Two gorgeous days, perfect to draw out in the park. So yesterday I headed out to draw more of the renovations at North Pond. That was my intention until I came across the quirky sculpture by Robbie Barber next to the Lincoln Park Recreational Center. An old shell of a mobile camper/trailer mounted on a rusty outsized wheel rims. Channeling Claus Oldenburg a smidg, this very American, iconic mash up, part Conestoga wagon, part baby carriage on steroids glued me to the grass and out came the sketchbook. I started laying out the basic structure a bit after 3pm. At that point the trailer shell was partially in the sun with the raking light casting zebra shadows on the side. But with the sun moving quickly the whole piece wound up in the full shade of the building behind me. Not what I’d hoped to capture. So I worked on the wheels, background & grass and decided the drawing would be finished at roughly the same time today.
Today I headed out to complete the drawing and arrived at the perfect time. Okay, next up, I figured I head over to North Pond as planned the previous day. Well, en route to said pond, I spied the magnificent Eli Bates fountain by Augustus Saint-Gaudens of boys with scaly fin tipped fish legs (merboys?) wrestling with fish. The light was good, I was game and thus out came the sketchbook and pens.
Fountain pen & Pitt Artist Pens on a Rhodia notebook.
