Buttnekkiddoodles

Flew to Italy on Xmas to join my beloved Giamila and her family on the Ligurian Coast at the beautiful town of Sestri Levante for eight days and then travel together by train back to spend 5 days in her hometown of Milano.

Giamila, her mother, father, brother and sister-in-law had already taken a train to Sestri Levante, so when I flew  in to Milano, I had to hop on a train that took me into the main train station, Milano Centrale where I then boarded another train for a two hour plus ride to join up with them. As I speak no Italian, Giamila taught me a couple phrases to aid me in finding the right train. “Scuzi, dov’é il treno per La Spezi”?

Being that I hadn’t switched to a European SIM card in my cell phone, if I headed off in the wrong direction, it would have required some serious focus on the part of a traveler who didn’t sleep on the 12 hour trip from Chicago to Italy to get back on track.

All worked according to plan and Giamila met me with huge smile and warm embrace at the train station of a glorious seaside town whose views, baked goods, and seafood were off the charts.

The above drawing is an imaginary landscape drawn during the train ride,  the very smooth train ride I might add, back to Milano.

Drawn with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, fountain pens, Platinum Carbon Ink, in Hanemühle, Tomoe River Paper, and Stillman & Birn Nova Series sketchbooks.

I had the honor and the pleasure to be asked by Bruce Velick , owner of Winnow gallery in Santa Fe, NM to help raise funds for the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. The event was held just a couple blocks from the main plaza in old town Santa Fe at Winnow on July 6&7. The SFAS held an on-site mobile adoption on Friday July 6 during which two dogs were adopted.

Calico Jack, seen above, was one of the dogs up for adoption. As seen in the photo above, CJ and his female mate had a run in with a porcupine which got to close to their litter of puppies. CJ and the female receive about 100 quills between them which were removed by the doctors at the SFAS hospital. The puppies were not hurt. The family who owned these dogs, an Australian herding breed known as Blue Heelers, were not very engaged with raising the dogs and after the porcupine run in gave them up for adoption. Three weeks after they were brought to the shelter I got meet Jack who was  by then healed and his socializing was coming along very nicely. I spent about 25 minutes alone with Calico Jack in a “cuddle room” at the shelter where I played with him and drew him. He is seen in the sketch below but trust me, he didn’t hold that pose for long. I got my face licked, gave him some treats and did my best to add to the drawing all the while. Sweet and smart and eager to please, CJ was adopted Friday at Winnow gallery by Sam. The puppies were almost immediately adopted after arriving at the shelter ath the mother of the liter will go up for adoption soon.

Above, Calico Jack prepares to head off with his new pal Sam as Alex of SFAS completes the paperwork. A good day indeed.

Drawings were executed with Pitt Artist Pens and various fountain pens filled with Platinum Carbon ink.

It’s been awhile since I posted some of my life drawings, January was the last installment so, without further ado, bring on the butt nekkid parade.

The above drawing is probably a 3 minute sketch. It ‘s not a slap dash piece, it may happen fairly quickly but is also methodical. I lay in a few contours and tonal shapes with a flesh tone Pitt Big Brush, restate contour lines in a darker brown, and then drop a bit more flesh tone to bring out the light/shade contrast. A few quick strokes to denote ribs and the model changes posture, but not before I’ve established the posture’s key structural features (minus one leg) and an indication of light source with an emphasis on the implied contour of light-shadow transition, and a couple nods to specific detail, I.e. the face, the elbow, the left hand and wrist band.

The work continues. I didn’t want it but that’s besides the point now. It is fascinating to watch a construction site from such a vantage point. I haven’t asked for permission, and doubt that I’d get it, to don a hard hat and get on site to draw. There’s been such an array of Earth moving equipment and now as you can see from the sixth image below, they have started building the central tower for the main crane.

All drawings are with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on either Tomoe River Paper, in a Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook, or in a Stillman & Birn watercolor sketchbook, or a Hahnemule sketchbook.

I’ve had an unusual and superb vantage point of a demolition and construction site which is directly across the street from my apartment. Never having watched a site from start to finish before I have been surprised by some of the developments. Upon demolishing the existing structure seen above in a snowstorm and just below that at night, the rubble was separated into different materials, i.e. bricks, the reusable ones were stacked on pallets and wrapped, banded and carted away for reuse. Metal materials were hauled away then general rubble was removed. But one of the biggest eye openers was the digging of roughly twenty 25-30’ cylindrical holes that had rebar cages inserted before being filled with concrete. Then, these concrete columns were covered up with the heavy equipment moving to dig the next holes.

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drawings executed with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens and graphite on Stillman & Birn Nova Series Toned sketchbook, Tomoe River Paper.