u/chips-icecream

Hi all -

I’ve been toying with this one for a few days, and believe it’s time to share my rendering of the aurora over Taylor’s Falls.

Last November I packed the kids into the car after bedtime and drove out to see the Aurora in a different place than the last time — and though it was more faint than our previous encounter, it still dazzled the sky.

I took a couple photographs and decided to use them as a reference for this one.

Painted on Canvas with Optimist Pigment Inks and Posca Oil Pencil in places to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Hi all -

I’ve been toying with this one for a few days, and believe it’s time to share my rendering of the aurora over Taylor’s Falls.

Last November I packed the kids into the car after bedtime and drove out to see the Aurora in a different place than the last time — and though it was more faint than our previous encounter, it still dazzled the sky.

I took a couple photographs and decided to use them as a reference for this one.

Painted on Canvas with Optimist Pigment Inks and Posca Oil Pencil in places to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Hi all!

I took a photo of this beautiful sunset a few weeks back. It was too hot and humid then to sketch outdoors, but I’ve now painted it with Inks!

This particular piece is Optimist Pigment Inks, with some Sharpie Creative Marker (ink), finished with Posca Oil Pencils on wood panel.

Thanks for looking!

Hi all—

Painting in inks, inspired by Whitetail Woods Regional Park in Minnesota. I was fortunate to spend a night there with my kiddos this spring and loved the view through the pines. This painting is an interpretation of the view on our walk in the evening (see second photo)

Spent about 4-5hours on this one and I’m happy with it — I hope you all enjoy!

I may still go back and add a few more twigs on the top left; but I’m open to ideas and impressions!

Hi all!

Recently had the privilege of spending a weekend at bay lake, and it’s the second time I’ve been enthralled with the final road up to a cabin.

Not a road that I’ve figured out how to photograph properly, but I’m happy with the result of this three panel ink painting.

As always, thanks for looking :)

Hi all,

Hope everyone’s keeping cool these last few days.

I’ve been slowly working on some more sketches around the Minnehaha area, and also some ink paintings!

Besides sketching I’ve done a lot of play with watercolors and acrylics — and dabbled in oils too. That said, pigment inks, are new found joy. Should anyone be interested, I’m using “optimist” inks from St Louis Art Supply, which are a shellac medium.

As always, thanks for looking :)

Hi all!

I continue to try and keep up with sketches! Bit more challenging so far for summer, but progress being had none the less!

Made it down to Nokomis again for the last bits of sunshine last night — tried out a 0.7 ballpoint in addition to some 0.5 I’ve been using a lot.

Somehow using a larger pen tip lead to a more telephoto style drawing? It wasn’t intentional, but that’s where it ended up!

I kept it really loose with this one, going for a general idea with about 45min of total time working :). Giving this one away to someone in the area.

Thanks for looking!

Here’s a sketch of a very pretty tree that lives at the edge of the Keewaydin Playground.

It’s actually from a couple years back, but I still feel like the shapes capture the movement in this particular tree.

Thanks for looking :)

Hi all,

I posted a sketch of lake Nokomis a couple days ago, and since tried to recreate it with Copic pens/fine liners instead of a Uniball Zento.

I enjoy the Zento a lot and how it performs, but it’s not waterproof which limits what I can do with the sketches if I want to further them with watercolors or paints. So, that in mind, here’s my first go in a couple years with Copic pens!

Hi all!

I hope storms weren’t damaging for you all last night — luckily the Nokomis neighborhood wasn’t hit too hard beyond some crazy winds and some downed trees.

Anywho there was a beautiful sunset after the rain last night, and I figured I’d try another sunset. Most amusingly, some young geese came and feel asleep a few feet away from me, which I didn’t notice until I was packing out.

As always — thanks for looking :)

Hi all!

Beautiful sunset over Hiawatha last night. Did a quick 30min sketch and finished it up over a couple hours today.

For anyone interested in prints, what price point would you consider? I found a local printer that makes wonderful prints, but I’d need to charge about $45 fo make them economical. That would be for a 5x7 print, on canvas, that looks perfect to the original.

Anywho, feedback, thoughts, suggestions, let me know! Thanks for looking!

Hi all!

If you’ve ever been down to the falls in the summer, especially the lower creek, I imagine you’ve come across Mike and his Italian Ice cart. It’s one of my kids favorite treats in the warmer months (ok, mine too) — and it’s great to see the same faces year after year bringing smiles to kiddos with an allergen friendly treat.

Anywho — I worked on this one over a few sessions, even with a small swarm of kiddos from Keewaydin Minneapolis kids watching yesterday. I’m happy enough with the result, and may give it to Mike on a future visit :)

Thanks for looking!

Hi all!

Someone suggested sketching the Nokomis Beach building a while back, and I’ve been looking for a good place to perch and do that since.

Well, last night when after the heat wound down, I decided to give it a shot from the corner.

I may still add color yet in an attempt to correct some spots, otherwise until the next attempt.

Thanks for looking :)

Decided to sketch from the water today — keeping cool as such!

The unexpected conversations and connections made drawing outdoors is one of the rewarding aspects making something in public. Today, I met a videographer enjoying the park, in addition to a wonderful woman named Sue, from Red Wing.

Anywho - here’s the sketch from today :)

Hi all!

Last week I unintentionally ran into some of the folks from the twin cities urban sketchers group — so many talented people! I had the privilege of seeing some really beautiful watercolor works of the falls are.

Anywho, I intended to make a pen and ink sketch facing east towards the falls, but the weather had other plans and decided to drizzle on the paper. The ink I’ve been using was not waterproof, as such, there were a number of bleed marks that started to occur— so another experimental colored pencil drawing it became.

As always, thanks for looking :)

Hi all!

I’ve been visiting Sweetland Orchard annually for something like 8 years — and decided I’d try and sketch it out last fall.

The original drawing and underpainting (if you will) are in posca marker and sharpie creative marker (acrylic ink) — now I’ve added posca oil pencil on top to finish it up.

If you’ve never been, keep an eye on their instagram! They grow many heirloom apples you won’t find in a supermarket, not to mention all their tasty ciders.

Thanks for looking :)!

Hi all!

Back towards the Mississippi River today and a place I’ve never been down to!

If you have a dog (or like dogs) it’s a nice hike down and a beautiful stretch of beach.

Thanks for looking :)

Hi all!

Decided to give the actual waterfalls a shot today — needless to say, I’m excited for the next try :)

If you haven’t been to Minnehaha Falls this year yet, consider this your reminder to go visit and enjoy the cool breeze by the water.

Thanks for looking :)

Hi all!

Toasty couple days but still sketching away :)

This one is colored pencil / posca oil pencils, so a little different.

Anywho spent nearly all of Monday at the bossen field wading pool with kiddos. Toasty days mean more and more water visits to cool off!

Still looking at prints — I’ve been encouraged not to give away the original sketches so I can scan them to make prints, and potentially to keep for my own archives — that said, I’m thinking about ways to get the originals out there to folks who have interest after they’re scanned. Little libraries have come to mind, but curious about suggestions? I’m also including Venmo info on the backs of the originals for anyone who wants to (and can) support my work :)

Thanks for looking! Enjoy the sunshine!!

Hi all!

Back where I started for sketch 9, except a different point of view.

Hope you all get outside today!