Buttnekkiddoodles

Four weeks in Italy. First stop, Venezia. First surprise, no tourist. We were them. Longs walks about the city were without crowds of any sort. Restaurants had 1:3 occupancy and those were Italians, many were workers and locals.
It had been 44 years since I was last there.

The flight was uneventful. Chicago to Dublin, switch planes and then fly to Venice. The alps are so close! When we landed at the airport across the water from Venice and then boarded the bus to Venice we could see very clearly the peaks of the Italian Alps and at that time of day, late afternoon, they were pink.

We had very enjoyable meals out and about but we also cooked some at our apartment. If you choose to do that, you’re well served to go to the Fish Market alongside the main canal. Not only was the selection of fish absolutely superb, the produce was glorious! It was December for Pete’s sake.

 
I returned to some locations I had first seen as a college kid. The Tintorettos and Tiepolos were grand. I spent over two and a half chilly hours sketching and gawking at huge Tintoretto canvases, and could have stuck around for another few hours but Giamila was chilled to the bone by then and the dinner bell was ringing.

Palimpsest. Something I find particularly compelling. Whether I’m motivated to work back into a drawing because I’m lured by a seductive idea teasing me to follow and develop it; or because the page bears little appeal, i.e. the drawing just plain sucks, and I give myself permission to liposuck and surgically ad hoc the beejeeziss out of it, it is a very freeing process once I push the GO button.
The following sets of drawings show the morphed image and it’s inchoate precursor.
Fountain pen, Pitt Artist Pens, grease pencil, ballpoint and watercolor pencils on various papers- old ledgerbooks, Clairefontaine Goldline Watercolour sketchbook, and mulberry paper.
#palimpsest #drawing #adhocart #pittartistpen #clairefontaine #draweveryday #artediting #instaart

 
After dinner, prepared by my darling wife, she retired to do some reading with the understanding, hubby would clear the table, wash dishes, and tidy up.
Welllllll…..he, that being hubby, decided it might be the right time to try his hand at a little naturalismo, and brought out the tools for some sketcheroo.
But kinda the same thing happend when he attempts some Uber realism as when he makes for to do dishes. He just kinda, sorta, like….loses interest, and it’s off to the next thing.
Fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on thin mulberry paper.

Hung out with Jennymouse2003 in a department store in downtown Chicago before I had to head off to get my next generation booster shot.
Can you guess which department store in which building this sketch was made? There are 2 clues.
BTW, I think it was John Lenin who said,”The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time.”
Drawn with a Pitt Artist Pen Fude nib and a few Grey Pitt Artist Pens on a Clairefontaine Goldline sketchbook.

 
Printers Row Lit Fest Chicago was this weekend. The woman in red dress and backpack was checking out some of the rappers Saturday. Sunday, G Babe and I caught three lectures.
Kevin Boyle talked with Elizabeth Taylor about his book “The Shattering: America in the Sixties”.
Next up we heard Sherman ‘Dilla’ Thomas and Chicago Sun-Times journalist Neil Steinberg, ‘Every Goddamn Day’ talk about Chicago’s sordid, colorful, corrupt, influential, and important history.
The third lecture, ‘The Insidiousness of Hatred” featured writers Adam Langer and Jerry Stahl.