I’ve returned to court, principally to cover an ongoing case about a gang that has been pulling off armed robberies and carjackings in my neighborhood. One suspect is in custody with the possibility more may be indicted.
I’m also just randomly going in to get the pulse of what’s doing in Chicagoland with corruption cases et. al.
My friend Stuart, hand to head upper left, is a DA who also is a solid painter and teaches drawing and painting, never even got up to argue his case as it was 
Because of Covid, defendants are given the option to appear in court, or via Zoom sessions, which many are choosing to and hence I had to go to a “Zoom Room” to watch closed circuit proceedings with everyone logged in. You can see my sketch of the computer, my scattered markers, and my reflection on the screen. It was a great work station as I had the room to myself, but it was also hectic as people often turned their cameras off until the judge called on them. So I had very little time to sketch participants. The judge’s screen was on full time and I got the two sketches of her, masked and unmasked, with her fabulous mane of hair.
Fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Rhodia Dot Grid notebook.
So in the spirit of reportage,
re·port·age /r??pôrdij,?repôr?täZH/, many
of my post are drawings which address the features of note made during my near daily excursions from the sanctity of my home.
Some take liberties as to the manner in which I lay pen to paper, to wit: a stain on a floor that I interpreted to be a prancing bull elephant (I did in fact allow my imagination license to conjure said sketch). Others may find me doing my level best to depict, illustrate if you must, that before me with fairly faithful effort in the format most widely know as “realism” or often “naturalism”.
The following drawings would be just such examples, captured in the favored nomenclature of those crafty artists self described as “urban sketchers”. I count myself among the loose affiliation of this cadre.
First drawing, executed just this afternoon, is of a street light on Clark but several yards from my Lincoln Park apartment. En route to a much frequented coffee house with the aim of sketching a collective I’ve nicknamed The Chessnuts, (misspelling intended), I spied the very deteriorated concrete and rusted steel base of the previously mentioned streetlight.
Stopped dead in my tracks, an opportunistic nature insisted I whip out sketchbook & pens. I complied. Thus I present the entitled sketch ….. “chicago infrastructure “.
The Second drawing dates from January 2019 when, descending from the Metra platform at Clyborne and Ashland, I was awakened to a harbinger of Chicago’s aging public transportation superstructure. The rusting rebar bones of a crumbling concrete pillar were glaringly obvious. “Sit your arse down and start drawing young man!”, came the terse instruction. Swiveling my head to find I was “alone”, I complied.
The Third drawing was completed August 2015 whilst I sat in the air conditioned comfort of a pie & coffee shoppe in Evanston. What so captured my attention was the canary yellow steel braces that had been added to the concrete train trestle. Interesting choice of color as the bird in question was often brought in to mines to warn miners of the viability of the air quality or the lack thereof.
Please note in the detail provided in the Fourth image of yet another example of columnar decay. I suppose because the Romans, who made considerable use of concrete, built structures, many of which are with us still, more or less, like, some 17 to 20 centuries hence, we should rest assured as to the durability of these building materials and turn out attention to more, shall we say, “pressing matters”?
Well, prioritize as you most judiciously decide, I just thought you might like to know, vigilance has it’s place. Or reward. For it was none other than that old sage Ben Franklin who quipped,”A stitch in time, saves nine!” I have to give props to one who’s command of language resulted in such weighted eloquence delivered with extreme economy.
I have much to learn dear sir. Much to learn.
Drawn with fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on Stillman & Birn Nova series toned paper.
Hung out near closing time at the mega brew corporate cafe on The Mag Mile. Lu Lu, Raven, and Abigail pumping the evening crowd full of caffeine so they can make the club scene till last call. Pitt Artist Pens and a fountain pen on Rhodia Dot Grid notebook.
Back in court. Cook County Courthouse, Skokie, IL, the Honorable F. Andreou presiding, Officer Valenza of the Cook Co. Sheriff Police, Cook Co. Clerk BH. Went to cover a specific case, the defendant was still incarcerated and trial date got moved. Stuck around to draw and watch proceedings which were a combination of Zoom meetings and and one witnessed that actually appeared in the courtroom.
I logged into the Zoom feature so I could see close ups of the judge, defendants, witnesses, and counsel but my very expensive iPhone kept dropping the signal. As a result, didn’t get the best representation of Judge Andreou nor Clerk BH but the attending lawyers and Deputy Valenza all felt the officer was clearly identifiable. One lawyer comment that I even got his salt ‘n’ pepper at the temples.
“Shucks ma’am, that’s my job.” {Mic drop}
Draw with fountain pen, DeAtramentis Document Brown Ink, and Pitt Artist Pens on a Rhodia Dot Grid notebook.
