Drawn the Road Again

Category: Off the Beaten Path

  • Water taxi

    Water taxi

    Now, Texas might be home to an outlandish vehicle or two, it’s true, but at least it was in keeping with the whole Texas theme. In Nova Scotia’s fishing villages, you’re more likely to see boats “parked” behind houses than cars. Since it took me three times as long to drive to this spot as…

  • The “steer” in steering wheel

    The “steer” in steering wheel

    If I saw this big boat sailing through Seattle rush hour traffic, it would completely make my day—gridlock or no. I guess it’s sort of a moot point for me, since I work from home, but if I had any sort of morning commute at all, I could totally see myself rockin’ it with this…

  • Field geometry

    Field geometry

    Wednesday’s post reminded me that like lighthouses, I seem to have a whole collection of farm field drawings—like this sketch I did last year. I always thought the inherent lesson in one-point perspective (sketching nerds unite!) is what made these fun to draw. But now I think it’s the geometry. There’s just something so satisfying…

  • Big Apple, Big Sky

    Big Apple, Big Sky

    I did both of these sketches on the same road trip. What I love best about traveling this way is that it makes it so easy to see many facets of a complex country—all in one long stretch. If you want to go from a place where the buildings are so tall you have to…

  • Stay away, Paul

    Stay away, Paul

    You know, as much I love Paul Bunyan and his mighty axe, I’m breathing a sigh of relief that he and his ilk haven’t gotten to every bit of forest on the continent. Because far better than any lumberjack (even a mythical one) is a patch of virgin, old growth forest. Thankfully, the only folks…

  • Chop chop

    Chop chop

    Just in case Paul Bunyan is looking to trade up… I think I found just the thing.

  • B.P.O.E.

    B.P.O.E.

    Probably the most spectacular thing about Rocky Mountain National Park is the alpine tundra landscape above the treeline. The Tailor and I found a well-marked hiking trail up there and struck out, hoping to catch a glimpse of a pika or two among the glacier-strewn rocks. What we got instead was a little more than…

  • Fish tales

    Fish tales

    When I lived in Minnesota, people used to tell me hair-raising stories of going fishing “Up Nort’” for muskellunge, and catching specimens that measured in feet, rather than inches. It’s no surprise the muskie is the stuff of legends—but imagine my delight when, without even stepping foot in a boat, the Tailor and I “caught”…

  • Sailor’s warning

    Sailor’s warning

    I have never yet managed to visit Heceta Head in anything other than a raging gale. (Thank goodness for the car overlook where I could park and sketch in comfort while the Pacific threw bathtubs of icy spray at my windows…) But then again—what better way to see firsthand exactly what lighthouses are for?

  • Sailor’s delight

    Sailor’s delight

    As a lifelong landlubber, I don’t often get to see lighthouses from the side they’re designed to face. So as you can probably imagine, not only was I gleefully waving back at the folks on the breakwater—I was also practically hanging off the side of the boat to get a better look at the beacon.