Monday, May 30th, I got up at 5:30 AM so that I could be downtown at the Palette & Chisel by 7 AM to partake in the Annual 12 hour life drawing marathon. The P & C holds 3 such events a year, Labor Day, New Year’s Day, and Memorial Day. I made it wire to wire and turned out 24 pages. Except for the far right drawing at the top, most of the drawings were done in 15-25 minutes. I’ll spare you most of the quick warm-ups.
The last drawing is a relaxed portrait of the events’ organizer and longtime member of the P&C, Historian, Musicologist, Bloggerista, itinerant social commentator, keeper of the feral mane upon his head, and bon vivant…..Chris Miller. You can read transcription of his spontaneous ululations and bons mots on his blog, This Old Palette. A link to which is provided on my landing page.
The drawings were executed in a Utrecht toned sketchbook and a Veterinarian’s Ledger from 1959 with the same line up of tools that I’ve been hauling around with me for a spell. Pitt Artist Brush Pens, various fountain pens, and the ink for those pens, Platinum Carbon, and Iroshizuku.
The day yielded mixed results. I started off promising, foundered a bit and concluded with a few drawings I liked. I sure lost focus there on a number of poses. For certain, it wasn’t my day for likenesses. And true to form I went AWOL on the legs. I was trying to pay more attention to boxing the pelvic area and had a great view of the reclining pose, middle column fourth row down, but went ham handed and lost the grace and supple power of the model.
After drawing in the larger ledger books I feel a bit cramped at times in books under 8 1/2″ x 11 but I have enjoyed this weird bird of a book, a Veterinarian’s Daily Record. The blue pages have their own set of peculiarities and the pages in general don’t really register the addition of a white grease pencil but I like the way it takes the FC Pitt Pens and the 2 fountain pen inks I’m making the most use of lately. Those inks, Noodler’s Kingfisher Blue and Platinum Carbon have great character on this stock. The Quo Vadis I just finished drawing in had a warm and beautiful ivory color and a creamier surface. The Vet’s ledger has more of an oatmeal tint and is coarser in texture but both ledgers prevent bled-thru nicely and the rougher tooth of the Vet. Daily Rec. gives a nice grainy effect when the ink is dragged across the page.
Ah Lord, HATS. Hats bedevil me. Getting the drawings to feel like the hat sits on a solid globe, that a noggin is really shoved into one. Like hairdos, that amount to more than spaghetti slapped up against the page. Most of the Prussian Blue colored drawings are done with a fountain pen using Noodler’s Kingfisher Blue, the black drawings on ledger paper are drawn with a Visconti fountain pen using Platinum Carbon Ink. The colored drawings are my old reliable Pitt Artist Pens. The top 6 rows were drawn in a Veterinarian’s Daily Record ledger book from 1959. The ivory colored paper in row 7, column 1 & 3 and the 3 drawings in row 8 were drawn in a Quo Vadis Note 27 daily planner which has the creamy smooth Clairefontaine paper that also has good blocking ability. Fairly important as I draw on both sides. The clay colored paper in the lower rows are from a Utrecht sketchbook with recycled acid free paper.
Went to Phoenix last week, the city where I was born in 1954, for a National Art Materials Trade Association show. I left Phoenix at the age of 2 and returned having been away for 54 years.