Today at the office

Little friend in the garden outside.

Mud baths and sawdust

Quick trip to Peet's Coffee for a cup of tea and some sketching.  Seemed most conversations were not in English, but I did pick up the great line "Instead of mud baths you get covered with sawdust."  I guess "instead of" is better than "after."

Chicago sketches and more stories

After a blissfully uneventful flight, interrupted only by interesting scenery - rivers, lakes, unidentifiable shiny disks - I landed in Chicago.  My cousin met me there, and to his surprise the transaction was so efficient that he only paid $2 for parking.  I think he hung the receipt on his wall he was so amazed.  Here's some of the scenery:

Of course my aunt had broken her elbow shortly before I went out there, but that didn't stop us from sketching at coffee shops:

And I introduced her to the concept of drawing on an iPad using Paper 53.  Here's one of my doodles:

This was awesome for her since it meant she could draw with one finger and didn't need to hold a pen.  

We got in a few museums, starting with the Museum of Contemporary Art, which had an interesting exhibit called "M16 vs. AK 47" and included some bullet residue in ballistics gel, which makes really cool patterns if you forget about the fact that it also emulates what happens when you fire a bullet into human flesh.  The title is a reference to the weapons used in the Vietnam War.

The big show upstairs was Kerry James Marshall, who does huge paintings of black figures - as in he uses black paint.  He's making a statement in that regard, but even more interesting to me is that the viewer is pulled into the painting by the fact that the figures are looking right at you.  Not just posing, but you've interrupted their life and they are looking at you waiting for you to respond.

I got in a few nice walks, on of them to Lincoln Park, where there were some interesting tree sculptures and of course a good view looking back at the city.

Saturday we hit up the farmer's market then it was the Japanese place just across the road for bento and sketching.  The green tea ice cream was awesome, and lunch was good too, although Anna did learn that using chopsticks with the wrong hand just doesn't work.

Then it was was on to a park nearby for tea and more people sketches.

Sunday morning we went for brunch at a nearby tavern that was across from the same park.  Can't remember what I ate but the sketching was good.

And the afternoon was back to an earlier park for - drumroll please - tea and sketching.  There is a theme here folks.

The day after Labor Day I went to the aquarium.  The timing of this trip was to make these sorts of things tolerable: The museums in Chicago can be beyond crowded, but the public schools start the day after Labor Day, so the summer camp trips are over and the school trips haven't started.  There was a very reasonably-sized crowd and I got to spend some good time sketching the fishies.

That evening it was back over to MOCA for Jazz on the patio and a nice dinner buffet.

Wednesday morning I went to the Field Museum to visit Sue.  The dinosaur.  I practically had her to myself.  They have an amazing fossil collection there.  Sue has a LOT of bones and I didn't have time to draw them all, but I did a few close-ups and captured a few earlier life-forms, like bad-ass fish with skulls as big as hers.

I got through the Jurassic when my aunt texted me to let me know that she was done with her morning physical therapy and so it was off to the Art Institute to for lunch and art.  As soon as we walked into one of the exhibits, one of the guards noticed her cane in one hand and her other arm in a cast and asked if she wanted a wheelchair.  Wa-la!  She got to sit while I wheeled her around which made it much easier for her.  It's a fantastic museum if you ignore the mind-bending floor plan.  There were some wonderful Hoppers on display, along with Grant Wood, and of course the permanent collection is fabulous with Miro (sigh), Picasso, de Chirico, O'Keefe and many more.  Shapes! Colors!  Booya!

The next morning it was breakfast at the Hash House a go-go and then off to the airport.  I have TSA pre-check which means Zero wait in line, which is a good thing at Midway.  This flight was slightly more interesting in that I was sitting next to a commune-living hippie who, while nice and quiet did indeed eat an apple.  The whole apple, including the core and - no shit - the stem.  Yes, the stem.  Looked like he was having a hard time getting that down.  He later stirred his yerba mate tea with a carrot and spread butter on his rice cakes using his thumbs.  Somewhere in between the apple core and the yerba mate I fell asleep and and dreamt that Ringo Starr was making me lunch on a spaceship.  I blame my seat-mate for this.

I was home by 3:30 and in a conference call at 4.  I was also exhausted and failed grocery shopping - picking up two apples, a half-gallon of milk, 5 mushrooms and butter.  I later picked up some tacos for dinner and was asleep by 9.

Home

More stories to come.

Museum Hopping

Field museum in the morning to hang out with fossils, then over to the Art Institute for lunch and, well, art.

Sue!

And the field museum is all but empty. :)

Fish and all that jazz

Aquarium today, and it was an excellent day to go. Despite being free to Illinois residents, it was not too crowded since it's the first day of school.  They have a special exhibit on amphibians to go with their usual menagerie, a great exhibit of Amazon fish featuring some seriously huge fish, and some nice lizards. One uninspiring octopus but the frogs and lizards made up for it.

Then it was back over to MOCA in the evening for jazz on the patio with a very nice dinner. Still closer to 90 but in the shade with a breeze and an iced tea. I got some good line people drawings between the grilled cauliflower and the cookies.

100% humidity

Or maybe it's 110%  But the view from the aquarium is nice, and the aquarium is practically empty since it's the first day of school. Some cool frogs and ugly fish and cool fish and ugly frogs.  No ice cream though, and that's a serious flaw.

beans

Night lights

Went for a walk at dusk and watched the city light up.

Mixed buildings

Always interesting in these older cities seeing the mix of buildings. One that's probably 100 years old next to one that just opened a year ago, with the Nimon in between.

Dinner tonight at a local place, with a ton if food that will also be lunch tomorrow.

Evening by the lake

Line people

Afternoon sketching session at a small park with gelato and tea.

Sunny day in Chicago

Warm and sunny. Tons of people by the lake and an infinite number of volleyball games.

Chicago! Chicago!

Went for a little walk to get a nice view. Blueberry cake tonight after Turkey meatloaf. Mmmmmm. Nice having a chef nearby.

Sketching at a tea shop

My usual sketching over a cup of tea, but this time in Chicago with my aunt after her physical therapy. Ginger tea and a chocolate croissant.

looking up