Ever tell yourself, “Okay…that’s enuff.”?
So Dubuffet’s sculpture, which has occupied the open corner of Clark and Randolph between Helmut Jahn’s former State of Illinois bldg. and the colonnaded city hall is to be taken to NYC and then find permanent residency with the Art Institute of Chicago. Not sure where that actual location is to be. Personally, if it must be moved, I’d prefer if it could be located in the midst of the Laurie garden south of the Pritzker Pavilion just across Monroe north of the Renzo Piano addition of the AIC. The 29’ tall sculpture fondly known to its detractors as ‘Snoopy in a blender’, would rise majestically, perhaps menacingly, from the echinacea and prairie plantings whereas it’s scale is now somewhat dwarfed between city hall and Jahn’s soon to be Google bldg.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved the location on the triangle of public access to the SOI bldg which had a stream of commuters passing by it during the rush hours in and out of the north Loop. And, I like that bookended as it has been between the edifices of state and local government, by the theater district, and in the realm of the financial district, it – along with its massive siblings of Art, those being the Picasso, Calder, Oldenburg, Miro, Kapoor’s Cloudgate, Crown Fountain, and the murals by Roger Brown and Chagall was a clear sign of the role the arts have played in Chicago’s identity and commitment to same, as well as the important impact the arts have on the regional economy.
The Dubuffet belongs in the public realm. Under natural light. Viewable from a huge range of vantage points. Accessible, for free, by the public 24/7/365. You paid for it.
Drawn on site with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on watercolor paper.
Revisions. “Work that page!!” I urge my students to make the most out of your sketchbooks and studies. This ledgerbook I’ve been drawing in since 2017 is getting worked over pretty thoroughly. I can’t leave alone pages of the quick 1-3 minute gesture drawings or sprints as I call ‘em. And if a figure drawing can’t stand on its own then I jump into any open space that begs to be assailed. Tends to keep things nice and loose. Robust. It’s a learning process in which I don’t want to be prissy or treat my studies as precious. The studies over the last 3 weeks of Elizabeth, Tor, Gretchen, and Bobby were slung onto sketches from 2017 and 2019. All done at the Palette and Chisel. I may like a figure but still feel the page needs work. Or, I may like a page as it’s developing but am disheartened by some of the studies. The first page, for instance, the drawing of the model on the step ladder irritated me for a few years and last night I dropped a pose of Bobby on it that I felt was one of my better studies this last month, and the gray background only served as a challenge to work highlights back into his shoulders and torso. The page of Elizabeth and Gretchen was fun and I liked the color play but Gretchen doesn’t look like Gretchen. And while I let go of getting a likeness if the structure and values and marks all add up to a well constructed head, but….I have drawn Gretchen scores of times and I confess, it bugs the bejezzus outta me that I miss the mark on her likeness. Maybe if I actually spent less time on the bloody internet and more time drawing.
Consider me a devout practioner of pentimento and palimpsest. sprawling the thought process out onto a page.
As for medium used, all the usual suspects are here, fountain pens, Platinum Carbon and DeAtramentis inks, grease pencil, and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens.
Caught some artists life drawing and sketching out and about.
Fountain pen and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper and Tomoe River Paper.
Just as one would hope to capture the essential features of a car, or tree, building, baseball stadium, or someone’s home such that they could be identified by a person who hadn’t been present when the artist drew said thing, I try to “get essential features” of the people I draw, when out and about, so that you might gather important info about them. What I think of as “capturing fleeting expressions“ or “capturing the ephemeral”.
Maybe you sense gender, have a rough estimate of age, hair texture, ethnicity, or race. That they aren’t just a template, a simplified symbol for a human. Will I be able to set features and the ‘structures beneath their skin’ that their individuality might be evident and their identity known? And if I have even a modicum of time, can I give indications that they are cognizant, sentient people with expressions that give outward evidence of emotional states of ….say stress, anger, surprise, delight, or that they are concentrating, focusing, in the act of speaking, perhaps listening. Can I capture a sign they are thinking?
I’ve always done better when there were lots of features such as mustaches, wrinkles and weathered faces, prominent noses, or unusual hairstyle, less so if someone had simple features, smooth skin, button noses. Hence young children and babies vexed me. Young women were much more difficult than old geezers. With years of practice and concentrating on the goals stated above I’ve made strides, but them dang young kids still expose some of my shortcomings.
However, last week, on a crowded #22 CTA bus, I managed to get a young child taking a snooze in a stroller that surpassed the majority of years of attempts. There’s still hope for yer Uncle Darn.
Overcast day with rain in the forecast but I figured I’d go nab a quick study of the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Well, so much for the quick study. I admit at some point I thought,”Well, why not draw every blade of grass?” Seemed like a good idea at the time. I was able to include a bride having a photo session by the fountain. Weather intervened after a hour and a half and rain chased me into a cafe for about 30 minutes. A break in the rain let me return to add another 20 minutes before a light sprinkle resumed. I was still something around 1,500 blades of grass from finishing but who’s counting. Went home and used the bald patch for text. Still, enjoyed a prolonged loitering on a park bench.
Ink on toned paper.