Tagged: ledger book

Well, it’s Butt Nekkid Time again. New Year’s Day finds me once more at The Palette and Chisel for their 12 hour life drawing marathon. Jumped on the Red Line at 7 AM and made it to the Palette and chisel a bit before 8 AM to a good and growing crowd. Threw in some end of the year studies about town for good measure.

   

It’d been a wile since I’d ventured into the Palette and Chisel. Didn’t get any stellar results thou I like the one of Brittany and the seated drawing of Melissa. The ledger book I’m currently drawing in was given to me by Stuart Balclomb. The preexisting ballpoint writing was done with such pressure that the pages feel not unlike seersucker fabric and are fun to draw on. At first the surface seemed a little waxy to me and I thought the pages were resisting some inks. But I’ve been using the Pitt Artist Pen, ballpoints, gel pens, and fountain pen and ink. The inks have been, Iroshizuku, Platinum Carbon, Noodler’s, and Levenger’s. I can’t tell if the sheets have been inconsistently sized or if all the handling has made parts of some pages respond to the inks differently, but there has been a touch of resistance and feathering. The paper was made for ballpoint and that stuff goes down like a champ.

   

These recent pages were drawn in a ledger book given to me by Stuart Balcomb. The book was used to enter recording session info from Universal Studio sound tracks for mid ’60’s T.V. shows. Look close and you can see which ones.

 

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.

 

Pulled into Spokane after a 10 hour bus ride from Bozeman. I left at 3 AM which meant I got to see western Montana as the sun came up a bit before we neared Missoula. Awe inspiring countryside. The Tamarack or Western Larch trees were super dramatic as their needles had turned golden yellow shortly before they were to fall off. They only grow west of the Continental Divide which made for a glorious welcome to crossing the Great Divide.

Hit Spokane and found my way to a sweet little cafe, The Alpine Bistro and Bakery Company, where I recharged with a rustic soup and sandwich. They make huge sweet rolls and I tore into a mammoth cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing the following morning before giving a demo at Spokane Art Supply that afternoon.

Arrived by air to Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, and one of the first things to grab my attention was a rather large model of the Titanic as it was found resting on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens on a beautiful little orange leatherette covered Rhodia notebook with blank ivory paper.

Draw this early morning scene on the left at the Addison Blue Line platform and the middle drawing of our plane on the tarmac on a spiral sketchpad by Stillman & Birn that was heavy enuff stock to take watercolor.

     

Enjoying a beverage and the view at funky 24 hour vegan coffee shop All Saint’s Cafe, Tallahassee. Pretty much packed a good deal of the time, even Saturday night, largely with students from nearby FAMU and FSU.

I was told that Tallahassee was quite fond of it’s trees and protected them with the weight of the law. Saw some gigantic pecan trees and big beautiful live oaks with long gray veils of moss. Sides were paved to swerve around some of the behemoths. The Thomasville, Ga.  water tower was drawn on a Stillman & Birn pad with Pitt pens and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils right before I did a workshop at the Thomasville Art Center which had been a Coca Cola bottling plant many years ago.

  

Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens and white China marker on a toned, recycled ( I think ) paper sketchpad by Utrecht. Love the atmosphere this paper imparts to the work but the paper has wood pulp in it.

     

   

Flew out of Tallahassee in a twin prop flying coffin that carried 18 passengers at max load. Felt like I was in a caulk gun.

  

 

Almost finished with this Veterinarian’s Daily Journal from 1959. 500 and a few extra pages.

 

 

 

 

 

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