The Mary Lou Whitney entrance gate. More excellent people watching. I do wish the boring and visually miserable trend of excessive casualness in attire would go away. Seriously.
I'd never seen a jockey in real life before. They really are small but there's no lack of confidence in their body language. Makes total sense. Wit that, it makes no sense at all that this sport remains a boy's domain.
Watching the parade of top equine and human athletes walking to the track never gets old.
I worked at an architectural firm for a while, so I won't use the word "iconic" but...yeah.
Trainer and rider on their way to workout. I'm new to this world, but this is the only trainer I saw who regularly rode out to the track with his riders and horses.
I noticed in all my photos of backstretch workers and horses that almost all the people avoid the camera, and I understand and respect that. Any amount of time with horses, for me, drives home the point that I'm small, weak and insignificant and hugely privileged to get to be around horses at all. I like to think that all these workers feel the same.
People watching is good at the race track. I'm baffled as to why people would setup their stuff and watch races on TV that are happening just yards away but they do, and they're apparently having a great time.
In my other life, I'm an exercise rider. The young people who ride these biological Formula Ones are as athletic and magnificent as their mounts. It's always exciting to watch them at morning workout at the Oklahoma training track.
I enjoy the older buildings in Saratoga. Even though this sketch has a blank brick wall, I really like this building on Long Alley.
Apparently, the tiger lilies around here propagate like crazy. They're abundant and I tried here to show them glowing against deep shadows cast on a wooden fence.
I love the brio of this statue. As a Vermonter, I like Daniel French's work anyway but this statue has a lot of energy. The model for it - Henriette Eugenia Dickerson (Hettie Anderson) - modeled for murals, etchings, gold coins, statues, and at least one skyscraper finial.
I like visiting the area at Saratoga Spa State Park near the Hall of Springs. It's a beautiful park with lots to enjoy, especially the opportunity to get away from pavement and cars, without risking getting lost in the woods.
It's hard to even register this restaurant, at first. The building isn't quite as lavender colored as I've shown it, but I love lavender. I also put my dog in, being walked by someone else.
I love sketching people in public. As an artist and stealth sketcher, diner sketching isn't quite as anonymous as bar sketching, but it's not bad. I did this while waiting for lunch at Compton's on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. It's very much a diner, with lots of yellow pine the menu you'd expect.
I grew up in Brattleboro, Vermont and have some good memories of fun on Eliot Street.
I went to summer camp on Lake Bomoseen one year when I was maybe 13. I mostly remember hearing "Afternoon Delight" on the radio and how disappointed I was that horseback riding wasn't on offer.
A neat little curve in the highway in Hoosick, NY. I'm not very familiar with this part of the state yet, but it's lovely. Even with all that horrible wild parsnip.
I've spent a lot of time in Shoreham, Vermont over the past five years. It's heavily agricultural, even though many of the farms are shuttered. It's beauty is undeniable, even while it's saddening how much my beloved home state has become some kind of agriculturally themed retirement community for the out of state wealthy.