Toledo

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Walbridge, Ohio (a few miles south of Toledo) painting and drawing and laundry-ing.

Most of Toledo's industry is concentrated along the river, so on Monday I biked next to the waterfront, eyes peeled for intriguing painting subjects. I cycled through a circuitous maze of construction, detours, and torn-up roads until I came to a network of wide, houseless streets. A snaking chainlink fence separated me from a zoo of factories, vats, and tanks. A few turns and a few streets later the fence ended and I spotted a Clanky Blue Machine with a "Toledo Shredding" sign. On one side of the Clanky Blue Machine sat a motley collection of discarded automobiles piled into a rusty deathrow. Jump-suited workers hoisted the creaky victims into the Clanky Blue Machine, which banged and hummed and thumped and spat out piles of shiny dust.

On Tuesday I did a quick painting of the SunOil Plant (whose inspired motto is: we make gas) and then readied myself to head into the Great Ohio Wilderness the next day...

Coming soon: thieving skunks, biting flies, and friendly Germans.

Below:
Drawing of the Clanky Blue Machine

Toledo SunOil Plant