Mr. Kringle's Inventionasium

This is from Mr. Kringle's Inventionasium. It's a seasonal attraction at Tower City, and I've always been curious about what it's like inside, especially since I am the be all and end all of Christmas decorations in my 24 story apartment building. It did not disappoint. So many decorated Christmas trees is so many colors. Toy soldiers. Elves. Toys. Everything you can imagine in such fun candy colors.

I took my little sister (through BigBrothers/BigSisters---which I highly recommend that you do, if you don't already), and although she was too old for this, we still enjoyed it. I think I had a goofy grin on my face the whole time in there. She had some fun, and the staff there really wanted to make sure that people had a good time. If you have small children, it's a must. It's $6 a person, but the "extras" like toys and photos can add up. You were allowed to take pictures anywhere in the attraction with your own camera, but you could not in the room with Santa. We didn't do the Santa part, though.

I'm not sure what will come of it next year when the casino opens, but I hope that they continue it. It's such a great reason to go down and see the Christmas decorations at Tower City and have dinner at one of the restaurants or in their big food court. Plus, things change so much, it's nice if there are things that people can count on doing every year as a holiday tradition.

Holiday hours

Took a drive downtown to Cleveland's W. 25th Street neighborhood today. Thought about drawing the West Side Market, but chose instead the little strip of buildings on the west side of the street. Then we were off to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, where one could easily go back and do actual gingerbread house drawings while the Christmas season is upon us.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THEM MORE CLOSELY AND READ THE TEXT.

Marie's Restaurant

I couldn't make it to the sketchcrawl at Tower City on Saturday, so I managed to get this sketch done Friday before work.

Sketch Crawl Tower City 12/3/11 Christmas Cheer

Seoul Hot Pot

Not too many days will be left to do some outdoor sketching in Cleveland. This is a restaurant on Payne Ave in Cleveland's Asiatown. It's called Seoul Hot Pot, and although I've never been there, I hear a lot of good things about it. I will go at some point. There are just so many good restaurants around here to get to.

Still Life

This was a still life that I had set up for the watercolor class that I teach on Monday nights. I thought I'd change up a bit and do a still life in the sketch book.

Sketching with Friends

Mary, a photo by Maroonic on Flickr.

Pat and I sketch together at lunch some days, and sometimes Sophie joins us. We don't always sketch the same things even though we might be looking in the same direction. When we do, the results are interesting!

This statue might look similar in both sketches but our style and background varies. I often do a simpler sketch and with light color and when I look at Pat's I want to go back add lines and details and color. Sometimes I do and sometimes I leave it as it is!