Apex Academy

This is the view directly under my living room window. I realized a couple of days later why I thought it had reminded me of a board game. It actually reminds me of those computer sim games where you build a city or so such thing.

This is Apex Academy in East Cleveland. It is attached to the former Christ The King church, which was pretty handy having right across the street. But, that closed a while back now. For the most part, it's fine having a school across the street, except for pick-up and drop-off times and the headaches that the parents cause on my street and Noble Road when they whip in and out of there like nuts. Or, when the little kids who live up the hill in Cleveland Heights throw rocks at passing cars on Noble Road.

It does amaze me of how little use that basketball court gets. You'd think that there'd be kids all day using it in the summer when school is closed, but I don't think I ever saw it being used. Maybe the school is mean about that?

Blue House

I need to actually pull out my book on perspective if I'm going to keep doing these houses with the circular tower thing.

East Cleveland Theater

I'm beginning to really love these scenes with snow on the ground, like it much better than having grass to sketch. Now, this is good, because snow has been on the ground solid for weeks.

This is one of my favorite buildings in East Cleveland. It's the East Cleveland Theater, and as you can tell, it used to be a church. After drawing a bunch of Rockefeller houses, I have to say, I'm still liking the brickwork as part of the whole sketching process. But, I'm not sure for how much longer.

Yellow House

Here's a great house in East Cleveland. You know, I do love yellow!

Another Rockefeller House

East Cleveland Observatory

Another Rockefeller House

Rockefeller House

Even though these homes are so beautiful, they actually sold poorly when construction was completed. It was shortly after the depression, and the original asking prices were too much for the Cleveland market. Eventually, they had a huge push to sell the homes, but most sold for $40-50,000, half of their original asking price.

The Rockefeller houses are just another gem of East Cleveland.

Rev. Albert Wagner

You ever have one of those moments where you realize that there are incredible things right under your nose? I had that revelation this weekend. I've lived in East Cleveland since January 2006, and I've never drawn anything here before. It's weird, because there are some things that I take everyone to see when they visit me that I think are just fabulous.

The realization came when I was at Sephora at Crocker Park. The clerk looked up my frequent buyer card, and to verify it, she asked if I lived in East Cleveland. I said, "Yes." She says, "Oh, there are some beautiful houses there." I was shocked, because that's not a normal response from someone out on the west side, but it's true! There are just some awesomely beautiful houses here; some that have just been redone since I've lived here.

So, this is the first house I drew. Everyone who visits me gets a trip to see this, and I can't tell you how many people with me have snapped a photo of this house. It's Reverend Wagner's house. He passed away, but while he lived here, he was quite an accomplished folk artist. Some of his work and more about his life can be seen/read here. You can also see the information about the documentary film made near the end of his life here.