The View from Anne and Jesse's Deck

Haven't had much time to sketch for the past few days. My wife and I were busy having our boat pulled for the winter and doing the usual wash, wax, and put the cover on routine. Had a chance to sit down on my daughter and son-in-law's deck Saturday afternoon in Kent City, Michigan. This is my sketch of their next door neighbor.

This afternoon (Sunday 9/30) my wife, daughter, and I went to Art Prize in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. No sketching just a lot of looking at art at the various venues throughout the downtown area.

September Sketchcrawl

We were small but mighty at our September sketchcrawl at Belvoir Winery in Liberty! Vicky was the only other sketcher, but we had a wonderful time sketching, sharing art supplies, giving eachother prezzies, exploring, and having a delicious early dinner at Conrad's before she and Bill set out on their 3-hour drive home.  You saw her account in this post.  (I'm a tad slow!)

There's so MUCH to sketch there, it's hard to know where to begin.

Here's Vicky's "studio"...

And here's mine...a circular double chaise that had seen better days!  I balanced between the slats...

Joseph found a perch!

This is what I was sketching from the chaise...the ruins of a beautiful old building.  The other spread was all done at the main entrance.

Bill and Vicky--he's such a patient man!

Kalamazoo Air Zoo

Since it was raining and thundering this afternoon I decided to head over to the Air Zoo which is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and try some sketching.

During WWII the Navy conducted carrier landing training on the USS Wolverine. Training was conducted on Lake Michigan off shore from Great Lakes Naval Training station. During more than one landing errors occurred and aircraft were lost over the side and into the depths of Lake Michigan. Several years ago one of the lost aircraft, an SBD-3 Dautless, was recovered from the bottom of the lake. Here's a picture of the wreck post recovery.

Through a lot of effort the SBD was completely restored and is now housed at the Air Zoo. Here's my sketch of the aircraft as it is now.

The Air Zoo is also home to numerous other aircraft. One that caught my eye this afternoon is the PT-17 Stearman biplane. The PT-17 was used as a primary flight trainer for pilots training to fly WWII aircraft. This is the beautifully maintained Stearman that's housed at the Air Zoo.  All-in-all a fun afternoon of sketching.

Meeting Mr. Wright

These are little sketches done at our recent USk Chicago meet. So much to see and so much to take in, I opted to sketch some of the details on the Chicago Avenue side of his home and studio. The first is one of the sculptures above the walkway to the hidden door. The second is of the tourists and the reliefs that line the walkway.  I walked across the street for a closer view for  third sketch. It's a detail of the reliefs – the repeated stork motif and lastly a rough rendition of the logo.

Now I must go back to Oak Park and actually sketch Wright's glorious buildings! There was so much to take in at once.  In a five block area there are about seven houses designed or remodeled by Wright. What a feast for the eyes and imagination. The overall feeling of his work is monumental but his attention to detail is what really amazed me. It was a quite a day!

The Endless Yard Sale

This yard sale has been going on forever...if it rains they cover things with tarps and move them on the porch, but mostly it's just all over the porch, yard, fence, and encroaching on the two houses to either side.

I sat in the alley the other day and sketched the spectacle, looking down toward the small state highway that runs in front of the house...

Mums for Nancy

My wife, Nancy, says I never do flowers. This a a basket of mums that we bought yesterday afternoon at a neat general store type place south of Battle Creek. They look great on our deck. Lots of color. So I sketched them tonight. So Nancy...flowers for you from me! Have a fun trip with the kids to New York!

I'm Dave

As this is my first post...an introduction.

That's me concentrating hard and scribbling. The furry bundle next to me is my trusty assistant Emma, our 7 month old White Westie pup. Emma generally works the crowd for free pets (food if you happen to have it) while I work the pen and paints. Which brings me back to me.

I'm retired. Which means I'm a "ski bum" and a "boat bum." I spend my winters skiing as a a Senior Ski Patroller and a Level 2 Certified Professional ski instructor. Summers are spent sailing on Lake Michigan on our 1988 Catalina 30 sail boat Amadeus (home port Whitehall, Michigan). In the winter home is Battle Creek, Michigan. That's Amadeus next.

Art wise I've been drawing since I was a kid. I'm primarily self taught but have spent years reading and experimenting my way through watercolor and sketching books. I've also taken watercolor classes, and life figure drawing classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts. I'm also a photographer (something else I've been doing since I was a kid). In back of the camera I do a lot of marine photography...concentrating on most any boat that has sails and on quaint areas where sailboats hang out. I've also managed to shoot a couple of covers for "Good Old Boat" magazine. Subjects for my pen and watercolors are similar to that which I take interest in with the camera. I enjoy marine subjects but also enjoy drawing buildings - especially ones that are older, that incorporate interesting shapes and textures such as wood, brick, and stone. I also very much enjoy working with graphite pencils drawing portraits, figures, and most anything else of interest.

Closing out this first entry are two watercolor sketches that I did last weekend on Sunday. The first is of Clara's restaurant.

Clara's, before it was Clara's, was Battle Creek's New York Central railroad station. The tracks once ran right through the spot where I sat sketching. Now the old track route is a delightful, shaded, walking park that extends through the length of town. Turn around from where I sat and you see part of down town Battle Creek and our river, now encased in a concrete spillway. Here's the view.

That's it for my first post. Very excited to be a part of this group.