Remedies for cabin fever

This has been a long hot summer. A few weeks ago, I dealt with a brief spell of cabin fever by sketching the telephone.

The next day, we headed west of town, to where the sky is larger. We encountered a long curving line of vehicles, waiting for a freight train to pass. Again, a quick sketch, and time sped by, at the speed of the train. Watercolor added later.

Rogation Days

Dublin Community Church, May 2018

This week, we come once again to Rogationtide*, when clergy and members of the English church historically "beat the bounds" of the parish, both to pray for God's blessing on the crops and to remind people where the perimeter lay. Contemporary observances may be found on Youtube.

Given the time of year, it was fitting to focus on a church when I joined local urban sketchers downtown, a few days ago. (Note to self: next time, bring a chair.)

Below is an earlier sketch of the building, done from a different perspective.

*These are the dates observed by the Western Rite Orthodox Church. Since western Catholics and Protestants celebrated Easter a week earlier this year, rogation days (set just before Ascension Day) will be found May 7-9, on their calendar.

Dublin Community Church, July 2014

Railroad Crossing

Right side of the tracks

Coal cars

Every so often, we wait for a train to pass through the grain elevator hamlet of Kileville, and I do a quick sketch. It's fun to imagine what's in the railway cars, where they came from, and where they are going.

I grew up on sad train songs like Wreck of the Old 97 and Hobo Bill's Last Ride. Railway transportation doesn't seem to have changed much since then. Watching the freight cars roll by takes me on a little trip back in time.

Monterey Park

Here, I tested a pack of Faber-Castell portrait pens. Later, I sketched the tennis courts in Monterey Park, using watercolor. The colors ended up harmonizing.

This park is a good perspective exercise, with:

• the court rectangle appearing as a parallelogram
• the closer row of bushes being warmer in hue than the far (bluer) trees
• the closer row of bushes seen in more detail than the distant trees

Kileville afternoon, in October sun

I used the Cheap Joe's sampler here, but the dots were almost gone. When I got home, I added Caran d'Ache water soluble Neocolors, (which are almost too bright for any month but October). The Pentallic Nature Sketch page curled enough to distort angles a bit.

Condos

Trying out an Escoda travel brush I've had for awhile.

Kileville in summer

A cluster of homes around a grain elevator, about to be engulfed by a suburb.

Kileville, again

Sometimes you just need to get out to the country and breathe. Looking north over spring fields, across 161, the path Tecumseh blazed and an old Pony Express route. The insulated cable traversing the lower right corner marks the parking spot. (Oops, the horizon line is too near the middle.)

“Setting aside time each day to become absorbed in just being- in the present moment, alone in nature, - will leave you refreshed and refocused. . . . . Nothing spectacular, everything spectacular. The essential magic occurs when pencil meets paper and the eye really sees a tree. The Process of Seeing is what counts, not how good a drawing Is. Being A Witness brings a sense of belonging, of compassion, of responsibility.” -Clare Walker Leslie 

 More reading: Jan Blencowe, Three easy ways to begin keeping a nature journal.

Robins at dusk

Heritage Cooperative building, March thumbnail

From the east.

Grain Branch Seasonal Announcement:  [February 1, 2016] The last date to deliver grain into these facilities this winter will be Friday, February 26th and they will reopen on Monday, June 27th in time for wheat harvest. They will remain open for fall harvest through January of 2017. At that time they will again be closed until late June when they will again reopen for wheat harvest and fall harvest.

Heritage Cooperative silos and buildings, winter thumbnail

From southwest.

Mini-Cooper at the Library

The Mystery section at the local library has been usurped by graphic novels. Mysteries are now mingled with general fiction.

Heritage Cooperative building, December

From the east.

Community Church Window

January 2015

July 2015

Kileville, Two Views

Train, from the west

Looking north.

Autumn Leaves

Old Man's Cave

Indian Run Falls

Rainy Day, View from Tim Horton's

Christmas view, from La Chatelaine

Bas-relief, outside library

Breakfast at La Chatelaine

Heritage Cooperative Silos and Buildings

From the south.

From the west.