The Delaware Park Restroom

 

The other day I was out drawing in the park and by mistake all I had with me was a brush pen.

This pen is kind of like a big fat marker. Normally I would not draw with it however it was all I had in my bag with my sketchbook. And so I did that picture up above, of the Delaware Park restroom building.

This building looks really beautiful in the photo. However if you are not from Buffalo, do not be overly impressed. It is closed and says it is "under construction." However nobody is ever working on it.

Still it is an interesting looking building and it was there and so I drew it.

I was happy with my drawing, too. I went home and looked at it. I should take watercolors to it but right now I am just leaving it be. Those big fat shadows and big thick lines, there is something I like about this marker.

Maybe I will take it out again tomorrow!

Artists Painting the Ordinary

My brother George sent me a link to the painting up above. It is called "Don Valley on a Gray Day" and it is by the artist William Kurelek. The painting is at the Art Gallery of Ontario and dates to 1972. George was just up in Toronto admiring the picture in person.

George and I share certain views on art and we both admire this picture no end.

There is a hidden crucifix in this picture. Kurelek was a Catholic convert and that had something to do with that. However that is a matter for another day. For now, what George and I admire about the painting is that Kurelek took a view no one would think is anything special, and depicted it so creatively and realistically.

I think this guy was influenced by Andrew Wyeth. A while ago I sent George and interview I found on YouTube with Andrew Wyeth. I will have to find it again and link to it. In that interview, Wyeth talked about how he loved dull landscapes with nothing in them. He didn't use the word dull but he meant that, kind of static. He found them interesting. I cracked up when Wyeth said about his famous painting "Christina's World," that sometimes he thought it would have been better without Christina in it. That is something I will never forget!

It's interesting to me how all these guys, the Don Valley painter and Andrew Wyeth and Charles Burchfield too, they worked with crazy uninteresting scenes that conventional artists would not ever have noticed or thought about painting. I identify with that way of thinking. I was thinking that way naturally when I began drawing things around Buffalo several years ago. Someone told me that my pictures reminded them of Burchfield, so I started researching Burchfield, and I loved learning that he thought that way. Burchfield believed that an artist did not have to live in Paris or Venice to create great art. What he saw before him in West Seneca was all he needed.

These artists knew you could do something interesting with anything. There was one artist, maybe it was John Singer Sargent, used to carry a chair and just set it down anywhere and start drawing. 

Sargent did a lot of paintings of great European scenes so I am not sure he was the one who did that. I will have to do some Googling. However he did leave advice I agree with and that reflects what we are talking about.

"You can't do sketches enough," he said. "Sketch everything."

He added: ".... and keep your curiosity fresh." However I prefer my abbreviated version. 

"Sketch everything."

Even the Don Valley Parkway!

Back to the Library

 

Besides going back to the Broadway Market I have also gone back to the library. 

The library is no longer charging if books are overdue or anything. I am not sure how they are going to get a lot of books back under those circumstances, however I have no degree in library science so what do I know. 

I want my money back for all the fines I once had to pay!!

Plus more money, for pain and suffering!

Read my saga of library adventures here.

For now however I borrowed two books. They are biographies. One is on the illustrator N.C. Wyeth and the other is on the Revolutionary War leader Baron von Steuben. 

Above is a picture I snapped of the N.C. Wyeth book. Slightly visible to the right is this giant book on Mozart I also looked into -- however just a glance told me it was really boring. For a Mozart book to look boring to me means something, I will tell you that. 

It was lucky I did not like the Mozart book because it must have been 800 pages. As it was I could barely cram N.C. Wyeth and Baron von Steuben into my backpack for the trip back to the Hyatt where Howard was playing.

I have been reading both books and I will have to write my thoughts on each one because I am tired of trying to bore my friends with details. The N.C. Wyeth book is interesting because my dad read us "Treasure Island" when we were little, and it had his pictures.

Blind Pew!

That is not the sort of picture you forget!

It was weird looking into the book when I was in the library, reading about Wyeth's son Andy, and then realizing, that is Andrew Wyeth. Since beginning to read the book I have found some videos on YouTube interviewing Andy and his sisters and brother about the old man. By the way I really do believe that N.C. was the best artist of them all and that is saying something. I mean, Blind Pew, look at him. Who in the world would have come up with that?

I admire the family for being so honest about everything, especially in the book. It is a strange family saga. Most family sagas are strange however people are not always honest about them. The family seems to have understood that N.C. belongs to the world, not just to them, and they do not keep things under wraps.

Sometimes it gets to you, reading a book like this. You just start feeling in the middle of it all and one night I was lying awake, just thinking about this family. Oh, this is funny, Andrew Wyeth, he married a girl from Buffalo. He got married in East Aurora, at her house, which was at 815 Fillmore Avenue, I think. It was in the book. I did a search online and I do not believe the house is there any longer. Buffalo and its surrounding townships are always knocking things down.

Andy Wyeth's wife was the daughter of the Courier-Express's art editor. Her name was Betsy James. I forget her father's name and the book is downstairs and I am too lazy to go down and get it. She met him in Maine when she was a teenager and her family was vacationing there. Summering there, the book said. Being a newspaper girl myself I am not sure how Mr. James was able to take summers off from his job at the Courier-Express. It must have been nice working for a newspaper in those days!

When Andy brought Betsy back to meet the family, N.C. yelled at him about bringing back girls in lipstick and shorts who looked as if they belonged on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Actually N.C. reminds me a lot of my dad. It is 'round midnight and I will have to get into that another time.

For now...

... sweet dreams!

The Charcoal Grain Elevator

 

When I was a teenager I liked drawing in charcoal. Yesterday I picked up a charcoal pencil for the first time since then, and I drew the great grain elevator at Gallagher Pier.

I was at the outer harbor with my brother Tony and as we were talking, sitting at a picnic table, that is when I drew the grain elevator.

It felt really good to draw with charcoal again!

Like ink, there is no erasing. Different from ink, however, you do not sweat it. When I am drawing in ink I really do take time, at least at first, to plan every line. With the charcoal, I think it was because I had a small piece of paper -- I was using my Long and Narrow sketchbook -- there was not a lot of room for detail. So I just went with it. I absolutely did not sweat it. I was surprised I ended up liking my drawing. I thought I was just horsing around.

Something is fitting about drawing an industrial building with charcoal. It just calls out for it, you know?

Now I have to get a charcoal pad. 

Haha ... I never can remember the name of this particular grain elevator, as many millions of times as I have sketched it. I just Googled it, and what came up? My own ink drawing of it. One of them, anyway.

It is the Cargill Pool Grain Elevator, at least that is the name I went with.

The ink sketch is very different from the charcoal sketch. That particular ink drawing is the most delicate drawing I have ever done. It is a line drawing. I left it that way because I liked it.

I also like it in charcoal.

Rough and ready!

The Great Northern Elevator in Graphite

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly to the Great Northern Elevator.

This particular grain elevator has been dodging bullets ever since a storm took off part of the covering over the elevators, I personally do not see how they can think of tearing this building down. After all on the Outer Harbor they have all this tourism arranged around our grain elevators, and this one is the oldest, the centerpiece, the jewel in the crown. However all I can do is hope for the best.

I have such a relationship with this old survivor. I have sat for hours on long hot summer days sketching it and studying it from various angles, from the Outer Harbor, from Ganson Street, and from points in between. One day last summer I was there on Ganson Street for hours, seeing trucks come and go, watching the progress of the sun across the gigantic structure. There is just something about this building that I love. I remember the first time I saw it, walking down Ganson Street from downtown when I was still with The Buffalo News. This huge thing appeared out of a mist -- it was a misty foggy day. And I said out loud, "What in the world?"

Long story short, today I went back today and I drew it in, ahem, graphite.

Why say pencil when you can say graphite?

I have been doing a little drawing recently in, ahem, graphite. Sometimes it's good to try something different. Drawing in ink all this time has been good for me because even when working in graphite, I never erase. I never think about erasing. I just dig in and draw.

You do kind of dig in when you are working in graphite. It has this texture. I realize I handle things differently. Starting the drawing feels different. With ink I usually start with one deliberate but delicate line. With the graphite I just hit it, hard and fast. It's a lot of fun.

Plus there is just something kind of viscerally satisfying in drawing an industrial scene in a medium that is more gritty and smudgy! Trucks and train cars kind of call out for that kind of thing.

You know what, I like this drawing. It is all smudgy on the right because I am right-handed, and I guess it is kind of rough. I sort of missed the detail I could have gotten in with the finer-tipped ink pen. However that's the game. The rules are different.

I noticed I worked faster. Guess what my favorite part of the drawing was? You're right! That truck in the middle!

It looks like a pig! That's what I thought when it pulled up. And I just laid it out in a few heavy strokes of that pencil. I was using some kind of soft pencil. My favorite brand, Artist's Loft. I had to sharpen it literally every two minutes. I think I used up half of it.

When I try this in charcoal, I think I will need bigger paper. I need to work big or else I will not be able to get in any detail, and you know me and detail.

This is going to be a good summer. 

I am thinking big!

The first ink sketch of the new year

 

It's not done yet, but this is my first ink sketch of 2022. I did it after mass this morning! This is the Great Northern Elevator, Buffalo's oldest grain elevator. When it was built in 1897, it was the biggest grain elevator in the world. Yay, Buffalo!

This cool old elevator is on the ropes because it was neglected and then damaged in a windstorm a couple of weeks ago. That is a Buffalo story that is always repeating, usually involving our most significant buildings. You can see the damage in the front there in the picture.

It is kind of interesting to tell you the truth to see the inside of the building. I did not know those silos were under there! I should have figured but I did not.

I hope this elevator pulls through because on top of the obvious reasons, I do love drawing it! This is maybe the 10th time I have tackled it. I have drawn it from all angles and studied it over the course of long hot summer afternoons, sitting on some curb with my bike and my backpack. I love all its layers and that water tower up on top, like the cherry on top of the sundae. 

Today I knocked off the drawing a little earlier than I would have had it not been so wet. I was out on the docks and leaning on this box that was full of puddles. Not smart! All of a sudden I was soaked! But I get this sense of triumph whenever I get to draw outside on an inclement day.

Will I sketch every day in 2022?

It is one of my plans!

Close Encounter With a Big Bird

This morning I was walking around the lake in Delaware Park and I saw the coolest looking bird!

It was standing on the bank looking into the water. The bird was snowy white and at first I thought it was a swan. It had this long neck. But the neck was too thin to be a swan's. When the bird turned at certain angle the neck almost disappeared.

Your instinct is to take a picture and I tried that. But I am a zero with a camera. I do not even how to zoom in, rendering most of my efforts to photograph birds useless.

I got too close to the bird in my efforts to get a picture of him, and he took off. That was when I knew he was not a swan! He had these amazing wings. He flew down a little distance and landed on the cement steps by the lake next to the Marcie Casino. And he took up his post again, gazing into the water.

He must be watching for fish, I realized. From time to time he walked this way and that. He had long legs and big claws for feet and he walked with dignity but kind of comically, bending his knees, taking mincing steps. I could not take my eyes off him. It was weird because everyone else who was passing was lost in headphones and smartphones and here was this big bird and nobody but me noticed it.

That was when I thought: I can draw him! That was a better way to get down what he looked like. I had this tiny sketchbook, only about 4 x 6, and one pen. But you know what, in a pinch, you are set.

So I sat down and turned out a number of quick sketches. I felt like Modigliani, drawing this bird. Modigliani loved drawing girls with long necks. This bird had the longest and thinnest neck I had ever seen. What an example of God's imagination.

After a few minutes the bird took off and flew across the lake. I went and stood on the bridge where I had a good view of him and I sketched him a few more times.

While I was there a woman showed up with a camera. Talking to strangers in the best Buffalo tradition, I said, "There's this cool bird down there."

It ended up she was well aware, and that was why she was there with her camera.  She was a bird nerd!

That is another thing I love about Buffalo. When you have a question, the right person usually shows up ready to give you an answer.

She told me the bird was a Great White Heron!

"When it flies, it looks like a pteradactyl," she said. I just looked up the spelling and I think that is it. "It is almost like a dinosaur."

I liked just watching the heron standing there holding its head high. That was my favorite pose. That long neck! 

The sketch at the top of the page, that is one of this morning's heron sketches that I turned into a watercolor. I also was happy with the little sketch on the right. It was fun when I got home to look at all these drawings and think: This is what I saw.

I actually did a dozen or so quick drawings of this heron. You never know when you will see one of these birds again!

All of a sudden I realize I have drawn a few birds and other creatures. I never really thought of it being my line of work, however I have drawn several, when they presented themselves. I did a painting of two Canada geese that I am proud of. Perhaps I should post it.

But not now!

The Great White Heron should not have to share the spotlight!

Delaware Park in the Dark

Today I went out for my bike ride as usual -- but, NOT as usual, I had trouble finding something to draw.

Perhaps it was that I was having too much fun bike riding. It is a warm night and it felt good to ride and feel the breeze. I also went in a different direction from my usual ride toward Canisius College and Medaille. I drifted toward the old Pierce Arrow plant on Elmwood.

There is an awe-inspiring view of the Pierce-Arrow plant that can be had from the Tapestry School parking lot. The Tapestry School itself is nothing to speak of because it has this terrible new facade, although never say never. Anyway, I loved this view from the back parking lot, and I have drawn it before. However that lot was too deserted. 

There is a balance that must be struck when you draw, particularly if you are a woman. You do not want it to be too deserted. However you do not necessarily want it crowded either! These are things I must weigh as I ride around.

I had in mind drawing the History Museum, perhaps the back side of it. However all these fire engines went roaring past me and it turned out that was where they were heading. My luck, you know? All these neighbors standing around and firemen walking around talking to people. No worries because nothing looked as if it was burning, but there goes that idea.

The clock struck 8:45. I had forgotten my phone so I was telling time the medieval way, from chimes. I decided to head in the direction of home. While I was on my way there I found, finally, a view I liked. It was of the Marcy Casino.

I have drawn the Marcy Casino in Delaware Park on a number of occasions. I put one of those sketches at the top of this post. That was drawn in the daytime. There are these benches you can sit on that give you a nice view.

Tonight I was across the lake. It was as different as, well, as night and day!

The place was strung with white lights and everything was reflected in the lake. If you saw this on vacation you would take pictures and never stop telling your friends about it. It was that beautiful.

Not only that but in front of it and around it, people were creating their own entertainment. A crowd had assembled and Latin music was blaring. Jugglers were juggling torches. Folks were hula hooping with lighted hula hoops. Everyone was just milling around and I am imagining some people were dancing, although from across the lake I could not see that for certain.

There is no Shakespeare in the Park this year and so we must create our own entertainment. The fire jugglers, that was something you would see in the Renaissance. Fire jugglers are not uncommon at the Marcy Casino but tonight they were especially welcome.

Anyway -- I drew a picture but I must work it over to get that night feel and try to get in more of what I remember.

I will work on it and post it!

The secret neighborhood

I have a new tradition going with myself. Every evening I go for a bike ride and I sketch.

Those are the only two rules! The bike ride may be long or short. It can be a workout, or not. It can be my own bike, the beautiful Huffy Harvard Limited, or it can be one of those red rent-a-bikes.

About the sketch: I can do one the way I did last night, or I can do three as I did two nights before that. Or more. The important thing is just to do one and -- this is important -- not to sweat it. I want to relax and have fun.

One night I ended up riding 15 miles. Another night it was just a mile or two. That was the night I drew the building up above. The wonders that are in your back yard! That is Medaille College, just around the park.

Medaille College's cornerstone reads 1922. I seem to remember reading that it was originally a convent. Those nuns must have had some money. It is a beautiful place. And I had fun drawing it as darkness was falling.

That night I did a lot of exploring that area on my bike. I noticed that on Agassiz Circle, right there by Medaille College, there is a fascinating little neighborhood. It is hidden. There is a small network of cul de sacs and it is the most enchanting thing. 

It looked so private that I was not sure I could bike into it. Then I thought: I do not see any sign that says I cannot. So I biked on in, on my Huffy.

It was hushed in there with magical houses right on the sidewalk, with shaded front porches. Lights were twinkling on in the yards. Was this really only two minutes from my house?

I cannot believe the secret things I find.

You discover so much when you go out drawing on a bike!

Adventure on Broadway: The Colored Musicians Club

The Colored Musicians Club on Broadway and Michigan holds a special place in my heart. So it was a treat to draw it.

I first got to know the club years ago. It was before I worked for the Niagara Gazette, that is how long ago it was! I worked for the Niagara Gazette before I worked for The Buffalo News.

I was working nights next door to the club at a printer called Buffalo Publishing. I would do typesetting and put together wine menus and -- this is how long ago it was -- I would paste up big newspaper ads for AM&As. My sister Katie worked further down the street teaching at St. Ann's. We would joke about working on Broadway! But anyway.

There was this sign in the building next door, a red neon sign in an upstairs window, reading "Musicians."

I said, "We have to find out what this is about." No one I worked with seemed to know. So one day I went over there and tried the door. Here is a closeup of my picture so you can see. That is the door, on the left. It was locked.

I rang the doorbell. A buzzer sounded and I went in.

There was this long narrow staircase and I went up it. At the top of the staircase was a door and I opened it. And that was how I ended up in the Colored Musicians Club. 

That is how everyone ended up there!

That is how we will end up there again once things return to normal and we can live like normal human beings.

My friends at Buffalo Publishing and I all began frequenting the club on our dinner breaks, to the extent that our boss eventually put out a memo addressing the situation. The memo said, "Any employees visiting the CMC should work all through your shift and take your break at the end." I always remember the memo abbreviated it like that. It was just such a pervading thing in the office that everyone went there. We would drink Rum and Cokes and Lupe the bartender would make them strong.

Here is a picture of the picture in progress.

Sketching the CMC I thought back on all that as I drew in the street light, the bare street corner. I had so many adventures at this place over the years. 

Good times.

The Maumee and me

The freighter called the Maumee is docked down by the Cheerios plant. I believe it is spending the winter there.

It is parked next to the Cheerios plant and it is surrounded by ice! The ice is melting a bit but it is still very much there and ducks and ducklings are waddling around on it.

I noticed the Maumee a few weeks ago because I am always on the lookout for these Great Lakes Freighters and I love to monitor their comings and goings. Looking on Boatnerd, a site I love, I was excited to read that the Maumee was built in 1929. Alas, it turned out that was a different Maumee. That Maumee was scrapped not long ago. This one dates to 1953.

Here is the correct Maumee on Boatnerd. Ships typically go through a number of names and this ship was originally called the Reserve. I love the scholarship on Boatnerd! "The Reserve sailed on her maiden voyage from the shipyard April 22, 1953 upbound in ballast to Superior, WI for a 18,571 ton (18,869 mt) load of iron ore." Boatnerd is amazing. Every writeup tells you everything the freighter in question hauled, all the names it had, why it was named what it was, where it went, all the collisions it got into, which tugboats hauled it to safety, where it was repaired, everything.

The Reserve had also made a voyage in 1952 so, you figure that one out, I cannot.

This evening down at the Outer Harbor I found a little walkway across the river that gave me a decent view of one end of the Maumee anyway. Looking on Boatnerd I see that the photographer there, she did not do much better. It is hard to get a view of the whole ship because they are so massive.

However I was fortunate to get where I did. I had not realized there was this area where there are platforms going out over the water. I went out on one walkway and took this picture looking back where I had come from.

Then I found this adorable set of steps!

The steps headed down to the ice and signs warned you that the water could be electric. I am not making this up! Needless to say I stayed prudently up near the top.

Conditions were not ideal, but I had a wonderful time sketching the Maumee, not worrying about it, just having fun and feeling so lucky to be where I was. The sun came out and shadows appeared on the grain elevators. The air smelled wonderful, like spring. A crewman appeared on the deck of the Maumee and walked along its length. The ship's lights began to flicker on. I was thrilled. I am in love with lake freighters. I do not know what it is! Everything about them, I love. 

I would like to work on this drawing. I think I could do something good. Today I had not planned on doing this sketch and all I had with me was my long and narrow sketchbook, 5 by 12 inches. I would like to use a bigger piece of paper. Another thing, I was thinking maybe that in this case it might be interesting to branch out from pen and ink and try charcoal, or marker, or something, I am not sure. It is just that pen and ink is a kind of delicate medium for this massive freighter.

Well, this ice is not all melting anytime soon so with luck the Maumee will be with us a while.

And now that I know my way around, I will not be a stranger! Me and the Maumee, we are not through yet.

Sketching in the snow

Today on my way to Candlemas Mass I stopped and sketched Tempo. That is a restaurant occupying a beautiful old mansion on Delaware Avenue.

Is that correct, to say Candlemas Mass? Is it not just Candle Mass? Well, we say Christmas Mass.

Anyway.

It was fun, drawing Tempo. It took me out of my day. This is funny but I think the right way to draw a building is, you sketch in the shape, then you fill it out. I do not normally operate that way. I started in this case at the upper left hand corner of the drawing, and then I worked my way down. Always in ink, too, so you do not erase. If I worked in pencil I would always be erasing.

I was thinking, that all through my life, when I have done crossword puzzles -- any puzzles -- I have always worked in ink as well. My mother always used pencil. She used to try to reason with me because sometimes I would end up having to cross things out, and it would turn into a mess. But doing a crossword in pencil is no fun! The fun is writing in ink.

I am an ink-stained wretch!

I will have to finish the Tempo sketch and post it. I could take it only so far. No. 1 I had to go to Mass. Secondly, it was snowing and the window I was looking through, the side window, was getting snowy to the point that I could not see. I rolled it down to take the picture.

After Mass my car was covered in snow and I had to brush it off.

An observation on this year's Christmastide: It began and ended with snow!

On Christmas Eve we got our usual Christmas Eve snowstorm. I came out of Midnight Mass at, yikes, about 2:30 a.m. And my car was buried as was everyone else's. Heavy, wet snow. Buffalo. Got to love it!

Now on Candlemas evening I came out of the candlelit Mass and my car was again covered in snow. Not as bad as after Midnight Mass on Christmas, but still.

We have not gotten much snow in the interim!

Well, it is all worth it. Mass tonight, it was about two hours long, but when I came down from the choir loft for Communion, I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. The church was dark and lighted only by candles. There were candles arrayed all over the high altar and the people in the pews were holding candles. It had looked beautiful from above but it was even more beautiful below.

Mozart and Beethoven and Palestrina must have gone to Mass in such an atmosphere!

I took this pic shortly before Mass but it does not begin to describe it.

Most people go through their whole lives and never experience anything like this!

And on top of that we had a white Christmas.

The start, and the finish!

The first ink sketch of 2021

 

I wonder how many artists all over the world are resolving to draw at least one thing a day in the new year of 2021.

That has to be a resolution going back to cave man days! I mean when people would draw those cows and things you would see on the walls of caves.

Well, I really do plan on doing this. And so on the way home from Mass this morning I stopped on Elmwood Avenue and sketched what you see up above. It is the former parochial residence for the old Immaculate Conception Church in Buffalo's Allentown district.

When I was in my early 20s and just starting out in the job market I worked at Interval International, a time share exchange place. I used to go to Mass at Immaculate Conception because, I discovered, it was not far from my workplace.

Of course the church ended up closing, like so many of our other churches. But at least it is still standing, and so is the old rectory I drew, built in 1895. I looked up the year. That is part of the fun of doing all this drawing, I look up everything I draw, and I learn.

Here is a picture of my sketch in progress. It looks like a big doodle!

That is the fun of working in ink. You cannot second-guess yourself. You just keep drawing, la la la la la la la.

I worked on my drawing for a little longer but I had to stop eventually because I was in what my parents used to call Food Emergency. I needed lunch so bad my hands were shaking. The Mass had gone on for almost two hours, way longer than I had expected. When they start Benediction you know you are there for the long haul. Anyway, I took the picture home and dressed it up and put it up on my gallery website. Then I got out this notebook I have and made a note that I drew it, and put the date.

I realized it was exactly a year ago today that I sketched Holy Angels Church, on Buffalo's West Side. That church has closed now too. Sigh.

But on a brighter note, forward we go!

What if I really do follow through with this plan, and do 365 drawings? At least 365. Looking at my diary from last year I see there were some days when I drew none but some days when I drew three or four.

I wonder what 2021 will bring?

When Life Gives You Street Lights..

 .. Draw them!

That is what I believe, and I followed my own directive when I sketched Buffalo's Blessed Trinity Church one winter afternoon.

I do not know what it is, I just love drawing the flotsam and jetsam of city life. That includes traffic signals, No Standing signs, parking meters, bicycle locking thingies, and most definitely light posts.

When I did this sketch of Blessed Trinity I even began with the street light. It was important to me!

The funny thing about all this was, shortly after I did that drawing, I mentioned it to a photographer friend of mine. He told me that Blessed Trinity, given its inner city location, is notorious among photographers -- dreaded, even -- because you cannot get a straight shot at it without a light post being in the way.

Hahahahha!

Here I am, working in old-fashioned pen and ink, and I could have left the light post out, but instead I drew it and it became central to my picture.

I even made it into a Christmas card.

If it is there, I draw it! That should be my slogan.

My friend Lizzie, when she saw my picture, she said, "It's great, just get rid of the street light."

Um, my drawing is not a computer screen?

It is not that simple?

And furthermore, I like it the way it is!

Plus, later when I looked at it I saw it added another cross to the scene.

It was meant to be!

I keep thinking, maybe it is because I was a reporter for so long, I enjoy just putting down the truth. If the street light is there, I want to include it. Sometimes it is awkward, a No Parking sign impeding your vision of something, but it is interesting too. 

I like to draw what is before my eyes.

No judgment!

 

My friendly neighborhood bison

 

This morning while I was walking I stopped and took a picture of this bison.

I feel so blessed that I can see bison within walking distance of my house!

Bison do not care that you are there and they do not care what kind of day it is.

It can be raining and they are sitting there same as if it were sunny. They have a shelter but they do not go into it.

They are irresistible to photograph. When I was looking in the computer for the picture I took today I came up with this one too. I think Howard took it.

It is a privilege to be able to sketch a bison from life. It was one of the first things I drew in my, ahem, early days of drawing, in my pocket sketchbook. This was when I was still drawing in pencil, not ink. I drew the bison in this little sketchbook the size of an index card. I still think it is a good idea to carry one with you wherever you go.

The bison was hardly recognizable as a bison but that was because of the way it was sitting. (As I make excuses for myself.) I remember I was happy with it. I went as far as to pompously initial it. To initial it pompously. My dad was an English and Latin teacher and he taught me not to split my infinitives.

May 3, 2018.

How the time flies.

But the buffalo is a constant here in Buffalo.

Sketching at the beach

 

Yesterday was a day to celebrate. It was almost 80 degrees! 

In Buffalo! In late October!

And so I went to the beach. We have the Pods for this purpose but we did not need them. Instead a group of us just gathered. At our height I believe there were seven of us. Plus strangers with whom we were interacting.

And their dogs!

A big poodle named Hannah came bounding up and ate the last piece of cheese off our cheese board! Then she kept trying to get into my backpack because she knew there was more cheese in there!

The dogs were playing fetch in the water and sailboats kept gliding by. It was a wonderful day off.

It is a challenge to sketch on the beach because the usual things I love to draw are not there. There are no traffic signals or parking meters or goose-neck street lamps or Do Not Enter signs.

Ha, ha! Once my sister Katie suggested I go with her to Allegany State Park where there is beautiful nature. She said, "You can draw there."

I said: "Draw what??"

LOL! Anyway at the beach I come up with sketches like the one pictured above. I did that the other day in the Pod.

Yesterday I sketched some dogs and sailboats and then simply zoned out and breathed the air and watched the sunset. 

It is good to zone out once in a while.

God rested and so should we!

Confessions of a Pod Person

My friend Ryan and I have bought Pods and now we are able to sit out in all weather.

Under all weather! The brand name of the pods is Under the Weather. It is not a perfect name because, you know, when you are under the weather you are sick. The subtitle is better. The pod package announces, "Be There -- Weather Or Not!"

That is accurate. You can be there, weather or not! These are little pop-up tents and as long as you do not mind looking a little silly in them, which we do not, the sky is the limit.

Still our goal in getting the Pods was simple: to go and sit on the beach in them. That is what we have already done because here in Buffalo the temperatures have already dipped. That is a picture of me up above that Ryan took! It shows me drawing in my Pod. 

The pods pop up very easily, almost without any help. You tie them down with a few stakes, which is also easy, even for me. Folding them back up again is more of a challenge but Ryan is helping me learn. There is just a little knack to it and I will acquire that.

As long as I can master that, I can see how useful this will be to me as an artist.

I love to draw, ahem, plein air. That means you are outside, as opposed to looking at a photograph. I am never happier than when I am beholding a scene and getting ready to get it down on paper. There was one day, I remember it was 95 degrees or something, and I was in downtown Buffalo settling down on a scorching bench, and I was totally blissed out because in front of me was this huge Art Deco police station and cars all around it, everything ready for drawing.

And didn't I sit there, all afternoon!

Maybe someone should invent an air-conditioned Pod for those occasions! Meanwhile we have this one. Ryan has reported, and it is true, that even on a chilly day, if the sun is out, the Pod heats up. When we tested them the other day they warmed up even under cloudy skies. We were impervious to wind and rain and that is a wonderful thing. That hat I was wearing in the picture quickly became unnecessary.

I will be able to draw whatever I want!

I can set the thing up in Niagara Square if I feel like it and take another crack at drawing City Hall.

Have Pod. 

Will draw!

From summer to fall

 

Yikes, all at once it is Autumn~!

That ~ symbol ended up there by mistake but I like how it looks so I will leave it there.

Just a few days ago it was warm, sweltering even, and I drew that little sketch up above. Actually the sketch is about a foot long. I drew it in my Long and Narrow sketchbook which I choose to use when I want to have fun.

I did that sketch at Wilkeson Pointe on Buffalo's Outer Harbor. I was there with my friend Ryan and we had noticed how cool these people looked walking on this ridge. They were silhouetted against the sunset and looked like shadows. The woman second from the front was wearing a sari and I did try to get that sari in there. It is fun working in ink because there are no second chances but also you do not erase and fuss over things too much. 

Anyway there it is, my portrait of people walking along the ridge at Wilkeson Pointe!

I like any drawing I did that I can look at and say: That is pretty much what I saw. This drawing does that.

Soon I will be going back to drawing at least some of the time in my car. How things change! The other night I made it to the Outer Harbor but it was, I must admit it, pretty chilly.

Today I wore a scarf when I went walking in the park. I took this picture.

 

 

I met my brother George and he had a knit cap. It was one of those days in Buffalo when you saw people in shorts and people in parkas.

I am working on getting Christmas cards printed! There, I said it ... Christmas.

It is closer than you think!

Mystery on Forest Avenue

Today for my daily ink sketch I went driving around aimlessly looking for something and I wound up on Forest Avenue by the H. H. Richardson complex.

I mean I was at the Richardson complex! But I did not draw it. Instead I turned around on the bench where I sat and drew the brick building across the street. That is it up above! The picture so far is no great shakes but I am not yet through with it. I even had trouble taking a decent picture of it thanks to this strange big bright thing that appeared in the sky and was shining down. However, I will say this, that picture I drew does the job.

That is what I saw!

I think it comes from being a reporter and a music critic for so long but I love when I can look at a drawing I did and say that. Sometimes reviewing a concert, especially if the piece was new music, I did not want to give it a concrete thumbs up or thumbs down. So I would just tell myself, you do not have to be clever or have any great insights. Just say what you experienced. Say what it was like. That comes from being a reporter. That is what I do with drawing.

This building I drew, as you can see, it is kind of weird!

I have wondered about it forever. And while I was drawing, a stranger stopped by as strangers often do.

"What was that building?" I asked him.

He didn't know. Then he said, "Did you see the head?"

That's right ... there had been a head! A big head in front of a building -- was it this building? It was like out of that Russian opera "Ruslan and Ludmilla." In "Ruslan and Ludmilla" the big head appears in a forest and in Buffalo the big head appears on Forest Avenue. Surely somebody had that in mind. Anyway, there was a giant white Victorian head parked in front of some building on Forest and that was what this gentleman was talking about.

"I did see the head!" I exclaimed. "But not recently. Was it here?"

Neither of us could figure that out. But it turns out yes, here was where the head was. Online information is scant but I was able to learn that the head had been a replica of a decoration at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. I sort of remembered that. Unfortunately the head was made of Styrofoam and so could not take our winters and fell apart.

Here is a picture of the head which is gone now. We lost our head!

But there is that building in the background, sure enough. So...

What was it?

It turns out it was a streetcar repair barn. It was built in 1895 and it was used for the Pan-Am trolleys, among other trolleys, I imagine.

I should have guessed. It is mammoth! And there are all these huge windows and doors.

Now it is owned by the Buffalo History Museum. It is a Resource Center but it reminds me of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory because nobody ever goes in ... and nobody ever goes out. That was always the case. I mean even before the pandemic.

This is why I draw.

You solve mysteries!

Skies I have seen

The skies these days have been striking!

In that last picture I did not mean to showcase the sky.

 But just look at it!