A trip to the Flight 93 memorial

Wall forms at the future Visitors Center - Click image for larger view

Working for VIBCO I have been fortunate to get to so many great locations. This past Tuesday was no exception. We are providing the vibration equipment for concrete consolidation at the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania. Our vibrators are being used for the concrete walls of the Visitors Center which is situated on top of a hill overlooking the crash site. (We have also had many many vibrators at the site of the new World Trade Center, since the very first concrete was poured) We spent the day here in Pennsylvania working with the crew teaching them the ins and outs of external vibration, something new to them. The walls will have a textured finish and the goal is to get them as blemish free as is possible. Although we had some issues with the air supply to the vibrators (this is being remedied) the finish on the walls came out surprisingly well. We at VIBCO are honored to be even a small part of this  project.

Crane on the site and vibrator (inset) - Click image for larger view

We arrived on site at 7:30 am and didn't leave until  the job was done a bit after 4:00 pm - the middle of the afternoon gave us a very heavy downpour filled with lightening and high wind..it was pretty exciting and very wet. We sought shelter under the lee of this crane, which of course is a great lightening rod. . . We drove home after the wall was completed. It is an eight hour drive in good conditions - I got home at 3:00 am after eleven hours in the truck. It was the traffic in Connecticut the was the worst -- over an hour in one spot, but it did give me a chance to sketch this. 

Late night traffic - Click image for larger view

It was good to get home and out of wet clothing and although I was at work at the usual time the next morning, I didn't make the extra to get out and sketch… and my poor sketchbook is now covered in mud -- it got a bit beat up in the storm.

Some new sketches

American Star - Click image for larger view

On Fathers Day Carol and I went into Providence to sit along the waterfront. Carol sunned herself as I sketched. The picture above is an exercise in light and dark values. The ship is a white ship but the side facing the shore was in shadow.   I feel like the sketch is a success but that I may have carried the shadow area a bit too dark. The far shore should have been a bit lighter as well..

Locustville Road, Hope Valley - Click image for larger view

Another sketch done before work. I have found so many interesting views down in Hope Valley. It really is a very good place to go and sketch..I guess I am lucky that it is at the end of my morning commute.

Sabin Point, East Providence - Click image for larger view

Looking south down Narragansett Bay toward Conimicut Point in Warwick. East Providence is lucky to have these nice parks along the water. This is another Fathers Day sketch, just a small one about 2 inches tall and 8 inches long.

A couple of trucks

1975 Peterbilt Pacemaker - Click image for larger view

I have been following the work of a fellow sketcher in Germany who is the most extraordinary artist. He is a master of sketching vehicles and buildings, I really admire his work. His name is Florian Afflerbach and his Flickr page is here. I have been inspired to sketch some vehicles and work more in pencil and wash. From exploring his work I think I am looking at vehicles and buildings and just everything more closely, which of course is really what this is all about.

Careful Observation.

The truck in the sketch above was a rare find. It seems to be a 1975 Peterbilt Pacemaker long cab (thank you internet) He was parked in a lot in Wyoming, RI, engine running and a full load on his trailer. It is great to see this workhorse still in service. The owner must be very proud of his truck as it looks like it just came out of the showroom.

 The picture below of the postal truck was done in the same parking lot, just the day before. Using Wikipedia I found this:
"The mail van used by the USPS for local deliveries since the late-1980s is the Grumman LLV. LLV stands for Long Life Vehicle. This is a custom-made mail van manufactured by Grumman Corporation, whose US$1.1 billion contract with the USPS was for 99,150 vehicles in 1986.  The vehicle is built on a General Motors chassis, is 175 inches (440 cm) long, weighs 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg), can carry up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of mail, and is driven by a 2.5 litre General Motors four-cylinder engine. "

Postal Truck - Click image for larger view