Buttnekkiddoodles

Top image is the drawing I did back in August for the trade show poster. Pitt Artist Pens, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, and gouache on paper. Above left is aphoto of my ledger books and sketchbooks at my trade show demonstration table. Ducked into the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art during lunch for a quick look about.

Had to work 2 lonnnnnnnng days at the U of O Duck Store Tools of the Trade show in Eugene, Oregon which didn’t leave much time to scour about and draw so mostly limited to brief sketches. The hour and a half spent doing laundry late one night was the longest I had to just sit and draw. Drawings on the ivory paper we done with Pitt Artist Pens on Clairefontane paper in a Rhodia Web notebook.

I want to give a shout out to all the good folks at the U of O Duck Store in Oregon for all they did to support Doug Mooney and myself and especially to their crazed ring leader The Boodle’s Poodle herself, Rachel Witt and her Number One dude ridin’ shotgun, Mr. Dangerous, Christopher Smith, for commissioning the poster from me and for just being a tornado of inspired madness.

That’s my wheel man Doug Mooney puttin’ some wear and tear on the auto via the scenic route. Doug, my gal Jennifer, and I were hurrying and scurrying from a demo at Dots and Doodles in Astoria to a demo at in Portland. We were half an hour late. My sincere apologies to the good folks at Columbia Art & Drafting. Drawn with Pitt Brush Pens in a Bee Paper Super Deluxe sketch book at 65+ miles per hour.

After giving an afternoon demo at Central Art in downtown Medford, I checked in to a motel and went strolling for to take in the views. I’m often asked about the responses I get from people  who see me drawing in public. There is quite a bit of curiosity, especially from children, and I’m generally open to sharing a glance at what I do. So when a fellow, who introduced himself as Dave, in an Oklahoma Univ. baseball cap, out walking his dog, asked if he could see what I was drawing I said sure. He was quite enthusiastic as I showed him several pages and described how I liked to draw from life and document my travels.

Our conversation seemed to evolve into personal histories fairly quickly and he explained that he had recently been “released” and had landed a good job as a machinist, had a good lady and was working to get back on his feet but was looking to move back to the Southwest. After describing my itinerant life style and being that I was parked on a bench a parking lot from the Greyhound bus stop, Dave asked how I was fixed for food and did I need a meal. I greatly appreciated his gestured and assured him I was all good in that respect. He said if I had some time in the area there were great places to hike and explore and named several spots to check out. We bid each other well and away he went.

  

Before heading off to Fargo I stopped by the Occupy Chicago demonstration near the Federal Reserve and the Chicago Board of Trade as I made my way to Union Station. There I managed a quick sketch of a bandanna clad dude workin’ up a fever on a makeshift drum kit. I spoke briefly to a few people without being able to locate any organizers or as referred to, supervisors. One fellow was a machinist who had difficulty keeping employed so was heading back to college in pursuit of the next phase in his evolving work life. He couldn’t find anyone at O.C. who had much info about the movement or it’s intentions. Another fellow, who seemed a bit street worn, wouldn’t answer any questions, kept standing in my way and telling me to draw him until I told him to scram. At that point he seemed to decide to actually engage me and said he had lost his job as a security personnel and was frustrated with the leadership at OC because they never wanted to hear anything he had to say. He said it had been his opinion that trying to occupy Grant Park overnight was a bad idea because they would be in clear violation of an easily enforceable curfew. Something the mayor acted on. I had a train to catch and strode off as the police were telling the demonstrators that they had to move.

       

Kim Bromley whipped out this doodle of me on his business card. At Kim’s invitation I gave a presentation to his drawing class at NDSU.    While I was demonstrating before Minnesota State Univ. Morehead art students by drawing professor Trygve Olson, Trygve was busy drawing me. T.O. possesses an agile and camera quick gestural style. I wasn’t making things easy on him by constantly hopping off the stool to point out features about him that drew my eye. Check out his work, political cartoons, sketches and super fresh watercolors at TrygveOlson.com

   

Had to catch a 1:45 AM bus out of town to Bozeman and having already checked out that morning, I looked to find places to hang  after my last demo that afternoon at MSUM, all the while dragging around a portfolio of drawings and a 50 lb suitcase stuffed with clothes, sketchbooks and drawing supplies. Ate a leisurely meal at a Mexican restaurant downtown. Closed the joint. Went to a coffee shop a couple doors down where I ran into one of the students who had attended my demo at MSUM earlier that day. Had a swell time talking and looking over his drawings. Closed that joint. Hauled my ass and gear over to The Side Street Grille and Pub. Enjoyed a beer and the goings on there. Lively Metal and Rig Rock atmosphere.

Fargo looked to be thrivin’. 3.5% unemployment in North Dakota! Word was the pay in the oil fields was $100 K and Mikey D’s was paying $16-$18/hr at stores servicing the man-camps up in the oil fields.

     

     

          

     

Toiling away at the old mill. Fall’s upon us and once again I rise early to make the life drawing marathon at The Palette & Chisel. Nearing completion of the current ledger book I’m drawing in. I’ve really enjoyed this one: a 500 page 1959 Veterinarian’s Daily Record published by the Kersten Publishing Co. A real beauty that takes a serious soaking with fountain pen ink without bleeding. Try this in your Moleskines.

     

 

     

     

OK, here’s a new development. As a 57 year old citizen I am entitled to register for Seniors Life Drawing sessions at the Chicago Cultural Center, a beautiful old former central library in downtown Chicago. Located in “The Loop” at the northeast corner of Millenium Park, I have often gone there to work catering events, see exhibits, and to just hang about and draw folks in the first floor reading room. So….the two drawings above to the right, the page of several quicker poses and the half hour study on toned paper done with Pitt Artist Pens and a white China marker were executed at my first “seniors” event. I’ve acted like an old geezer for years so I guess I just made it official.

     

      I’m making use of a Prussian type blue in my sketchbooks these days. I like it’s dark slightly dirty nature. By combining it with lighter value and more distinctly cleaner blues I get a range that makes otherwise monochromatic drawings richer. And by having varied hues of blue it’s not just a matter of darkening the tone but of changing the character or temperature of the color. When using fountain pens the 2 blue inks I like which have this Prussian sort of hue are Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron and Iroshizuku tsukio-yo. I make the choice depending on which fountain pens I’m using. The Bad Blue Heron is from Noodler’s “Warden” Series and is water resistant when used on cellulose paper and I have found that it can and will create build up on the nibs and in the feed if not flushed out quite frequently. Therefore, even thought I dig it’s color and coverage, I don’t use it in pens that cost more than $65 – $75. For those pens I switch to Iroshizuku inks. The principle fountain pens that see a lot of Noodler’s are my Pelicano Juniors. Less than $15 they are a scream. Just love ’em. Stainless steel nibs that have a slight give when pressed, they use ink cartridges ( which I refill using a hypodermic) that hold more ink than converters. I even find their clunky bodies comfortable. The only drawback is that the plastic caps split and crack quite easily. Everything else seems pretty durable to me. I intend to have a toymaker friend of mine cast a couple caps in a more durable material.

A drawing done from a photo of a wind mill in Illinois that I intend to visit, the clouds were drawn one morning by watching formations out my front window. I’m no Clive Powsey when it comes to clouds and luminous skies. That’s some work for this coming year.

The above 4 pages are drawn from the incredible show of WW II posters at the Art Institute of Chicago titled “Windows on the War” which features Soviet TASS posters. I purchased the book and drew from the reproductions therein because the policy at the AIC was No Sketching in the gallery. Having walked in without noticing the sign I managed to get in a few drawings before the guard came over and stopped me.

I rarely draw plants but after an illustration assignment this summer and some visits to the exquisite Chicago Botanic Gardens I’m looking to knock out some more of these. I’ll see if I can sneak a nude into a secluded part of the gardens for some plein aire cheesecake. The botanicals are draw with Pitt Artist Pens and try as I might I managed only to kill the dazzling sense of luminescence and glare. This post has quite a jump in imagery going from a peaceful intimate scene with my girlfriend, to the savage images from WWII TASS posters to cafe dwellers combing thru their computer screens, an infant, a commuter with focus wedged between the pages of a book, and drawings of models and plants with a glimpse of their reproductive organs.