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!

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!

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!

Back to the Cheerios plant

 

Today I went back and again sketched the Maumee, which is fast becoming an old friend. I sit with the Maumee in the evening until the ship's lights begin to blink on.

The people around the docks are getting to know me too. One gentleman yesterday told me that the Maumee's presence is a kind of first to him. He said that he could never remember a ship wintering here as the Maumee is doing.

I confessed that I had a thing for these freighters. He asked me about it. He said he was a sailor. Look at me, down on the docks, talking with sailors.

It is the best I can do to draw the back end of the ship, pictured above.

I do like that picture, I have to tell you. I had a nice smooth pen to draw it with. These Microns, they kick around my purse and my car and they do not stay nice for very long. Part of the problem is the caps. The Micron makers blew it with the caps. The caps come off too easily and are lost too easily. 

I lucked out today and had a wonderful time drawing the smooth outlines of the ship, inking in the windows of the Cheerios plant. I was sitting right down by the water, on the steps of the dock.

The beaver, or whatever creature that was, was not in evidence today. I was disappointed.

But I did entertain myself with the drawing. The evening was lovely and as if to welcome me, the Cheerios plant began piping out that sugary Cheerios aroma.

After the drawing above I turned the page and tried drawing the whole ship. It can be done, I can see that. You have to start with a long swipe up, as if you are drawing with a calligraphy pen, and then you just have to take things from there. I have a good start. Tomorrow mayhap I will post what I did.

Mayhap, listen to me!

I am becoming a salt.

Arr, arr, mate!

When I was done I walked back to Wilkeson Pointe and sat down on the beach with my friend Ryan who was already there. Ryan was relieved that the beaver was not there by the river and so he had not missed anything.

The grain elevator lighted up as the daylight disappeared. Again I had the feeling that I hated to see the day end. The ice is melting. One of these days the Maumee will be gone and this episode of my life will be over.

But not yet.

I think I still have a few days!

The Mysterious River Creature Down By the Docks

I hated to see the sun set today. That is it up above! I took that picture at Wilkeson Pointe.

I hated to see the sun set because the day was just so lovely. 

Today I returned again to the Maumee. That is the ship wintering on the Outer Harbor by the Cheerios plant.

I was down there drawing and this is what I need to discuss. There is this animal there! I saw this animal the other day while I was sketching. It was swimming around. There is this area by the pier where the boat owners dock their boats...

... and all of a sudden the weeds that covered the water, I saw them moving. Next thing I knew there was this big animal undulating this way and that. It had this big rear and it would splash and dive beneath the surface and come back up but never to the extent that I could see it clearly.

I did know that it was not a snake, I will tell you that right now.

It was also not a fish. That is what I thought it was at first.

Also, it seemed benign. It seemed happy, going this way and that, some fat happy animal.

Today I was back there again. ... 

I was on the docks. I used to draw on the shore but I have graduated to drawing right on the water.

And I turned around and ... there it was! The creature!

It was maybe two yards from me. It was a little bigger than a cat. I went to grab my camera and take a picture but it moved fast and splashed back into the water with a big belly flop.

Then I saw it swimming around. It had these little ears, I do believe.

After conferring later at Wilkeson Pointe with my friend Ryan I do believe it might have been a beaver. That was the closest we came to figuring this out.

Here is a picture of a beaver from the National History Museum. 

This is what the animal looked like although to be honest I did not get a good look at its tail. Which, that would be vital to positive identification.

Here is a video of beavers swimming that looks like what I saw.

They are playing Bach in that video. How about that? Today is the birthday of the great Johann Sebastian Bach! Surely this was all meant to be.

Ryan is going to go with me to the docks, with luck to get a look at this animal in person.

This is funny, no one wants to go with me anywhere to be with me when I am drawing. But bring in some animal, and everyone is into it. They want to see this creature!

As do I!

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!

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.

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!

My new Buffalo coloring challenge

I love coloring books and the other day I came up with my first coloring page. And I dared to start a coloring challenge!

Everyone is sitting around because of the coronavirus and is in need of fun and games. So I found this drawing I did of Lance Diamond Way. Lance Diamond Way is on Elmwood Avenue at the corner of West Utica. Lance used to sing at the Elmwood Lounge there. The Elmwood Lounge is now called Milkie's after its current and legendary owner Mike Milkie. That was where I drew this picture, looking out across the street.

That was a beautiful afternoon. My friend Meghan was with me and Mike Milkie sat down with us and reminisced about Lance and other things. I drank a beer. It is all too rare that life slows down like that and you have time to chill.

However later that day I never bothered looking back at my sketchbook. I thought: I would never have chosen that view and I will never have use for what I drew. The angle was tough, I thought. Plus I was talking while I was drawing and that does not always work out.

However. Oddly enough over the next few weeks that picture became one of my favorites. I kept finding myself going back to it. And when I decided to try doing up a coloring page, I immediately went for this picture.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!

I had to re-draw it by hand because the original had shadows and such. I will have to post it so you see what I mean. It is a huge contrast! But otherwise I made no changes. The truck, the workers unloading the truck, the car across the street, everything was as I had originally drawn it. I love that in a sketch. I love to look at it and say: That is what I saw.

My drawing is on Facebook, on the page Mary Kunz Goldman Sketches, in case anyone wants to download it and try it.

Meanwhile above -- at the top of this post -- is an interpretation in Crayolas by Ryan Lysarz .... and here is one by my sister Margaret Mills. Ryan and I have been marveling at how for some reason they shared something of the same color scheme.

Our friend the author and poet Anne Apfel also used colors in that family.

She intended it to depict shadows falling at twilight. Some friends on Facebook said it reminded them of Ludwig Bemelman's "Madeline" books. Now I have such a big ego!

It is fascinating to me, all the different directions a picture can take depending on who is coloring it. I knew this was going to be fun, but not this much fun.

The things people come up with, I cannot get over it! I will have to post more tomorrow because I do not want to let everything out of the bag all at once. Because everyone is having fun with it we are going to add a new picture every week.

I am thinking next summer when this virus thing is past, we can have a show.

We can sip white wine and look at everyone's creations and celebrate what we have wrought!

The long and narrow sketchbook

Right before the Wuhan Flu curtailed my shopping, I went out to Hyatt, the great art supply store that happens to be just a couple of minutes from my house, and I bought a bunch of sketchbooks. That was smart, you know? Anyway, one of the sketchbooks was long and narrow.


It is Strathford and made of recycled paper. It is just cheap lightweight sketch paper and it cost $6 something.

This is turning into the best $6 something I ever spent in my life!

I am having so much fun with this sketchbook. When I bought it it was with the thought that it would make me see new possibilities in what was before my eyes. I would make it a game to find scenes that lent themselves to these new dimensions.

And it has worked out that way! It has been fun!

There are 50 sheets in the sketchbook and I think I have done 22 drawings so far. I have not torn one sheet out of the book, either. Not that I forbid myself to, it just has not happened.

Because the paper is so lightweight, or because I am not thinking commercially, I take a very relaxed approach with these drawings.

Here is the police radio station in Delaware Park.

I drew that yesterday. It was chilly but the sun was out. After that I sketched the little golf course kiosk, closed because of the virus. Notice now I have on gloves.

Then I thought I was going home but stopped to draw people hanging around outside the closed zoo, by the shuttered Cup & Cone.

The other day I drew the Cyclorama Building downtown. That is it at the top of the post!

 When I am through drawing something it is traditional for me to page through the whole sketchbook and review my work. I am doing more "serious" stuff in between these but I have to tell you this, these narrow sketches are a lot of fun.



I have done a million of them in Delaware Park. I had thought I had sketched everything there was to sketch in Delaware Park but this book opens up a lot of new possibilities. I'll have to post more of the Delaware Park pictures. There are about a dozen of them, I want to say.

I have done a lot of tall pictures too, not just long pictures. I can't wait to show them off.

I will have to do a Long and Narrow Sketchbook Tour!

Through the Presbyterian looking glass

Today I stopped in my day and did a quick sketch of this massive, fortress-like edifice that used to be Central Presbyterian Church. It is in Buffalo's Parkside neighborhood.


It is funny, the things right in your own back yard that you pass a million times and never look at! This was one of them. Since I have been drawing I notice so much more. A few weeks ago I stopped for the first time in my life and noticed this place. I said out loud, "What in the world?"

It is so huge!

What I drew was just a back corner!

When I got home I looked this church up on one of our Buffalo architecture websites. I did not know what the name of it was because it is a school now. I found out the name and I learned that when it was built in 1911, it was the biggest Presbyterian church "east of the Mississippi," and that the architect was one Williams Lansing, who was very distinguished.

Lansing, it turns out, also designed Holy Family Church, where I was baptized. And a whole lot of other buildings, many of them churches, both Catholic and Protestant. He himself was Episcopalian. He was one of the founding members of Buffalo's Canoe Club. He is buried in Forest Lawn near the famous Fargo plot which I pass many times while walking. Listen to me! I am now the clearinghouse for all things Williams Lansing. I am a fan!

Looking up something like this is dangerous because you go down the rabbit hole and can waste hours if you are not careful. I was also fascinated by the history of this church;s erstwhile congregation. There is this one article by James Napora -- fascinating all the way through, but I will just mention for starters the nicknames.

Organized as the Pearl Street Presbyterian Church, they quickly erected a log meeting house on the west side of Pearl Street just north of Genesee Street. Built at a cost of $300, the building contained over 500 seats for a congregation of only thirty-five. It became known as the "ecclesiastical blacksmith shop" as it resembled a large blacksmith shop.

The congregation grew rapidly and within two years, with almost 200 members, they built a new church. Modeled after the Parthenon, it had an oval interior lit by a stained glass skylight. This feature earned it the nickname of "goose egg church."

From the Ecclesiastical Blacksmith Shop to the Goose Egg Church!

And we are not through yet.  A few paragraphs later you read that "between 1849 and 1851, the congregation now numbering 475, worshiped in the basement church referred to as 'Dr. Lord's Icehouse.' "

Dr. Lord was a person in town. He was not the Lord. Just to clear up any confusion.

What a history! How could anyone do it justice?

When I go back to this place I'd better bring my big drawing board.

The oldest houses in Buffalo

Today my friend Meghan and I went out drawing in Allentown. We stopped in a coffee shop where we found a good view of the city's oldest houses.


Buffalo's oldest houses sit on Allen Street one after another. There are three in a row, maybe more but I have always considered these three the oldest. I drew two of them. There they are up above.

As I worked I had to come to terms with an uncomfortable truth.

Pretty as the houses are, and old as they are, what really interested me was the "Do Not Enter" sign and the fire hydrant.

I am still a young enough artist that the bends in the street still amaze me. Every time I sketch a scene like this one, I cannot get over the scale of the houses that stretch down the street. I have to be very careful as I go forward. Those houses around the corner, they take up only a few millimeters beneath the eave of the house on the corner.

That is incredible!

I keep holding up my pen, checking, marveling.

Only when I got it down did I let myself sketch in the "Do Not Enter" sign.

Cool things to look at are everywhere. When I was taking a break I stopped in the coffee shop's restroom. and I saw this:

You have to wonder how many beers went into that logo.

Genius!

And earlier today I took this picture of Jeoffry in his holder.

So many images.

So little time!

West Side story: Sketching Holy Angels

I hate New Year's
What's wrong with the old one?
Resolutions...
Who could ever hold one?

Our great friend the cabaret artist Guy Boleri penned those immortal lines in his musical version of "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge sings them.

Much as I love Guy's musical, I am no Scrooge. I love Christmas and I love New Year's.

Resolutions? I am full of them!

One is to write in this Web log every day in 2020.

Another is to sketch every day.

OK, with both resolutions I think I will make it six at least out of every seven days. Because there will be one day once in a while when you just cannot get to it and then you do not want to bog down.

But so far on the sketch front I am doing pretty much perfectly!

I have gone out every day in 2020, minus one because it was impossible. And I sketched the last three days of the old year as well.

One thing I drew was Holy Angels Church, pictured above, on Buffalo's West Side.

Now I will sound like my old Web logger self and point out that this was Leonard Pennario's church when he was a boy. And when he came back to Buffalo in the last year of my life and I met him, he asked to go back to the church and have a look. We did that.

Pennario had his moment and gazed at Holy Angels. He said, "She looks beautiful."

That is an old-fashioned thing that I love. Ships and churches are feminine and so are a lot of other things.

My great-uncle Andrew, the Rev. Andrew Kunz, was treasurer of the order of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Pennario always referred to them by that full formal name) and was at Holy Angels for something like 50 years starting in 1905 or thereabouts.

All these things were in my head as I sketched. So was F. Scott Fitzgerald who also went to Holy Angels School, for a little while anyway. I kept thinking of him, of Leonard, of my Uncle Andrew.

I also brooded about Holy Angels closing. It is scheduled to close next year, I mean this year. What a crying shame. I am glad it was still open when Pennario went looking for it. So I thought about that too.

Then gradually as happens, all the thoughts fell away and all I thought of was shadows and angles. That is a wonderful thing about drawing. Your mind gradually clears of everything except what you are working on.

Here is a photo I took when I was through in case I needed to refer to it. I try to remember to do that when I am folding up and getting ready to go home. The sun finally came out!

After drawing all week I can say that the sun has been out during that time for all of 10 minutes, total. This is bogus, you know? I can see why John Singer Sargent liked to work in Italy. I tried to get the sun in there when it came out. You always have to work fast because it will not be there long!

That happened again to me today, the sun coming out late and just for a bit, when I was drawing a shopping strip with a hair place and a halal market. Buffalonians can try guessing where I was. I think I will post that one tomorrow.

This is my year!

I will be unstoppable!

Summer in the city

As I write this, thunder is booming outside and rain is pouring down. The cat is in the window, fascinated.

We have been having this wonderful summer of weather and this sudden storm bears it out. It is like Camelot. The rain can never come till after sundown.

This evening I got on a bike and went to our historic Buffalo tavern, Ulrich's. I sketched Ulrich's from across the street. I had only about an hour before it began to get dark and I got back on the bike and pedaled home. Before I left I took the picture up above, just for reference. Tomorrow I will post my sketch. It is awesome! Well, I was happy with it, I will say that.

While I was drawing I was thinking: Grover Cleveland drank in that tavern! Odds are my great-grandfather drank in that tavern!

Did my great-grandfather know Grover Cleveland? That is a question to ponder.

When I was nearing my house it was the most amazing thing. There were people everywhere. Kids were swinging on the swings across the street from my house. Couples were walking with baby carriages. People were walking their dogs. All along the street you saw people on the sidewalks, people on their porches.

The city was alive!

It is like this all summer but especially in the last days of summer. The motorcycles too are roaring down the streets. Writing that, I am all of a sudden affectionate toward them. Everyone feels the summer is leaving.

We must enjoy it while we can!

The art of Kmart

I did another Buzz column -- yikes, what is this, week five?

I cannot believe I can be this consistent! Of course miracles happen when someone is holding you to a deadline and Howard is. I am like a trained horse. I need deadlines.

One thing I loved about this week's column is I got to work in my sketch of Kmart, up above, which I am crazy about. Urban sketching at its finest!

Kmarts are falling right and left but ours here in North Buffalo has been dodging the bullets rather well. I did the above picture from my car on a cold day last winter.

Kmart is not Monet's pond of water lilies but it is something. I loved drawing the carts. I always love the details.

I did the Kmart sketch for my friend Ryan who loves Kmart but I would have drawn it in any case and Ryan knows that.

One day I will paint Kmart in the style of Monet, Van Gogh, and John Singer Sargent.

That reminds me.. I may have mentioned, I have that kind of New Age-y habit of writing my goals, every morning. You write things in the present tense, as if they have already happened. And lo, it comes to pass! At least that is the idea.

Every day I write: "I draw and paint like John Singer Sargent. I play the piano like Leonard Pennario."

Now we shall wait and see!