Old Number 3

I'm always in favor of reusing Houston's old buildings rather than tearing them down. There have been some sad passings of great old buildings recently, but more and more people are repurposing. This was
once Houston Fire Department Station 3 in the Old First Ward neighborhood along Houston Avenue. You can imagine the old engines coming out of those two bays in the front. I love all the little concrete and plaster embellishments and the fine old brick. The remodeling left it very much intact. Not sure if it has become a business or residence, but I'm glad it was saved.

North America National Parks

Some of the sketches i did this summer trip to California,Utah and Arizona.

El Capitan.California

Red Rocks.Sedona.Arizona

Zion.Utah

Bryce.Utah

The Bold and the Beautiful

The buildings here are a sketch done in Barcelona at the USK 4th Symposium in a workshop with the effervescent Lynn Chapman. The workshop title Sketches that Sing, in my case shout. The Cinderella Shoes are from a store front in the Gothic Quarter. The shop was a hot pink and zebra print explosion. And the shoes! They were nothing a reasonable woman would dare to wear on an uneven stone street.  Very "Fredrick's of Hollywood". Just a few steps away were two older gentlemen sitting on either side of the open doorway leading into a dimly lit, but intriguing looking entry hall. I approached to take a peek inside, it might be sketch-worthy after all. The only word they spoke that sounded vaguely familiar was "prohibo" and a wave of the hand. I took it to mean, "Keep moving lady, nothing here for you to see."

The "New" Old Courthhouse

Yowza it's hot. I decided to find ways to entertain myself with air conditioning at someone else's dime. This is the inside of the rotunda and dome at the newly renovated Harris County courthouse in downtown Houston. It was built in 1910. Over the years, as the county became pressed for space, lots of dropped ceilings and ductwork and other improvements took away the beauty of the original building. The county has restored all the lovely marble, the plaster moldings and woodwork. The marble is gorgeous.  On the north side of the building  there is a restored courtroom that looks like something from an old movie set complete with a viewer's balcony.
The most lovely surprise is the restoration of the stained glass dome skylight. The color just glows and the plasterwork around the edges is a nice counterpoint to the very geometric design. They had a few clues to go by for the restoration- photos, scraps of surviving materials and copies of old plans. The design for the original stained glass, however, was lost. The restorers had to take color clues from the other materials and go with a period design.
The building was nice and cool and the drawing was quite a challenge.

Sketching San Francisco Area

Some sketches i did in my summer holidays, around the San Francisco/Monterey Area.







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