Recently traveled to Hot ‘Lanta to work with # 1 sidekick, Franz Spohn. Caught Derr Franz up to his usual doings and dilemmas.
 
 
Sketchbooks used – Tomoe River Paper and a Rhodia unlined landscape format sketchbook. The usual suspects as to drawing tools- fountain pens, Faber-Castell Basic Black Leather fountain pen, Pitt Artist Brush Pens, Platinum Carbon ink, and a touch of White China Marker, aka the grease pencil.
Oops, this got posted as if It was done in the Northwest. It wasn’t. It’s a northwest based corporate coffee shop, which, is just 2 blocks from my Midwest residence. 
Land this was the flight home.
 
N Center NU at lunch (l) Evanston PO (r)
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At the CSO, Mozart & Strauss conductor Haitink. Both pieces great, but the Strauss Alpine Symphony just bowled me over.
 
 
 
Dude sketching the transit passengers in 30th Street St. Above him is conductor Josh of Amtrak.
 
So, I arrived in Philadelphia by Amtrak to the beautious 30th Street Station, one of my favorite public transit centers in the country, and had time to kill so down I sat to grab a sketch of the Bronze statue dedicated to Railroad employees who died serving in the armed forces during WWII. The statue was by Walter Hancock who taught at the Pennsyvania Academy of Fine Arts and during WWIi, was one of the” Monuments Men” whose exploits and mission was made famous in the George Clooney film of the same name. The actor John Goodman’s character was based on Walter Hancock. The drawing on the right was posted earlier and is a memorial sculpture to the fallen Canadian Rail workers from both WW I and II, copies of which can be seen in a number of Canadian cities, Vancouver being home to this one.
Drawn in  Rhodia unlined sketchbook, and a Tomoe River Paper sketchbook using Pitt Artist Brush Pens and various ni sizes of the Pitt Pens. Also fountain pens, Pelikan M215, and Faber-Castell Basic Black Leather fountain pen filled with Platinum Carbon ink.
Once again, I made it to the terrific Flight Museum in Seattle. Above you see a 6 bladed propeller on a reconnaissance plane from the Vietnam Nam War. An early model using “Stealth” technology of the day.
WW II era flight suit for gunners. Some fountain pen, and the rest rest in various Pitt Artist Brush Pens in a Rhodia unlined sketchbook.
 
 
Above you’d see the drawing kit do one of Boeing’s chief engineers and later executives. It was nice to see the celebrated engineers and designers all drew, some very regularly as children.
Vancouver was quite resplendent in my five sun dazzled days. Down by the dock near Gastown is the Bronze Angel memorial to the Canadian rail workers who served and lost their lives in World Wars I and II. On the other side of Gastown, exhausted and struggling souls are scattered along Hastings Ave for a number of blocks.
Upon leaving the city by train, minutes out of Pacific Central Station, I saw the man below, beside the tracks and on the edge of brambles, wrapped in a blanket, a bike in the brush beside him. Can’t know for sure his circumstances, but far too many are in conditions to the extreme of those garnering immense wealth and comfort truly way beyond need and security.
At this point, I can’t be swayed by an argument that would put the fault of the downtrodden, indigent, and failing souls upon their own shoulders. The imbalances of the day are so out of whack, that the system as a whole appears to me to be staggering from pathology.
Some wait and wish for a spirit of supernatural dimension to lift us up. Others wish for a spirited whisking away of the inconveniences about them.
To a spirited awakening for us all.
both drawn using Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens in various nib sizes and grays, plus the Basic Black Leather fountain pen with Platinum Carbon ink. Top drawing in a Tomoe River Paper sketchbook. Bottom drawing in an unlined Rhodia sketchbook.
John & I off to lunch to celebrate his birthday this week. Mr. Fox has graced the planet with his presence and sense of humor for 50 years. You should start receiving your AARP literature any second now sir. Drawn in a Rhodia sketchbook witn Pitt Artist Pens.
Tahera Ahmad gives a talk on Islamophoboia presented by the Middle East and North African Studies of Northwestern Univ. at the Evanston Public Library. Same materials as the above drawing.
Dran during the Chicago chapter of the Urban Sketchers monthly outing. Captured at Architectural Artifacts. Pitt Artist Pens, fountain pen, in Molskine landscape format watercolor sketchbook.
 