Buttnekkiddoodles

   

These recent pages were drawn in a ledger book given to me by Stuart Balcomb. The book was used to enter recording session info from Universal Studio sound tracks for mid ’60’s T.V. shows. Look close and you can see which ones.

Went to the Great state of Kal-A-Forn-Eye-Ayyyyyyyyy to do a mess load of demos. Stayed with my nephew Brett in Redondo Beach right ‘ere on de water. That’s him above serfin’ the ‘net and sportin’ a tee with Mr. Lee’s not-so-likeness on it. Brett is one of the truely good humans on this planet. My 2 brothers and I must’ve drained all the rascalness outta the gene pool and all that was left by the time Brett came along was kindness.

Below left is the sketch made whilst waitin’ for Brett at LAX. Next to that a street sketch I whipped out of a pub T rider coolin’ his heels in the shade. I did a demo right after that at Nick Gallo’s  Blue Rooster Art Supply where I met my grand niece Ariel for the first time. We went to The Hard Rock Cafe afterwards and I drew this elephant head she sculpted while she knocked out the sketch, to the right of the elephant, of me.

  

 

 

Pitt Brush Pens featured almost exclusively on these pages with a liberal addition of white China Marker. I like to draw over top of grease pencil marks with the Pitt pens, especially on toned paper as it produces a contrasting luminous effect.

 

The second image above, of the dude lookin’ dazed and confused, is my boy out there in the Bay, the Deacon of Dog Patch, Michael Recchiuti. If chocolate is your thing, Michael is without doubt your Messiah.

Taking in an early mornig pastry and a cup of hot coco at Piccino, a sweet little cafe and restaurant owned by two of Michael’s Dog Patch chums, Wayne and Sher.

     

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.

     

     

          

     

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.