In Saratoga Springs New York I took a morning to hike up North Broadway to see the immense mansions. This beauty caught my eye and I sat at the end of the driveway to sketch.
Across the street was an estate sale so there were lots of cars parked along North Broadway. I noticed one woman carrying a large item back to her car. I could not make out what she had purchased.
While I was sketching a man walked across the driveway towards the front porch steps. I waved when he looked over at me. My stomach tensed since it could be the home owner who might shoo me away before my sketch was complete.
He approached me and asked if I was sketching. I showed him the sketch as it was. Oddly he asked me if anyone was inside. I said I hadn’t noticed anyone.
He then started telling me that the neighbor two houses down the street had died. He wanted to break the news to the owners of this brick beauty. I guess he thought would know where the owners were since I was sketching. Maybe he thought I was commissioned to do the sketch which is of course a very real possibility. As we were talking several other neighbors walked up and he started talking to them. I almost put them in the sketch but decided against it since they would dominate the foreground.
If I lived near Saratoga Springs I would certainly fill several sketchbooks with drawings of that stately mansions. I definitely love sketching architecture although I am more often sketching crowded events.