I’ll be heading out to the Illinois Railway Museum next week to draw from the dazzling assortment of engines, club cars, sleeprs, boxcars and the like. The dark blueish beauty above dates from the Civil War and sits outside where it has weathered mjestically.
I threw in the nude cause somebody’s got to be butt nekkid on this site.
Jeeziss, I freely admit to being the King of Procrastination. I shoulda been outta this damn ledgerbook and well into the next sketchbook months ago but I just couldn’t pull away from the book’s roomy 11″ x 17″ scale. ( Actual page dimensions are 10 3/4″ wide x 16 1/2″ tall. That, and the creamy color of it’s pages that seem to be tarnishing with use and age like an old Meerscham pipe due to the presence of non archival materials. Older ledgerbooks probably have a high rag content but many later books most likely contain pulp that if ithey haven’t been pH nuetralized are slowly burning themselves up. It’s also possible that the act of frequently handling the books may leave salts and acids that can’t be too good for their endurance. The pages have become terribly brittle and ocassionally you may have witnessed loose flakes on the scans of the drawings entered on this website. The old soldier’s really coming apart at the seams and it’s long past due that I file it away but I’ve had a blast working the shit out of it.
Finally got back into some life drawing sessions this month. I’ll spare you, for now, the rustiest, and most belabored efforts. These drawings are largely from the Friday night open studio at The Palette and Chisel. I like the format on those nights, more about why in a future post. The random heads are studies of folks on the trains and buses I took to and from the sessions.