Dana M Johnson – Paintings, Illustrations, VideoThe Blog of Dana M. Johnson

2nd Shift, 10:18pm, from the sketchbook, watercolor on paper 2010

From my studio window the sites and sounds act like a visual moving clock.  Just 10 minutes after the Amtrak Train flies past on the tracks, the 2nd shift workers from the post office with their lunch boxes in hand walk across the snow covered parking lot to their cars and drive home for the night.  The sound of the engines and site of the headlights signal to me that it is time to clean up the paints for the night and get ready for bed.

4th Street, from the steps of Union Depot, watercolor  2010

The large windows in this old warehouse are great, it is very rare to find all the lights on inside at the same time and when I spotted this I was struck by how colorful the spaces inside looked.  I love walking down 4th past this old building, at almost any hour of the day you can hear drums or noise coming down to the street below as there are many practice spaces in the rooms above.  This block is also quite lively during shows at Station 4 & Rumours / Innuendo.  I also ran across this blog, that newly housed in this block is a “coworking space“, which sounds like a wonderful addition to Lowertown.

Sketchbook, Swede Hollow Cafe, watercolor on paper, 2010

I started the day with a cup of tea at the Swede Hollow Cafe.  It is a cozy little cafe on East 7th in St Paul, just past Metro State University & the Dayton’s Bluff branch of the public library.  After a bit of painting I went for a walk through the Swede Hollow Park which you can connect to very near the cafe, it curves all the way around to Bruce Vento park which I’ve mentioned (and painted) before.  This morning the park was full of chickadees & the sound of running water through the ice and snow.  I like to imagine how the ravine must have looked when St Paul’s Swedish immigrants were living there.  I recommend the park for an early morning walk, just be careful on the icy steps at the far end by N Bates Ave if coming into the park from the cafe.

Bus Shelter, Downtown St Paul, watercolor on paper 2010

A pedestrian’s view from the sky walk, of the heated bus shelters below.  I have been taking advantage of the warm tunnels in the sky to move around downtown St Paul during the chilly January mornings.

Evening Rush, downtown St Paul, Watercolor on Paper 2010

I love how blue the sky is about 6:00pm and how bright the reflections are on the pavement downtown St Paul.  Everyone is in a rush to get home, I hope they are not missing the beautiful display of colors against the snowy pavement.  I can’t believe it is only 99 days until the St Paul Art Crawl!  Mark your calendar for April, I will be showing some of my sketchbook pages this spring.  More details to come soon.