Old North and Old South--Boston Steeples

Perhaps the most noted steeple in American history is the Old North Church in Boston. From where on the night of April 18, 1775, a signal of 2 lanterns was shown, warning other Patriots that the British were crossing the Charles River to do battle at Lexington and Concord. It was the night of Paul Revere's famous midnight ride. I did this watercolor November 28, 201. Unseasonably warm, I sat in the pre-Revolutionary Copps Burial Ground amongst the gravestones.

Right, a view of Boston's Copley Square from Commonwealth Avenue, also painted November 2011. I'm not sure if the tower of Old South Church--nestled in the vee of darker trees, backdropped by pyramid-topped Berkeley Building and dwarfed by the John Hancock Tower--qualifies as a steeple. I took a liberty and included it in our scavenger hunt challenge.



And a bonus steeple (because February is almost over and therefore our Steeple Scavenger Hunt): Trinity Lutheran Church in Waterloo, Iowa, with its next door neighbor the Firestone Tire Store. Painted October 2010.        
                                                          

Good News and…

Chicago, IL: It seems you can't go three blocks in Chicago without seeing a Starbucks but we all have our favorites. Recently "mine" closed. Shock! The good news is it didn't really close. It just moved two blocks north. The better news is they serve wine in the evening!

Not ACTUALLY a church steeple...scavenger hunt!

Actually, this was once a tiny liquor store...the guy that owned the antiques store in Mound City, MO, moved it there and jazzed it up with the bell and steeple.  It makes me laugh every time I see it, so I had to sketch it for our scavenger hunt!

And in other news, I got to see the next to last show of I'll Be Seeing You at the Quality Hill Playhouse in Kansas City...godchild Molly Hammer ROCKS, as do her cohorts.

Soooo...any suggestions for our March scavenger hunt?  Signs of spring, maybe?

More images from the trip West

A small casino in downtown Henderson...I thought it was a theatre!

Security guard where J. deposited his check...

I love car sketching...this was on the 15 between Las Vegas and California...

Home from the West!

I always enjoy taking time to record whatever airports we pass through...this is LAX, on the first leg of the journey home.

We spent some quality time at Dana Point!

I sketched while J. arranged for his dad's mass...

 ...and as always, it's good to be HOME...

The Zoo's Hellcat Fighter

I finally had time to get back to Kalamazoo, Michigan's Air Zoo to do some sketching and painting. The museum has given me permission to work inside the barriers that they have around the various aircraft that they have on display. Makes it fun for me because I can get in close to see the details.

This is my attempt at the Air Zoo's F6F-5 Hellcat. It's one of the museum's trio of World War II Navy fighters that include the Hellcat, Corsair, and Wildcat fighters. The Hellcat was important to the Navy in the Pacific because it was an aircraft that could maneuver and out maneuver the famous Japanese Zero fighter. A lot of Hellcats were built but few survive. What's neat about this Hellcat and the rest of the museum's trio of fighters is that they are all still flyable. Also neat is each of the fighters has its own mannequin pilot...makes you look twice to see if someone is really in the cockpit!

Steeples...what a fun idea.  My contributions from oldest sketch to newest

 From my 1999 Europe sketchbooks.  My future Wife and I travelled and sketched before starting our semester in Rome as part of architecture school

In 2010 I took my birthday off and sketched for the day. This church was about to be sold and I thought I should sketch it now before it got worse.  Fortunatley it was bought and is being cared for.

 

Late last year I took a day to sketch in Philly. I loved this little steeple in silohette againts these huge buildings. Instead of wiping my travel kit watercolor tray out, I used it all up getting this view from the front seat of my rental car outside the Barnes Museum.

 

James Nutt

Eureka!

I really had to hunt to find this to join the scavenger hunt!

This is a sketch of St. Lad's in Chicago. I did it several years ago while waiting in the parking lot. It was a chilly late-fall afternoon.

2 Steeples for February Scavenger Hunt

2 Steeples in Winter

When the leaves are off the trees, looking north from my second floor bedroom window, I can see the steeples of St Patrick Catholic Church on the right and First United Methodist Church on the left. This is a Neocolor II water soluble wax pastel done at the end of January 2012.

Here's the same 2 steeples from a different angle and a different season in watercolor.

2 Steeples Autumn

February Scavenger Hunt!

Hi all!  Teri Casper suggested church steeples for this month...fun!

Here's one I did a few years ago, a really quick sketch down the alley by our post office.  That's my friend Bishop David's American Orthodox church in the background, originally the Catholic church in our town.

(You may have seen that one before if you've taken my Quick Sketch 2 mini-class!)

So let's see what catches YOUR eye!  Let's broaden our focus a bit...maybe your own church, an old Spanish mission, a spectacular mosque, an ashram, a retreat? 

Traveling cross country

Nobody seems to be able to be disconnected from their electronics these days!  (Except me, my cell phone disappeared between home and the far side of TSA security...)

Of my 6 fellow travelers that I had time to sketch before boarding, only one didn't have a cell phone, iPhone, iPad or game...disconnected while connected.