TRNP/Maah Daah Hey Trail - Part 2

With thunderstorms, achy feet, and a washed out river this is where we decided to take a bit of a detour from the trail and explore some of the other sights in the area. This is also where I was brutally attacked and the reason for the delay on this post.  I sat down on a bench quite unsuspectingly, opened by sketch book, laid out my crayons, and began sketching the teepee, fence, and barracks across the way.  A few minutes later I heard a loud obnoxious shout from across the lawn in a deep southern drawl, "Oh, my gawsh, look everybody, she's going to sketch!"  As I had suddenly gathered the attention of um, every single human being within a 10 mile radius, 5 people came running straight at me. Looking at what I had on my paper, barely a few lines, I mumbled a few words to them and humbly packed up as soon as I could get them away.  Don't get me wrong, I like talking to people, just not being called out unsuspectingly in front of a crowd and descended upon like a flower that a swarm of bees are heading straight for.

Back at home, I looked at the sketch I had and the frustrating memory that went along with it and decided to erase it all and start over and draw the fort instead.

 

 

Off the trail we had the chance to explore other parts of Theodore Roosevelt National Park that we would not have otherwise seen.  In this case, doing a few of the day hikes in the northern unit, I fell in love with the rock formations of cap rocks, flutes, and cannon balls, all signs of the erosion of wind on rock with varying densities. 

 

Heading back down to Medora we stopped at this small town of 100 people whose claim to fame is a sod post office.  It no longer functions as a post office, but instead has an interesting array of historic items inside.

We spent our last day back in Medora just looking around and relaxing.  Here I was sitting at the motel pool enjoying a beverage whilst watching no one swim. After all the running around we had done the previous 9 days it was nice to sit down and relax for a day before heading home.

Gold Medal Park

Monday evening I had the opportunity to get together with the Visual Journal Collective through the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. The event for the evening was sketching outside on site (a personal favorite), in preparation for a Minnesota State Fair sketching get together. The sketch location was Gold Medal Park right next to the Guthrie on the Mississippi River. Above is my sketch for the evening.

Sitting at the top of the park I almost forget how much of Minneapolis is really visible. With the Mississippi River, the Stone Arch Bridge, the Guthrie, and a park setting, it was hard to decide what to draw for the night. While walking around the park, my eye caught sight of this old building across the river.  I really wish I knew what it is. Please do let me know if you get a chance, so I can add a name to my sketchbook.

I did want to take a few seconds here and talk about process, as everything takes time and thought to develop and unfold.

1. This is what I was able to draw by the end of the gathering (by the time it got dark).  In general I like to make a bunch of quick pencil lines to get an overall idea of perspective, scale, proportions, and composition. At this point I try to not get too carried away in details.  Once I got home and looked at the sketch again, I decided to add the bold boarder.

2. Erase all those pencil lines! Graphite never really stays on paper anyways. Once everything had been inked over, I erased all the pencil lines and started to add color with the sky.

3. Hmmm... more color and more detail.  Windows always seem to be worth the effort in drawing every little mullion. From here I kept adding more layers of color and then decided how to do shade and shadow (or just shade in this case).

If you get the chance to compare the end image to the photo, there are two key things that were intentionally changed to create a more interesting image.  One being a more exaggerated perspective (from my view the perspective was too flat, I thought something a bit more dynamic might be more interesting), and I changed the direction the sun was coming from to let the light façade lead the eye across the page.

Seriously though, what is the name of this building?





Mill City Farmers market

 

A visit from fellow Seattle urban sketcher, Tina Koyama, led to an impromptu urban sketching gathering that I was able to join in on this morning at the Mill City Farmer's Market in Minneapolis. This, being one of the farmer's markets around town that I have not been to before, was all new to me.  After walking around a bit (and buying a few bits of food) I really came to appreciate the tightness that having  a market in between the nooks and crannies of buildings can lend itself to.

 

Unlike many of my other drawing that I post here you'll notice that my straight lines are not really all that straight. Yes, I was trying to pry myself away from the dependency of sketching with a ruler.  Not that a ruler is a bad thing, but the more I think about the idea behind urban sketching, sometimes perfectly straight lines look, well, too perfect to really be an impression made by sketching on location. 

 



Here is everyone who was able to make it out. L-R, Daniel Green, Patty Scott, Tina Koyama, Myself, and Amber Sausen. Be sure to check out the Twin Cities Urban Sketching blog for other sketches from the group.

Mixing Colors - Part 1

Lately, I've been working with water color crayons a lot. It's turned into an addiction that I do intend to let go of at some point. For the time being though they are easily affordable, a good quality, come in a variety of fun colors, oh so easy to transport, and don't make a big watery mess that can result from typical watercolors. Like many things, the more you play with them, the more possibilities you discover to do with them.  In this case, I've been mixing every possible color that I own together to see what other kind of colors I can possibly come up with by using what I already have.

The colors along the top and the left side are the ones that I am starting with, and when you add them together the intersecting square is the color you get. Granted, this is by no means a perfect science, but it has definitely been giving me a great idea of how and where to start from in terms of thinking of a color palate, or trying to mix the perfect brown.

Many of the colors do seem quite similar when mixed together, though I do have to say that thus far, I think my new favorites are the neutrals that I get from burnt sienna mixed with a yellowish/ochre color, or anything mixed with gold. I never guessed that I would be using the color gold as much as I have. Saturation also seems to have a lot to do with the strength or intensity of the color. These, for example, are all quite watered down, as I put the pigment on the paper first, and then applied the water to mix the colors together. Had I pressed much harder with the crayons, or applied less water I do think they might have turned out more intense.

Webb Lake 2013

 

Every year this time of year (2nd week in August) my family goes up to a resort in Northern Minnesota on Webb Lake called Sperr's Point. This has been a tradition long before I was born that dates back to roughly the 1950's.  Our extended family along with our friends from Missouri more or less stage a take over of the resort for the week, renting out every single cabin. As of right now we all fit perfectly.

This year, unfortunately, I was not able to join my family for the whole week.  Instead, I was able to stay for two whole days (Sunday and Monday) and drove to work at 3:30am in the morning on Tuesday - with the assistance of diet cherry coke.

The above sketch is our designated cabin that we stay in ever year. Imagine if you will, 6 adults and one bathroom with a limited capacity of hot water, three bedrooms, and a small kitchen/living/dining room all rolled into one.  We stay very close as a family.

There is a lot to do up there, but mostly daily life seems to revolve around fishing, which is not quite my thing to say the least. My favorite place to sit and relax (typically over coffee in the morning or a drink in the evening) is our deck.  From here It's easy to see what everybody else is doing while under the shade of the large tree in front. This also made a great location for sketching as there was already a table out and it was an easy place to come back to at different points in the day.  It's easy to get sidetracked while relaxing on the lake.

Out and About - Minnecon

This year I got the chance to attend Minnecon, the local Minnesota version of NeoCon in Chicago (an interiors product showcase).  Now, what would an *almost* architect be doing at an interior design show you ask? Gawing of course! I've always enjoyed being involved with the interiors on my projects, which is completely feasible when working on small projects.  Needless to say, I wanted to show a few of my favorites.

Remember when you were a kid and you got to play with squishy surfaces?  Well, that level of fascination has transferred into adulthood with this new liquid motion commercial tile by Hirshfields.  Every time you step on it the liquid under the plastic casing of the tile moves. Yes, I spent quite a while playing around on the two sample pieces. 

 

 

I love Arktura and humbly await the day when after years of saving I might be able to purchase one of their coveted pieces for display (and maybe sit on it) in my own home.  After pondering images of this chair online for quite a while I couldn't take my eyes off this original right in front of me.  Just a humble hint if anyone is looking for a Christmas gift.

 



 

And... amazing 3D wall panels by Soelberg Industries.  The waves I have always loved, but the birch plywood nature inspired ones were new to me, and very much in my line of interests. Rumor has it all the panels were inspired by the natural environment in Utah. Plywood is an amazing thing when the layers are used as a part of the panel design by routing out different patterns.