July 2008 Archives

My friend Beth and I took a 2-1/2 hour walk along Chicago's Riverwalk today. Beth discovered that the Riverwalk entails walking up and down a long flight of stairs at each cross street from West of LaSalle Street to Michigan Avenue. However, the long term vision promises "a fully accessible and continuous river-level promenade extending from Lake Steet to Lake Shore Drive."

I met Beth at Michigan and the River. She was accompanied by Guiness, her long-haired dachsund.

I look at my part of Lincoln Park every day. I rarely go there for a walk. I've decided to change that bad habit. Weekdays are the best because the paths are overrun on weekends with bicyclers who are constantly at odds with the runners, let alone the walkers. It's not always clear where you are supposed to be.

One of the first things I saw was an outdoor sculpture, one of many sponsored by our Alderman, Tom Tunney. This one is called Ring Toss.

I completed my fifth year of studying portrait drawing with Richard Halstead in Evanston. I took three of the 15 terms off during that time. I've used charcoal, pastels, pastel pencils and graphite. Settling on graphite this year was a wise choice.

This is a picture of Tim posing in the studio. Models maintain the same pose for the month, morning and afternoon for three to five Saturdays. Usually they pose for 25 minutes followed by a five minute break. There is a longer break in the midde of the session.

For the thirty years I've lived here, I have looked out my window at the Diversey Driving Range. Some of that time it had natural grass but most of the time it was a lot of dirt dotted by hundreds of golf balls. This year the Park District decided to renovate the Driving Range. It has taken almost three months and progress has been intriguing to watch.