Pre-Xmas

Wilma and I were in Lawrence today for some fabric/fiber shopping. For Wilma, that is. That gave me time to get some sketching done. The old Granada stood out to me.  We've never been inside because the bands that play there are from another planet (spoken by an old fart). They do good work, though, promoting the music scene.

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

Business Travel to Little Rock

Just got back from a 2.5 day meeting. With drive time that pretty much wipes out a week, but for as little as I need to do it, I don't mind. Had time to do some urban sketching, too. I packed my sketch gear and I was able to grab one night on my own. Unlike my last travel, to San Antonio, this town doesn't mind if you sit for a while. Much more convenient to sketch. Time flies too quickly, though. As soon as it was done, it was time to call it a night.

Greenwood Cemetery

It was a blustery late afternoon at Greenwood Cemetery. Unusual for Halloween, the leaves, still in their peek autumn color, have barely begun to fall. Today, I was prompted by Urban Sketchers weekly theme: cemeteries. Not unusual is that this and the other times I've drawn there, I've never seen another human.

But there are always crows:

And from the cemetery bluff, looking across the Cedar River and its watershed to the vast distance of farmland, is one of the best views in town.

Junked Truck, Still There

Junked Truck and Goldenrod

Diagonally across the street from my house is a vacant lot where junked or little used vehicles are stored by the owner of the lot. Theoretically, not allowed by city ordinance in residential neighborhoods, this truck has been there for several years. The seasons change around it. Today, I stood on the edge of the lot to paint this.

Here, in winter, I drew looking down on the lot from my second floor bedroom window. Then the truck was joined by a school bus.

School Bus in Vacant Lot

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.        
                                                          

From the same window, again and again

Early this morning, before the wonderful craziness of cooking, eating and sharing that is Thanksgiving Day, I painted two watercolor versions of the same view--the morning sky over the rooftops--from my second floor bedroom window.

I worked in tandem on 2 individual sheets of watercolor paper--the top one on cold press and the bottom on hot press. I've been experimenting with water soluble graphite, applied with a brush, for quick, out-and-about sketches. This time I used watercolor and the water soluble graphite on larger works.

I've done other drawings from this window. I guess it's one of my favorite perches to look out on the world from. 

One in summer and another in winter, both including the rooftops you might identify in the above: 

Death Knell for Twinkies

Wonder Bread, November 17, 2011

The inevitable has happened. Hostess Brands, which includes Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies, is bankrupt and are closing all their operations around the US, including Home of Wonder Bread in downtown Waterloo, Iowa. Approximately 80 workers--including bakers and drivers--are losing their jobs here. 

Home of Wonder Bread was built by the Continental Baking Company in 1957. This yellow brick with red accent building is a landmark, sandwiched between the Carnegie Waterloo Public Library, the orange-y building to the right, and the Waterloo Art Center (unseen) to the left. The aroma of baking bread has wafted from it for over a half a century.

Almost exactly a year ago, I drew this from my car on a chilly, windy November afternoon. My original flickr post of this drawing is here.

For local news coverage in today's Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier with some photos of Home of Wonder Bread go here.

I associate Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies with guilty pleasures from my childhood. Oh, those pure white, silky, flat pillows of white bread, spread with smooth Skippy peanut butter and Welch's grape jelly that I was served at my best friend's house (never at my own!). And the rituals of eating a Twinkie--the thrill of  breaking open the golden spongy loaf, appreciating the inside's perfectly centered, whitest of white cream, which I'd test with the tip of my tongue, before taking a bite. But my most favorite were the Hostess Cupcakes. They were the ultimate of comfort food, with their dark thin frosting crossed by that cheerful and elegant white loopy line. Inside: flawless chocolate cake with a white cream heart. There were two schools of eating a Hostess cupcake: mine was lifting off thin wafers of frosting before taking a bite. Or my friend's: cutting to the quick with a bite to the middle--cake and frosting and cream all in one mouthful. Hostess cupcakes were the standard for chocolaty wonderfulness until, as adults, we were swept into gourmet and the likes of upscale flour-less chocolate cake decadence. 

Edge of Town

Graffiti by the River

I am working towards an exhibit of drawings of Cedar Falls, Iowa, my home for over 25 years.

As I draw Cedar Falls, I have discovered themes.  EDGE OF TOWN is one of them. Here is a drawing I did today, Thursday, September 13th. I sat under the highway bridge that crosses over the Cedar River above Washington Park. The further bridge is a bicycle/pedestrian bridge that leads to an extensive trail system within George Wyth State Park (all the trees and color beyond). The river is a wild place. This river front, city park is a wild place. It is only a few blocks from my old-town residential neighborhood. On walks, I routinely see fox, raccoon, bald eagles, and heron. All while semis rumble overhead on the highway.  I'd been attracted to drawing these two bridges for awhile. When I discovered the freshly applied graffiti at the base of the bridge pier the other day, I knew I had to act fast. The public works department is super vigilant about painting over graffiti. It usually doesn't last more than a couple weeks.

Here are two other drawings I did this summer that I feel speak to the EDGE OF TOWN theme:

Dead End at the Bean Field

Cornfield from North Cedar Neighborhood

Alleyways of Cedar Falls, Iowa

Back alleys bisect many blocks in my Cedar Fall, Iowa, old-town neighborhood. They're unpaved and un-curbed. I love walking down them and peeking into people's backyards. Even if homeowners keep the fronts of their property neat and tidy, the backs--as seen from the alleyways--are often scrappier. I find this interesting.  

One of these days, the garage on the left is going to fall over or be taken down. Meanwhile, I wanted to capture its twisting form. I drew this this evening after the temperature dropped below 100 degrees. It's a couple blocks from my house. I tested out my new stool for the first time, the one I'll be taking to the Urban Sketching Symposium next week.

Tilted Garage

I drew this next one the day before, looking from my backyard down the alleyway to the bi-colored brick Lincoln Elementary School, several blocks away. I was attracted to this scene initially by the curvy shape of the alley and the odd shaped patches of weeds that grow down the center.  Again, the heat was beastly; I waited until evening when the temperature dropped to the tolerable 95 degrees in the shade.

Unpaved Alleyway from 11th

Bring on the Heat!

Clothesline & Garage

Yesterday was a great day for drying clothes outside. It was also an excellent opportunity for testing the  limits of working with my Neocolor II wax pastels. Temperatures were in the upper 90s and high humidity made it feel over 100. I was comfortable sitting on my stool on the grass between the sidewalk and street, one block up from my house, drawing this backyard clothesline. My crayons didn't fare as well; they got pretty soft and messy, but, at this point, I'm undeterred from bringing them with me to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2 weeks for the Urban Sketcher Symposium.

From 2 Sides of the Cedar River

Today, I biked, with my sketching stuff in my panniers, to Gateway Park to look across the Cedar River to downtown Cedar Falls. I used some new pencil/crayons (Stabilo Woodys) that were recommended by Donna, an Urban Sketcher from Arizona, who I had met at the 1st USK Symposium in Portland.

When home, I remembered a watercolor/ink sketch from July, 2 years ago, that I had done from one of  the park benches against the white concrete wall, looking across the Cedar River to Gateway Park. And today, I was drawing very close to this tree.

Mullein and Cottonwood

Roses in full bloom!!!!!

Back Garden in May
18" H x 12"W
Neocolor II wax pastels

There's a tiny balcony off my second floor that looks out over the back garden and a neighbor's house beyond. The balcony is barely big enough to set up my traveling easel. I wanted to capture our out-of-control climbing roses before their first bloom of the season faded. I spent 3 hours on Wednesday, standing in a hot sun, and then another 1/2 hour Thursday to get it done enough. My preference is to do a drawing in one block of time. But I was wilting and my crayons were melting.

New Drawings from Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Iowa

I've been consumed by gardening the past two weeks, since I returned form my  trip to San Luis Obispo, California. Finally, last week, I was able to get some drawing done on my hometown turf.

Here's one from downtown Waterloo (the twin city to Cedar Falls). All winter long, every time I'd be over in Waterloo, I knew that when the weather turned warm enough to draw outside, this pump station, the Waterloo Waterworks building, with its chalky white smokestack, would be at the top of my must-draw list. I've included more of the little that I could cull about this building on my flickr post.

Waterloo Waterworks Pump Station

The peonies are blooming! A neighbor has a wonderful bed planted on the boulevard between the sidewalk and the street. One can't procrastinate when it comes to drawing flowers. These are now droopy and faded, only a few days later. Do other communities have flower beds like this? Technically, it's City property, but each property owner is responsible for mowing and/or tending it.

Peonies on the Boulvard