Vacation Inspires Art!

I am working on developing some new art lessons based on the tall ships I saw in Duluth. 

 My husband and I happened to be staying in the canal park area, so we were able to walk right out of the hotel and save our spot for the afternoon viewing time.

Tall Ship Sailing into Duluth Harbor

  The ships were scheduled to sail into the harbor right after lunch.  It was exciting, and as you can see by the crowds of tourists; it was a very big event for the city of Duluth. 

To get this shot I stood on a very large iron ship anchor in the park.  For some of my other photos, I wandered down onto the rocks for a more unobstructed view.

The special cruiser bike belonged to the hotel.  I was able to ride it along the bike path for several miles on Lake Superior.

Wouldn't it be fun to have a bike that looked like this !!???

Taking in the sights of St. Charles MO

This is a really cute quilt shop I visited while vacationing in St. Louis. It is located in an adjacent town of St. Charles and it is tucked amongst many other cute shops. The name of the shop is Patches, Etc. They have many wonderful fabrics and specialize in redwork quilts.

Every so often there was a break between buildings and a some very fine little gardens could be found mixed in with the shopping venues.

Just down the street from Patches is another cute shop for those that enjoy crafts. It's name is Rock, Paper, Scissors.
I enjoyed this shop very much because they carried many rubber stamps and had many examples of fun paper projects on display. I ended up only purchasing art trading card supplies, but they do have a website, so I'll look them up later this winter.These topiaries were up and down the whole main street of the shopping area in St. Charles, MO. I was really curious about the set up of these floral displays. They had put fence posts in the middle of a large wooden planter and potted up the red begonias in the moss baskets. The baskets had a metal fitting on the bottom that just matches up with the shape of the fence post top. They had really grown in very lush and made a very cute street decoration.

The Jewel Box @ Forest Park St. Louis MO

Here is a beautiful place my husband and I visited on our vacation. We were done looking at all the art at the St. Louis Art Museum and on the way out of Forest Park, we saw this gem of a conservatory. It is has a beautiful display of plants. The center aisle is equipped with a fountain for special occasions. It was a hot day, but the air conditioning was running inside, so the tour was very pleasant.