Bridge, Castlewood State Park, Ballwin, MO

Everything looks better in watercolor even a dull concrete bridge. In fact, most things look better in sketches and paintings, don't you agree?

Bridge, Kiefer Creek, Castlewood State Park, 10/15/2017, 7"h x 10"w, water color on Canson 140lb cold press, Michael Anderon

Sketchng in Forest Park, World's Fair Pavilion, St. Louis

The World's Fair Pavilion stands at the crest of Government Hill overlooking a broad expanse of Forest Park. Designed by English architect Henry Wright and built with proceeds from the 1904 World's Fair the building opened in 1910. Cascades of daffodils are flanked by dual stairways at both ends of the structure that lead down the hill to a fountain and pool. Rows of flowering trees added swaths of pink & dark magenta to my view of the arts & crafts-style structure on this cool, gray morning.

World's Fair Pavilion, Forest Park, 04/10/2016, 7"h x 9"w, Canson 140lb cold press, waterbrush, Michael Anderson

View from Forest Park, The Chase, St. Louis

Although there are many views within Forest Park that might suggest you are in a wilderness area this previously unpublished sketch, painted mid-summer 2013, depicts the Chase Park Plaza Hotel peaking above the treetops and dense wildflowers in full bloom. The Chase is an art-deco era masterpiece designed by Preston Bradshaw, an architect who prospered during the roaring twenties. Bradshaw designed many hotels and apartment buildings in St. Louis that are still in use including The Mayfair, The Coronado and The Melbourne Hotel, now Jesuit Hall. Early in his career he was a drafstman for the preeminent McKim, Mead & White. That experience is evident in his monumental brick buildings exquistely detailed with stone or terra-cotta details, ornamentation and flourishes.

The Chase, 07/28/2013, watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press, waterbrush, Michael Anderson

Lunch time sketches, Downtown, St. Louis

Opportunities for urban sketching sometimes occur in fleeting moments. While eating lunch recently I had a few minutes to open my sketchbook and try to catch images of downtown. The views are as random as a winning lottery number. I read somewhere that the great artist John Singer Sargent could set up his easel virtually anywhere and create a masterpiece. That is a high standard to try to achieve but it is a good thing to remember so as not to get discouraged when subject matter and time are limited. Keep sketching!

Bespoke Sketchbook pages, 6"h x 6"w, Sharpie Flair pen, Faber-Castelli PITT artsist pens, shades of grey, 03/15-03/17, 2016. Michael Anderson

Travel Sketches, County Donnegal, Ireland

View of farms and a fresh water lake on the trail to Tramore Strand, 09/19/2015, water color on Canson 140lb cold press, 7" h x 9" w, Michael Anderson, 2015.

The next to last day of our driving trip along the Wild Atlantic Way we reached the most northern point in our travels in Ireland but not by car. We hiked approximately 2 miles to the Tramore Strand, a beach that is only accessible by foot or on horseback through a national park.
  

Snapshot of the view from the picnic table.

The path emerges from a dense stand of pines where a wooden picnic table stands at the edge of a sandy marshland which is a national bird sanctuary. It was a perfect place to sketch and rest before the long walk. It was all the more striking because when arrived at the beach we were the only people there as far as the eye could see in either direction. We had reached the end of of our journey to look out on the Atlantic Ocean in a place of great natural beauty and total solitude.

The majestic Tramore Strand.

Travel Sketches, Dunfanaghy, County Donnegal, Ireland

Sheephaven Bay, low tide, 09/18/2015, 7" h  x  9"w, watercolor on Canson 140lb, cold press, 2015, Michael Anderson.

Our northernmost stop on the Wild Atlantic Way was the village of Dunfanaghy in County Donnegal. The center of this small town overlooks Sheephaven Bay. During low tide the stable near the Arnolds Hotel provides horses and riding tours along the strand of nearby beaches and country side. The rooms at the Arnolds have "sea views" but mainly face the hillside that shelters the bay.

Horse and Rider at Low Tide, Killahoey Strand,  09/19/2015, 7" h  x  9"w, watercolor on Canson 140lb, cold press, 2015, Michael Anderson.

Killahoey Strand, low tide.

Near Horn Head, 09/18/2015, 7" h  x  9"w, watercolor on Canson 140lb, cold press, 2015, Michael Anderson.

As the land moves out into the sea it gradually becomes steeper and more rocky. Beyond is Horn Head, an elevated point at the western edge of Europe that was used as a lookout during World War II to monitor foreign naval activity.  m

Horn Head

Travel Sketches, Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland

The sea view from the Bervie, 09/16/2015, 7" h x  9" w, watercolor on Canson 140lb coldpress, Michael Anderson.

Traveling north along the Wild Atlantic Way in September my wife and I drove through several small picturesque villages including Glengarriff and Adare. Typically the buildings at the town centers are painted in bright colors and occupied by shops, b&b's and pubs. Some consider all the added color as garish gentrification meant to be attractive to tourists. A clear exception is the sparsely populated, stark yet beautiful village of Keel Achill in County Mayo located on Achill Island. A bridge connects the island to the mainland so access is easy but only about 2500 people live there. Sheep roam freely almost everywhere. Most of the buildings in the village are simply whitewashed or abandoned to weather in dull greys amid piles of rubble and lush greenery against a background of rocky cliffs that jut out into the Atlantic. We stayed overnight at the Bervie Guesthouse where the rooms have views of the sea and guests are served tea upon arrival.

The Bervie Guesthouse, 09/17/2015, 7" h x  9" w, watercolor on Canson 140lb coldpress, Michael Anderson. The exterior is trimmed with blue shutters, flowering plants and sea shells.

The Bervie is operated by Liz and John Barrett, life long residents of Achill Island. Liz is descended from a family of hoteliers. She is also a gourmet chef and prepares dinner every evening at the Bervie. Seafood and lamb dishes are specialties. She is a gracious hostess and epitomizes hospitality. m

Snapshot of a view of Keel Achill.

Into the mystic.

Travel Sketches, County Galway, Ireland

                          Renvyle House Hotel, Connemara, County Galway, watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press, 7" h x 9" w, 2015.  Michael Anderson

In September my wife and I traveled to Ireland. She planned our trip based on her own skilled research along with hotel recommendations from a longtime friend who was born in Belfast. Our itinerary began in Dublin but our goal was to drive across the country to westernmost points and follow the scenic route known as the Wild Atlantic Way to the north. One of our stops was at the Renvyle House, an historic hotel on a 150 acre estate in County Galway. The ivy-covered house was built in 1915 in the Arts & Crafts style and was once owned by Oliver St. John Gogarty, a poet and surgeon. The character, Buck Mulligan, in James Joyce's "Ulysees" is based on Gogarty. 

                         View of the Renvyle House grounds from the orchard, watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press, 7" h x 9" w, 2015. Michael Anderson

The property includes a stretch of rocky beach along the Atlantic, a fresh water lake and a small orchard with lovely views of the mountains beyond. I found a bench in the orchard and sketched the view. Seamus, a white horse that belongs to the estate for guests to ride, came up to the board fence that separates his field from the orchard and peered over to see what I was doing or rather to see if I had anything to eat.

Seamus wanted to taste my sketchbook.

He almost made a snack of my watercolors. The moment was one of the highlights of the trip. -Michael Anderson

Notan sketches, St. Louis

Belleville Exchange Club sketch, 3" x 5". The sketch is post dated to coincide with a fund raising auction to benefit  the Belleville(IL) Historical Society.  I will not be able to attend the event but organizers requested all donated works bear the date of the auction. They are after all historians!

Recently I have been reading about what artists refer to as the art of Notan. It is the practice of establishing relationships of light and dark patterns used by master Japanese & Chinese brush artists. There is a great explanation of the method in a USK Singapore Symposium class hand-out by Urban Sketcher Virginia Hein just published and made available in the most recent edition of Drawing Attention. The USK newsletter also provided links to several several class handouts. They are all free and are a great resource for sketchers.

I have been attempting to use Notan sketching as a preliminary step in my plein air painting efforts and have found it to be a great help. The sketches here are done in a small Strathmore spiral bound sketch book of recycled paper with a set of 6 Pitt shades of grey artist pens by Faber Castell. The sketches are quickly composed layers of tones that are begun by laying down the lightest areas first followed by the darkest shapes in the scene. I keep the sketch book on my easel and refer to it like a road map of pattern and value throughout the painting process. I sometimes add the color relationships I am going for such as the triad of Red Orange/Blue Violet/Yellow Green or record the pigments I used in my palette.

Urban sketching is really an art & method unto itself to be sure but the same techniques practiced by sketch artists are useful in other fields including painting, design and architecture. The ability to sketch and the portability of a sketch book makes it possible to design anywhere at anytime.
                                                                     

Snapshots of my easel with sketch book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday In The Park, St. Louis

Looking North at Park Avenue & Mississippi, 07/19/2015, watercolor, Canson 140lb cp, Michael Anderson

Lafayette Park is at the center of one of the oldest and most elegant neighborhoods in the city. A broad sidewalk and an elaborate wrought iron fence surround all four sides of the park. Runners and people out walking, many with their dogs make a continuous parade. Today I was panhandled by a man needing bus fare.

 Park Avenue Sidewalk, 07/19/2015, watercolor, Canson 140lb cp, Michael Anderson

As I left Park Avenue Coffee another customer asked me about the artists in my painting group, "Is it a class? I have seen them before. It is cool they are here." Some residents now recognize our painting group and they are always welcoming. Life in the city.

Adam & Eve in Tower Grove Park, St. Louis

Adam & Eve in Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, 07/12/2015, 7" x 9", watercolor on Canson 140 lb cp, Michael Anderson.

I took my sketching kit to the weekly outing of the Missouri Plein Air Painters Association in Tower Grove Park. The park is a large swath of urban landscape that once was the private garden of wealthy St. Louisan, Henry Shaw. It includes several ponds, some planted with lotus and waterlilies. After completing a couple of ink sketches I launched into the watercolor study above. A passerby stopping to look at each of the painters works in progress commented that my page looked like the Garden of Eden and said "you even have Adam & Eve!" One of my MOPAPA friends responded "That is your title." And so it is. Perfect for a Sunday morning in this earthly paradise.

Lotus plants, Precise V7 roller ball pen, Faber Castell Artist Pens

Plein air painters, Precise V7 roller ball pen, Faber Castell Artist Pens

Public Art by Dale Rogers, Belleville, IL

“Public Art, Belleville, IL, 05/08/2015;” watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press sketch book, Michael Anderson.

“Flight,” a temporary public art installation by sculptor Dale Rogers landed on the campus of Southwestern Illinois College last month.  Nine stainless steel birds with 12 foot wing spans supported in 16’ high steel frames were arranged in a serpentine line along both sides of the street leading to the campus quad. Although it was a cloudy day when I visited the exhibit the polished steel birds still reflected the sky and their surrounding environment making them visually active and interesting. “Flight” debuted as an installation at ArtPrize 2012 in Grand Rapids, MI, winning a “Best Use of Urban Space” award. In his artist’s statement Rogers says “Art is a catalyst for thought, conversation and connection...” I think that is a perfect description of urban sketching as well.

Here is a link to a gallery of photos of Flight from the sculptor's website  http://dalerogersstudio.com/exhibits/flight/

Shakespeare In Forest Park, St. Louis

“Antony & Cleopatra, Forest Park, St. Louis, 05/22/2015;” watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press, Michael Anderson.

“Antony and Cleopatra” is being performed nightly under the stars for free through June 14. This year is the 15^th season for Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. Each year the festival alternates a comedy or tragedy but the production values, actors, costumes and set design are always top notch. In 2011 “The Taming of the Shrew” was presented in a 1950’s setting complete with a mid-century modern villa, 50’s style rock music and even a gold 1957 Cadillac convertible was driven on stage as part of the action. By contrast the current show is presented with only a very few props and a simple set comprised of 5 dramatically lit gold-leafed pillars on a raked stage. The wooded background of Forest Park completes the scenery perfectly. The spare design relies on Shakespeare’s language and your imagination to convey action, location and setting.  I must admit I sometimes find Shakespearean syntax incomprehensible. Yet the meaning always comes across and in fact it always surprises me how many expressions we use in daily conversation originally appeared in the plays. In the first act Cleopatra says that these are her "salad days."

The link below is to a short video of Milton Glaser creating a portrait of Shakespeare while he explains the importance of drawing.

http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/designer-milton-glaser-explains-why-drawing-is-the-key-to-understanding-life.htm