Buttnekkiddoodles

Arrived by air to Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, and one of the first things to grab my attention was a rather large model of the Titanic as it was found resting on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens on a beautiful little orange leatherette covered Rhodia notebook with blank ivory paper.

Draw this early morning scene on the left at the Addison Blue Line platform and the middle drawing of our plane on the tarmac on a spiral sketchpad by Stillman & Birn that was heavy enuff stock to take watercolor.

     

Enjoying a beverage and the view at funky 24 hour vegan coffee shop All Saint’s Cafe, Tallahassee. Pretty much packed a good deal of the time, even Saturday night, largely with students from nearby FAMU and FSU.

I was told that Tallahassee was quite fond of it’s trees and protected them with the weight of the law. Saw some gigantic pecan trees and big beautiful live oaks with long gray veils of moss. Sides were paved to swerve around some of the behemoths. The Thomasville, Ga.  water tower was drawn on a Stillman & Birn pad with Pitt pens and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils right before I did a workshop at the Thomasville Art Center which had been a Coca Cola bottling plant many years ago.

  

Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens and white China marker on a toned, recycled ( I think ) paper sketchpad by Utrecht. Love the atmosphere this paper imparts to the work but the paper has wood pulp in it.

     

   

Flew out of Tallahassee in a twin prop flying coffin that carried 18 passengers at max load. Felt like I was in a caulk gun.

  

 

Almost finished with this Veterinarian’s Daily Journal from 1959. 500 and a few extra pages.

Heading out of Chicago on a Mega Bus to Minneapolis. Got a great seat on upper deck behind forward stairs and I had a good view and could draw a man I believe is an actor/playwright/director talking to a passenger in front of me.

As soon as I hit Minneapolis Virginia McBride of Wet Paint picked me up at the bus stop and drove me to a super cool event at The Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus for a free sketch night held on the first Thursday of each month. Organized by Jennifer Menken the staff would hold the living animals for you to get a close view if you wished. I had to scurry around the aquarium that kept these beautiful Tiger Salamanders in view cause them rascals would stare at me for a bit then slither off. The toothy beaver held still thanks to the efforts of a skilled taxidermist. Afterwards I was taken to The Blue Door where I had a delicious local brew, Surly Furious and my first battered and deep fried pickle.

Check out the view below, top left, from my hotel room in St. Paul, captured on a Stillman & Birn Delta series in Pitt Artist Pens. Who’d wanna leave the room with a view this captivating.

 

 

     

The above 4 pages were drawn in a Stillman & Birn Delta series spiral sketchbook using ballpoint, Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pens and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils.

   

The view of Louisville was done with Pitt Artist Brush Pens on Bee Paper Super Deluxe Pad.

   

• Returned from a glorious trek to Louisville, Kentucky and Muncie, Indiana in the wee hours this morning. Off early tomorrow to Wet Paint in Minneapolis. Later in the week I’ll scoot over to Artists and Display in Milwaukee. The portrait of me above was whipped out by Jeremy Miller an artist and instructor at Preston Arts Center in Louisville.  Drew with Jeremy out and about one day. That’s Jeremy next to Catherine below, on the couches in New Albany. He’s a very easy going presence and has a very deft hand with a bristle brush pen.  I’ll have to say he inked the better likeness.

     

     

          

     

Toiling away at the old mill. Fall’s upon us and once again I rise early to make the life drawing marathon at The Palette & Chisel. Nearing completion of the current ledger book I’m drawing in. I’ve really enjoyed this one: a 500 page 1959 Veterinarian’s Daily Record published by the Kersten Publishing Co. A real beauty that takes a serious soaking with fountain pen ink without bleeding. Try this in your Moleskines.

     

 

     

     

OK, here’s a new development. As a 57 year old citizen I am entitled to register for Seniors Life Drawing sessions at the Chicago Cultural Center, a beautiful old former central library in downtown Chicago. Located in “The Loop” at the northeast corner of Millenium Park, I have often gone there to work catering events, see exhibits, and to just hang about and draw folks in the first floor reading room. So….the two drawings above to the right, the page of several quicker poses and the half hour study on toned paper done with Pitt Artist Pens and a white China marker were executed at my first “seniors” event. I’ve acted like an old geezer for years so I guess I just made it official.

     

      I’m making use of a Prussian type blue in my sketchbooks these days. I like it’s dark slightly dirty nature. By combining it with lighter value and more distinctly cleaner blues I get a range that makes otherwise monochromatic drawings richer. And by having varied hues of blue it’s not just a matter of darkening the tone but of changing the character or temperature of the color. When using fountain pens the 2 blue inks I like which have this Prussian sort of hue are Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron and Iroshizuku tsukio-yo. I make the choice depending on which fountain pens I’m using. The Bad Blue Heron is from Noodler’s “Warden” Series and is water resistant when used on cellulose paper and I have found that it can and will create build up on the nibs and in the feed if not flushed out quite frequently. Therefore, even thought I dig it’s color and coverage, I don’t use it in pens that cost more than $65 – $75. For those pens I switch to Iroshizuku inks. The principle fountain pens that see a lot of Noodler’s are my Pelicano Juniors. Less than $15 they are a scream. Just love ’em. Stainless steel nibs that have a slight give when pressed, they use ink cartridges ( which I refill using a hypodermic) that hold more ink than converters. I even find their clunky bodies comfortable. The only drawback is that the plastic caps split and crack quite easily. Everything else seems pretty durable to me. I intend to have a toymaker friend of mine cast a couple caps in a more durable material.

A drawing done from a photo of a wind mill in Illinois that I intend to visit, the clouds were drawn one morning by watching formations out my front window. I’m no Clive Powsey when it comes to clouds and luminous skies. That’s some work for this coming year.