I was walking about downtown St. Paul with artist Ken Avidor and we happened upon a police crime scene 1 block from the hotel I was staying at. We both drew the event and you can see the witness still sitting in the transit kiosk.
After we finished, we went back to Ken’s place to post the drawings on an Urban Sketchers’ site. I left there near midnight and returned to the hotel I was staying at where I showed the night front desk clerk the sketch. Turns out, a fellow connected with the event had snuck into the lobby and was hiding in the lobby balcony. The night clerk could here him wheezing and panting and then told him he had to leave, to which the fellow responded he wasn’t going back out because, “they were going to kill me”.
Woke early and drew, from my hotel room window, the transit kiosk where the victim, who made it to the hospital ER alive, collapsed.
Top drawing done with fountain pen, and Pitt Artist Pens in Molskine watercolor notebook.
Middle drawing, fp, PAP, and Pitt Artist Pen white in a Strathmore toned sketchbook.
Bottom drawing, fp filled with Noodlers Ottoman Blue and PAPs in Moleskine.
Documentation of the crime scene, it’s fascinating to be part of it in this way. I do not watch much television news or live Internet news. And I have always loved old radio shows; many that were about criminals. I grew up watching Perry Mason too. I felt like I was in the days of old with courtroom sketch artists, only you were on the scene, before and after, with a live backstory, or was it a middlestory in that there was potentially, dangerous drama connected to the crime scene in your hotel at midnight. (what were the chances?) These different vantage points from different scenes of the crime bring to light the morning after. And two artists perspective at the scene of the crime, at night. Amazing. As unfortunate as this situation was, it has been captivating to be part of the scene through sketches. Plus, I know the intersection. Wild.