Art & Hobbies

Over the years I have been fortunate to enjoy many art forms and hobbies. Some of these, like Cartooning, Woodworking and Antiques were passions of the past. But the following are lifetime interests which are most fun when shared.

ART

After early aspirations for an art career were dashed at Chicago Art Institute classes, I have since had periods with various mediums and techniques from abstract to landscapes, eg. this wet-speed example. Now I find quick sketching to be most satisfying and have recently been attempting architectural rendering drawings.

I hope to add other examples here, but in the meantime I enjoy attending art shows and creative photo projects,.

AUTOMOTIVE

I enjoyed sports cars from an early age, but got more involved to restore my 1966 Mustang convertible which has been a 40+year project - that others can now appreciate. But my favorite past car remains a restored yellow 1972 Cutlass convertible.

While I plan to include other info here, I now keep involved by attending and participating in collector car events and shows.

ARCHITECTURE

If I could’ve been an architect, I would have focused on the landscape aspects.  I’m sometimes mistaken for other practitioners because of my lifelong involvement in building and town design projects.  I especially favor traditional and classic revival styles, so I’ve been active with historic site and church restoration projects.   In earlier years, I was often involved in the technical aspects of design review and guidelines.

I take particular interest in my own homes and neighborhood.  But now I enjoy the travel and touring aspects, and hope to capture more of that here.

RailRoads

From an early age I’ve enjoyed all aspects of railroads, including hobby modeling like this N-Scale “module” which I started with my kids years ago. I still update it for family memories and educational town planning examples. I’ve especially enjoyed the history of the Chicago area Milwaukee Road and North Shore lines.

I’ve been able to explore further Rail history in recent years through regional planning and transportation events. And I enjoy attending model Train events which can be fun with all ages.