Sleepy Swan

The view through one of the bridge's arches reveals a swan resting on a small ice shelf
Feb. 27, 2015

I returned this morning and the swan was over on the sunny side
March 7, 2015

detail

10-3-2014

The bridge and the island with traffic. Reflections
pastel, charcoal 

Swan
charcoal

Bridge View

June 3, 2014
graphite
A view of a portion of the Pleasant Street Bridge. Vegetation is always a challenge to draw. The river flows downstream to the left in this picture.

I feel I have to add that at certain unpredictable times, other artists emerge in my drawings. In this case I was inspired by the one-and-only Benoît Guillaume who never fails to inspire me. He may have a few copies of "Montréal" his book of drawings done there. Guillaume is a native of Marseille, France.

Two Birds

May 21, 2013
charcoal

It's Memorial Day here in the USA. Get outside OK? And say "Thank you!"

I'll be at the parade cheering on the best marching band in Natick and my favorite flutist!

Bonne journée!

White noise

Low water and a heron at the base of the dam
conté pencil 8/8/11

Yesterday morning I sat above the dam on the opposite side near the fish ladder. The sound of the water pouring over the dam canceled out most of the other sounds. The high-pitched bird songs got through but the growls of the commuters and trucks were subsumed in the white noise. I often wonder what the heron's experience is like fishing up close to the torrent. Does the white noise help it focus on the fleeting fish as they dart and dance before him?

Looking downstream toward the bridge. There was so much happening with the light and reflections! I fail every time to draw it.

A Meeting

Three geese confer about the day ahead (7/21/11, carbon pencil)

Finished/Unfinished

A quick, partially finished sketch of the dam this morning
(6 April, 2011)

I found my blue crayon. It was in the pocket of some pants that I hadn't worn in a while. I missed it (!) and wanted to try it out again. Yeah, I missed a crayon. Life is weird; just let your imagination go wild!

Spring is definitely here --in a coy way to be sure. In a month or two, these drawings will have come full circle and I might be drawing this damn dam less frequently.  I will miss the herons and the families of ducks. I'll also miss the white noise of the water spilling over the dam and the coffee at the coffee shop.
Next summer (July 2012)  I have a small show at a nearby nature sanctuary and I plan to devote the year before it to work done in that place. So, if you can stand it, I'll be posting work from that upcoming series here as well. See? win-win! Here are some more recent renderings of this lovely place as it makes the transition from winter to spring.

another quickie done in conté pencil (30 March, 2011)

I like this one. It was done on one of the first slightly warmer days of the demi-saison. I curled up in some dry leaves, my back against a stone wall and just relaxed… and drew.
Colored pencil (18 March 2011)

a rare action shot

There's this Black Walnut tree here. Its lower branches are a magnet for fishermen's hooks and bobbers. By the end of the summer it looks like a Christmas Tree!
(25 March 2011, litho crayon)

Relaxed Ducks

These mellow September days! A shower here and there. Leaves falling and suddenly the park is bursting with activity. All the ducks are grown and feeding and preening and very busy. It must be caused by the diminishing length of the days. But the light of September and October is so precious and crystalline (when it's not obscured by torrents of rain or fog).

I drew this view of the bridge yesterday morning. I like trying to suggest the different states of the water: flowing and still, home to ducks and geese and tiny fish.

The ducks were quite busy feeding and paddling up the current. Then they would drift down sideways and across the current and start over again. They all look so relaxed! Natick: home to relaxed ducks! You heard it here first!

Bonne journée!

The Bridge 2

"The Pleasant Street Bridge" July 1, 2010 colored pencil and ink spot

The picturesque Pleasant Street Bridge in South Natick was built in 1857. It replaced an earlier structure built by Rev. John Eliot and the local aboriginal inhabitants. Before that, there were Indian fishing camps on this location.



Throughout the beginning of the new millennium as American banks were destroying the world's economy, the bridge was falling into disrepair. Finally, the state of Massachusetts ordered that it be repaired. This quaint looking structure is a vital thoroughfare in this area's morning commute. There are more than a few rich bankers who probably use it every day.



A new deck was created and all the masonry was cleaned and re-pointed. They even fixed the worst, most crumbling sections of the retaining wall. The well-used park is still a bit shaggy but volunteers keep it looking tended and loved if not improved. Maybe that's the best we can hope for in a down economy: Sounds like good advice for people too: keep them tended and loved and don't worry too much about improvement.

[all drawings done in colored pencil in my sketchbook in July-September 2010]

I love the light that comes through the arch: complicated shadows and reflections all contained within a bold geometric container.

A pair of mallards, a heron and the late-summer weedy lawn.

A heron plying his trade in the shadows

two cars rushing by above the low water

I like this view looking across the river as it flows under the bridge.

I need to look for some new subjects though to keep things interesting. Stay tuned!

The ups and downs of late Summer

the lily pool and fountain, Elm Bank

© Rob Dunlavey

About a week ago, on a very hot and still morning, I headed out a bit later than usual in the morning and made this sketch at the decrepit Cheney-Baltzell mansion at Elm Bank. My soft green pencil dented the soft paper of my sketchbook as I drew. The humidity made the paper even softer. Eventually, the darn scene got drawn. Why? Why??



I guess I get some weird pleasure in representing things, more or less, as they are before my gaze. It's also a way of possessing something that I see often but yet when I see it each time, it's like it's new and never before seen. Drawing helps the neurons line up a little more amourously when I see that familiar thing again. I think the test if this is true is when I turn my attention to the faces of the people I love. And when is that likely to happen?



Here are a few more monochromatic renderings of things seen around my neighborhood. It has been a fabulous pleasure returning to the river and all these familiar haunts over the summer. I've gotten acquainted with the animals, the water's flow and the light. If you like to draw, I can't recommend it enough.

looking downstream near the bridge, heron and mallards
(© Rob Dunlavey)

reflections at the top of the dam
(© Rob Dunlavey)

The Bridge 1

The water is very low now. Yesterday morning I found a spot just under one of the arches of the Pleasant Street bridge and sketched the view downriver. The sun was bright and there were shadows and reflections on the cool water underneath. Two mallards could be seen through the arch. From this spot, the Charles River winds about 30 miles I guess to Boston Harbor. Over the years we've found our favorite stretches.

colored pencil

All the ducklings have grown up (as far as I can tell) and are gradually becoming part of the larger flock that calls this spot home. I miss them. On this day the air was cool but the sunlight was bright and hot. I did find frogs sunning themselves above the dam. I wonder what on earth they are thinking as they pose, unblinking, like statues for long intervals of time. There was also a turtle bumbling about in the increasingly shallow and muddy water. All I saw was a green, duckweed-festooned dome paddling this way and that as it looked for breakfast. I wonder if this is the same turtle I saw earlier in the summer.

colored pencil