More Spring Sketches...

Amy, Vanessa and I managed to get out and sketch the cherry blossoms at Spring Grove Cemetery while they were peak. It was a beautiful day. There was also a plein air group out that day, so a lot of painting was going on.

 Here is a vine on location: https://vine.co/v/M5T7vuYrIz5

Also, I forgot to post the Cosmopolitan building sketch from a couple weeks ago. It is a couple doors down from Suder's Art Store and is supposed to be haunted.

It is a beautiful building and it is being renovated for The Brandery. Its windows are incredible!

Cherry Blossoms and Rising Sun

Cherry Blossoms in Spring Grove

I know I need to post more Italy sketches, but here is another little intermission. We FINALLY got the spring blossoms a month later than last year. I went with Amy and Linda to sketch them after last week's illustrator lunch.

I unfortunately missed the spectacular Ault Park this year.

This week, I had a library visit at Rising Sun, Indiana. What a lovely little town. The students were great and really engaged for 4th and 5th graders. Also, between assemblies, I got to explore the town a little and sketch, of course.

Riverfront Restaurant and Hotel

Tree of Life

The day started out stormy but was sunny and beautiful by the time I left. I really love the Tree of Life sculpture, although it should be called the Whomping Willow...

We also went by the Historical Society which had this amazing two-headed calf curiosity. It also had the coolest speedboats with GIANT Rat Fink sized engines.

Two-Headed Calf Taxidermy at the Historical Society

Fall Color in Spring Grove

This was an odd sign. I hope they is not a zombie problem here... There were mounds of dirt... :O

Vanessa and I took a walk to sketch fall color at Spring Grove Cemetery Monday. It was a beautiful day and the light was that partly cloudy mysterious feel.

Above is a wooded path the looks like it goes to a strange land of fantasy. One could even imagine a sprite or two there...

The path to...?

Spring Grove, A Lake in Kentucky and A New Blog

Yesterday I went with Vanessa Sorensen for a little walk at Spring Grove and some sketching. It is so beautiful there.

It is interesting because I did not know that Spring Grove was constructed in the 1830s after a Cholera epidemic and the overcrowding of little church cemeteries was unsightly.

This is the Robinson Mausoleum. I found out after that it was built in 1874 for $35,000. The Robinson family owned Robinson’s Circus from 1824 to 1916 when they sold it to the American Circus which later merged with Ringling Brothers. The place is cram-packed with these historical goodies.

I forgot to post a couple weeks ago this sketch of the dock at my in-laws at Lake Barkley in Kentucky. It was a great place to view birds. I saw herons, a turkey vulture,and many others.

My little setup next to my sketch...

 Finally, I just started a new blog. It is meant to be a place where I develop children's stories. First off is Francis Tales. I did a dummy a few years ago. This is a new iteration of that to start, but it will be a home for stories, experiments and little nugget ideas. Stop by and say hi: http://christinawaldtales.blogspot.com/

Sketches in Spring Grove

 It's no secret that Spring Grove cemetery is beautiful this time of year. Today some friends and I went biking and sketching to soak in the atmosphere. The spring flowers are gorgeous but unfortunately we missed the peak color by a couple days. All the flowers are early bloomers this year, and we also noticed their time with us was brief.

Here are some sketches and photos from our morning outing. It was a spectacular morning.

Next week we plan to do some longer plein air setups and paint for a couple hours (if the weather gods are kind).

Grave Statuary

I don't know what these wooden cage things were next to some graves, I could only assume it was a zombie containment unit.