Cleveland Botanical Gardens

It was a nice day on Sunday to sketch at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. A nice breeze cut the intensity of the hot sun, and the crowd was light. Though, once we sat down in this spot, it became the single most popular spot in the gardens. Since it was also a dead-end, people had to pass us twice. Everyone was so nice and apologized to us, but we were actually the ones that were in the way.

It really amazes me at how some of these incredible attractions don't have crowds. This was even a day that people could bring their dogs into the gardens. When I got home, a woman joined me in the elevator, and I said something like, "Beautiful day out, huh?" She said right before she got out on her floor, "What does it matter? There's nothing to do!" Seriously? Nothing to do? You've got to be crazy! Sometimes there is so much to do, I can't narrow it into the time I have available.

Cleveland Institute of Music

Was meeting a friend at the Cleveland Botanical Garden today, and I showed up early to draw around Wade Oval again this week. It was nice and shady across the street from the Cleveland Institute of Music, so I settled in there to draw.

West Side Market Sketchcrawl

Spent the morning and a good amount of time afternoon with the Cleveland Sketchcrawl group. This group gets together once a month to sketch around the city. Anyone of any skill level is welcomed. After 2 hours of drawing, we broke for lunch at the Great Lakes Brewery. It was the perfect weather to sit outside and have a beer and some good conversation.

The top sketch is from the alley that sits between the two parts of the West Side Market. It was interesting to draw the backside of one of the food stalls, except the boxes were moving so fast that I would leave space for one, turn around, and it would be gone. Then, I would start drawing something else, and a big pile of boxes would appear in front of it.



This second sketch was from after lunch. When I walked to my car to get my wallet for lunch, I saw that this Airstream trailer had pulled in. It's a mobile vintage clothing store. Very clever and quite cute. A lot of people were going in and out of it, but I didn't see them sell anything.

Cool Globes in Wade Oval

Cleveland GardenWalk 2011

The Pink Nightmare

When I do my sketches outside, I always start in pencil, then either do the line work in ink or the color in marker or watercolor. Well, today, I was outside in between the rain, so I left inking the words until I got home. I was almost done when I huge, unexpected, clap of thunder happened, and needless to say, I can't say that I have nerves of steel since there is evidence of it on my sketchbook page.

A word about my new sketchbook. I have the Moleskine watercolor, and whereas I really dislike having to balance the long format of the book, I really like the paper better than the blank journal (my first which took forever to fill, because it has a bazillion pages) or the sketchbook (which is nice, but does not have white paper, or even off-white, it's full-on yellow).

My goal this summer is to go out and do at least two drawings a week. This was my second this week.

Holden Arboretum

First thing as soon as we got to Holden Arboretum, I got bit on the back of the neck by some unidentified bug (it's unidentified, because it was all squished by the time I saw it). Noreen was a little surprised when I said that I'm not much of an outdoors person; I had just spent 10 minutes telling her where my plan is to move to (right downtown in Cleveland), so she should have seen it coming.

I just really hate bugs. I hate how they go at your eyes. I hate how they fly around the top of your head. I hate how they walk on you. I hate how once you had one on you, your skin crawls like you have a thousand on you. This is how I became really good at smacking bees and hornets. Because I don't want one in my home, and once one gets in there, I have to take care of the situation.

Though, we did come across something fantastic while we were walking around. We were on a grass path near one of the lakes, and there was a snapping turtle right in the path digging a spot to lay eggs. Was fantastic to see that. (I am, in fact, a fan of turtles----just not bugs).

Our Lady Of Lourdes Shrine

I took my mother here last fall when she came out to visit. It was a nice afternoon while we walked the grounds, climbed the hill where the rosaries are, and shopped in the gift shop.

Chagrin Falls

If you read the text on the sketch page, you'll see that things were pretty jumping at Chagrin Falls this morning. I thought there was a festival of some sort, but it was actually a farmers' market run by the same people who run the one that I go to about every other Saturday morning. When I finished drawing, I went to browse the market and ran into a vendor that remembered me. He sells pies and quiches, and I usually pick up a red onion and feta mini quiche whenever I see him set up at the other market. I didn't pick one up today, because I just had one yesterday. But, it was tempting.

Instead, I went and got an ice cream cone to have before heading to an arts festival at Legacy Village. This festival was such a disappointment. There wasn't much at all there that was original or interesting. Almost no ceramic artists (you can usually count on them to have affordable and practical pieces) were there. It was just very repetitive with people having the same things, in the same style, and very expensive. I've gone to this show before, and I hadn't had that problem. This is the same reason why I probably won't waste the time going to the Cain Park arts festival. It's the same vendors year in and year out. I've already bought from the one or two that interested me, and even though I like seeing them and seeing what they have new, I have no plans to buy from them again. Plus, it's quite a crock that you have to pay to go in to browse. And, if you're going to ask me to pay to get in to browse, you shouldn't make me walk through giant mud puddles to get to booths. You should use the admission fee to lay down wood planks or hay on those mud puddles. My favorite year, they laid down soil that had fertizlier--so when it got steaming hot, everyone's booths smelled like cow manure!