After finishing my sketch of the arch, I turned and captured the scene behind Andrea. Andrea overheard the provocatively clad young lady and her friends mention going Salsa dancing later in the evening.
Drawn with fountain pens, DeAtramentis ink, and Pitt Artist Pens in à Hanemühle watercolor sketchbook.
A truly bizarre addition atop the convention center in Milano. Mario Bellini’s erotic aquatic imagination got the best of him with what looks like the desiccated remains of a whale that had collapsed in the act of major flagrante delecto with a mis-identified paramour. Imagine the budget the selection committee had to sling at Mario’s go-for-broke moment.
can’t quite figure out whether Mario was enthralled with the convention halls architectural voluptuousness or if he was expressing his inner aggression at not getting the gig to design the Center in the first place.
Fountain pen with DeAtramentis Document Brown ink and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on Hannemühle way er paper sketchbook.
President Biden, I’m wondering how you’re doing and where you are on this day of days. Me, I’m in Milano and I seem to recall a story of a family of refugees; in particular, an infant, a young mother and an older gentleman, seeking sanctuary.
Drawn on site in Milano, Italia with fountain pens and Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
Just as one would hope to capture the essential features of a car, or tree, building, baseball stadium, or someone’s home such that they could be identified by a person who hadn’t been present when the artist drew said thing, I try to “get essential features” of the people I draw, when out and about, so that you might gather important info about them. What I think of as “capturing fleeting expressions“ or “capturing the ephemeral”.
Maybe you sense gender, have a rough estimate of age, hair texture, ethnicity, or race. That they aren’t just a template, a simplified symbol for a human. Will I be able to set features and the ‘structures beneath their skin’ that their individuality might be evident and their identity known? And if I have even a modicum of time, can I give indications that they are cognizant, sentient people with expressions that give outward evidence of emotional states of ….say stress, anger, surprise, delight, or that they are concentrating, focusing, in the act of speaking, perhaps listening. Can I capture a sign they are thinking?
I’ve always done better when there were lots of features such as mustaches, wrinkles and weathered faces, prominent noses, or unusual hairstyle, less so if someone had simple features, smooth skin, button noses. Hence young children and babies vexed me. Young women were much more difficult than old geezers. With years of practice and concentrating on the goals stated above I’ve made strides, but them dang young kids still expose some of my shortcomings.
However, last week, on a crowded #22 CTA bus, I managed to get a young child taking a snooze in a stroller that surpassed the majority of years of attempts. There’s still hope for yer Uncle Darn.
Overcast day with rain in the forecast but I figured I’d go nab a quick study of the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Well, so much for the quick study. I admit at some point I thought,”Well, why not draw every blade of grass?” Seemed like a good idea at the time. I was able to include a bride having a photo session by the fountain. Weather intervened after a hour and a half and rain chased me into a cafe for about 30 minutes. A break in the rain let me return to add another 20 minutes before a light sprinkle resumed. I was still something around 1,500 blades of grass from finishing but who’s counting. Went home and used the bald patch for text. Still, enjoyed a prolonged loitering on a park bench.
Ink on toned paper.