Perhaps one of the most anticipated and auspicious days of my year is the 12 hour life drawing marathon at The Palette & Chisel on Labor Day. Though I am 63 years old and have had a number of jobs over the years that were not based on the semester structure of schools, the hangover of all that early life preparation, and the change of seasons, still creates this sense for me of new possibilities. Thus, when others look to take the day off from the grind, I look to put in one of my longer days working towards the betterment of my craft.
The sessions start at 7am with a model in the third floor studio, and later, models may be posing on the second floor and out in the coach house. Forty-five minutes to an hour are set aside for lunch out in the courtyard, but then I head back upstairs till the sessions conclude at 7pm. On average, I show up at 7:30-8 in the morning and last till 6:30-7 at night. If I get in some sketching on the 40 minute train ride to the Palette & Chisel, that serves to warm me up and gives me a sense of what the day’s efforts may yield.
 
 
 
 
Fountain pens, Platinum Carbon ink, Pitt Artist Pens, Tomoe River Paper, ledgerbook.
A view of the Virginia Piedmontese from Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. Â Returned to my mother’s birthplace outside Charlottesville, Va for a family reunion and visited Monticello for the first time. This chimney is the remains of the joinery workshop on the estate of Monticello. Here master craftsman James Dinsmore fashioned much of the woodworking and furniture at Jefferson’s home along with the principle assistant, enslaved artisan John Hemings, brother to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who bore Thomas Jefferson a number of children.
View of The Rotunda from The Lawn of UVa.
Top drawing done with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens in a Tomoe River Paper sketchbook. Bottom drawing, F-C PAP in an old ledger book.
 
The before and after eyeball demo using watercolor pencils. I enjoy giving live demos where after drawing out something, I eradicate the sketch. Gets their attention.
Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Penvils in a doctor’s billing ledger book.
Slowly coming out of the winter, tho I know in this part of the country it’s a big tease.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What am I to do if I don’t loiter? Some artists comment,”You draw so fast!”. But if they watched me, they’d observe I’m anything but a blur. I may use techniques that achieve great effect, and I prefer to say I draw fluidly, but, it ain’t speed. Decisiveness rules the day. But, it still takes time. And, if your subject seems to be comfortable and settled into what they’re doing, enjoy what you’re doing. Slow down a bit, look more deliberately.
Perhaps it’s that I draw in ink and with pigmented pens, and use multiple nib sizes and brush nibs that cover rapidly. It might also have to do with not sketching in pencil first then switching to ink or paint. Once warmed up I might get to final contours and tones early in the process. Still, if you’re going to adorn a dress with flowers, or convincingly portray a head full of curly locks and beard stubble, time flows on, and easily enough, you’ve spent 20-30 minutes trying to capture a citizen enjoying a book while sipping away at a beverage.
I see the following tools used in the above drawings: various fountain pens, Pitt Artist Pens, white grease pencils (aka White China Markers) and White Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen. Papers would be: Strathmore toned paper, Yasutomo, Utrecht toned paper, Cachet Eartbound, different ledger books, Tomoe River Paper.
