Buttnekkiddoodles

 I enjoy watching people at work. Over the last dozen years or so of going to life drawing sessions, I’ve turned my attention to the artists as they ply their craft. While not completely still, their movements are generally gradual enough to catch the gist of their posture with the added challenge of frequent adjustments. An artist standing at an easel may back off with some frequency but even those seated upon the bench know as a horse might need to shift to relieve pressure or numbness. I draw with ink so should the artist move significantly I either begin a second drawing or incorporate the new position right on top of the drawing in progress in the manner of pentimento. I’ve dropped into life drawing sessions across the country, but the primary place I work on my nude figure drawing chops is the venerated Palette & Chisel.  Some of these artists I’ve worked alongside for years such as my friend Misha, who hails from Minsk, Bielorussia where he studied art as a young man. A wonderful subject in his own right he is very dogged in his approach taking glimpse at the figure before working with a long practiced surety. Others rapidly look back and forth between page and subject. One in particular, Bodo, very actively tilts his head left to right while quickly looking up and down and working alternately on different sections of anatomy making him one of the more challenging to capture a likeness of. Mary Qian, seen in baseball cap and in the final drawing, frequently looks thru a pair of binoculars to help her with detail.

 U7    

Medium used: Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, various Fountain Pens, Platinum Carbon Ink, deAtrementis Ink, Pentel Brush Pen, Tomoe River Paper, Hahnemühle sketchbooks, repurposed ledgerbooks, Stillman & Birn sketchbooks,

 Seeing a little more of the Palette & Chisel since I’ve been staying in the Chicago area this Winter. Advance notice: The Meat Market will once again  be open to sell sketches, prbably ilater in mid March. 

In the cold grey of winter it’s appealing to work from nudes modeling the warm glow of the flesh.

Drawn with fountain pen, Platinum Carbon Ink, F-C Pitt Artist Pens on Tomoe River Paper. The last 2 were drawn with graphite. » Continue Reading…

Herman Melville’s great novel Moby Dick was read aloud, chapter by chapter over 24 hours by a host of folks, including the gent you see here knitting a glove, Benjamin Dionysus, at Chicago’s Newberry Library.

The very handsome cover of the novel Moby Dick with Rockwell Kent’s striking wood engraved illustrations.

  » Continue Reading…

Flew to Italy on Xmas to join my beloved Giamila and her family on the Ligurian Coast at the beautiful town of Sestri Levante for eight days and then travel together by train back to spend 5 days in her hometown of Milano.

Giamila, her mother, father, brother and sister-in-law had already taken a train to Sestri Levante, so when I flew  in to Milano, I had to hop on a train that took me into the main train station, Milano Centrale where I then boarded another train for a two hour plus ride to join up with them. As I speak no Italian, Giamila taught me a couple phrases to aid me in finding the right train. “Scuzi, dov’é il treno per La Spezi”?

Being that I hadn’t switched to a European SIM card in my cell phone, if I headed off in the wrong direction, it would have required some serious focus on the part of a traveler who didn’t sleep on the 12 hour trip from Chicago to Italy to get back on track.

All worked according to plan and Giamila met me with huge smile and warm embrace at the train station of a glorious seaside town whose views, baked goods, and seafood were off the charts.

The above drawing is an imaginary landscape drawn during the train ride,  the very smooth train ride I might add, back to Milano.

Drawn with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, fountain pens, Platinum Carbon Ink, in Hanemühle, Tomoe River Paper, and Stillman & Birn Nova Series sketchbooks.