Artist Date #3: The Walk

I wasn’t sure when Artist Date was going to happen this week.  It was kind of a stumble/crash/fail situation early this week with lack of sleep and stupid dental visits and whatnot.  I let everything go for a couple of days and just concentrated on getting some sleep.  Not sure if that made my universe full of awesomeness, but at least it got me into today where I went, “Yeah, I wanna go do something.”

Tonight I had zero commitments on deck.  It seemed like a good evening for…a walk?  Yeah, me not the walking guy, and yet this is what came into my head.  “Go for a walk, and…um…take pictures?  Yeah, that sounds cool.”  After feeling like I had way too much crap going on this week, a completely non-hurried walk down the Monon Trail as the sun set sounded pretty friggin’ right-on.

About 7:30 I finally made it out of the house, Nikon over my shoulder.  I also had a harmonica on me (those who know me well are not shocked to hear this), so I played a bit until I got down to the actual trail itself.  It’s a walking path that was once a rail bed for the Monon railroad many years ago.  When I was a kid, trains still used it.  It has been turned into a greenway in recent years, which has turned out to be a pretty fantastic idea.

Along the path in the immediate Broadripple area are various works of art, like this wall.  Know what’s sad?  I didn’t even realize this.  It’s been there for how many years, I’ve walked on it maybe three times, and I didn’t know the artwork was right there.  This is what this Artist’s Way stuff is all about, discovery of influences and resources that I’ve kept from myself for far to long.

This is painted on the side of a building not far from the art wall.  I think this is pretty appropriate, given that the White River is only a few hundred yards from it, and Indians certainly made use of it decades ago.

Lookit all the heads!!!!

The artist must have been a Notre Dame fan.  I’ll let that slide.

This poor little mosaic (well, it was pretty large, really) was leaning up against a building near where it had originally been affixed to some posts.  Pieces are obviously missing from it.  It’s too bad it has fallen into disrepair.  The style of work itself, however, reminded me of my friend Justine, who makes gorgeous mosaics, and who is a constant inspiration to me whenever I feel doubt or frustration with my work.

The Monon goes right past the Indy Arts Center, which is also the grounds for the Writer’s Center of Indiana where I recently skipped attend my fiction workshop group.  I took some time to tour the grounds and check out the sculptures on display.  This one was a huge stainless steel cube with a pleasingly curved concave center section.  I like metal, of course, and it’s stainless (even better!), so I snapped it.

Probably the greatest chair ever welded.  It’s actually a lounger, complete with cup and foot rest!  I had to check it out, and…

Here’s the upward view when seated in the world’s greatest stainless steel lounge chair.  I love this thing.  I, of course, wondered at how cool it would be if you could roll marbles around all those fabulous curves.

I read about the sculptor who does this vegetation sculpture, but it was several years ago.  I wish I could recall more details now.  I do remember that these are made to deteriorate.  No attempt is made to preserve them, so each work of art exists only for a finite period of time.  There’s something wonderful about that, letting nature do what it does, even if it’s to a piece of artwork.  For me this sculpture speaks both of how beautiful and temporary life is.

After leaving the Arts Center I went a little further north up the trail to where it uses a trestle to cross the White River.  The light was nice that time of night, though a challenge to shoot without being able to use a tripod.

On the way home I spotted this sign.  I liked the lighting.  The peeling paint adds some nice texture to the whole thing.

Once back in Broadripple proper there was plenty of evening traffic.  I always kind of enjoy the streak effect of moving lights with a slow shutter speed.  This one was just for fun.

Passing the Vogue, I naturally had to stop and shoot the neon.  Hard to resist all the colors.  I’ll not be attending Retro Rewind – I’ve had my life’s fill of 7oz Bud Light, thanks.  However, I’ll let you all know that Kool Keith will be appearing there in the near future.  Get your tickets while they last.  This place used to be a movie theater decades ago, and back when I was very small I saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs there.  They were not serving Bud Light in concessions at that time, I believe.

One more last bit of neonic brightitude.  I wish this place was still a theater sometimes.  It just looks so cool.  I am very glad they never did tear down the signs.  I’m also pretty pleased that very recently they pulled down the expressionless white tile that had been in place since before I was born to reveal the old yellow and red tiles that were beneath.  Pretty cool stuff.

That was Artist Date tonight, kids.  I had a nice time just slowing down and taking a look at things.  My photographer’s eye has a long way to go, but I got in some practice tonight and had fun.  Now I have a whole new batch of experiences to keep my creativity charged up.

6 thoughts on “Artist Date #3: The Walk

  1. Thanks, Sheryl! I wondered if this might be a blah post for some people. Happy you enjoyed it.

    On that note, I loved the Gen Con pics! Thanks for putting up the link. Those costumes are outstanding. I love that people get so into it and spend all that time and effort getting decked out. The Alien one was pretty impressive, and little angry Hulk was cute even if he was angry!

  2. This was a great post, Tom. It was, of course, enhanced by the pictures. The chair was magnifique! This was my favorite line “No attempt is made to preserve them, so each work of art exists only for a finite period of time. There’s something wonderful about that, letting nature do what it does, even if it’s to a piece of artwork. For me this sculpture speaks both of how beautiful and temporary life is.”

    I’ve stopped doing the The Artist Way exercises just because I realized I was piling on too much. But they really are speaking to you, and I’m glad you’re making the most out of your artist dates.

  3. Genevieve,

    Yep, challenging to fit it all in, for sure! Are you still doing morning pages? I’ve heard from many people that they never stopped those once they were done with the rest, even years later.

    Those vine sculptures are awesome. Somewhat oddly, I think I read about them in Reader’s Digest. I wish I had some extra time to look into their history and present it here. I really enjoy ’em.

    Someone was telling me that maybe I was trying to do too much at once. I did opt for sleep. I’m not sure what I cut out for that, though. Vacuuming the ceiling?

  4. I, in fact, still do the morning pages. It’s like doing stretches. I think my problem is tackling many different complicated things at once – submitting more work, doing more with the kids, keeping up more with friends, eating right, practicing yoga, going to therapy, working on my marriage, and starting the 12 steps. Eek! A priority list had to be drawn up. So now I’m just doing the best I can, with recovery first on the list.

    I say, keep up with what you’re doing and over time you’ll see this gush of creativity become a steady stream. You might start writing more often than you draw, or vice versa. Enjoy the journey, man. I’m enjoying reading about it.

  5. Thanks for the encouragement, Gen. It is a practice of finding balance. Not sure how well I’m doing with all of that right now, but I’m working on it.

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