I always thought it would be smarter for homeowners to maintain the front yard of their neighbor’s home since they usually  have a better view of their neighbor’s yard than their own.

We live in a loft in  the Union Depot which is mostly awesome except for the view. Outside our window there is a skyway leading to a big expanse of second story car parking with a drab building seemingly attached as an afterthought. Behind the TPT ramp is a crazy quilt skyline comprised of buildings from different eras with no discernible relationship  to one another in size, shape, style or color. The dominant feature of everything I see is cars, cars, cars. Cars in streets, cars in buildings, cars on buildings, cars crashing into buildings and other cars… you get the picture. It’s not all bad, however. On one side of the TPT ramp is a gem of a tot lot with trees and happy kids laughing and ringing bells on miniature trains. On the other side of the TPT ramp is the park on Kellogg Avenue, a leafy oasis on the edge of this concrete desert. Sketching a scene like that is a challenge. Here’s the sketch (click on the sketch to make it bigger):

While I was sketching that scene, I couldn’t help imagining how I would make it look different if I had any say in the remodeling of the TPT building. First thing I would do is get rid of the cars. I’d replace the cars with tons of fun, outdoor stuff. This annotated sketch shows what I have in mind:

I totally give TPT all rights to the above ideas to improve their building (and our view).

Note #1 to Sunday Sketch readers: I will be sketching little portraits of pets today from 12 AM to 3 PM  in front of Wet Paint, 1684 Grand Avenue in Saint Paul for the Paws on Grand event – more info here and here.

Note #2 to Sunday Sketch readers: I will not be blogging here until September because I will be traveling by bus, train and bike to Los Angeles. I will likely be blogging the trip  at our travel blog.

Note #3 to Sunday Sketch readers: When I return, I will be joining my journalling guru Roz Stendahl and my fellow urban sketchers at the Minnesota State Fair for the 6th Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out. For more information on joining the sketch out go to Roz’s blog.