pittsburgh, pa

i am going to pittsburgh this week for the first time in 7 years! i can't wait! usually when people talk of being in love with a city, they are speaking of paris, or new york or some other equally exotic/romantic/whatever type place..but for me, it's always been pittsburgh. ever since i first went there, ages ago...in the late 90's! it remains one of my favorite cities. i can't wait to be reunited with one of my first city loves and my good friends that live there.

pittsburgh is where i started painting because it was so easy to travel with watercolor. it was my 2nd trip there and it was in the middle of winter and freezing! after a crazy long drive in a vw bus with one of my best friends, 2 unhappy cats,  and no heat, we were wind burned and frozen, we arrived!

after i was settled, meg left to go home and i wasn't really sure what i was there for. thank god for our friend, lee, who lived downstairs and the fact that i was at penn ave and main in bloomfield. a great location and right on the bus line. i would ride the bus around the city and do little sketches of the fantastic gothic architecture. when i got back to my apartment, i would work. i usually finished 2 or 3 each night. sometimes i would just paint what i saw out the window. i also was sewing crushed velvet hats and selling them in a little boutique on the south side. to be honest, i never really sold that many, but it did keep me busy. i cooked a lot. even made crackers, that to this day, my friends still tease me about. i'm not really sure why...

lee and i would go to the strip district downtown on saturdays to buy provisions and get the BEST coffee EVER at the italian coffee shop with standing-only tables. there were such amazing stores! one offered bread and pasta and stuff like that and on the other side, all CHEESE. the strip was lined with these special stores and i imagine it has changed some but i'll bet some of them are still there. 

allison and i met in new orleans through mutual pgh connections. she still lives in pgh but for a short while, she actually was my house mate in little rock. we certainly had our own adventures. we also lived at mack's apples in londonderry, nh. she is the reason i went to pick apples that season. GOOD TIMES!!! she is an artist, too, and created a little book for me that chronicles that phase and i LOVE it. it is something i often look through and will always treasure. i'm taking it with me so she can see it again. 

the painting above is one of the little watercolor/pen and inks i did while there. it's from the perspective of looking out from my apartment on the corner of Penn and Main.