Buttnekkiddoodles

The gorgeous elm tree next to my fifth floor apartment was felled this week. Up amidst it’s verdant leafy boughs, I enjoyed the cooling privacy it gave me. During light rains I could hear it tremble. In a soft breeze it sighed and swayed. In high windstorms, it vigorously brushed the brick and windows. I awoke to the gnarling sound of chainsaws and the sight of the nursing home that had been hidden by the elm’s foliage.

Shock quickly boiled into rage. I grabbed my sketchbook to indict the muthafukker cutting it down. Yes, I realized my elm was most likely diseased, that the crew was just doing their job, that they most likely had families that loved them, that they probably tithed at church, loved their pets, supported the local sports teams,  had personal relations with Jesus, payed their taxes, and changed their socks often. O K, granted. Still, they were hacking my beautiful companion to pieces and feeding to the mechanical beast below my window.

Platinum Carbon ink, fountain pens, Pitt Pens, Tomoe River Paper.

 

A selection of head and hair studies while out drawing in public. A few friends graciously held still for me, but most were captured while drawing in transit, in cafes, airports, and a couple during life drawing sessions. You can tell these were executed on a variety of papers, some in ledger books, some on watercolor paper, Tomoe River Paper, in various journals, but all of the drawings were made using ink and pigmented pens.

Can you ever get bored drawing heads and hairstyles??? Trying to capture as wide a range as I can, the tonsure zoo of hair. Dreads, ponytails, crew cuts, B-52s, pompadoured crowns, flips, dips, cowlicks, comb-overs, straight, Boticelli & Michelangelesque curls, sprays, tinted, two-toned, razor cuts, haze cuts, feathered, bed head, pig-tailed, braided, gathered, bearded, moustachioed, Van Dykes, Imperials, goateed, sideburns, mutton chops, pencil-thins, cornrows, bobs, top-knots, bro-knots, high-n-tight, Mohawks, faux-hawks, French braids, Amish bowel cuts, Page girls, conks……yee-gads!

Spent time in Millenium Park this weekend past and captured people stopping by the Sketchbook Project’s Mobile Library which was on a cross country tour from it’s home base in Brooklyn.

Absolutely loving drawing in this Tomoe River Paper sketchbook. Mostly making use out of Pitt Artist Brush Pens but also dragging along 2 fountain pens, a LamyAccent and a Graf Von Faber-Castell Classic. Both have been great to work with and the Tomoe is customer tailored to showcase their wet, fluid lines. For the past year, I’ve used Platinum Carbon Ink for the fountain pens almost exclusively. Some of the really bold contours were drawn with a 1.5 Pitt Pen. A UniBall and a grease pencil round out the basic kit seen below on an unroll pen wrap.

Had the opportunity to do a commercial gig for a friend who opened a bakery/cafe and wanted a retro pinup style cowgirl logo. So, just to show the process of how I “whip out” an illustration job, I’m posting the sketches, studies and revisions that led to our gal on the circular sign in their shop.

   ”          There she is.

Drawings and sketches done with Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper. Some drawn from life using a couple models, some are drawn after various reference sources, some are doodles from my noggin.

Working on a little book, GLIMPSE. Hoping to publish one way or another. Here are some pages.

 

Some of the drawings were done a few weeks ago, some, a few years, some are very recent. I’ve gone back onto prior work to add letting and additional drawing. They are a palimpsest of layers from printed ledger grids, handwriting, drawing, stamp letting. Various inks are being/have been used, I.e. ballpoint, he’ll pens, fountain pen inks, printing inks, markers, pigmented pens. The drawings were done on various papers then dry mounted into a small sketchbook. Halfway done. I’ll post the rest here as I finish.