Iron Seahorse

Last weekend was the Fall into the Arts in Edina, Minnesota. We were lucky and had beautiful sunny weather and not a whisper of rain. The only real problem was a great deal of wind on Sunday morning.  The setting is quite lovely, in Centennial Lakes Park, a surprisingly serene spot amid the bustle of the Minneapolis suburb.

The park isn't just trees and lawn, and there is a lot to do there. The lake itself is ten acres or so, surrounded by leafy groves, winding walkways and benches here and there. There are paddle boats to rent or you can fish or play on the natural grass putting course, or engage in lawn bowling, or even croquet. There were nearly 400 booths, meandering along the banks and sidewalks under the trees and spilling over into neighboring spaces.

Our particular booth was on the upper terrace, above the lake and walks. Luckily, although the "upper terrace" was actually a euphemism for a parking lot over a larger underground parking facility, the weather was mercifully mild and dry so the lack of trees wasn't a problem..

The show attracted good crowds with clear interest in the work, unlike some shows which seem more intent on the party and less on the art. The booths across from ours were metal workers, especially the Iron Maid, whose booth is in the ink and watercolor to the left. The wind on Sunday blew part of her display over repeatedly until she finally gave up and put it away. I was fascinated by the seahorse sculpture outside her booth, which was made up of quite a few different kinds of metal objects (probably steel, but I've been calling it the Iron Seahorse), including gears and rods and extra larger washers. By Sunday morning I decided to try sketching it.

This is the result. I laid it in with an HB pencil, drew the main shapes with waterproof ink, then painted over the ink drawing with watercolor and touches of gouache. The great thing about keeping a bit of white gouache around is the ability to correct the picture. This sketchbook is 6x8.