Buttnekkiddoodles

Right next to my hotel was a Whole Foods-esque Co-op grocery store with a second story juice bar and dinning room that sported a jaw dropping view of the mountain range to the north of Bozeman.

Love the trees out west and set about to draw a few on the MSU campus when this gorgeous largish bird  went flitting about. Black head and neck, white under belly, tail feathers longer than it’s body length, iridescent blue black back and wings with white scattered throughout it’s wings. Magnificent. And BOLD! Saw it hold it’s ground by the base of a pine tree while a dachsund trotted up to sniff around. I though folks would be equally excited when I described it to them but nope. “It’s one of them damn Magpies”. “They’re worse than pigeons and they kill cats”. What? They kill cats?? Next I thought I’d hear they carted off small children. However, several folks, including a couple birders spoke of their tenacity. Part of the Corvid family, which includes Jays, Crows, and Ravens,  Magpies are described in Wikipedia as one of the smartest animals. One of the very few who have shown self-recognition in mirror tests. Big vocal range and good mimics. I became an immediate fan.

   

The above drawing was whipped out in the early morn before heading off to a number of demos and the veg was actually a turnip not a beet. I used some ballpoint on these pages but mostly turned to the Pitt Brush Pens, And with the exception of the tan page with the turnip drawing, these drawings were done in a sweet little leatherette covered Rhodia sketchbook.

   

 

16 hours via bus to Big Sky country. Not big on comfort so sleep didn’t happen but very entertaining. Hit Theodore National Monument about daybreak when our handlebar moustachioed driver, Richard, a colorful man in gray stetson, cowboy boots, smart looking vest and hand crafted utility belt, started giving us a thorough spiel about the park’s history, the area geography, the distinctions of the Bison and Buffalo, area tribes and the lowdown on the Yellowstone river. “Undammed and untamed, the Yellowstone is the longest undammed river in America”. North Dakota’s Badlands were quite the early morning beauty also.

Arrived by air to Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, and one of the first things to grab my attention was a rather large model of the Titanic as it was found resting on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens on a beautiful little orange leatherette covered Rhodia notebook with blank ivory paper.

Draw this early morning scene on the left at the Addison Blue Line platform and the middle drawing of our plane on the tarmac on a spiral sketchpad by Stillman & Birn that was heavy enuff stock to take watercolor.

     

Enjoying a beverage and the view at funky 24 hour vegan coffee shop All Saint’s Cafe, Tallahassee. Pretty much packed a good deal of the time, even Saturday night, largely with students from nearby FAMU and FSU.

I was told that Tallahassee was quite fond of it’s trees and protected them with the weight of the law. Saw some gigantic pecan trees and big beautiful live oaks with long gray veils of moss. Sides were paved to swerve around some of the behemoths. The Thomasville, Ga.  water tower was drawn on a Stillman & Birn pad with Pitt pens and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils right before I did a workshop at the Thomasville Art Center which had been a Coca Cola bottling plant many years ago.

  

Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens and white China marker on a toned, recycled ( I think ) paper sketchpad by Utrecht. Love the atmosphere this paper imparts to the work but the paper has wood pulp in it.

     

   

Flew out of Tallahassee in a twin prop flying coffin that carried 18 passengers at max load. Felt like I was in a caulk gun.

  

 

Almost finished with this Veterinarian’s Daily Journal from 1959. 500 and a few extra pages.

Heading out of Chicago on a Mega Bus to Minneapolis. Got a great seat on upper deck behind forward stairs and I had a good view and could draw a man I believe is an actor/playwright/director talking to a passenger in front of me.

As soon as I hit Minneapolis Virginia McBride of Wet Paint picked me up at the bus stop and drove me to a super cool event at The Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus for a free sketch night held on the first Thursday of each month. Organized by Jennifer Menken the staff would hold the living animals for you to get a close view if you wished. I had to scurry around the aquarium that kept these beautiful Tiger Salamanders in view cause them rascals would stare at me for a bit then slither off. The toothy beaver held still thanks to the efforts of a skilled taxidermist. Afterwards I was taken to The Blue Door where I had a delicious local brew, Surly Furious and my first battered and deep fried pickle.

Check out the view below, top left, from my hotel room in St. Paul, captured on a Stillman & Birn Delta series in Pitt Artist Pens. Who’d wanna leave the room with a view this captivating.

 

 

     

The above 4 pages were drawn in a Stillman & Birn Delta series spiral sketchbook using ballpoint, Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pens and Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils.

   

The view of Louisville was done with Pitt Artist Brush Pens on Bee Paper Super Deluxe Pad.

   

• Returned from a glorious trek to Louisville, Kentucky and Muncie, Indiana in the wee hours this morning. Off early tomorrow to Wet Paint in Minneapolis. Later in the week I’ll scoot over to Artists and Display in Milwaukee. The portrait of me above was whipped out by Jeremy Miller an artist and instructor at Preston Arts Center in Louisville.  Drew with Jeremy out and about one day. That’s Jeremy next to Catherine below, on the couches in New Albany. He’s a very easy going presence and has a very deft hand with a bristle brush pen.  I’ll have to say he inked the better likeness.