Sketching the Saint Paul Saints at MIdway Stadium

Roberta and I biked up to Midway Stadium last night to see the Saints defeat the Sioux Falls Canaries 10-4. It was Saint Paul Art Collective night. I wanted to sketch all the fun stuff that goes on during a Saints Game. Roberta did some awesome gesture sketches of the Saints on the field. We are looking forward to next year when the Saints move to their new home in Lowertown, our neighborhood.

 Here's Roberta's sketch (click on the sketch to make it bigger):

Here's my sketch:

Growing Season for Big City Food Supply

corn planted near city limits of Viroqua Wisconsin

corn everywhere.......

smallfamilycsa.com     community supported agriculture

Here are some sketches from the countryside land of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmers market produce and also the land of King Corn, and the large scale operations of planting every available space with corn.  We're all in this together, we all eat.

Sketching the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra

The Minneapolis Pops Orchestra is great orchestra and great fun too. It's also a lot of fun to sketch the orchestra.The orchestra mostly perform at the bandshell on Lake Harriet (also fun to sketch). I recently had an opportunity to sketch the orchestra as it rehearsed in the morning and later on that evening at the bandshell. Roberta joined me and did a sketch too (as always, click on the sketches to make them bigger):

Rehearsal with some of the musicians.

Mostly Maestro with some musicians.

Roberta's sketch later at the bandshell.

Sketch from my small journal of other building.

Always fun to sketch people.

I spotted a little kid gazing at the artwork I did for the Pops Orchestra's t-shirt - no time to sketch so I took a photo (I know it breaks the rules, but hey it's a cute photo!):

Sketches of Flooding in Saint Paul (Part Three)

The river has crested at 20.13 feet yesterday, but still remains very high for several days. It wasn't a big disaster since Saint Paul neighborhoods along the river were removed long ago. Here's a sketch of one of those neighborhoods "The Upper Levee" Roberta did a while back for a restaurant menu:

We watched and sketched as the familiar landscape changed from land to water. Roberta caught a cold, so she was unable to sketch more than one scene. Here are the sketches we did over the last few days (click on the sketches to make them bigger):

Access to Shepard and Warner Road was blocked off by sand bags and big orange pumps were stationed to pump water out of drains back into the river. This is Roberta's sketch:

I sketch the same scene with more emphasis on the clutter of signs and infrastructure:

The river looked real nasty from the Robert Street Bridge with lots of whirlpools and eddies that were mesmerizing to watch:

Sketches from my small journal showing the river rising on Raspberry Island from the Wabasha Bridge:

Sketches of Flooding in Saint Paul (Part Two)

A state of emergency has been declared in Saint Paul. I did some more sketching today along the river and Lowertown (click on the sketches to make them bigger):

Sketches of Flooding in Saint Paul (Part One)

The Mississippi River is flooding in Saint Paul. We've been getting a lot of rain this year and all that rainwater is draining into the river. Roberta and I have been sketching the changing landscape in Saint Paul as water replaces land. Barriers and sandbags are blocking streets and police are warning people to stay out of flooding areas  (click on the sketches to make them bigger).

Yesterday I sketched the rising water on the Lowertown Landing in my small journal:

Roberta sketched this scene along the river at the Upper Landing:

Today, the river has risen dramatically.  Roberta and I decided we would document the flood all day in our journals. Roberta returned to the Upper Landing to document the change:

I also sketched the flooding along the Upper Landing and Raspberry Island:

We biked over the Wabasha Bridge to sketch the flooding on Harriet Island. This is Roberta's sketch:

This is my sketch of the flooding on Harriet Island:

It rained again, so we had to stop sketching for a few hours. I biked around Lowertown after 5 PM to see how the flooding was affecting our neighborhood. The flood is just beginning to creep into Lowertown:

The forecast is for more flooding. Roberta and I will continue to document this event - stay tuned.

Lowertown USA

The view outside my window.