New Orleans Characters

"There's a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better"
Bob Dylan


New Orleans has more character as a city than anywhere else I've visited.  I had enough time to walk to get the touring out of the way and be comfortable to just hang out.  I drew several street scenes, but gravitated to some of the people who animate this unique place.

Cigar smoking cops,  Freddy the Realistic Mystic and the cook at FredRick's Deli.

New Orleans Street Jazz

"Your applause is nice, but it don't buy no ham and rice.

Please leave us a bit before you split."

Cajin Spices

The sky was turning dark and there was some distant thunder .  Eddie told me, "in N'orleans it thunder, it gonna rain".

I walked over to the French Market for shelter and spent a couple of hours sketching under cover.

This was perfect opportunity to try something from one of the Urbansketcher Symposium workshops  - a combinations of illustrating patterns and capturing people.

Eddie and Bo

"They got funny chickens.

They got got funny dogs.

They got funny everything."

I was sketching in the French Quarter of New Orleans and was sitting close to Eddie and Bo while I sketched the Spotted Cat nightclub and heard several pearls of wisdom, including,  " Gentlemans ain't so nice when it comes to money".

Annapolis

On the way back north from the Outer Banks we were able to spend a half a day in Annapolis.  I've been here before and will again as I absolutely love the heritage and maritime character.  This sketch is the inner harbour.

The Outer Banks

It was fun to drive the length of the Outer Banks.  It confirmed how wonderful Ocracoke is, as the other famous towns - Nag's Head, Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras are condo clusters and considerably larger than Ocracroke.

Ocracoke Harbour

It doesn't get much better than this - no chain stores, boats of all decriptions and the traffic is mainly golf carts and locals on bikes...some riding with cell phones and/orsipping beer.

The Ocracoke lighthouse is white, without the distinctive black graphics that distinguish the other lighthouses along the Outer Banks.

Beaufort Marintime Museum

The skeleton of a10m long, adolescent sperm whale hangs over the exhibits in the Maritime Museum in Beaufort North Carolina.  The whale inexplicably beached itself and perished not far away at Cape Lookout.

Cape Lookout

We had a steady wind and 4 -6 foot seas on our jaunt out to Cape Lookout from Beaufort.  We shared the bay with a Coat Guard cutter, but even with their presence were nervous to swim as we had heard of shark attacks here a year ago.