Vikings game at The Muddy Pig

How to get your non-football-fanatic wife to "watch the game with you." First, take her out to a bar and order her a drink.  Once that has been taken care of, turn away and keep your eyes glued on the game.  Turn back around to talk to her during commercials and learn why she agreed to come and "watch the game" with you.

So obviously I am not the biggest football fan.  But this did seem to work.  Who knows what might be next for me? Golfing and Fishing and Hockey here I come!



Hanging out at one of the bars in our neighborhood within walking distance, The Muddy Pig. Oddly they were not packed for the game.  Maybe they don't have a reputation as an all out sports bar, but they are definitely known as one of the top 100 beer bars in America.  The only other one to make the list in Minnesota is also within walking distance. 

 

A quick pencil underlay at the bar.  It's still hard for me to commit to jumping in with pen sketching right away.

 

Media:  Carbon Ink, Micron Pen, and Watercolor Crayon



St. Louis Girls Weekend

Labor Day Weekend I got together with two of my good friends from Baylor University for a girl weekend in St. Louis.  Yes, I used to live in St. Louis, but most of the people I knew when I was there are no longer there, and it is amazing how much the city has changed! I was able to fly in Friday night and fly out Monday evening, which gave us 2.5 days of running around the city.  It never ceases to amaze me how much St. Louis has to offer beyond the iconic arch. We went to live blues music in the landing, a guided Schlafly brewery beer tasting, the new addition at the St. Louis Art Museum, the Japanese festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Budweiser brewery tour, and hiking in Castle Rock State Park,  amongst many meals of delicious food and beverages.  Next year it's a girls weekend in Minnesota!

I wanted to bring my sketchbook, of course, but knew I would be constantly battling the fact that no one really wants to sit and wait for me.  A strategy was in order here.  Before I left I drew up a comic strip like composition of boxes, open space, and text lines.  The thought was that this would force me to limit myself to very small sketches.  Did this really work? Eh, kind of... yes, it did force me to stay small, yes I was able to do some sketching in a more timely manner with everyone staring at me, but no, I will not claim that I was able to sketch absolutely everything on site (the ideal).

Bell Museum Sketch Night #1 - Celebrate Something Sketchy

 

 

Here is a new one that I was happy to learn about - Sketch Night at the Bell Museum! Once a month the Bell Museum of Natural History hosts an open sketch night for all ages and abilities. Amateurs sketch right along side accomplished illustrators. In addition to being able to sketch anything in the museum, they bring out pieces from their collection not normally on display.  Ok, great idea. Why don't more museums do this?

 

In my first night here I managed to hatch out two sketches. The one above (sketched second) was from a diorama that I admit caught my eye right away as I passed by. I must be a softie when it comes to cute little baby animals.

 

 

And this is the diorama I was sitting in front sketching.  In all, the night lasts two hours.

 



 

Above is my first sketch of the evening. I thought the bone practice would be nice - like back in the days of freshman drawing when your teacher creates an intricate display of obscure objects you have never seen before, inevitably including many bones from unknown animals. I thought this practice a bit um, weird, the first time I came upon it, but now older I feel like I understand it more.  What better way to learn about the subtleties of shadow, texture, and form when these elements are so minimal?  After concentrating on this particular bone for a while I did stop and ask what it is - an Ostrich bone, the top of the lower rump to be specific.

 



 

If you do get a chance to stop by the Bell, there is currently a great exhibit of sketchbooks in the art gallery from those who sketch regularly that is definitely worth checking out!





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.