Denver REI Store Visit

 REI is an outdoor gear store that is not focused on going out in nature and killing things. I say that as a hunter and fisherman, but it's true. I've been an REI member for over 40 years, and Denver has one of their flagship stores. If at all possible, on Denver visits I spend some time here. On this mid-December trip I had a couple hours to kill so I went. 

There is SO MUCH STUFF in a retail store like this so I needed to focus on something. The climbing wall wasn't being used but it always draws my attention. I found a spot on the stairs I could draw from, and incorporate people in the sketch (a weakness of mine that I'm working on). Very enjoyable time. The only drawback was the price of parking in their parking lot. I was over 2 hours here so the charge was something like $20. Rather punitive if you ask me. I spent plenty of money inside and outside of the store.

I have a thing for maps and compasses. In Topeka, Kansas nobody has a serious compass. So, when I'm here I always check on them. This one was sketch worthy. Using one is a fading skill. I use a GPS, too, but you're depending on battery life to keep you alive and I don't like that. Worse yet is a trend of depending on your cell phone GPS and map to keep you alive. Never!

Sketchout with a friend

 A good friend of mine, in a similar place in life, has done formal art many many years ago, before marriage and before kids. Then life happens. She wasn't familiar with the type of sketching I do in my journals. I figured we could go out to a coffee shop and I could show here what I do and give her some supplies to do it. She didn't buy into my no-pencil-layout ink first approach but that's OK. Once she laid pencil to sketchbook I could see it reignited those past days of emersion into the creative process. It made my day!

More Bookbinding

 I decided to make each of my five grandkids a sketchbook for Christmas. Then I could sit down with each one and design a vinyl sticker to customize their book using my Cricut machine.

First I tore down 25 sheets of Mohawk Superfine (regular bond) paper. I always feel good after they are gathered into signatures and holes punched ready for hand sewing. This is the first feeling of accomplishment.

Then sewing the signatures together, creating the textblock, then the case, casing the signatures, then book cover treatment. Five for the kids and two to use up all the paper. The finished products:

Then we must have customization from each grandkid:

The kids (ages 3-9) loved them! 

The Ships

 After my night at the Androy Hotel I address the purpose of this part of my journeys: visit the shipping lane at Duluth at the southern tip of Lake Superior. I've been here a few times before and it's a trip requirement. The big lakes have a ship culture. The big lake freighters can exceed 1000' in length, carrying various cargos but an emphasis on iron ore and coal. Internet has a site with the canal schedule. I have two freighters I can witness: the Hon James LO Oberstar and the American Century.

First up is the Oberstar at 8 am (give or take). She was built in 1959 and is the same class of freighter as the Edmund Fitzgerald, at around 700'. The control tower is at the bow. Therefore she probably has a fuel oil boiler that drives huge steam pistons to drive the propeller. They always have steam exhaust just like a steam locomotive has. I sketched her live (August 19) to see how far I could get. They come through the canal very slow, but still not enough time to do it justice. 

I had some time before the American Century came through so I sketched the walkway that the public can access. Trying to apply what I learned at the week workshop. People are tough but I'll slug my way through this skill. I learned here that the walkway does not fade away into the sky (like my brain was telling me) but it fades at just under eye level. Oops.

Then it's time for the American Century. She was built in 1981 at 1000' long. This is the standard modern size of the lake freighters. For her I took pictures with my cell phone so I could do a realistic drawing back home. Being a newer ship, she has diesel engines that probably drive electric motors that drive the propeller shafts. These are much quieter and exhaust is minimal. Very impressive! 

My usual sketching process uses fountain pen linework without pencil layout. Then watercolor pencil with a waterbrush. For this one I used just a little pencil layout. Then a fountain pen with a (new) fude nib. Seems to be the craze now. I hate crazes, but this one works out just fine. I can vary the thick to thin linework. I also used a trick I learned from the watercolorists at the workshop. I created a wash using pigment from the pencils in a clean half-pan with added water. This was for the water and sky. I also wanted to fade the colors of the bow as the ship gets longer and has subdued tones.

The Drive Home

 After the one week workshop it was time to drive home. Bayfield, WI to Topeka, KS. The route winds down the east shore of Lake Superior, but the lake stays hidden for most of the drive. An occasional pull-off does offer a view, though. Camera shots and sketches just don't capture the grandeur of this huge lake. The route drives by Superior, WI and Duluth, MN. I love the fresh water freighter culture in this area! I always stop at Duluth to watch freighters slowly exit Lake Superior southbound to either load or unload. That will be my next post.

For this post I sketched my overnight in Superior, WI, which is next to Duluth. I'm winging it for places to stay. Sometimes it doesn't go so well. The first three places had no room but the third one recommended the Androy Hotel. This is an old elegant hotel that has seen better days but refuses to die. Great ambiance and architecture! 

The on-line ship schedule says tomorrow morning we have two freighters coming through so I don't have time to eat in the restaurant in the hotel. I take time to sketch the bathroom (I was taking a shower and it spoke to me and demanded to be drawn). Still has the old fixtures but it was charming. Then the retired motel operator station was in the Lobby. If it could only speak.

I'm having allergy-type symptoms. To rule out COVID I bought a test kit at a gas stop from their discount bin. It will be negative. Oops. It was positive! Haven't had it yet. Luckily it will prove to be a light variety. Had to sketch the kit. I learned that no matter how long you stare at the test strip, the results don't change. Ever. 

MISA "The Lively Sketchbook" Workshop

 I pampered myself in August and attended a drawing class at Madeline Island School of the Arts (MISA). Koosje Koene presented a one week class focusing on adding people to our sketches to add life to them, thus "The Lively Sketchbook". August was three months ago from this post so this post is late. Guilty as charged. I had a new version of image edit software to learn and it intimidated me. That, and life just gets in the way. Whine, whine.

The workshop wasn't cheap but it was top notch. The "campus" is a re-made old dairy with housing available on-site. Madeline Island is up on Lake Superior and you need to catch a ferry to get there. The island is largely an art residential community. This was my second workshop there and I just love it up there. "We're not in Kansas". Students always develop their own dynamic. In this workshop we bonded well. 

My sketch of the campus was made from a quarter mile field access road that I bicycled to behind the campus (MISA has bicycles to use!). A staff person told me about it when I was shooting the breeze with him. A nice quiet spot. I found the feather there, which I had to include. The sketch of the ferry ride was on my return to the mainland. I was too hyped up when arriving to do any sketch time.

I'm not a water color artist. Watercolor skills were required for this workshop. However, I feel I can come close enough with my watercolor pencils so I bluffed my way through. In watching everyone else mix colors in a palette, I learned how to do that with watercolor pencils. Both sketches use a (primitive) wash for the background. Learning proper watercolor techniques is still on my bucket list. 

The sketches were made on site. Fountain pen, water color pencils with water brush, multimedia paper in my own sketchbook. 

More Bookbinding!

 It's been a long while since I bound some sketch books. Wilma's passing put me in a creative funk. However, I'm slowly getting back into sketching and bookbinding. I used up the last of my sketch journals recently. I signed up for a one-week art workshop last August on getting sketches of people into your sketches and needed to have a journal to sketch in. That was the push I needed to make this batch of journals.

It feels great to be in the saddle again. Several in the class had Instagram accounts. When I got back home I created one, too. So, learning that application and having to replace scan edit software (mine became outdated) put me behind in sketching and posting, but I'm making progress. We'll see if I can keep the momentum going.

I retired a few short years ago. My post-retirement plan was to do some bookbinding for sale and set up an Etsy shop for it. I lost interest when the health problems arrived. Now I'm reconsidering it. Intentions don't necessarily equal reality, so we'll see if I pull it off.