Sunday, January 22, 2012

Urban Rural of Auburn, KS

Or is that Rural Urban? We had our monthly jam at our regular spot, the Auburn Community Center. Auburn has a population of 1121. Our gathering is a big community event to a town that size. The Community Center qualifies as the center of town, so it's Urban to me.

The building are quite the collection of various periods of architecture. That's how schools expand over the years. When the schools walked away from the building, an individual bought it all and converted it for community use. We are all grateful he did. It houses their Library now, and many groups have activities there. It feels good to be part of a community.

I went early to the jam so I could sketch. After driving around I found a good spot to sit and sketch. A non-profit group comes to set up a meal they sell as a fund raiser. Slowly people come, carrying guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos and basses. I finish the top 2/3 of the spread from a picnic table and finish the rest at home. Artist markers, watercolor pencils, waterbrush, Velin Arches text woven.

5 comments:

  1. John, how cool to have the community center available! Love the idea of going early to sketch...your pages are always so much fun with the mix of text and art.

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    1. Thanks, Kate. It was enjoyable sketching in the quiet before the music started. Don't know why I didn't think of it earlier because I've been doing both bluegrass and drawing for a while now.

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    2. Well, be sure to do it again! It's fun to draw the instruments, as you have, and the musicians, too, though I know you're usually one OF them!

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    3. I like your form of reporting your life, John! I’m looking forward to seeing & reading where you go through your sketchbook journaling. I think this urban rural issue is something I wonder about. Is a cornfield urban if it’s within the city limits? It certainly defines the nature of my Midwestern urban area, that the town and country are often across the street or highway from one another.

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    4. There's not a clear line, Marcia. When I was getting background info for sketch I found out that Auburn (rural) was growing with Topeka (urban) people because they wanted a more rural environment to raise kids. So that urban influx would tend to water down the rural natives to be a mixture. I guess that's the American way. Wilma and I are 10 miles out of Topeka yet our schools and community events illustrate most of us have urban connections with our jobs.

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