three letter word for art

The downtown San Antonio Starbucks (one of several, actually) has a second floor with an outdoor patio, but the railings and parapet make it difficult to sketch much of the view while sitting down, so I don't sketch there often.  A few days ago I finally bit the bullet and did a sketch standing up to get a better view.  This is that sketch.  Also, it's a watercolor.  

I've been asked a few times to post photos showing my sketching process, but it's always been hard to do because I'm usually alone.  This past weekend Linda came downtown with me and took some pictures.  Now you can finally see me spilling out of my tiny chair! Sketching on Broadway: the finished sketch: Sketching on the Riverwalk: and the sketch:

The Express-News is San Antonio's only major newspaper. This is their headquarters, and an attractive building to boot. Linda and I have a good friend who writes for the paper, Vianna. Maybe I can convince her to buy this sketch.

I'm baffled. I'm baffled that millions of tourists visit San Antonio each year, many of them to look at and take thousands of pictures of a small, architecturally modest building in Alamo Plaza whose historical significance they don't entirely understand or even care about. I'm baffled that of those tourists, only a handful will ever spend any time looking at another building-- the Tower Life Building née the Smith-Young Tower. Even fewer will devote a portion of their memory cards to documenting the neo-gothic facets of its flattened hexagon shape, its elaborate program of gargoyles, the sun glinting off its emerald roof. Fewer still will bother to learn the name of the building or its place in the history of skyscrapers. There are no restaurants or shops on the stretch of the Riverwalk below this building, and, unless you work there, no reasons to enter the lobby. It sits alone quietly at the far end of downtown away from the convention center and the mega-hot...

san antonio from the tower of the americas , originally uploaded by paul heaston . Well, I knew I had to do it. I went to the top of the Tower of the Americas (the tallest building in San Antonio) and drew from the top. At $12 for an adult, it isn't cheap. There are two levels on the observation deck, a lower outdoor ring and a slightly higher indoor ring with tables and chairs and a snack bar. I walked out to the lower observation deck, which offers the least obstructed views of downtown, and quickly realized that, even here in south Texas, it was just too cold. There's a lot of wind at 60 stories up, and no direct sunlight to warm you, so I retreated indoors and drew with my Bristol pad leaning against the glass. This view of downtown happens to be what you see immediately as you exit the elevator, so I was a bit self-conscious with all the tourists streaming past, but no one spoke to me and I found the whole undertaking to be a lot less daunting once I got started. I...

While I was drawing I listened to a man in Alamo Plaza shouting about the Bible to no one in particular, arguments amongst a group of Iowan tourists (I think) about which way the Riverwalk was located (they ultimately went the wrong way), was approached by a woman who wanted to give me a copy of her "testimony," and a young homeless kid (he called himself a squatter) who swore profusely and declared he had never seen anyone in the world who could draw as well as I could. It had also just rained the night before and all of downtown was like a steambath. I had to hold my moleskine far enough from my face that I couldn't sweat on it.

I took a trip into downtown San Antonio and it appears I'll have my work cut out for me. There appears to be more than a summer or two's worth of subject matter here from which to choose. In any event, this afternoon's ramblings were my first real San Antonio sketches, outside of a trip I took here in June for a friend's wedding. Things I'll need to remember: sunscreen, sunglasses, the patience to deal with panhandlers, the ability to find cheap parking (or the bus), time. I think that's about it.

I don't know what I was thinking not posting about this before the show, but I was in a great show with Adair Peck at Tart in the Emerson Center in Bozeman last week. I hustled to make some frames for the prints, and cut a bunch of mattes. It was my first time really seeing the work framed, and I though it looked good. Here are some pics: Look at those amazing miters! The show was a big success and I sold some prints! It will be up for another month, so if you're in Bozeman go and check it out.

downtown bozeman, montana pano watercolor , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . Ink and watercolor on block, 8" x 3"

bozeman main street #18 , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . Another spread finished. I've been going back and forth as to whether this drawing is any good. I'm having the same issue I had when I drew spread #2 -- I've changed the scale of the buildings to accommodate a tall building. Here that tall building is the U.S. Bank building, one of the less attractive buildings on Main. If you look closely (at the actual building, not my drawing) you can tell it's a historic building that has been re-clad in '60s-ish Brutalist stucco and glass. Presumably this cladding could be removed to reveal the brick beneath. It's been done with other buildings on Main before, so only time will tell if the same fate is in store for this lovely structure. My poor planning re: the scale change meant I started a bit high on the page and had to slowly move everything lower as I proceeded from left to right. I think it makes Bozeman look like San Francisco. But, hey, ...

bozeman main street # 17 , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . I finished this one last week, and I'm almost finished with #18. I've estimated that I have 8 pages left in the project. Then I can figure out just what I want to do with it...

For anyone who's curious as to how a page in the Bozeman project starts out, these are some spreads in progress. Nothing surprising really-- I'm a righty, so I always work left to right.  I also work front to back, drawing foreground objects like cars and trees first and the building behind them last. I don't draw anything out beforehand. I just go for it and hope it comes together. I do have to think about how many buildings I might be able to fit on a page before I start, and how much room I've got left to work with sometimes. I don't like to break up buildings between pages most of the time. I try to do cars particularly fast, because I have no idea how long they're going to be there. A lot of people ask me why there are no people in the drawings. I feel like most of the people I see on Main Street in the winter are on the move-- not many folks on benches-- and I'm not setting out to do any gestural drawing. I kind of like the lack of people, tho...

bozeman main street #16 , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . I went out once again today to draw in the sunshine. Really unusual for Bozeman this early in February, but I'm from South Texas, so I'm not complaining. Anyway, when I first started the main street project, the building you see here (First Security Bank) didn't look anything like this. It was a none-too-memorable , '60s-style construction, set back from the street, with cement benches in the front, and a big time-and-temperature sign on the corner. From what I'm hearing, the renovation will make the building more "consistent with the character" of downtown. Of course, they're also adding a drive-though lane around the back. I guess they don't care much for the "pedestrian" character of downtown. The buildings to the right are also both new (well, the one in the front is a remodel). To show that Bozeman developers don't all hate pedestrians, the tall glass bui...