Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Holden Arboretum is a journey to a living museum.  It was another cool summer day to be drawing; however I managed to get in these sketches,  What really surprised me is the Cedar of Lebanon.  Somehow I was under the impression that they were a wonder of the world never to be seen again, lost in ancient history.  When I was drawing this tree I noticed that it was very different form the fir trees that I have drawn before.  The cones actually sit on top of the branch, I thought they were all birds.  When I went over to check out the name of this species, I gasped in utter awe.

                                             Here I am, still at it, still getting out and playing. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Pink Nightmare

The movie "A Christmas Story" is quite a local icon in Cleveland. Not only is the original house and museum located on the near west side of town, now there is also a statue of "The Pink Nightmare" (Ralphie wearing the pink bunny jumpsuit given to him for Christmas by his aunt who thinks that he is a girl) standing on East 40th. By artist Mackenzie Glass, this rabbit is part of the St. Clair Superior Development Corp's annual celebration of the Chinese Zodiac.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Get out and Play #3

#3:  Travel back 50 years to Geneva-on-the-Lake.  The strip is where it is all at.  It comes complete with crusin' up and down the strip on about anything you can imagine, especially motorcycles.  The crowd was friendly when I was there. It was actually warm and sunny (this is Cleveland and we love it).  People watching is at it's max here, imagine beach ware with body piercings and tattoos  on bodies that really need to be covered up.  I think it's a law somewhere.  And a word about the donuts at Madsen's, don't think you can eat just one.

Get out and Play #2

#2:  Order a cone at the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop and take in the stunning falls view.  This little shop is perched directly over the fall. I always wondering how do they build that way. This place is like walking into an old western movie, creaky wooden floors ice cream, popcorn and candy. If they had sarsaparilla I was not aware of it.  Want a view of the falls, look out the back window.  I had one of those ice cream flavors with a made up name. I wonder if anyone gets paid to make up ice cream flavor names (I want that job). 

Get out and Play

The Cleveland Plain Dealer Friday section had an article entitled "As Mom would say GO OUT AND PLAY".  "We need to grab and embrace every moment, concert, game and ice cream we can stand".  They then listed 100  summer activities from Memorial Day thru Labor Day.  I decided to attempt, at least, 25. 
Here is #1, the Chagrin Falls Blossom Time Balloon Festival May 28, 2011.  Although it was overcast (this is Cleveland so get a grip and move on) and the balloons didn't fly, I had a great time drawing, eating, people watching and listening to a great blues band. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Luxury and more -- and less



I spent Saturday afternoon watching a touring show of the Broadway hit "Next to Normal" at Cleveland's Palace Theatre. You non-Clevelanders don't know what you're missing in not having seen the gorgeous vaudeville-era theaters that make up our city's Playhouse Square.

In any case, I did an installment of Sketchbook Cleveland on our adventure, and you can see the whole thing right here! The drawing above is a scene we passed before we sat in our luxury loge seats, which we'd won in a silent auction at a fundraiser. I'm not sure what each of our tickets would've cost at the box office, but I'm betting the cost of the four of them would've carried this lady through a couple weeks of living expenses.

Yet what do I really know about her?

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Holden Arboretum

Went to Holden Arboretum with Noreen today, and this was my result. Her's looks way cooler. I usually do just buildings and such, so when you surround me by nature, I'm a little lost on what to do or how to do it.


Plus, there were bugs around. Nuff said?






Monday, June 6, 2011

A bead on the emerald necklace



Cleveland and its suburbs are blessed to be part of what's called the Emerald Necklace, a lush and connected series of parks that ring the region. Under the care of Cleveland Metroparks, these green spaces are fantastic places to hike, bike, drive and explore, if you're a human, and to live if you're a bird, reptile or mammal.

North Chagrin Reservation is one of my favorites. There's a pond and lagoon alive with wood ducks, bullfrogs, great blue herons and red-winged blackbirds.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Chagrin Falls

Here is the first post for the Urban Sketchers Cleveland. Unfortunately, it's not a sketch of Cleveland!! It's from a suburban village called Chagrin Falls, which actually has a stream and falls right down through the middle of it.

Now that it's actually summer, we should have some good posts coming soon. Keep an eye out!