 
 
Sorry for the low res but I thought this was a quick way to compare the panoramic views I try to get using a wide format Moleskine watercolor sketchbook with a relatively negligible gutter.
Shot down to Wicker Park where I met up with a dozen Urban Sketchers to draw in the Den Theater building. One of the USkChi crowd is an architect who is working on renovating the building which has at least 4 theaters and 2 bars and has been gaining notice as a playhouse putting up plays of note.
I rode the Metra in from Evanston and got off at the Clyborne station which sits on the edge of the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhoods. I like not only the convenience of this station’s location, but the physical bearing of the massive concrete and steel raised platform. The following 2 drawings were drawn from previous visits and displayed in prior posts.
 
Clyborne Station is the first stop north on the Kenosha/Waukegan Line and a mere 18 minute ride to the Davis stop in downtown Evanston. The station straddles Ashland Avenue and both Cortland and Armitage avenues and running beside the Kennedy Expressway.
Chose to park awhile in the dimly lite main theater at Den where the stage was dramatically lit while the rest of the room was dark, punctuated with a shaft and sliver of ambient light. After an hour of drawing, someone came in and turned on a slew of lights so I threw in the towel. Following the event, I grabbed some fried chicken from Harold’s and had lunch in Wicker Park where I sketched the woman below. Back up on the Clyborn platform I waited by the pedestrian shelter for the train headed north.
 
Above are my roll up pen wrap and the gear I took out for the day. From the top to the bottom, various Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens, a black, white, 2 shades of warm grey, and a cool grey, 2 Pitt Pens, a brush nib and a 1.5 nib, aSailor brush nib fountain pen, a Pelikan M205 with a medium nib, a Faber-Castell Basic with a leather grip, and a Faber-Castell Ambition. The fountain pens were filled with Platinum Carbon ink.
Winter seems to have sagged hereabouts, just as I was finally getting the resolve to got stand outside on a face numbing day to draw. So the weeks set of drawing was more locals in transit and some grown up mall rats.
 
Back at The Palette & Chisel for a less than stellar Friday night life drawing session. Drew rather timidly on the nudes didn’t get much accomplished. A winter with sparse drawing is starting to show in the sluggish character of the drawings, especially the nudes.
 
I’m no Nina Johansson but I will occasionally brave cold weather for a drawing. Both of these were drawn in Evanston. The second drawing from the top was lakeside on the Northwestern Univ. campus. The following drawings were done at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.
 
In addition to pitt Pens, I used a Sailor Brush Nib fountain pen, a terrific tool which yields a wide variety of marks and line widths depending on the angle it is held as you draw on the page. Threw in a few details as the wide format of the drawings made for less than crisp images. Below are the Wilmette locks.
 
Monday night and off I go to life drawing. It’s cold and now a farther commute since I moved to Evanston, so i’m not getting there regularly but had the need to put in a few hours with the figure. Trains were crowded on the way back so didn’t get in as much drawing during the commute as i’d like but…
The usual gear, pitt Pens, Fountain pen, platinum carbon ink, on a Strathmore toned sketchbook.