Tagged: fountain pen drawings


President Biden, I’m wondering how you’re doing and where you are on this day of days. Me, I’m in Milano and I seem to recall a story of a family of refugees; in particular, an infant, a young mother and an older gentleman, seeking sanctuary.

Drawn on site in Milano, Italia with fountain pens and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens

 
Revisions. “Work that page!!” I urge my students to make the most out of your sketchbooks and studies. This ledgerbook I’ve been drawing in since 2017 is getting worked over pretty thoroughly. I can’t leave alone pages of the quick 1-3 minute gesture drawings or sprints as I call ‘em. And if a figure drawing can’t stand on its own then I jump into any open space that begs to be assailed. Tends to keep things nice and loose. Robust. It’s a learning process in which I don’t want to be prissy or treat my studies as precious. The studies over the last 3 weeks of Elizabeth, Tor, Gretchen, and Bobby were slung onto sketches from 2017 and 2019. All done at the Palette and Chisel. I may like a figure but still feel the page needs work. Or, I may like a page as it’s developing but am disheartened by some of the studies. The first page, for instance, the drawing of the model on the step ladder irritated me for a few years and last night I dropped a pose of Bobby on it that I felt was one of my better studies this last month, and the gray background only served as a challenge to work highlights back into his shoulders and torso. The page of Elizabeth and Gretchen was fun and I liked the color play but Gretchen doesn’t look like Gretchen. And while I let go of getting a likeness if the structure and values and marks all add up to a well constructed head, but….I have drawn Gretchen scores of times and I confess, it bugs the bejezzus outta me that I miss the mark on her likeness. Maybe if I actually spent less time on the bloody internet and more time drawing.
      Consider me a devout practioner of pentimento and palimpsest.  sprawling the thought process out onto a page. 

As for medium used, all the usual suspects are here, fountain pens, Platinum Carbon and DeAtramentis inks, grease pencil, and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens.

 
Surgery to remove kidney stones kept me from traveling to Italy with my wife. So it has been me alone to warm and miss the bedsheets. This coming Wednesday she returns and a good case of jet lag should mean I will capture her recharging her batteries and catching up on dream time.
Drawn with an Essentio fountain pen, DeAtramentis Document ink, and Pitt Artist Pens on Japanese mulberry paper in a sketchbook handmade by Eugene Wooddell Jr.

  1.  Had a fun time out with the Every Other Sunday drawing group today. We went to the Chicago Cultural Center and focused on The newly restored hall and rotunda, originally designed by Shepley Rutan and Coolidge; the 15.4 million dollar renovation was lead by Gunny Harboe
    WHY: A prime example of superior architectural ornament, the space is loaded with meaning. Additionally, some of the work was restored using photos of the original and creating 3-d printed copies!
    I’ve often preferred to hang in the fabulous South Hall so today I was fired up to give the north hall it’s due.

 
Fountain pen, DeAtramentis Document Brown ink, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper.

IMG_4576 


 
The finished first drawing at the Every Other Sunday sketch meetup in the West Fulton Market. Took a bit of a cluttered view. Lots of repetition with bottles and tiles but also a nice stacking center as one looks past the barfly to the food court beyond. The second sketch was to my right of the accompanying architects dramatically backlit by the afternoon sun. Fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper.

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