Savannah Sketching

The wife and I went down to Savannah this week for a little vacation.  (This is why there was no Tuesday Toonsday this week.  Sorry!)  We ate a lot of seafood and walked around enjoying the town.  And I mean WALKING.  So much walking.  Take our advice.  Don't walk that much.  Jump on one of those trolley tours.  Hijack it if you have to.

We started out by walking down to River street and checking out some shops.  At the end of the street we took a rest and I sketched the waving girl for a few minutes.

We got some tips about stuff to see from my friend Robby.  As the wife and I love old cemeteries, Bonaventure seemed a wonderful place to go.

Tattnall Way running down the length of the cemetery draped on both sides by live oaks and moss...

And here is one of the better carvings on one of the graves...

This week was a big learning experience for me in regards to creating art in the wild.  You might notice that both of these sketches seem a little hurried and unfinished.  This is because...THEY...found me.  "They" are these little insects.  Not the mosquitos.  Those I could tell because they were as big as fruit bats.  No..."they" were these tiny little bugs which took a chunk out of you like a bear trap.  So on both occasions I started working and the little beggars found me and I got up and ran away.

I also learned in Bonaventure that I need to cut down the size of my painting gear when walking around that much.  It gets HEAVY.

And my last sketch is of our hotel, the Thunderbird Inn.

This one got hurried a little, as well.  The sky was a lovely blue when I started but in the course of about 20 minutes started getting more and more grey.  I had to run back into the room before everything got rained on.

We had a fantastic time and absolutely will be going back.  There's just too much down there to see.

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!