We were up around 4:30 a.m. today to say good-bye to my wife's Mom and Sister, who were visiting this week (they have a long drive home). We couldn't go back to sleep, so we made a bright and early visit this morning to the Country Club Plaza to sketch and take photos. I drew/painted the "Lucky Boar" statue below. The sign on the bronze sculpture says that if you rub the boar's nose, you'll have good luck. Never tried it.



A couple of blocks away from the Boar is this nice Organ Grinder statue. Drew this one last Summer.

My wife tells me this plant is a "Cleome"...I'll take her word for it. The sketch was done in an arboretum not too far from our house. I'm not big on doing florals, but thought I'd give it a try.

The sketch below is from Kauffman Garden, near the Plaza. My wife spends a lot of time taking photos there.

I love trees...this huge old favorite is in Loose Park.

Here's a photo of me painting the same tree in the Summer a few years back.

This is a painting I did of that tree during a very wet Fall day, right after a rain.

This beautiful photo was taken by Cat, and is featured on her "Etsy" website where she sells her photography. Go check it out by clicking this link: Cat Ludwig Studio

This lilac bush is from the side of my house. Though it doesn't look this way now...I'm afraid that I had to cut it down to almost nothing last year. (But I had permission this time...I've gotten in trouble often with the limb-loppers...can't seem to stop, once I start trimming.)
