Random Musings - "The Old Mule"

Happy New Year, my friends! This 11X14 PITT Graphite Drawing on 10lb cold press paper is of an old Allis-Chalmers B series tractor, circa 1947, I believe. This particular tractor belonged to my grandfather and sits in a barn behind his house. He had quite a few sitting around, but this one was one of his favorites.

 This model doesn't come with headlights. He added those himself so he could keep on plowing when it started to get dark. The jug next to the driver seat? It was full of water, because the beast had a habit of overheating. I recall many a season following behind this machine, whether chunking rocks or picking up potatoes. Back then, I hated every minute of it. Isn't it funny how, when you get old, you wish you could do again the things you hated as a kid?

I really like the way this one turned out. It was drawn from a photo I took myself. I took only a few liberties with it, just to make the background less cluttered. A lot of the details I filled in from memory because they don't show in the photo, which is a bit dark. The photo was taken with a Fuji FinePix S4250WM in overcast conditions. I have lots more, not just of this tractor but of a lot of the other machinery around the farm.

There's just something fascinating about old farm machinery - the feel of the rust, the smell of the grease, the fact that no one cares if it's covered in six inches of dirt. I think I'd like to do some more of these, not just of the tractors, but there's also an old car that used to belong to my uncle and a lot of plowing and tilling equipment. And cats. I saw three, but I could barely get near them, much less take their picture. Maybe January's sketchbook theme will have something to do with farm machines...or cats...or cats on farms...hmmm...

#sketching #drawing #pencildrawing #dailysketch #graphitesketch #blackandwhite #farmlife #allis-chalmers