Chicago in the wet summer fog.

Chicago in a wet June mood

Chicago and the river, Tribune Tower, Michigan Avenue, Walker Drive, painted view from the 11th floor of the London House hotel ... annotated version for viewing pleasure ...

Chicago and the river, Tribune Tower, Michigan Avenue, Walker Drive, painted view from the 11th floor of the London House hotel ...

The buildings of Chicago always thrill me...

Starting with the Wrigley building... a simple line drawing and then adding more to the scene below...

Carl Sandburg wrote this poem about the city...

CHICAGO

     HOG Butcher for the World,

     Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,

     Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;

     Stormy, husky, brawling,

     City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I

     have seen your painted women under the gas lamps

     luring the farm boys.

And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it

     is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to

     kill again.

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the

     faces of women and children I have seen the marks

     of wanton hunger.

And having answered so I turn once more to those who

     sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer

     and say to them:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing

     so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.

Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on

     job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the

     little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning

     as a savage pitted against the wilderness,

          Bareheaded,

          Shoveling,

          Wrecking,

          Planning,

          Building, breaking, rebuilding,

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with

     white teeth,

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young

     man laughs,

Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has

     never lost a battle,

Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.

     and under his ribs the heart of the people,

               Laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of

     Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog

     Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with

     Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Oakland and building memories...

My article on memories and buildings in Oakland, part one...

http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2015/2/17/evolving-memories-within-oakland.html

Urbanist magazine article updated

 

http://www.spur.org/publications/article/2014-03-10/urban-field-notes-new-drawings-old-buildings

 

Urbanist magazine article, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

 

oakland tribune tower colors

oakland tribune tower colors, a photo by douglaswittnebel on Flickr.

a painted view of the wonderful Oakland Tribune Tower in downtown Oakland, part of the Urban Field Notes series

Urban field notes, painting one

Kicking off the new year of the horse, 2014, with a series of paintings that will be part of a set of urban field notes for Oakland.  The first version or view is of the beautiful and classic Oakland Tribune Tower.  Height 305 feet, 22 stories, tower built in 1923...

Chicago...a return to sketch the city on the digital pad device...

Back in the wonderful city of Chicago for a set of meetings and the Neocon event, and like last year, I have to take some time out to visit some of my favorite sites and create some painted views of the buildings.  The first scene is the pairing of the Wrigley building and the Tribune Tower, at the bend of the river.  These were drawn on the iPad with the sketchbook pro app.   More to come...