The Two Weeks Before Christmas

Sunday, Dec. 14th was the grayest day I think I've ever seen here. Like a thick blanket. It started to snow mid-afternoon. It was a long wait for the LRT at the Mall of America, so I started sketching the man down the platform. He didn't move much, so was a good subject. Click on picture to make larger.



Sunday, Dec. 21 (Solstice) turned out to be a sad day. Our Saturn of 13 1/2 years died on Hwy 169. Celia was driving it home from her friend Eric's house when the engine went over into the red and started knocking. She managed to get it over to the side of the expressway--- but just barely. It was about 10 below 0 out there. Fortunately, Eric came to the rescue and brought her home. Tow trucks would've taken another 2 to 3 hrs to get there. This was drawn while I was waiting in my neighbor's borrowed car for the tow truck to arrive. It's only a car, but I still feel like I've lost a part of the family!

Sketching With Andy Singer at the MoA and the Junkyard

Cartoonist Andy Singer has some free tickets to Underwater Adventures® Aquarium, in the Mall of America and he invited me to sketch with him . I took the LRT to the last stop in Bloomington and met him at the entrance. Here's one of the sketches I did of the transparent tunnel through the aquarium (click the picture to enlarge it):



Andy did some fun sketches of the creatures:





Last year Andy and I did some sketching at a junkyard called U Pull R Parts in Rosemount. It was a hot day but I did a few fun sketches... here's one:



Here's three great sketches by Andy:

The Riverview Theater in Minneapolis

Roberta and I sketched the Riverview Theater from the Riverview Cafe. We sketched it two weeks ago and saw "City of Ember" and returned to color the sketches on Sunday and watched "Burn After Reading". This is Roberta's sketch (click on the picture to enlarge it):



This is my sketch:



Here's a sketch I did two years ago:

Too Cold to Draw Outside, but...

... I had to sketch the partial demolition of Calhoun Square.. The temperature was 19 degrees, so I used the new Sharpie pen. It didn't freeze and it didn't bleed through to the other side of the paper. I wish I could have added color, but my toes were cold and I had to get going. I don't think there's much more outdoor sketching left for this year.

Roz Raps about Pentimento

Ken, it's great that you are doing this Twin Cities Sketcher blog. I wanted to post something within the rules, but I haven't been drawing anything outside the past few days; it's too cold even for me. At lunch today I made a friend draw in my journal rather than draw in it myself! (We were inside at the time.)

I talked with Roberta and she thought it was "legal" to post something from awhile back (I don't typically draw buildings and urban scenes, but I will definitely try to do so more often!). I thought this sketch of one of the lions (or is it a stylized dragon?) outside the old Minneapolis Institue of Art would work.

It was a hot day when I drew this, sketching out with friends. I was standing, craning my neck, trying to concentrate. Then two smokers came and sat down about 18 inches away from where I was standing and I had to breathe passive smoke and deal with the intense sunlight. Urban sketching is a tough business! I prefer working in the field with ticks and mosquitos.

When we all finished our sketches we sat on the steps and chatted for awhile. Pentimento came up. One of my friends asked, "What's that?" That's when, giddy perhaps from the lack of oxygen and from too much sun I sang a little rap about pentimento. I don't know if it will be visible when the image is posted. (Bottom right corner.) "First you draw it. Then you don't like it. Then you draw it again. Pentimento!" (I'll keep my day job.)

I look forward to seeing posts from the Twin Cities and am glad you are going to allow the State Fair and the Zoo!

Welcome, Roz Wound Up Readers

Roz Stendahl is my journaling guru, so it's a great honor that Roz chose to mention Twin Cities Sketchers in her blog today . Now if only I can convince Roz to join us and post some of her great sketches of the State Fair....

Week of Walldogs

I was a site manager for one of the murals being painted on the side of Gray's Leather on 34th St. & Nicollet Ave. It was just one of the 10 murals painted during the big Walldogs event in July (Walldogs is the term used back in the 30's & 40's for the guys that painted advertisements on the sides of buildings Here's the website ). It was loads of fun meeting all these people involved in the event. I took advantage of the periodic stretches of "down time" to do these watercolor sketches in my journal. You can click on these drawings to see them larger.



Another sketch, different day.

Sketching in Linden Hills

I was bicycling back from Linden HIlls last Saturday and sketched the Holly Trolley at the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. I may go back next weekend and sketch it again. Click the picture to enlarge it.

September RNC Sketches

I have a comic about the Republican National Convention in the latest issue of Minnesota Law & Politics. Here are some sketches. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This is what the Excel Energy Center looked like a week before they surrounded it with barriers. The inset picture is of journalist Amy Goodman who was arrested at one of the many protests.



This is a phalanx of police in riot gear in front of the Landmark Center. I sketched very quickly because it was hot and I didn't want to be arrested.

More Old Sketches From My Journal

Before I add new sketches, here are some old ones from my journal. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This is the Cream of Wheat elevator in Northeast Minneapolis:



This is a sketch I did of the wreckage of the old 35W bridge:



This is a section of the new bridge being lifted onto a barge: