The View From Olive Park

It was a beautiful day on Monday, a bit on the windy side but sun, cool temps and no rain! We visited Olive Park, near Navy Pier, to paint and sketch. This location never disappoints, the lake, the skyline, the trees, the people, it can be tough deciding what to paint. This was my second attempt for the afternoon, a quickly painted view of the Hancock building with a bit of the lake in front. I also did a view of the walkway with the trees arching over it, I posted it earlier this week on FB. Never perfect, I learn a lot from these sketches and enjoy creating them.

Lily Pool 2015

Last Monday was the annual trip to sketch at the Caldwell Lily Pool. Sadly, there was but one lonely lily blooming off in the middle of the pool, and lots of pads. Thunder threatened about an hour into our session and rain soon followed. Altho we were partly under cover, my palette and paint box flooded and I had to hold my sketchbook in just the right spot to avoid a complete washout! Thankfully, the rain moved on quickly but by the time I dried everything off, I decided I better head for home as there was more rain headed our way. So I have just finished up this small watercolor sketch of the pool, pads and surrounding flora and hope for more lilies and less rain next time.