An exhibit most definitely worth your time and $10 is at The Pritzker Military Museum & Library of the great combat and op ed artist, Bill Mauldin.
My sketch of Mauldin drawing on site. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens on a Rhodia unlined notebook.
A drawing over half a century old which couldn’t be more relevant today.
Got in a few hours in the magnificent Cleveland Museum of Art. Fantastic buildings, superb collection.
Drawing #1 one of the Biglin brothers from Thomas Eakins’ The Biglin Brothers Turning The Stake.
#2 two views of a bas relief marble head and a quickie of a Adolph Mengs portrait of Infante Don Luis de Borbón one of King Philip V of Spain’s nere do well trust funded brats. The side label/comment mentioned how characters like him were the subjects of interest when rational skepticism in the Age of Enlightenment began to confront absolutist hereditary power. Kind of brings to mind the spoiled brats like D Trump and his offspring.
#3 gored and dying dogs from a hunting scene by Lucas Cranach the Elder. A little bronze of a dog scratching itself. And a wooden carving of St. Andrew
#4 rt to lft the backside of some dude in a print, the still clenched hand of a dead Christ in a wooden Pietá. Many times the hands of the dead Christ are depicted relaxed, but the graphic realism of this one grabbed me. And a difficult to see sketch of a polished bronze figure with a Fu Manchu that resembled Kenny Rogers after he got plastic surgery “face lift”
Drwg #5 the last drawing before leaving the CMA a sketch of a Civil War Union soldier carving a pipe. Dressed in red cap, blue jacket and billowing red breeches the units known as Zouaves were comfortable and looked great but were compelling targets of Confederate sharp shooting snipers. This small painting by Homer is a gem! Well known for his Maine seascapes and his watercolors, he was a monster draftsman who was a war correspondent and combat artist. He’s knocked me dizzy with a number of his drawings and watercolors. I adore this figure and his hands carving the pipe were so accurately dexterous with brilliant brushwork.
Drawn with a Warm Grey IV Pitt Artist Pen Chisel nib and Brush nib because they appear to be pencil drawings, especially on paper that allows you to smudge ‘em, BECAUSE… museums don’t want you to draw with ink.
p.s. the dog scratching itself was drawn with ink from a fountain pen.
Spent a solid month trekkin about the West coast and sat on my duff for a goodly number of hours. It’s the sort of thing that puts demands onyer fashion choices, ie comfy britches with a properly deep inseam and good travel shoes.
The lanscapes below were draw from a bus. The one with the birds on the telephone lines was a 15 minute sketch at a rest stop in southern Oregon, the others were enroute at 60 mph.
All drawings executed with ink, fountain pens, Pitt Artist Brush Pens, Platinum Carbon Ink, in various hbooks, Rhodia, Moleskine, Stillman & Birn, Tomoe River Paper.
Recently traveled to Hot ‘Lanta to work with # 1 sidekick, Franz Spohn. Caught Derr Franz up to his usual doings and dilemmas.
Sketchbooks used – Tomoe River Paper and a Rhodia unlined landscape format sketchbook. The usual suspects as to drawing tools- fountain pens, Faber-Castell Basic Black Leather fountain pen, Pitt Artist Brush Pens, Platinum Carbon ink, and a touch of White China Marker, aka the grease pencil.
Right next to my hotel was a Whole Foods-esque Co-op grocery store with a second story juice bar and dinning room that sported a jaw dropping view of the mountain range to the north of Bozeman.
Love the trees out west and set about to draw a few on the MSU campus when this gorgeous largish bird went flitting about. Black head and neck, white under belly, tail feathers longer than it’s body length, iridescent blue black back and wings with white scattered throughout it’s wings. Magnificent. And BOLD! Saw it hold it’s ground by the base of a pine tree while a dachsund trotted up to sniff around. I though folks would be equally excited when I described it to them but nope. “It’s one of them damn Magpies”. “They’re worse than pigeons and they kill cats”. What? They kill cats?? Next I thought I’d hear they carted off small children. However, several folks, including a couple birders spoke of their tenacity. Part of the Corvid family, which includes Jays, Crows, and Ravens, Magpies are described in Wikipedia as one of the smartest animals. One of the very few who have shown self-recognition in mirror tests. Big vocal range and good mimics. I became an immediate fan.
The above drawing was whipped out in the early morn before heading off to a number of demos and the veg was actually a turnip not a beet. I used some ballpoint on these pages but mostly turned to the Pitt Brush Pens, And with the exception of the tan page with the turnip drawing, these drawings were done in a sweet little leatherette covered Rhodia sketchbook.