Soul

Sketched in Key West

Divorced

I had this idea when I was working on the Courthouse painting to make it about my divorce in 2007. It is the site of the finalization and when I see this building it is what I remember. 

Longfellow Square

This is Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine - the intersection of State Street and Congress. The statue on the left is of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - one of America's most popular poets and much loved in Portland. I sat here last Sunday and sketched this scene. Many people walked by me as I was drawing - most of the ones that stopped appeared to be homeless. My experience with the homeless is limited to mostly seeing them when I'm in my car at busy intersections with signs asking for money. I would say, in the course of the hour and a half I spent sketching this out, maybe 15 or so stopped to see what I was doing. Nobody asked me for money - they just wanted to see the drawing. Some would chat for awhile. Others would toss out a compliment and move on. One guy offered to pay me to do a painting of his church. Now I know this is sad, but for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like I was on the other side of them. They weren't asking me for my money or help - we were just relating on equal terms - human to human. Isn't Art (and poetry) great at bringing us all together?

Buenos Aires

A collage of sketches from my recent trip to Buenos Aires.

Restaurant Row

This chain of buildings is one of my favorites in downtown Camden. They're shacks really. Restaurants seem to come and go through these 3 buildings. I like the current lineup. On the far left is Long Grain, a wonderful Thai restaurant that is small but hugely popular with both tourists and locals. Next door in the middle is Zoots, a coffee shop/bakery/internet hangout that has had some staying power - it's been here for 6 years now. And to the right is Cafe Mediterranean, the place to go if you want hummus or falafel. I chose drawing tools that suited the buildings - a stick and ink.

Gate B35

In Boston waiting for my flight to Miami, I sketched this blue American Airlines vehicle from above. These kinds of things are so much fun - I had never seen a vehicle quite like this so it's fun to draw something completely new. The light on it was great and I liked the shadow it cast on the pavement. And I knew about how much time I had before boarding so I paced myself pretty well. This worked out to be a 30 minute sketch and it's about 9"x8" in my large watercolor Handbook Journal.

The Wheels on the Bus

From my actual Sketch Journal! I've been posting so many paintings lately, I'll have to rename my blog. Well actually, the way I see it, they are all sketches or studies - a sort of record of my life/artistic growth. This was from a family trip way back in December. I was waiting with Alex outside of the tennis courts at Pomfret for Valerie and felt compelled to draw the school bus in the parking lot. I stood outside and finally my fingers got too cold to draw! This is in my 5x8 Handbook Journal.

Colors in Winter

Winter changes the color palette around here. More whites and grays and browns. When you do find color, it pops. Such was the case with this snow plow in front of this church. The orange plow was so brilliant surrounded by all the muted and less saturated colors around it.

My Dad's VW Bug (Part 2)

My Dad's VW Bug (Part 1)

My dad had a light blue VW bug when I was a kid. I use to run down to the end of the street we lived on and wait for him to come home from work. Then he would let me stand on the sideboard and he'd drive me back home. I use to love that.