Buttnekkiddoodles

I was walking about downtown St. Paul with artist Ken Avidor and we happened upon a police crime scene 1 block from the hotel I was staying at. We both drew the event and you can see the witness still sitting in the transit kiosk.

After we finished, we went back to Ken’s place to post the drawings on an Urban Sketchers’ site. I left there near midnight and returned to the hotel I was staying at where I showed the night front desk clerk the sketch. Turns out, a fellow connected with the event had snuck into the lobby and was hiding in the lobby balcony. The night clerk could here him wheezing and panting and then told him he had to leave, to which the fellow responded he wasn’t going back out because, “they were going to kill me”.

Woke early and drew, from my hotel room window, the transit kiosk where the victim, who made it to the hospital ER alive, collapsed.

Top drawing done with fountain pen, and Pitt Artist Pens in Molskine watercolor notebook.

Middle drawing, fp, PAP, and Pitt Artist Pen white in a Strathmore toned sketchbook.

Bottom drawing, fp filled with Noodlers Ottoman Blue and PAPs in Moleskine.

Heading out of Chicago on a Mega Bus to Minneapolis. Got a great seat on upper deck behind forward stairs and I had a good view and could draw a man I believe is an actor/playwright/director talking to a passenger in front of me.

As soon as I hit Minneapolis Virginia McBride of Wet Paint picked me up at the bus stop and drove me to a super cool event at The Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus for a free sketch night held on the first Thursday of each month. Organized by Jennifer Menken the staff would hold the living animals for you to get a close view if you wished. I had to scurry around the aquarium that kept these beautiful Tiger Salamanders in view cause them rascals would stare at me for a bit then slither off. The toothy beaver held still thanks to the efforts of a skilled taxidermist. Afterwards I was taken to The Blue Door where I had a delicious local brew, Surly Furious and my first battered and deep fried pickle.

Check out the view below, top left, from my hotel room in St. Paul, captured on a Stillman & Birn Delta series in Pitt Artist Pens. Who’d wanna leave the room with a view this captivating.