immortalize the moment with this sketch, which was completed between my second and third cup of the "nectar of illustration!"

Copyright 2012-2013/ Ben Bensen III