Buttnekkiddoodles

Left the Bay area and trained it up to Eugene for a week. Wasn’t the most productive time but I did make up for that lull with drawings on the train ride back to Chicago.

 

I generally try to draw what’s going on around me and make the best of being in a dynamic environment where things change moment to moment. But I’m not opposed to a little creativity. The two women on the right of the drawing above right, hail from China and are touring the USA together. I had drawn the 3 figures seated to the left, the woman with her hair pulled back, the man with sunglasses and ball cap taking a snooze, and the woman with the short hair cut, but kept missing my opportunity to sketch the woman on the far right as she snapped photos of her friend. At one point the lady with the shorter hair got up and noticing me sketching, came over to see my drawing. After a very nice conversation, I told her how I had missed several chances to draw her friend as she took pictures of her. So, they agreed to hold the pose above. I drew the photographer and added the 2 fingers held up as a “V”. My girlfriend who is an ESL teacher informed me that her Asian students said that could symbolize more than the usual “peace” Americans usually imply. I’ll try and find out what all that could be.

  

 Yessiree.

                 

Top image is the drawing I did back in August for the trade show poster. Pitt Artist Pens, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, and gouache on paper. Above left is aphoto of my ledger books and sketchbooks at my trade show demonstration table. Ducked into the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art during lunch for a quick look about.

Had to work 2 lonnnnnnnng days at the U of O Duck Store Tools of the Trade show in Eugene, Oregon which didn’t leave much time to scour about and draw so mostly limited to brief sketches. The hour and a half spent doing laundry late one night was the longest I had to just sit and draw. Drawings on the ivory paper we done with Pitt Artist Pens on Clairefontane paper in a Rhodia Web notebook.

I want to give a shout out to all the good folks at the U of O Duck Store in Oregon for all they did to support Doug Mooney and myself and especially to their crazed ring leader The Boodle’s Poodle herself, Rachel Witt and her Number One dude ridin’ shotgun, Mr. Dangerous, Christopher Smith, for commissioning the poster from me and for just being a tornado of inspired madness.

That’s my wheel man Doug Mooney puttin’ some wear and tear on the auto via the scenic route. Doug, my gal Jennifer, and I were hurrying and scurrying from a demo at Dots and Doodles in Astoria to a demo at in Portland. We were half an hour late. My sincere apologies to the good folks at Columbia Art & Drafting. Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens in a Bee Paper Super Deluxe sketch book at 65+ miles per hour.

After giving an afternoon demo at Central Art in downtown Medford, I checked in to a motel and went strolling for to take in the views. I’m often asked about the responses I get from people  who see me drawing in public. There is quite a bit of curiosity, especially from children, and I’m generally open to sharing a glance at what I do. So when a fellow, who introduced himself as Dave, in an Oklahoma Univ. baseball cap, out walking his dog, asked if he could see what I was drawing I said sure. He was quite enthusiastic as I showed him several pages and described how I liked to draw from life and document my travels.

Our conversation seemed to evolve into personal histories fairly quickly and he explained that he had recently been “released” and had landed a good job as a machinist, had a good lady and was working to get back on his feet but was looking to move back to the Southwest. After describing my itinerant life style and being that I was parked on a bench a parking lot from the Greyhound bus stop, Dave asked how I was fixed for food and did I need a meal. I greatly appreciated his gestured and assured him I was all good in that respect. He said if I had some time in the area there were great places to hike and explore and named several spots to check out. We bid each other well and away he went.

Trekked my way to the Southwest corner of Michigan for an overnight right on the beach of Lake Michigan’s southeastern corner. Then shot out to the west coast to do workshops and demos in Portland, Eugene, and Seattle. Ran around a bit to much to spend the time encamped with sketchbook in front of any one of a gazillion scenic wonders.