Madison Ave House

It's been a very long time since I'd uploaded anything on here.  I have been doing some sketches off and on over the years. 

This is my latest sketch of a house out on Madison Ave.  As you can see, I'm starting to experiment more with layout and lettering. 

Gypsy Bean

 

Wow, it has been a very long time since I've posted on here, so I got some catching up to do.  Here's a sketch I did a couple of weeks back when I met a sketching buddy on Detroit Ave at a coffee shop to sketch.  It was threatening to rain, so we sketched inside.  Of course, it never actually rained until we were heading home. Well, that's what happens with sketching, right?

Clover Avenue

The tan house on the left is where I live, and the green house on the right is another house on the street.  This is a short street, and it'd be great to sketch them all, but so many of them are almost completely obstructed by trees.  That's a good thing, usually, unless you want to get a good sketch of it from across the street.

 

Scranton Road House

This house is on Scranton Road in the Tremont area of the city.  There are a lot of houses of this style, but they all look different.  This one is one of my favorites.  It was such a nice morning today to be outside and sketching, so I "jumped" at the chance.  And, by "jumped," I mean that it took me a bit to get moving this morning, but it's always one of those things that I'm happier when I've gone out and sketched, than if I didn't. 

The sun was getting high in the sky, making it a bit hard to see toward the end, but as always, people were very nice when I'm out and sketching.

It was weird, but then I ran a couple errands, and everyone out and about in Tremont and Ohio City were all so nice today.  At the grocery store, people were dancing around the aisles to the store's music and chatting up with each other.  When I went to go to the bakery (which was closed), people were stopping to wave me in and out of traffic.  The guy at the car wash let me go before him. 

You can't beat these final nice days of the year.  Everyone's a little nicer.

Steelyard Commons

I have to admit, I sketch at Steelyard Commons because it's easy.  It's very close, and I can sketch from my car when it's rainy or chilly.  There are a lot of things down there to sketch, because there are relics from the old steelyard that used to inhabit that part of the city.

Sokolowski's University Inn

I drew Sokolowski's early one Sunday morning.  That way I wouldn't be tempted by the great smells wafting from inside.  It is great food, but it's heavy food.  They serve in a cafeteria line where you get dessert first.

It's Still Jacobs Field to Us

I usually go to one Indias' game a year.  I do enjoy being at the ballpark, but it's not all that affordable, so I only go when the tickets are free.  I got 2 free tickets from buying gas over the summer from BP, so I invited a good friend to go with me.  We were sitting way up at the top, like may be 8 or 9 rows from the top.  The park isn't all that big, so you could still see very well.

Now, here's the thing about things in Cleveland.  Even though it's been Progressive Field for a couple of years now, everyone in Cleveland still calls it Jacobs' Field, which was its original name when it opened in 1994.  It's not that we're making a statement against Progressive Insurance, mind you.  It's just that we do that with everything.  In fact, old schoolers around here, refer to Macy's as May Company, and those stores haven't been May Company probably for 30 years (and they were Kaufmann's in between), and they referred to Dillard's as Higbees.  Quicken Loans Arena is still call the Gund, and let's face it, that's going to stick because Quicken Loans doesn't roll off of the tongue at all.  I'm sure it's confusing when we give directions to people, because when we tell them to pass Jacob's Field or the Jake, they'll never find it. 

Wendy Park

Sketching last Sunday along the Cuyahoga River was great.  The weather was sunny, but not too hot, a nice breeze, and some good shade.  Sketched with some of the other urban sketchers, and it was great to see a couple people that I haven't seen in a while.  Wendy Park is an odd location, because it's out in the open, but tricky for people to find. 

You can see how worth it the trip is, though.  The sights of the city are quite amazing.  To the left of what I sketched is Browns' stadium and to the right is the Terminal Tower and more of downtown.  It's hard to decide on one thing to sketch.  One of the ladies also drew some of the fishermen (some of which had more luck than others). 

The only bad part was that I forgot my bagged lunch at home.  :-(

Garden Walk Cleveland 2013

Sketched out on Clinton Ave. for the Garden Walk Cleveland 2013.  Houses are chosen that have wonderful gardens to be featured on the walk, and people from all over visit private and public gardens.  This house was wonderful, and the owner said that she was quite crafty.  You could tell.  She had paper stars hanging out front, wreaths, and a nice board in the back that explained what all was in her vegetable patch. 

Townhouse Near MetroHealth

Caught a bit of a sunburn..... Not sure what I was thinking when I sat in the clear sun with no sunscreen on.  This building is adorable, and it's on a little side alley near MetroHealth.  I just love how the doors are all different colors and are so vibrant.  The building is a little more orange than I portrayed in the sketch.

I just love walking and exploring, because you can always find the neatest little gems to sketch.  And, it's sometimes something that seems perfectly ordinary, like this row of townhouses.

I did get nervous while sketching, because two people came along and were going to go grocery shopping, and one asked the other, "Should we take the truck or walk?"  I was drawing the green SUV at the time, and I was worried that they were going to haul it away.  But, they decided to walk. . . . .Plus, that might not have been their truck anyhow.

West 25th and Meyer

Not far from where I live now on the near west side is this great warehouse with a terrific water tower on top.  I've driven by it for years, and I've always wanted to sketch it.  And, as I've learned in the past, never put these things off, because things get torn down with no notice or can burn down.

The Urban Sketchers Cleveland met at League Park this past Saturday.  It was a great morning to be outside sketching. 

League Park is the original baseball stadium for Cleveland.  Some pretty incredible things had happened there.  Cy Young pitched there.  Babe Ruth hit his 500th homerun there.  The outfield fence was taller than the Green Monster in Boston.  It was also home to the Cleveland Buckeyes, who won a Negro League World Series there.  This building at the wall along East 66th are the last remaining pieces of the structure.  When you look at the inside of the wall, you can see evidence of the ramp that went up to the upper level.  On Lexington, you can see where the road is wider in front of the park, where the trolley cars stopped to drop off people for the games. 

Right now there are efforts to restore the park.  The grounds are being maintained, and people are using them for different things.  The morning we were there, a man was practicing his golf swing.  I also spoke with a man who was walking his two dogs.  One wanted to be my best friend while the other seemed to walk herself home.