Buttnekkiddoodles

Ah, the glorious Northwest. I can’t go there often enough. This last trip took me to Seattle by air, flew to Bozeman, then by car to Missoula, Spokane, Pullman and back to Spokane. And finally, after hearing so much about the Palouse I went into the heart of that great agrarian region. Reached the Palouse just after the combines had harvested the wheat and lentil crops and had begun the flash burn and plowing under the fields.

          

Back in Chicago working on a litho at Anchor Graphics Studio before heading out to California. Jumping back and forth between ledger books, a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook and toned paper sketchbooks by Utrecht and Strathmore. No surprises with the tools I’m using, Pitt Pens, grease pencils, fountain pens. On the road I made big use of my Pelikan M215, broad nib, rich f and Pelikano Juniors but for the brief time I’m home I’m working the Graf von Faber Guilloche Chevron broad point. Platinum Carbon ink and Noodler’s Ottoman Blue. Since I draw with my fingers as well I notice the Noodler’s and many water soluble fountain pen inks really stain the skin more tenaciously than Pitt Pen ink or even Platinum Carbon. Not totally sure what this means in the long run but…the older I get, the less I’ll sweat that.

   

The comment we all hear as folks look over our shoulders is,”I cain’t even draw straight lines!” I’ve never been the biggest fan of straight lines either. Then even when you put yourself before the job of drawing oodles of the damn things, such as in a graveyard, settling of the earth beneath the stones makes for the cockeyed jumble of and old geezer’s smile.

  

The white scalloped canopy and tubular construction connected to the west side of Denver’s Union Station was designed by local firm Anderson Mason Dale and is part of a grand redevelopment of the old Denver rail yards along the Platte. Now there stand large multi purpose commercial and residential buildings, additional light rail and a parks along the river’s edge.

   

Went to a life drawing with Paul Heaston in Denver and drew a very athletic model who held quick poses up to 8 minutes. Haden’t drawn from a nude model in a few months and could feel the rust. Below, coped a quick early morning sketch of the Denver Capitol Bldg. under renovations to re guild the dome while waiting to get picked up for a job.

  

 

Shot out to the Big Apple where I took in a little action at Belmont race track. Pretty slim crowd. But enjoyed hanging with Rob & Barney-G. We dined on deli take out, whitefish salad out by the paddocks.

Following 3 drawings done in Chicago just before heading off to NYC & Portland, Oregon.

    View of Edgewater and downtown sky scrappers from my back porch during a neighborhood blackout.

Heading out from O’Hare, did the above sweep of the boarding area. I seldom seem to settle into these air terminal transit drawings.

          

While I was drawing the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of the Portland Museum of Art, I heard a scuffle develop behind me and turned in time to see 3 men tumble to the pavement. A couple of cops had just taken down the man depicted above in light pans and racing striped jacket. Cops came flooding into the area and grabbed and cuffed another fellow from a nearby bench.

  

The above drawing is a clear example of why I invest a little more in some drawings. The multiple light sources was so compelling and challenging and made the drawing more specific to character, time of day, mood, and an effect some landscape architects might call “light pollution”.

    

Life drawings from the Palette & Chisel 12 hour life drawing marathon.

Drawings done in Utrecht & Strathmore toned paper sketchbooks, Moleskine watercolor pad, with Pitt Artist Pens, Pelikan M215 & Visconti Rembrandt fountain pens using Platinum Carbon ink, and White China marker grease pencil.

  

Working in a Stillman & Birn Delta series spiral watercolor pad and combining fountain pens ( Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Chevron and Pelikan M215, both broad nibs) juiced with Platinum Carbon ink and Faber-Castell Aquarelle graphite pencils and Pitt Artist Pens.

I grew up in pretty suburbs and the bucolic residential neighborhoods of places like Phoenix. Arizona, Lakewood, Washington, Ridgewood, N.J., Monterey, California,Camp Springs, Md.,  Austin, Texas. And I do like trees and gardens and sweet bungalows and St. Augustine grass. But man, something about the grit , scale, and muscularity of large urban environments has always held magnetic appeal for me. There’s the dynamic, move over and make room way that cities evolve. Some subs just have a plow-it-under and drop-it- down- from-the-sky development, that plans from the outset to organize and control everything. The excitement of seeing a grand scheme have to yield to new needs while hanging on to previous requirements and cherished attributes, creates a scenario that realizes in concrete, steel, asphalt, glass, and landscapes the dynamic influx on new arrivals and migratory populations that are our life blood as a society.

The scene  above was drawn up on the loading platform at Ashland, Cortland, and Clybourne, while I waited for a Metra commuter train to  Rockford College, and the variety of architectural texture that is offered from the 360 degree view up on that platform is one big reason I live in a rust belt behemoth of a city.

   

These were drawn in a Stillman & Birn watercolor spiral sketch pad with fountain pen filled with Platinum Carbon Ink, Pitt Artist Pens, and F-C water soluble graphite pencils.