Sunday, June 20, 2010

Industrial Landscape

"Belmont Station - Chicago" pastel

Thursday, June 17, 2010

More variety with Corel Painter

A sketch of Split Rock Lighthouse and a watercolor of New York City Buildings

Thursday, June 10, 2010

More Artwork

I've been busy with Corel Painter. What great fun! 

"Self Portrait" Pastel


"Fiddlers" Oil


"Island Lake" Oil


"Engedi" Watercolor


Monday, June 7, 2010

The Emergence of Man Through Steel


Located in Chisholm, Mn is this memorial, which is the third largest freestanding statue in the United States. It follows the Statue of Liberty and the St. Louis Arch. The inscription is below.
They toiled with purpose. These miners of ours...moving tons of iron ore for massive steel towers.
This devotion to a nation, they adopted as one,
makes the heritage of the iron range foremost 'neath the sun.
The legend lives. They were the "Iron Men" who dug the mines and contributed to the building and expansion of this country, during an industrial age. They helped to provide the iron needed when freedom was threatened.
Today, as the industrial age ebbs, and the technological age advances, the Iron Men are honored with a shrine that tells us they will never be forgotten. The magnificent sculpture evokes strength and embodies past history and ensures continued remembrance of the "Iron Men."
Look at the contentment in the chiseled face, and you will see the soul of all the Iron Men who ever were.
This statute, the third largest free-standing memorial in the United States, is a lasting tribute to the Mesabi, Vermilion, Cuyuna and Gogebic ranges' men of steel, who carved out of a sylvan wilderness the iron ore that made America the industrial giant of the world.
They shall live forever! Yes, the Iron Man lives.
by Veda Ponikvar

Friday, June 4, 2010

Trout Scream Cafe - Welch, MN.

My wife and I just got back from the first phase of our vacation. We went to southern Minnesota's River country.  There is a tiny community along the Cannon River called Welch which today serves the tourist industry along the Cannon River.  There is a little cafe there that is housed in a former Farmer's State Bank which was built in 1914.  The vault is still present with brick walls about 18" thick.  The owners named it the Trout Scream Cafe.  Here is a painting.