Idaho's not just potatoes

Here's a couple of sketches. The one on the left is in our Alaskan Air flight from Los Angeles to Spokane, Washington. We love these short flights compared to crossing the ocean flights. The sketch on the right was this morning with my son and my mom's husband Brian. Micah was trying out his fishing pole, just loving the Northwest, dreaming about owning waterfront property some day. Just a dream. Weather's supposed to be up to 90 degrees tomorrow. You gotta click on the image to enlarge it.

Post Falls, Idaho

We flew up yesterday to Spokane, Washington and drove over to Post Falls, Idaho, where my mom lives. We met my nephew Gabriel yesterday for the first time and had fun seeing my brother, his wife, and young daughter Eliza. I met my mom's next door neighbor after seeing his car. His wife pulled the car out of the garage and backed it onto their front lawn so I could draw it. Real nice people. Everywhere you go up here you see hot rods and motorcycles and pickup trucks with gun racks, and there's lots of nice people too. My son wants to move here. He loves fishing and rodeos and pickup trucks and country life. I do too. While I'm up here I'm hoping to meet Joseph Tomlinson, who lives in Spokane and sketches in Moleskines. I was also hoping to meet Gabi Campanario, who started Urban Sketchers, and it almost worked out, but our schedule is just too tight this time around I'm afraid. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to seeing my sister and her husband, who are flying up from Boise for the day, and we'll all celebrate my grandma's 85th birthday who lives up here too. 

Hey, just a note for Enrique (Siete)-- thanks so much for your correspondence. I have sent you a few emails, but I don't think they're getting through. I will keep trying! Folks, if you haven't seen his work, check out eggstoucherfly for some great watercolors.

Floating to Mexico

My wife's parents celebrated their 50 wedding anniversary this past week by taking us all to Mexico on a cruise. I took my sketchbook along and did some sketching on the ship, in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Ensenada. The trip was great- a very generous gift to all 16 of us. 

Saturday puttering around

There are many good things about being back in the States, and in particular, California. Being with our families is one of the best things. When we left the States for Germany 12 years ago, we knew the hardest adjustment would not be the language or the food or culture, but it would be leaving behind our moms and dads, brothers and sisters. When we get the chance to come back to be with them, it is like a little taste of heaven. We love them very much and are so happy that we'll have some opportunities to just hang out with them in the next few weeks. 

Enjoying the sun

Doing a little sketching here and there. Enjoying seeing our families here in SoCal, swimming, eating real Mexican food, seeing our little nieces and nephews. Here are some sketches in my sketchbook- part of the house scene from before, a sketch of the pastor in Manhattan whose church helped the city in a great way through the 9-11 tragedy, and a couple little flower pots in the front of my parents' house in Long Beach. The pastor sketch was done while my kids were having their dental check-ups in La Palma. 

Hanging out in Hacienda Heights

No, we're not living in that house on the top. That's our next door neighbor. We're in the servants' quarters out behind that, doing a "house swap" with the people who live here. They're in our house in Germany right now. But the servants' quarters are pretty nice too. The sketches in between were in the parking lot of "Savers." This is usually our first stop in California, where we buy old clothes that other people have discarded. I didn't find anything today, but my wife got some steals. I think the prices have gone up quite a bit since we were here two years ago. I used to be able to dress myself up for under $5.00. Hacienda Heights is a pretty nice place, but the groceries are outrageous. I thought living in Germany was expensive. We had to pay a fortune for milk and cereal this morning. The sketch on the bottom was my son yesterday at his grandma's house in Fresno. I'm so glad we drove down yesterday and not today, as driving through L.A. today would be ridiculous with the Laker championship parade going on.

Back in CA

We made it to California and are already loving the sun. Here's a few sketches from our trip, showing the plane we took, a couple passengers on the way, and a day in San Francisco. I'm using a friend's computer, so I'll keep this short. We're now in Cambria for three days, then off to Fresno, then down to Long Beach. More sketches on the way, providing we have access to a scanner. Cheers!
Update on our trip: Cambria was great- we spent a couple days with the Greathouse family there- good times! Lots of wildlife seen while there: seals, elephant seals, watched the dolphins and otters surf the waves almost to the shore, picked up starfish, found sand dollars at Morrow Bay, awesome sunsets, good art galleries, good food, good friendship, good laughs, good stuff! Thank God for his awesome blessings.

Off to CA

This is my last post on this side of the Atlantic for a while. I don't know if I'll have access to a scanner once I get over there. I'm hoping to do some sketching in California and Mexico while I'm there. Anyways, this July will mark a year since I started this blog. Since then, I deleted the blog once, then restarted it. I had to figure out why I was going to blog in the first place. Admittedly, getting feedback on one's artwork is nice, and I really appreciated the advise and encouragement on this site and several others I posted to. And I enjoy the opportunity to encourage others as well. But I want to keep the main thing the main thing. And that is to offer hope to those who need it. I am not an artist by trade. I sketch because I believe God wants me to, and it brings joy to me and others. I spent a season of my life away from sketching, and I spent a season of my life away from God. I know what it's like to be on both sides. I know what it's like to feel judged by those who call themselves Christians. I met someone recently who apologized to me on behalf of the Christian church for the way the church in general has neglected and in some cases rejected artists. Let me tell you, God is the ultimate artist. All that we see and all that we are is his masterpiece. If you've ever felt rejected by Christians, just know that I've felt that too, but I finally understood that the rejection is not from God. If you are a living, breathing soul, know that he made you, and that he loves you with all of his heart. Enough for now. God bless.

Ohne Dich ist alles doof

My wife bought some note pads a while back to give away, and when she brought them home my kids laughed out loud for quite a while, as the quote on the notes said, "Ohne Dich ist alles doof." My son between laughs said, "That means, without you, everything is stupid." We decided not to give the note pad away. This sketch has nothing to do with that, but I thought I'd mention it. This is a guy who was sitting in the ice cream shop today. Tomorrow's our last day in Germany for the summer, as we fly to California.

Kandern Lutheran church and Grundschule

A gift for our friends, Brett and Michelle as today their twins graduate from high school. They have had 4 children graduate from our school and we have enjoyed hosting them at our house through the past several years. Brett and Michelle are missionaries in Poland and we probably won't have the opportunity to see them very often, now that their kids are finished with Black Forest Academy and they become empty nesters. We will greatly miss seeing them on a regular basis. They are moving to Bozeman, Montana for a year before returning to Poland. I sketched this one this morning while sitting in the Catholic cemetery up on the hill, looking down towards the Lutheran church in the center of town.

Summer Break Begins with "Rösti" and "Spätzli"

Summer break officially began today for the students at our school. I went up on the hill above our house and sketched these houses across the street from the German high school. It was a rush job, as we were treated out to dinner at the "Alpenblick" by a colleague. The Alpenblick offers 5 Euro plates on Wednesday nights, and if you're fortunate, you can see actually see the Swiss Alps from the balcony tables. The food is great. Schnitzel, Rösti, and Spätzli! German food is fantastic in my opinion. It was hard to say goodbye to my students today. They are all great kids and I will miss them very much. We have a few more days here in Germany, then we're off to San Francisco for our first stop in the States.

Stadt Theater Freiburg, Germany

This is just the corner of the theater in Freiburg. On the right side there is one of our favorite ice cream shops, and just down the road on the right is our favorite Chinese food restaurants, "Uncle Wok." I spent 22 weeks studying German in Freiburg, very close to this location. This was ten years ago. I have very fond memories of my time there. I just wish I had been into sketching back then, as it is a beautiful city to draw.

Local color

I'm just posting or reposting some of these scenes I've done the last couple of days. You can click on it to see it larger.

With a beret in Freiburg

Whenever I am out and about, on the street or wherever, I always see people I wish I could draw. The frustrating thing is that I'm usually walking past them, and even if they are sitting on a bench, they are moving around constantly, eating a bratwurst or tying their shoe. If I'm on a train I can sometimes get a fair representation of someone, but I'm always worried they will ask to see the sketch and be sadly disappointed in the outcome. I saw this guy in Freiburg a couple weeks ago for a field trip with my students and instantly wanted to draw him, so I pulled out my telephoto and took a picture of him. What captured my attention was the way he was wearing his glasses and beret, browsing through the open market at the base of the Münster, looking for that perfect fig or eggplant.

Sit at my desk a moment

I wanted you to see what I look at from my desk every day. This has been my view for the past five years, and I have 4 more days to enjoy it before moving to a different classroom. There up on the top of the hill you can see "Sausenburg," a castle ruins from the 12th Century. I used to hike up there almost every day after teaching for exercise. I have enjoyed this view through five autumns, five snowy winters, and five springs. I count this as an amazing blessing. Life has not always presented me with a view like this. Every life experiences sunshine and rain, beautiful vistas and dismal grayness. I believe with all my heart that there is hope beyond this life; that God desires to show us more beauty than we can possibly imagine.

Black Skies over Lörrach

OK, this is kind of embarrassing. I was sitting here after work, in our car in Lörrach, while my wife was shopping for some stuff. The plan was to meet in one hour at the coffee shop, so I'd have time to draw this picture. The sky turned pitch black, donner and blitzen going off. Finally, the rain receded somewhat and I made my way to the coffee shop at the appointed time, ordering a hot chocolate. I waited. After a half hour of sitting with two ladies in their eighties, I left the shop and noticed my wife sitting across the street at a different coffee shop, sipping her coffee by herself. It happens. Communication at its best.

Gasthaus zum Engel in Sitzenkirch

It was a blazing hot day today in Sitzenkirch- cooler temperatures predicted for the rest of the week, though. The Kandern public pool has been packed, from what I've heard, every day. I have not gone swimming in two years, however, since they've instituted the mandatory speedo rule in Southern Germany's public pools. Coming from California, wearing a speedo in public would be like wearing lederhosen shorts on the streets in LA. I guess after 12 years I'm still too American. Maybe I need to get over it. Anyways, I'm looking forward to swimming all summer with board shorts back in California. I got out of the classroom for an hour today to go sketch this same guesthouse that I've sketched before. I decided to take my watercolors along to make it more fun. As I was sitting there sketching, my boss drove by, stopped the car, rolled down the window and asked if this is what I do all day. Of course, if you know my boss, he loves to sketch just as much as I do. We have that in common. Oh, and I've never seen him in a speedo either.

Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, not really. I was raised a city boy, but I love country living. I was sketching outside today, just outside of my classroom, while my students were in German class. Just beyond the woodpile in the photo is where our old house is in Sitzenkirch. Sitzenkirch is a great village. Apple trees, lazy cows, ancient barns, green hillsides, surrounded on all sides by thick beech and evergreen forests. This tractor belongs to our last landlord, Peter, who also happens to be the mayor of Sitzenkirch. By the way, you can learn all about Porsche tractors on this website.

Sing and Dance

RxUM9C, originally uploaded by kbr2.

I saw this little MG today as I was walking around town and stopped to sketch it in the bright sun. I love the sun. Tonight we saw a Uganda children's choir at our local German church. If you've never seen these kids perform, it's a great experience. The kids are full of joy and full of Jesus, despite experiencing tragedies. Here's a little clip I found online of them singing on their website. (clip) If you want to sponsor one of these children, the website tells you how.

Our Guestroom View

guestr, originally uploaded by kbr2.

This is not my normal style here, but I tried using just a Edding 0.3 profipen until it ran out of ink. I then resorted to a Stabilo 0.4 to finish it off. Anyways, this is the view from our guestroom window here in Germany. The sun was blazing hot, and everyone was out on their little balconies taking in the views. This isn't the best part of the view, however, as the vivid green hills rise up above the village quite a ways, topped off with a radio tower several kilometers away sitting on the highest point in the area. In the middle of the day, in the middle of this sketch, a huge wind kicked up, and a black cloud filled the sky, threatening to storm. It was an emptry threat, though, and we went over to the school to see the end of the year concert and watch my daughter perform wonderfully on her violin in the orchestra.