Spring View

Frontenac State Park, Minnesota  overlooking the Mississippi River

Its Spring migration and the warblers this year were feeding way down low at eye level, so it was great to see them without getting the usual neck ache from looking way up in the treetops.  Meanwhile it was good to mark the arrival of spring in the scenic category for I had recently been to the same overlook at Frontenac State Park for the winter view.

Eye candy at the Firefighters Hall & Museum

I  spent a sunny April afternoon with the Metrosketchers group at the Firefighters Hall & Museum in NE Minneapolis. What a treasure trove! You could easily spend years there capturing all of the fire engines, equipment, and memorabilia.



Collection of firefighters boots



1937 Dodge Howe HRS


Ken Avidor and Roz already shared many of the Metrosketchers' drawings here and here. You can see more of them on the group's Facebook page.

I highly recommend taking an afternoon (or a dozen afternoons) to visit. Don't forget to bring your fire engine red paints and pencils.

Sketching A Crime Scene in Downtown St. Paul With Don Colley

I was taking a stroll tonight with Chicago sketch artist extraordinaire Don Colley. Around 9:30 PM, along 5th Street in downtown St. Paul we saw about eight cop cars surrounding a bus kiosk at  Minnesota Street
. We cautiously approached the apparent crime scene and were advised by a police officer to cross the street. We found an advantageous spot opposite the crime scene  bedecked with yellow tape and took out our sketchbooks and proceeded to sketch the aftermath of an apparent stabbing.

Our two sketches are below, click to make the sketches bigger:

Don Colley

Ken Avidor

MetroSketchers at the MN History Center.

Lotsa fun sketching with the MetroSketchers at the Minnesota History Center today. I took some photos of the excellent results but, it's sooooo nice out, please forgive me if I'm too lazy caption them. There will likely be more sketches added on the MetroSketchers Facebook page.

 As always, click on the sketches to make them bigger.

Swans at the Bell Museum

A photo of my in-progress sketch of the swan diorama at the Bell Museum was recently featured in the Minnesota Daily's annual Day in the Life feature.


photo by Ichigo Takikawa



The last Bell Museum Sketch Night of the school year is this Thursday, May 2nd, 6:30-8:30

Sketching in West St. Paul West Side of St. Paul

We biked over the Wabasha Bridge and had breakfast at Grumpie Steve's.  Fortified with waffles and coffee, we biked up the hill on Ohio Street (whew!). We continued to bike along South Cherokee Avenue and found a spot to sketch the view of Pickerel Lake looking west. After finishing our sketches, we biked to Jerabek's Bakery for soup (and pastries). After lunch we biked to Lilydale park. Lots of stuff to sketch there.

Click the sketches to make them bigger:

Roberta's sketch.

Ken's sketch.

Ken & journal in front of Pickerel Lake.

Venus of Raspberry Island

On this first real, warm day of Spring a woman who had been swimming in the frigid waters of the Mississippi  asked me if she could pose for a sketch.

Click to make the sketch bigger: