Buttnekkiddoodles

 
Stopped by my framer’s shop and drew Avram masked-up and in the midst of a project. Owners Ross and Darren have done an excellent job under truly challenging times to complete old orders, accommodate new orders, and help their employees thru this grueling health/economic crisis all the while observing protocol for the pandemic and keeping everyone safe.
Drawn with a Faber-Castell Basic Black Leather fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour sketchbook.

 
headed to Sawyer, Michigan for 5 days of extreme social distancing for myself and Giamila.
Spent too many hours a day watching the treadmill of news coverage on CNN and MSNBC alternating with reading The Lincoln Conspiracy  by Meltzer/Mensch. Tag book documents the failed plot to assassinate President Lincoln before the takes office. To both process the dramatic events since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and take a pause from the stream of activity I’d head to the beach to draw. I was quite frustrated to be out of position to directly cover the demonstrations in Chicago but I believe the issue of injustice against the black community has renewed vigor and there will much to cover once returning to Chicago, including covering City Council sessions and upcoming court cases once the guidelines on social distancing are relaxed.
I used Pitt Artist Pens and a Graf von Faber-Castell Chevron fountain pen in a #clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour sketchbook. #fabercastellusa
  

Somebody needs to remind me why I allow myself to be drawn into just this sort of entanglement. used a Graf von Faber Chevron fountain pen with a waterproof ink formulated for fountain pens, Pitt Artist Pens for the varying greys and white in a Stillman & Birn Nova Series Beige sketchbook.

A slight distinction can be noticed in slight hue shifts in the grey range from warm to cool to help with distinguishing between the far bank and the ree and shadows in the water.

The one place I thought I could go during this time of pandemic lockdowns with Chicago Police dispersing gatherings of a half dozen or more was a cemetery. So Giamila and I agreed to meet up, masked up as well, at Chicago’s elegant Graceland Cemetery.
In general, cemeteries are very sparsely attended so I was a bit surprised to find dozens of people, solitary, and groups of five, roaming the ground. Kids were zooming about on bicycles, a practice generally discouraged by cemeteries. Many unmasked. Lady G and I sat by this tombstone for an hour and a half while I drew and then roamed the grounds, her first time ever at Graceland.
If you have the opportunity I highly recommend a visit wherein you will find the tombstones of luminaries such as Louis Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Mies Van Der Rohe, Daniel Burnham, Dorthy Page, Pinkerton, Cyrus McCormick, and many others after whom Chicago streets, Parks and buildings are named.

Pitt Artist Pens, fountain pen on Clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour sketchbook. #fabercastellusa #clairefontaine

 

A couple weeks ago my dear pal Alexandria and I felt a need for a visit in these isolating times, so, we each masked up and met for a 3 hour visit at Calvary Cemetery.
Calvary is a modest size cemetery which sits between Chicago and Evanston along the shore of Lake Michigan. It’s very open being flat and not forested with minimal trees and plantings. It is quite pleasant, very bright and enjoys the benefit of the lake’s breeze.
Alex and I brought chairs and I proceeded to sketch her as she surfed the net while we talked of how we were coping with the extraordinary times.
I worked on a Stillman & Birn Nova Series Beige sketchbook. The warm tinted Pages provide a great tonal base allowing a selective use of a brighter value by adding white as I did here with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pen. The page has just enough tooth that when I dragged or rubbed an inky finger across the surface I was able to emulate the surface and look of the tombstone behind Alex. Yes, those are my fingerprints which when inky create a perfect look of pine needles and grass.
Tools included a Graf von Faber-Castell Chevron fountain pen filled with DeAtramentis Document Black Ink, Pitt Artist Pens of various grays and nib sizes and the S&B sketchbook mentioned above. #Stillmanandbirn #fabercastellusa