Buttnekkiddoodles

 
Absolutely spectacular day in Chicago. Brilliant light, mild temp, people out & excited. This is Chicago coming out of a long winter like the butterfly from the chrysalis. Shot to Green City Farmers Market in Lincoln Park. Ate a baked good, & with a blues band playing to the shoppers, looked for a subject to eat up a good hour.
Enter Primordial Foods, purveyors of gourmet mushrooms & micro greens, from Bloomington, Ind. Loved the backlighting. Still serving customers as the afternoon traffic started thinning, one gent was seated & I was attracted to his shadowy profile balancing the standing figure of his partner.
Of course, of course, you guessed it, up he got as a second customer came up to the stall. I worked on the tent, table and mushroom monger #2 with the possibility he’d return to the chair, as the composition was a bit heavily weighted on the right. In time he did, then got right back up. Got on the phone, walked about the tent & behind me as he talked. Kept working & he kept teasing with the chair. As I stated, the market was nearing the end of a long day, so, did what I refrain from doing. That is interfering with the natural order of the universe. I walked over as they were without customers & said, “Hi gents. Been sketching y’all,(showed ‘em my progress), & I’m gonna break my rule and ask if you could return to that chair.” They smiled, dude #1 said ,”Sure, I could have a seat.” Said if you gotta get up for customers or start packing soon that’s cool. I just need about 8 minutes to toss you in. Intros made, Tom’s seated, Dylan tending the table, I got down to it. I mean, what about this day wasn’t life on the good side fellas? You’re young, making money, selling good product, in a beautiful setting, on a glorious day. Tom, my man, poured in that chair, with a cool breeze off the lake, blues music stirring the soul, the close of a job well done, you are the poster child of Got It Made In The Shade pardner.
Got him. Showed ‘em. Said I’d finish the sketch while they packed.
All packed up, pics were taken, hands got shaken, I wished those two fine fellas well & a safe return to lovely Bloomington.
Fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on Clairefontaine Rhodia notebook.
#primordialfoods #drawyourday #sketch

Giamila and I went for a long walk on a cold but bright and beauteous day to have a delicious lunch, followed by a viewing of In The Heat Of The Night, which was even better than I remembered it to be having previously viewed it about 50 years ago. Another long walk and we then stop in to Vanille for mint tea and to share a passion fruit tart. I began this drawing at Vanille but didn’t have the colors I wanted so I finished at home while G Babe worked on her recent embroidery project. A very lovely Sunday. Made more the enjoyable by being deeply and comfortably in love.
Drawn with fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Clairefontaine Goldline sketchbook.
#fruittart #passionfruittart #vanille #pastry #drawyourday #foodart #pittartistpen #clairefontaine #drawwhatyoueat #fabercastellusa

This may appear as a quiet moment, in which a gentleman enjoys a beverage in a reflective manner. He, we, sat in the largest coffee cafe,  four stories of previously mentioned but unnamed corporate chain cafe, worldwide. Long lines of caffeine hounds queued for their turn a one of several baristas on each floor. A similar wait ensued for their order and the possibility of a place where they might sit to enjoy same. I hurried to capture him, and let go an attempt at including his friends that I may yield my much desired chair to a person hoping to join his friends.
Drawn with a fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour sketchbook. Once I got home I added the text with a new ink. The appropriately named Antietam by Noodlers. Antietam of course being the day September 17, 2862, during our Civil War, when the largest loss of American lives in a single day occurred, 22,717 killed, wounded or missing.

 
At North & Wells in Chicago, sits a coffee house that has been the site for an avid if not rabid coterie of chess….enthusiasts? practitioners? maniacs? nuts? That’s it. Chessnuts. Almost exclusively males who exhibit a wide array of styles. Some are the cool, collected strategists. Some chatter continually. Boastful at times. Some get very demonstrative, oozing complaints and protestations most commonly during the raid paced games where a clock is involved and moves are made within a few seconds.
  
One cat in particular catches my eye in part because he wears a yellow fedora, brim up, and pull down such that his eyes are hidden beneath the wave of his hat with gaze riveted to the maneuvering on the board.

Wagering occasionally takes place, and tempers are raised with contestants parting in a huff, the extended handshake ignored,   but matches often appeared collegial with the appeal of the game and social interaction the primary payoff.

Fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on Clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour paper.

 
Wel, well, well. I had been truly saddened by Faber-Castell’s decision to discontinue the Big Brush Pitt Artist Pens. I raised a fuss. Actually contacting the company to share my thoughts about losing a tool I regarded as essential in my array of drawing gear. Capable of laying down a broader swath of pigmented ink, it not only provided greater, faster coverage than the original Pitt Artist Pen, a tool those of you familiar with my work know I cherish, but a much wetter stroke that was then easily smudged, wiped, smeared and blotter before it dried and then became waterproof. I was….well, I was pissed!!
But, I think it was clear a large brush was crucial in filling more page and working live in dynamic settings. When I’m in a hurry and drawing a scene that could change, I need the efficiency of laying down lots of tone, color and including my fingers to get as much texture and descriptive marks as possible.
so Faber-Csstell has come out with a Dual Nib Marker. As you see in these photos, one end has the big brush I referred to and a new, .8mm nib. Shown next to the PAP medium nib which is a .7mm nib, the .8mm gives a strong line which is a good compliment to the flexible big brush.

Looking closely at the two scans of the masked woman in the blue coat, drawn while I was on the bus with her, you can clearly see not only do I use different size nibs,a medium fountain pen nib, a 1.5 bullet nib PAP, a regular brush nib PAP, but also a Big Brush nib. On her coat I’ve even put to use an Ice Blue #148 on the collar, and the Sky Blue #146 for the folds and the main parts of the coat with successive lays to deepen the hue. In addition I use my fingers to smear and blot wet pigment as evidenced on her ball cap and the shadow behind her hair bun. On her cheeks and on her hat fingerprints create micro hatched. Those were easily added by sweeping my thumb across the bigger brush nib then quickly stamping the page.

 
In the lower left corner of the above page is a sketch I did while watching a YouTube video interview. My principal tool was a Faber-Castell .5mm Warm Grey IV Pitt Artist Pen. See how many individual strokes I had to use, and how many times I had to keep going over some areas to fill in and darken areas such as her cheeks, eye sockets and hair. Resembling a #2 graphite pencil in value and hue, it took a lot of work to build up the image. Again, all while she was, listening, smiling and talking. I finally went over the hair with a Warm Grey V PAP which helped deepen the value and solidify her hair.
One little detail to note: the few Dark Naples Ochre you see that were my initial lines to minimally lay in her proportions.