The Mast/White House, 1925-Lubbock, Texas

The Mast/White Home, 2301 Broadway, was orginially located at 2219 13th St. It was constructed in 1925 for C.S. Mast, a member of the original faculty at Texas Tech.

It was purchased by L.O. “Pop” and Ercil “Mom” White in 1948. The Whites, who were active in youth work, were instrumental in founding the Baptist Student Union for Tech students.

The home was acquired by First Baptist Church in 1978 and donated to the Lubbock Heritage Society for relocation. It was moved to its Broadway location in 1981.  

This sketch was done on location with Lamy Safari and Platinum Carbon Ink. Watercolor added later.

West Texas Wind Farm

On Nov. 10 at 10:21 a.m., wind gusts faster than 45 mph combined with a growing amount of wind turbines in the state to set a new record for the most wind power Texas has ever produced...about 26% of the demand.  This was enough to power about 4,000,000 homes.  The problem:  When the wind is calm they produce enough electricity to power zero homes!
Wind is a highly variable resource, however, and with proper understanding it can be readily incorporated as a part of the state's electric utility generation mix. This fact has already been recognized by Texas wind developers and electric utilities active in the state's nascent industry. The Panhandle, mountainous parts of West Texas, and perhaps even the lower Gulf Coast, contain areas with winds presently suitable for electric power generation. The number of commercially attractive sites will only expand as development costs continue to drop, wind turbine technology improves and government tax incentives exist.

Robert Bruno's Steel Sculpture/House

“Robert Bruno began his sculptural home in 1973, with a very fluid and organic plan. Trained as a sculpture, he moved to Lubbock from Mexico to teach at Texas Tech. A bit dismayed by the flat local landscape, he soon discovered an anomaly at Ransom Canyon. Even as you near the canyon, you can't truly see it, as it is carved into the flat landscape. But here you will find a vista with more drama, while keeping all of the incredible vast Texan sky. This proved to be a perfect setting for his home. Over the years, the look and structure of Robert's home has changed dramatically. Originally intended to be 1 story, he kept adding on, carving away, adjusting walls, etc. All of the walls in the home are either welded metal, or original glass/stained glass creations. All designed to optimize light and his visual experience. Walls were removed to increase visual vistas, stained glass added to create contrast to the rusted metal (with a subtle nod to his love of catholic iconography and visual language, as well as the old churches of Mexico). Not limited to expressions in glass and metal, Robert also created a beautiful wooden entry table of fluid lines and delicate grace. And he does it all himself, setting this home apart from a typical architectural project with other draftsmen and craftsmen contributing.”  Excerpted from:

http://www.artificialowl.net/2008/05/robert-bruno-steel-house-ransom-canyon_15.html

For additional photos, visit Mr. Bruno’s website:

http://www.robertbruno.com/

Underwood/Pridmore House, built 1940...restored 2012

The Underwood Home in Lubbock, Texas was designed in 1940 by Hal O. Yoakum, a Dallas Architect.  It had been vacant and neglected for many years until Tim and Melissa Pridmore purchased and restored it in 2012.  I am fortunate to be have been selected to design and implement the landscape enhancements and restoration.  Congratulations to the Pridmores for preserving one of the iconic and historic homes in Lubbock!  (sketched on location in pen and ink/watercolor)

Merry Christmas to all of my USK TX friends!

Drive-by sketching?

I've probably driven by Covenant Hospital 1000 times in my life, but this morning I had a few minutes to kill between meetings so I decided park into an adjacent parking lot and sketch it!  My goal was to capture the essence of an architecturally complicated hospital complex and to do it quickly.  I needed to decide what the iconic view of the hospital was, compose and simplify the sketch and then execute the sketch.  Beginning to end...55 minutes.  I'm not sure how successfully I accomplished my goal, but I sure had fun!  I'm trying to get better at seizing opportunities to hone my skills when they come along...

Stealing a few minutes to capture the raw beauty of west Texas

Took a few minutes while working on the Glass Ranch in Blanco Canyon near Spur, Texas to try and capture some of the incredibly rough, rugged and raw beauty of the place.  Big skies, big country and incredible beauty!

A little trip to the cool, colorful mountains of western North Carolina....

 I had a little time on our trip to do a little sketching.  If you've never had a chance to visit the mountainous area of the southern Appalachians in western North Carolina you are missing some incredible scenery!  In October the air is cool, the weather is beautiful and the fall color is spectacular!

 There are fantastic potential sketches around every bend in the road.  We happened upon this well kept old school house near a small community of Whiteside Cove.  Impossible for me to capture the brilliance of the fall colors...beech, hickory, maple, oak, tulip poplar.....

 We stayed at the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, North Carolina.  I could have sketched their building and grounds all week!

No trip to North Carolina is complete without a visit to The Biltmore Estate in Asheville.  I was able to sneak a few minutes to sketch the interesting roof line of the carriage house.

A formal introduction.....

 Well...I guess it is my turn to formally introduce myself.  My name is Tim Oliver and I am one of the seven current contributing correspondents for Urban Sketchers-Texas.  I am a native Texan, born and currently living on the plains of West Texas in Lubbock.  I am a graduate of Texas Tech University, a licensed landscape architect and own a design/build practice here in Lubbock.  I have an exceptionally beautiful and patient wife as well as three wonderfully above average children!  My wife is the love of my life as well as my biggest fan and supporter.  My oldest son currently serves in the US Navy, my daughter is employed in an architecture firm in Houston and my youngest boy is a senior in High School, headed to Tech next fall. 

I've always loved to draw and sketch but really discovered my passion a few years ago when I attended a "Sketching on Location" workshop by landscape architect and illustrator Richard Scott in Pasadena, California.  It was there that I became familiar with the incredible worldwide group of location sketchers known as Urban Sketchers.  I am extremely pleased to be a part of USK-Texas and hope to faithfully fufill the manifesto of Urban Sketchers by showing you Lubbock and West Texas "one sketch at a time!"