Family Traditions

We're a bit past the holiday hubbub, but I thought it still worth sharing about a family holiday tradition. Each year, the Hallberg Family gathers to make Swedish potato sausage. Each family brings the supplies to make enough sausage to feed their branch of the family at Christmas. This year we made over 100 pounds of sausage in three hours. While the sausage making is the ostensible goal of the gathering, the annual opportunity to reconnect and reminisce with other branches of the family is just as treasured.

Solstice Sketching on the Green Line

Roberta and I got some media attention recently in The Line and on Minnpost about our travel sketching. We really like sketching people on buses and trains. It's a good ways to study people and record the latest fashions and cell phone technology.

The Metro Transit Green Line has been operating for nearly six months and has been very successful  attracting passengers which makes it awesome for sketching. Roberta and I took the Green Line to Minneapolis yesterday and did some sketching of fellow passengers. I also did a quick sketch on the way back of a rare fare check by Metro Transit's Finest keeping passengers honest.

Roberta's sketch.

My sketch.

My sketch .

URBAN SKETCHERS CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS OF ON-LOCATION SKETCHING AND STORYTELLING

The folks at Urban Sketchers Central sent this my way...

 Seattle, WA, 06 December 2014 – Urban Sketchers.org, a non-profit organization, is celebrating its fifth anniversary since incorporating on December 6, 2009. Its mission is topromote on-location sketching and to connect people around the world who enjoy urbansketching. Wildly successful, the international community of urban sketchers is estimated at 50,000+ and almost 14 million page views on the Urban Sketchers (USk) blog. 

Seattle-based journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario launched the group in 2007 by creating an online community of urban sketches on Flickr.com. Sketchers scan their drawings and share them on the group’s Flickr site, Facebook page or blog. The idea went viral. So far communities of sketchers have formed 60 regional chapters in 29 countries. 

"Urban Sketchers is growing because sketchers are finding each other where they live and travel.” says Membership Director, Jessie Chapman. “Members are building relationships and communities with people who share the same interests, both online and at our events."   

USk raises the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing with workshops and events held all around the world. USk has organized five international symposiums in Portland, USA; Lisbon, Portugal; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Barcelona, Spain and Paraty, Brazil. 

The 2015 Symposium will be held in Singapore July 22-25. Organizers expect 250+ attendees from around the world. “Artists of all ages and skill levels have stories to tell,” says founder Gabi Campanario. “UrbanSketchers is a free group that provides a platform for them to renew their love of drawing and to learn more about storytelling.”  

To find out more about Urban Sketchers or to locate a regional chapter near you, visiturbansketchers.org. USk is a 501(c)(3)  non-profit organization. Donations are used to foster educational opportunities for sketching enthusiasts with workshops, events and symposiums. Donations made in the United States may be tax deductible. 

Ballet at the Union Depot

Ballet  Minnesota  performed  "Black Dog Café, a contemporary ballet depicting life at this long-standing and popular coffee shop, an anchor tenant of Lowertown" today in the waiting room of the Union Depot. Roberta and I saw (and sketched) the performance which really did evoke the awesomeness of the Black Dog. Here's the sketches (click on the sketches to make them bigger):

Roberta's sketch of the dancers in the waiting room.

My sketch of Flamenco dancer "La Tarara"

The set really looked like the Black Dog.

Smoke machine and more dancers.

Downtown Saint Paul Airport Open House

Downtown Saint Paul Airport, formerly known as Holman Field had an open house today. I biked over there and sketched an awesome Minnesota Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter. Some of the crew kindly posed alongside the helicopter. (click on the sketch to make it bigger.

Sketching at CHS Field, Lowertown, Saint Paul

I had some fun this morning sketching on the construction site of the ballpark under construction on the eastern edge of Lowertown in Saint Paul. There was a media event to announce the naming of the ballpark - "CHS Field" with a jazz band and the Saint Paul Saints mascot Mudonna cavorting amidst the dust and din of workers finishing what is shaping up to look like an awesome stadium. Roberta and  I had fun sketching the Saints at Midway Stadium this year.

I had enough time to sketch the event and some of the construction before the skies darkened and rain arrived. I was able to finish the sketch inside a construction trailer with a nice view (thanks Ryan Company!). I am soooooo looking forward to sketching at the ballpark next year.

Click on the sketches to make them bigger:

Musicians, construction workers and a big purple pig.

The  awesome Mike Veeck, Prez & owner of the Saints.

Mudonna & me sketching.

The Most Awesome Paws on Grand Dog Sketch Event Ever

Wet Paint's Paws on Grand Pet Portrait event. Three hours, dozens of dogs, 5 artists. A grueling, hot, death march of a sketch-out, but I loved every minute of it. Here's sketches and photos of sketches (click on the sketches to make them bigger):