Drawing

Mackinac Island is a Great Lakes treasure, and Fort Mackinac is a highlight to visit. The Native American, French, British and American history of that strategic island in the Straits is fascinating.

We lived in Bath, England for much of 1980 to 1983. It is a beautiful Georgian City. We made many life long friends there and returned often. I finally got to sketch the superb Gothic style Abbey Church and directly adjacent Roman Baths, from inside the bath complex, in 1994.

The tour we took of the Anne Frank Huis in central Amsterdam was unforgettable. I sketched the building and thought about the secret annex where Anne and her family were in hiding for 2 years before the Nazis arrested them.

The Prinsengracht Canal in central Amsterdam is outstanding. My favorite hotel on that canal is the Pulitzer Hotel, partially pictured in my sketch. It is a complex of 26 beautifully restored canal mansions, with no two rooms alike.

This is a familiar view for me. I walked across the massive Hohenzollern rail and pedestrian bridge across the mighty Rhine River dozens of times, from the center of Koln to the Koln Messe convention center. The amount of shipping traffic on the river there is extraordinary.

Piazza San Marco in Venice is one of the great people watching spaces on the planet. The very picturesque narrow walkways throughout the island city suddenly open up onto this huge space, facing the Grand Canal and the Adriatic Sea in the distance.

I used a very minimalist technique for this sketch of the New Otani Garden in Tokyo. It seemed appropriate. Being in that walled garden is an amazing, serene contrast to the busy and crowded streets of that vast city.

I will never forget passing through the Brandenburg Gate for the first time after the wall came down. The contrast between the vibrant contemporary architecture of West Berlin, and the bullet and cannon shell pocked facades on the run down back streets of East Berlin, was striking.

This was my first sketch in Japan. The contrast, between the huge and serene Imperial Palace and the crowded and busy streets of Tokyo, is remarkable.