Buttnekkiddoodles

Practice. It must be done. I was a weekly regular at area venues for drawing from life. For various reasons, I haven’t pursued the practice of drawing nude figures from life and it shows in some recent sketches. This 25 minute ink drawing in one of my many ledger books, was executed at a time when I was as relaxed while drawing as the model was during the pose. When figures are bundled in clothes the challenge is to indicate a figure beneath the cloth, and I always feel a little leeway in proportions so I tend to attack the page with more abandon. When the clothes come off, if I haven’t been drawing regularly I typically fret the proportions and contour accuracy and the drawings sometimes suffer from self consciousness with evident stiffness. I thought this would be a winter where I would concentrate on life drawing but……..things don’t always work out as planed.

Drawn with fountain pen filled with Iroshizuku ink and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen.

Mid March snow storm that was quite captivating. Stayed indoors glued to my living room window mesmerized by the beauty. At times the curtains of snow were so intense all but the 7-Eleven building in the foreground disappeared into the white out. Temperatures had been in the seventies just days before. This building has been a bit of an eyesore, especially since the canopy of a large Elm that sprawled across my apartment windows was lost when the diseased tree was cut down, documented in an earlier post here at Butt Nekkid Doodles. Even when the temperatures slid down into the skin tingling single digits, I love living in the North for the varied displays of Nature’s seasons. This was drawn in a Tomoe River Paper sketchbook with fountain pens, a Pelikan M215 and a Faber-Castell Basic Black Leather, both filled with Platinum Carbon Ink, and a range of Gray Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens, including the Big Brush White.

 

The incomplete graphic novella poetica. Hoping to complete it this Spring and publication by year’s end if not before. The drawings are 90% direct observation while out sketching in public and urban environments. The poetic text is mine. Medium in various inks and Ballpoint, fountain pens as well as  pigmented pens on several different stock, ledger paper, Tomoe River paper.

What an evening of music! Went to the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on Northwestern’s campus to hear the Contemporary Music Ensemble perform music by Steve Reich with Mr. Reich performing in the first piece, Clapping Music, accompanied by Co-director Alan Pierson and members of the ensemble. Also performed, City Life, and the trance inducing Music for 18 Musicians. Perfect to draw along with.

  

Back working in a Seven Seas Tomoe River Paper sketchbook. Brought along the usual suspects, a couple fountain pens gassed up with Platinum Carbon ink, and the full range of greys by Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens.

   

Recent addition to the dinning/cafe scene. Has good affordable food, including better baked goods tha the corporate alternative, coffee and tea and beer. Good daytime and nighttime lighting. Wifi. Comfortable seating for groups, communal arrays, and individuals at tall tables, lower dining tables and lounge seating. I’ve been hanging out here to much lately. The overhead potted lights create great light-dark contrasts. Varied crowds. Faber-Castell Pitt Pens of all sorts, different white pens and several fountain pens all using Platinum Carbon Ink. Strathmore a Tomoe River Paper.