Buttnekkiddoodles

Ah Lord, HATS. Hats bedevil me. Getting the drawings to feel like the hat sits on a solid globe, that a noggin is really shoved into one. Like hairdos, that amount to more than spaghetti slapped up against the page. Most of the Prussian Blue colored drawings are done with a fountain pen using Noodler’s Kingfisher Blue, the black drawings on ledger paper are drawn with a Visconti fountain pen using Platinum Carbon Ink. The colored drawings are my old reliable Pitt Artist Pens. The top 6 rows were drawn in a Veterinarian’s Daily Record ledger book from 1959. The ivory colored paper in row 7, column 1 & 3 and the 3 drawings in row 8 were drawn in a Quo Vadis Note 27 daily planner which has the creamy smooth Clairefontaine paper that also has good blocking ability. Fairly important as I draw on both sides. The clay colored paper in the lower rows are from a Utrecht sketchbook with recycled acid free paper.

Returned from touring the eastern side of the Hudson River Valley. Went out to Stockbridge, Mass. again to give a workshop at the Norman Rockwell Museum, where I copied the saddle shoes above,  and managed a side trip to see Frederick Edwin Church’s estate near Hudson, NY called, Olana. Head swelling view from the property. Took a tour of the way ornate mansion  and saw a few sweet little paintings he did amoungst all the Orientalistic foo faw.

Knocked out the landscape in the middle and had to head down state about 2 hours to see a friend before it got dark. The day was spectacular and I lament that I didn’t have the time to make a drawing of the view from all sides of the mansion. Churh wrote that, “about an hour south of Hudson lies the center of the world, and I own it”.

Trekked my way to the Southwest corner of Michigan for an overnight right on the beach of Lake Michigan’s southeastern corner. Then shot out to the west coast to do workshops and demos in Portland, Eugene, and Seattle. Ran around a bit to much to spend the time encamped with sketchbook in front of any one of a gazillion scenic wonders.

I’m back into fountain pens for the moment, making use of water soluble inks so not always able to fill in with the broad strokes of the Pitt Brush Pens. As a result the drawings are a bit airier.

Just thought I’d throw up an assortment of noggin drawings from life. Some are aware they’re being drawn, most are just doin’ their thing whilst I do mine.