Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and more Baltimore

I like to draw on site because I see the scene in a different, more profound way, and the memory is stored in my mind in a whole other way too. My sketchpad is small, and I usually draw while standing. One time I found out that a passerby thought I was a meter-maid and was writing a ticket for her car.

I drew this picture standing inside the gift shop, not buying, because it was raining.

Strawbery Banke Historical Park, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
View through the gift shop window

Church Hospital, Baltimore, where Edgar Allen Poe died

One of the oldest (and crookedest) houses in Baltimore, circa 1790. Sold in 1980 for $1.
A fixer-upper it was!

Baltimore downtown skyline, from an alley looking west

Sunset from our rowhouse, looking west to the Inner Harbor

The doorway to our rowhouse, Baltimore. Birds painted by me

A corner shrine to a victim of crime. A sad place

Afternoon sunshine, Baltimore rowhouse

Street menu in Spanish, Baltimore

High Grounds Coffee Roasters and Books, Baltimore

High Grounds Coffee Roasters and Books

The Elk of Elkins, NH (a part of New London). A local spoof of the fiberglass gnu sculptures of ‘Gnu’ London

New Hampshire and Italy

June Posting

It was a beautiful spring in New Hampshire!
(and a few drawings of Italy too)

The barn at the bottom of the hill, the red glowing next to the pink apple blossoms

The same barn, with the view of the lake and the mountain

The Barn Playhouse in New London, a summer stock theater since 1933

The town library, the Tracy Library, a house built in the early 1800's

The Pillsbury Library in Warner, NH circa 1905

A glorious lilac, and a once grand home

A field of lupines

Sunday nap time for Simon

Family trip to Venice, 2007
View from our apartment

Venice 2007, endless choices of masks

Family trip to Chianti, Tuscany 2007
View from our terrace

Terra cotta shop, Radda, Italy 2007

Drawings of Highlandtown, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Highlandtown is a small neighborhood in the eastern side of Baltimore. As the name suggests, it is on a ridge with great views of sunsets, the Baltimore Harbor skyline, and the Independence Day fireworks. Originally settled by Germans, then Poles and Italians, its most recent residents are Latinos. These families come from Mexico and Central America. Many do not speak English well, but they learn. And their children learn even faster and help out their parents.

These drawings, done in winter 2009, show a neighborhood in transition. In the spring they were exhibited at the High Grounds Coffee Shop in Baltimore, and they were included in a fundraiser for the Patterson Park Public Charter School, also in the city. I’m happy to report that they raised quite a bit of interest and money.

Eastern Avenue, I

Eastern Avenue, II

Eastern Avenue, III

Colorful Corner, with children’s mosaic

Cinco de Mayo

Pinatas and Peppers

Di Pasquale’s Italian Market
(Mural in adjacent alley)

Canton Library
This image now appears on a coffee bag at High Grounds!

Looking Out the Window

The Fine Art of the Nap

England and Scotland, October 2008!

Here is a series of drawings I did while we took a trip to England and Scotland in October, 2008. They are a mere 5” by 8”, all done on the spot. I used a pen for the black line, then water soluble caran d’ache crayons for the color. A brush and water dragged across the color dissolved it into a watercolor wash. It is very convenient to add the colors after I return indoors. It challenges my mind to remember the colors too.

Now that I have talked about technicalities, I’ll mention why I wanted to do these travel drawings. First of all, they require a lot of focus and concentration, even though they are small. I like the danger of drawing with pen…there is no room to be tentative. I love the excitement of capturing the moment and the feel of a place, both at the time of doing it, and later when they are completed. And then, I like to share them with others, as a way of communicating both my love of art and of travel.

Pub lunch - mushrooms, chips, and veg
Halifax

The view from our hotel window - walled garden
York

The view from our hotel - the extinct volcano called Arthur's seat, so close to the city center
Edinburgh

The view from our hotel room - down the steep hill and across the Firth of Clyde
Helensburgh

The view from our hotel room - a Victorian era pub called The Chester Bells
Chester

The view from our sitting room - the half-timbered Prince of Wales pub
is about ten feet across the cobbled lane
Ledbury

Our tiny sitting room - sofa, window bench, and gas fireplace. Video tapes and books of poetry.
Ledbury

The church at the top of the lane, where we attended Harvest Service
Ledbury

The ancient church of St. Michael and All Angels
Ledbury

Ledbury Hops Fair, traditionally held at the end of the growing season. The 15th century
market hall on stilts in the background with our little lane on the far left

View from the inside of Sudeley Castle - Cleeve Hill and farmers’ fields

View from Cleeve Hill of the Cheltenham valley, the Malvern Hills and Wales in the distance

A happy accumulation of our favorite British snacks

Paintings in our rowhouse

Below is a painting, on canvas with water media. It is meant to replicate a window that would have been above the door to our Baltimore rowhouse when it was built in 1913. When the building was modernized, probably in the 1950’s, the stained glass was discarded on our end unit, and on many other rowhouses too. I based the design on a piece that survives in a house just up the block from us.


When we bought our rowhouse three years ago, it was ugliness everywhere. I painted this behind the sink.


See the dishes. It is always nice to have a view behind the sink.


Below is an oil painting done in either 1968 or 1969. I am very fond of it. It is a bowl of grapes and a lumpy pear, from above.