three letter word for art

I did another few sketches from the TOA the other day, one in a Moleskine, the other in my Strathmore pad, and realized that both were at almost the same scale as my first drawing from the tower back in February, and there was minimal overlap.  I plugged them into Photoshop and merged them into a little panorama of the city skyline.  There are still a few skyscrapers to the east I couldn't fit, including San Antonio's two tallest hotel, so perhaps another visit is in order. Here's the final panorama (click for a larger view):

I drove downtown today on my day off to snoop around for a place to draw. I had my new sketchin' chair in tow, as well as my big hat and map-case sketch bag, and I was fully prepared to set up on a sidewalk somewhere for some outdoor sketching. Only the heat got the better of me, and I found myself inside a Starbucks, ordering a lemonade and looking for a place to sit and cool off. As it happens, there was a table available right next to some floor-to-ceiling windows right on Crockett Street, so I decided to set up shop and draw the parking lot across the street.

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...