 
The incomplete graphic novella poetica. Hoping to complete it this Spring and publication by year’s end if not before. The drawings are 90% direct observation while out sketching in public and urban environments. The poetic text is mine. Medium in various inks and Ballpoint, fountain pens as well as  pigmented pens on several different stock, ledger paper, Tomoe River paper.
What an evening of music! Went to the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on Northwestern’s campus to hear the Contemporary Music Ensemble perform music by Steve Reich with Mr. Reich performing in the first piece, Clapping Music, accompanied by Co-director Alan Pierson and members of the ensemble. Also performed, City Life, and the trance inducing Music for 18 Musicians. Perfect to draw along with.
 
 
Back working in a Seven Seas Tomoe River Paper sketchbook. Brought along the usual suspects, a couple fountain pens gassed up with Platinum Carbon ink, and the full range of greys by Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens.
Passengers on the Fall Trek. Above, a very nice gentleman gets his first look at the Rockies.
Amtrak, Metra, CTA, Megabus, Trailways, Uber….as long as my hands aren’t glued to a steering wheel, I’ll make my way around the country and fill my sketchbooks. Fountain pens, juiced up with Platinum Carbon, Pitt Artist Pens, grease pencils, aka the white China markers, ballpoint, the rare color pencil, gel pens, whatever, in ledger books, watercolor pads, Stillman & Birn, Strathmore, Clairefontaine, Tomoe River Paper and then some. Drawing from life, from nudes, landscapes, urban environments, transit passengers, dead animals, cemeteries, laundromats, drawing out of my head and out of my mind….just answering the calling and feeding the obsession.
For the 5th year, I will head out across the country, this time trekking down the middle, from the mountains to the Mississippi, over the Oglalla and amber waves of grain, to sketch and share craft and discoveries with a whole mess of folks. To follow my journey, go to: doncolleysroadtrip.com.
 
The trek began with an 8 hour layover at the Twin Cities airport and  a late arrival in gorgeous Bozeman. From there I made it to the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. Go. Hallowed ground. The markers indicating where the combatants fell give and amazing sense of the raging and rambling nature of the battle. From there, Sheridan, Wyo, and a long bus ride to Fargo, where the biplane was drawn at the Fargo Air Museum. The West has to be experienced by bus by car and by train with frequent stops.
All drawings executed with various fountain pens, Lamy Accent, Graf Von Faber-Castell Classic Ebony, using Platinum Carbon ink, grease pencil, and a ide array of F-C Pitt Artist Brush Pens in several types of sketchbooks: Strathmore toned sketchbooks, Moleskine landscape formate watercolor sketchbook, Stillman & Birn Epsilon, Tomoe River Paper sketchbook, and a ledger book from the 1950’s.
The gorgeous elm tree next to my fifth floor apartment was felled this week. Up amidst it’s verdant leafy boughs, I enjoyed the cooling privacy it gave me. During light rains I could hear it tremble. In a soft breeze it sighed and swayed. In high windstorms, it vigorously brushed the brick and windows. I awoke to the gnarling sound of chainsaws and the sight of the nursing home that had been hidden by the elm’s foliage.
Shock quickly boiled into rage. I grabbed my sketchbook to indict the muthafukker cutting it down. Yes, I realized my elm was most likely diseased, that the crew was just doing their job, that they most likely had families that loved them, that they probably tithed at church, loved their pets, supported the local sports teams, Â had personal relations with Jesus, payed their taxes, and changed their socks often. O K, granted. Still, they were hacking my beautiful companion to pieces and feeding to the mechanical beast below my window.
Platinum Carbon ink, fountain pens, Pitt Pens, Tomoe River Paper.