Buttnekkiddoodles

Last night was date night with G Babe (second night in a row). We went to the Harris Theater to hear the Grant Park Orchestra perform Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to Oberon, Ralph Vaughn Williams Serenade to Music, Shostakovich’s Suite from the Incidental Music to the film Hamlet (WOW!! I enjoyed this the most of the evening’s offerings), and Tchaikovsksy’s Hamlet Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare which conductor Carlos Kalamar introduced by saying,” after you have had your fill of a big meal, sometimes you’re in the mood to have a big piece of chocolate cake, with lots of whipped cream.”
I managed a few sketches throughout the concert. Which, included the couple in the row before us. The lady in the hat appeared most drowsy and even let her head sag onto her companion’s shoulder while resting her chin on the palm of her hand. Given the way her mouth drooped open I feel confident in posting that my subject took a kitty nap. Yeeeeesss you did dear. YES YOU DID! Disinterested or exhausted from a fatiguing day taking in the delights of downtown Chicago, and a flute or two of Prosecco, (I’m permitting harmless speculation here), our patrons of the arts chose to leave early. Harrumph! They didn’t even make it to Mendelssohn’s rousing Wedding March!!!! Not to mention Shostakovich truly fabuloso ????????? !!!! film score.
Well, me and the G Babe, and the bald dude two rows in front of me, as well as the stylish lady (more speculation) with the satin top and page boy haircut more than made up for our tuckered twosome in enjoyment. Props to the seasoned cellist in the orchestra.
 
Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Japanese Mulberry paper in a sketchbook made for me by Eugene Wooddell Jr. I especially like the new Fude nib Pitt Pens which have a bit of flex to them and were used for all the contour work.

III In the back of a Land Rover and crashing up the snaking gravel roads and hair-pin, hair-raising turns of the marble quarries which pockmark the mountains of Carrara, Italy. Humans have been chipping and chopping away at the much treasured white limestone in these mountains for 2,000 years, removing 6% of the inherent prize to date.

The scale of the mining and extraction is difficult to convey in a couple sketches. There are 190 quarries in these mountains. In the drawing above, you can see openings to caves in the mountain, the interiors which can themselves be cavernous. The smallIsh looking shack in the lower right hand is itself a large shed where some of the cutting could take place and is much larger than the large trucks used to haul multi ton loads of marble down the mountains. The pile of rocks along the bottom of the drawing is the edge of a marble gravel road we took to tour the quarries. There is a precipitous drop just on the other side of the gravel pile and more than four hundred yards between that and the cutting shed you see below.

Drawn with various fountain pens, DeArtementis Ink, Pitt Artist Pens, on watercolor paper, Stillman & Birn sketchbooks.

 
Early summer and I find myself back in cafes after a long illustration assignment and when COVID-19 restrictions arrive relaxing.
   
All three were drawn in a Clairefontaine Rhodia unlined notebook using various fountain pens and Pitt Artist Pens.

 
Late afternoon in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Sat down, started drawing and got the whole scene laid in but the sun was low and the shadows and light shafts changed dramatically every 5-10 minutes so after 45 minutes I snapped a pic and finished at home. Pitt Artist Pens Rand some fountain pen with brown ink on a Rhodia unlined notebook.

 
Got in a few hours in the magnificent Cleveland Museum of Art. Fantastic buildings, superb collection.
Drawing #1 one of the Biglin brothers from Thomas Eakins’ The Biglin Brothers Turning The Stake.

#2 two views of a bas relief marble head and a quickie of a Adolph Mengs portrait of Infante Don Luis de Borbón one of King Philip V of Spain’s nere do well trust funded brats. The side label/comment mentioned how characters like him were the subjects of interest when rational skepticism in the Age of Enlightenment began to confront absolutist hereditary power. Kind of brings to mind the spoiled brats like D Trump and his offspring.

#3 gored and dying dogs from a hunting scene by Lucas Cranach the Elder. A little bronze of a dog scratching itself. And a wooden carving of St. Andrew

#4 rt to lft the backside of some dude in a print, the still clenched hand of a dead Christ in a wooden Pietá. Many times the hands of the dead Christ are depicted relaxed, but the graphic realism of this one grabbed me. And a difficult to see sketch of a polished bronze figure with a Fu Manchu that resembled Kenny Rogers after he got plastic surgery “face lift”

Drwg #5 the last drawing before leaving the CMA a sketch of a Civil War Union soldier carving a pipe. Dressed in red cap, blue jacket and billowing red breeches the units known as Zouaves were comfortable and looked great but were compelling targets of Confederate sharp shooting snipers. This small painting by Homer is a gem! Well known for his Maine seascapes and his watercolors, he was a monster draftsman who was a war correspondent and combat artist. He’s knocked me dizzy with a number of his drawings and watercolors. I adore this figure and his hands carving the pipe were so accurately dexterous with brilliant brushwork.

Drawn with a Warm Grey IV Pitt Artist Pen Chisel nib and Brush nib because they appear to be pencil drawings, especially on paper that allows you to smudge ‘em, BECAUSE… museums don’t want you to draw with ink.

p.s. the dog scratching itself was drawn with ink from a fountain pen.