Sketching In Lutsen over Thanksgiving

Traveling to Lutsen

Marcy and  I utilized the Thanksgiving holiday to go to Lutsen to unwind.  On these family trips we always squeeze in a little time to sketch and paint.  I expected there to be more snow on the ground, but the lack of it created a color pallete that kept me painting.

These are a few of the sketches and I hope you enjoy them.

 

Coffee cup sketch.

 

 

Duluth Cafe

 

 

If you haven’t been to Duluth Grill you will never find it on your own. It is fantastic and the comfort food has a foody twist to it. They also have a wide range of fantastic local art.  Their coffee mugs are made by a local artist and a good warm up painting to start the trip.

 

Lutsen Totem

Most of the wood columns around the lodge are carved in an abstract Totem theme. During dinner I was able to study this a little. I noticed it other place around the property and I wonder who first came up with it.

 

My Breakfast View

This is the view I spent a lot of time with looking at Lake Superior. I spent a lot of time at this table painting.

Gondola ride

 

Adam in our office suggested that we go to the ski hill and take the Gondola ride up the mountain to a restaurant bar.  The Gondolas are exactly the same as at the state fair but the ride is a lot more extreme.  Straight up this cliff to incredible views.  We had the whole family painting up here. I was able to get several smaller pieces done. The food was just OK but the location was spectacular.

 

 

Lutsen Grass 

I mentioned the colors of the grass without so much snow. This piece is a simple painting trying to catch the essence. I was also trying out my “fan” type watercolor brush.

 

My Favorite Tree

 

Often times I will precolor a page and draw on top of it later. (See below) This is a good example. After a long time of water coloring I had all of this paint on my palette. I just hate sopping it up and throwing it away, so I mixed it all together and the color became this nice brown. I washed the page with it and waited for inspiration. I woke up 2 mornings later with this idea of painting the tree I kept staring at between me and the lake.

 

 

Built Wash

 

I haven't decided if this is a finished piece or if inspiration will hit me to paint over it.

Lake Superior from Lutsen Resort

 

This is the view I woke up to and enjoyed every morning. This image itself is my attempt at the Tea Milk and Honey 3 stage water color approach I recently read about in Marc Taro Holmes wonderful new book The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location.

 

There were more sketches, but these tell the best story, I hope you enjoyed them.

 

James Nutt