Vacation Via Sketchbook: Part II

NASHVILLE! After a lovely drive through Virginia and eastern Tennessee we came to Music City. Highly recommended if you are a fan of music and or/history.

One of our first travels was downtown to visit the Parthenon.

Originally built over a hundred years ago for their centennial exposition of 1897, it was rebuilt with more permanent materials in the 20's and 30's.

During our stay our hotel they served a free breakfast every morning. There was a lady named (I kid you not) Sunshine, who brought you mints every day and gave you a hug. She had MUCH too much energy for me to try and draw. She was flitting around like a joy spreading hummingbird. Our fellow hotel guests...not so much...

Speaking of eating, we had dinner at a place called Caney Forks restaurant. Inside were all sorts of taxidermied animals like fish, bear, feral hogs, and of course deer. This was the one next to our booth.

We did all the stuff downtown, like the country music hall of fame and the historic Ryman theater but we were moving pretty good so I never had the chance to sit and work out some sketches down there. Next time.

However, on our last full day we drove out to the Hermitage, former home of President Andrew Jackson. Here is a gouache and watercolor sketch I did of the front of the mansion.

It's not as complete as I would have liked but the ant hill I was sitting in decided it was time for me to go.

And here is the tomb of President Jackson and his wife Rachel.

This was the only way I could capture the tomb. We had forgotten the camera back in the hotel room. I would have liked to compare some photos with the sketches and maybe worked out something a little more finished. Ah well.

Thus ends our Nashville trip. The better I get at this the more I can hopefully document on our next trip. Thanks for reading!

Vacation Via Sketchbook: Pt I

So we took a little vacation this week. Nashville! (With a quick stopover in Washington D.C. beforehand.) Normally we take lots of photos but as we get older, we spend less and less time photographing stuff and more and more time enjoying stuff. This does not mean we do not want tangible evidence of our trips however. And after my recent inspirations, I decided I was going to make more of an effort to sketch while we were out and about. Here are the results.

Our stopover in D.C. included a quick run in at the Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History. Weird, right? Me going into museums, particularly ones of the natural history variety? Anyways, in the great hall of the Museum of Natural History is a full grown taxidermied bull African elephant. He is a monster. It is also the only place in that joint where you can find a small corner to yourself and sit and work without being trampled. Here is my first effort in pencil.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you. I took along my watercolors for the first time. However, my on-site watercolor skills SUCK. So, when we got to Nashville I found an art supply store and got some gouache. Then I fixed this thing. Still rough but as you will see, I may be getting the hang of it.

So after the museums, we went to eat. "The Flying Fish" restaurant was not first on our list but it was first as to which we came to. (Do NOT listen to people in Alexandria, Va. when they say "It's about a mile away". They have NO idea what a mile is. Especially if you are walking.) So we sat down to enjoy dinner.

This little guy was swimming around by our table as we waited on our server.

Seated at the table next to us were four middle aged folks who were enjoying their conversation. This gentlemen seemed PARTICULARLY fond of the future of electric cars. He was quite animated about it.

Tomorrow: Nashville. More to come...

A Tribute Too Soon...

...and if you watched the NL Wild Card playoff game you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you didn't, well, I'm not going to explain the infield fly rule because I'm not entirely sure I can. However, I did get the final stats of Chipper's career put on my tribute poster. I'm not putting it on here because I don't have it watermarked, but it looks like this...

...only with his correct career stats. If you would like one, feel free to get in touch. Same deal as the Bulldogs calendar. 10 dollars for the poster, 4 dollars for shipping and handling.