Sketching St. Louis » Michael Anderson

25 Apr

Cavalia Big Top

Another view. I couldn’t resist returning to the Cavalia big top for another sketch, see 2/17/2012; this time on a larger format page. I blocked in the sky …

17 Apr

Gazebo, DeMenil Place

Private garden. Beyond a picket fence and surrounded by dogwoods, oaks and shrubbery, this view from the sidewalk of a gazebo in a private garden was …

16 Apr

Grafitti Wall

Legal grafitti. While grafitti is considered to be criminal defacement of property and a sure sign of urban decay there is a place in St. Louis where it is …

11 Apr

Alley, DeMenil Place

Alley view. An alley is literally a back of the house view but offers the sketch hunter the visual challenge: How do you represent the scene in an …

10 Apr

Up on the roof…

Satellite dishes. The stair well on top floor of the Keiner Plaza East parking garage bristles with satellite dishes. Like all forms of clutter after awhile they become invisible …

08 Apr

Wainwright tomb, Bellefontaine Cemetery

Louis Sullivan designed one of the most sublime architectural creations anywhere for Ellis Wainwright in 1891. The arrangement of simple forms and the restrained use surface embellishments …

07 Apr

Portico, Missouri Botanical Garden

Elegant garden folly. Now preserved as a garden feature in the Temperate House, this classical stone porticco was the entrance to St. Leo’s Catholic School built in 1902. According to …

18 Feb

Cavalia big top

Cavalia big top. Often the best way to paint an object is not to paint it all but rather paint the shadow shapes that define its form, especially the …

25 Jan

Church, Elsah, IL

United Methodist Curch. The entire village of Elsah is nestled in a wooded ravine that is accessed by traveling north on the scenic Great River Road from …

16 Jan

Elijah Lovejoy memorial, Alton, IL

Winter view on Monument Street. Although the tragic events occured more than 100 years prior to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. it seems appropriate to …