Bottle Car in Steelyard

This is an old bottle car from the days of the steelyard, before Steelyard Commons shopping center.  I draw down there on occassion, because there's a lot of these types of things down there, and it's very close to where I live.  So, I can pop down there whenever I have just a little bit of time.  I also find there is a wide variety of things to sketch. 

As I wrote in the journal page, there was a lot of controversy when they'd built Steelyard Commons, with it's Wal-mart, Home Depot, Target, Old Navy, and such.  This piece of land was the home to steel manufacturing that had closed down over the years.  People were upset, because essentially, stores that sold cheap foreign made items were moving onto land where people had lost their jobs in large part to cheap foreign made items.

Now, you hardly know that there was a controversy.  People are down there shopping all of the time. 

Join Us for a Sketch Outing!

Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 10:00am
Meet at the corner of Ontario and Huron in downtown Cleveland
From this vantage point, you will be able to draw the Terminal Tower, the arena, or the ballfield from a unique perspective.  You will also be able to see down in the industrial flats.  This even is rain or shine.  If it does rain, there is a great overhang of the Q arena to hide out from the rain, or there are many places to go indoors to sketch, including Tower City and Colonial Marketplace.

Normally, we draw about 2 hours, but people are more than welcomed to draw more or less.  We also have many people who show up early or late to the sketch outing, so don't let anything stop you.

There will be so much to draw! 

There is plenty of free street parking on Saturdays downtown, but if you'd rather park in a garge, there are many in that area as well. 

Feel free to post any questions here, or email them to urbansketcherscleveland@gmail.com

Look forward to seeing you!

Cleveland Botanical Garden

The roof was a bit of a challenge, because of all of the unique and unexpected angles to the glass panels.  It was a nice morning before a lot of activity started up around the Botanical Garden, Museum, Natural History Museum, and Western Reserve Museum.  Just had a few joggers and a couple dog walkers pass by that morning.  I am probably going to give this another try in the future, maybe even from another angle.  It might be one of those things that I try to draw over and over and over, trying to perfect it.

Checking In

 

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted lately! I've been doing a lot of garden plein air painting. Here's two urban subjects I worked on recently. Hope everyone's well!  That's the Artcraft Building on Superior Ave. downtown in the first sketch.

Chautauqua Institute Landmarks

From my sketch-a-day class at Chautauqua Institute located in upstate New York, used General's Woodless Graphite on heavyweight sketch book paper. A wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon. Not quite Cleveland, but a short 2 hr drive East.

At the One World Festival

The Cultural Gardens along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard deserve their own sketchers, but at the One World Festival last week, I captured the more ephemeral decorations known as humans.