orange book

Gouache and graphite.

Apple.  Not yet eaten.

all her idea

She started it.

lemon

My calendar says that Daylight Saving Time begins in two weeks.  Meanwhile, I look for brightness at the end of the day.

pepper

As our landscape has gone from crisp frozen white to gray, brown, rust, charcoal, dripping with rain and the slush that gets over the edge of your shoes, leaving you with wet socks, and more freezing rain in the forecast… I look inside the house for something brighter.

urban skiing

In Pittsburgh, we don’t get two-plus feet of snow in 24 hours – but that happened two weeks ago. And some people knew what they should do… (via @woycheck and @schulman)

steps

More snow expected overnight.  It is February in Pittsburgh, after all.

snow on branches

From Friday evening through Saturday afternoon, we had steady, heavy, snowfall in Pittsburgh. By the time it stopped, 21 inches had fallen.  (Another storm is expected tomorrow, with 6 – 10 inches more.)  Our street is still unplowed, buses are infrequent and delayed, and we are walking a lot.  Plenty of time to look up, look around, enjoy the changed landscape.

fern

I’d forgotten all about asparagus ferns until I saw one in the window of Big Dog Coffee, on Sarah Street in the South Side of Pittsburgh.

10th Street Bridge

From the South Side of Pittsburgh, you can cross the Monongahela River in lots of places – the 10th Street Bridge will let you walk to downtown.

South Aiken Avenue, Pittsburgh, early evening

Deron said, “How about some color in the new year?”

I said, “O.K.”

a present

CalendarSnapshot

For friends and family, I’ve made a printable calendar for 2010, using some of my drawings of Pittsburgh posted on clusterflock over the past few years.  You can download the .pdf here, if you’d like one of your own.

(And if you want to give someone an original drawing, let me know…)

cypress

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We got a tiny cypress in a pot – to be planted outside later on.  Meanwhile, we have a Christmas tree which is scarcely larger than an ornament.

facilities division

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“Facilities Division, Pitt Ohio Express, Terminal Leasing,” said the sign.  Near 33rd Street in Pittsburgh.

across the playing field

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The domes of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are visible beyond the skatepark fence on Polish Hill.

warehouses

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On 33rd Street, in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, are some warehouses with giant tires stacked beside them.

apples

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Local apples don’t last long on the table.

from the bus window

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Trees and fields as seen from the bus, as I returned to Pittsburgh after a brief trip out of town.

bend in the road

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When we are driving in the city, we tend to take one of the roads that winds through Schenley Park, if we can.

Update on the show of my work in Indiana – photos are now up on the Moreau Galleries website. I was not able to be at the opening, but the installation looks great in the pictures.

looking up

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Sometimes all you need to do is to go outside and look up for a moment.

If anyone is near Notre Dame, Indiana this month, 113 of my Pittsburgh drawings, first seen here on Clusterflock, are in a show at the Moreau Art Galleries, St. Mary’s College, opening this weekend. The show is called “Family Matters,” and will include work by my mother and (at least) two of my sisters.  I’ll have some electronic work installed there in addition to the drawings.

leaf

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This came into the house on a chair brought in after the rain.

courtyard

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The inner courtyard garden or garth at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.  Sometimes services are held here during the summer.

birds

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Birds on our neighbors’ fire escape.

stone talk

I’m on vacation – not in Pittsburgh – so no Pittsburgh drawings for a couple of weeks. Having fun with materials at hand and stop motion animation, instead.

sky

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Sky settles into night, and trees become the coastline of a forgotten country.

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