Patterns from plain people

Der Dutchman 1: modified hex sign?

Der Dutchman 2: quilted wall hanging

Great Lent

Forest Grove Cemetery

We await resurrection and reunion.

The John Deere Year

The Miami Valley Threshers reunion meets in Plain City, mid-July, every year. A highlight is the parade. This year's featured manufacturer was John Deere, with entries ranging from lawn mowers to full-size tractors. Some pulled wagons loaded with friends and family. Once in awhile, a red Farmall chugged past. My Farmall sketch is a bit messy, because I accidentally (automatically) painted it green, then had to correct it.

Some vehicles displayed signs advertising services or upcoming events. I didn't see nearly as many antique, or even old, tractors as in previous years. The elderly farmers have been leaving us.

The steady pace made sketching a challenge. Each tractor was slightly different than the one before. I found the variation in air intake and exhaust pipes (on top) interesting. Overhead trees dispersed the early summer evening light, eliminating shadows.

Plain City Florist

Once upon a time, this corner housed the public library.
There's a slight warp in this Pentallic paper, since the spill, that affects the photos. Wonder if it can be ironed out.

Water Tower

I stopped to record a Costco awning, one of many recently popped up to sell memberships for an imminent local opening. The water tower, one of two in the town, was more interesting.

 I tried to add puffy clouds (which were really there) later by lifting, adding gouache, and shading. It was too much scrubbing for this paper. Still, a summer moment.

Mail Route

Mail Box

Paused to sketch and noticed this sentry--until then, invisible to me. The mail box stands along an old Pony Express route, which followed an even older Indian trail.

The Letter
Messenger of Sympathy and Love
Servant of Parted Friends
Consoler of the Lonely
Bond of the Scattered Family
Enlarger of the Common Life

Carrier of News and Knowledge
Instrument of Trade and Industry
Promoter of Mutual Acquaintance
Of Peace and of Goodwill
Among Men and Nations.
-------by Charles W. Eliot, former Harvard President (Slightly edited by Woodrow Wilson; inscribed on Smithsonian National Postal Museum, a former D.C. Post office.)

Memory Eternal

Thou only Creator, 
Who with wisdom profound mercifully orderest all things, 
and givest unto all that which is useful, 
give rest, O Lord, to the soul of Thy servant who has fallen asleep, 
for she has placed her trust in Thee, 
our Maker and Fashioner and our God. (Troparion)

With the saints give rest, O Christ, 
to the soul of Thy servant where sickness and sorrow are no more, 
neither sighing, but life everlasting. (Kontakion)

God bless Plain City Computers & Cellular

Watercolor not the best, partly because added after we got home. Better to add on the spot.

Town clock

In memory

On the road to Holmes County

Fall foliage

Rolling hills, farm buildings

A little wine-tasting tent stood in the drizzle, on the edge of a parking lot in Millersburg.

Steam Thresher Parade

In memory

Town Clock