Buttnekkiddoodles

After Florida, I flew to Los Angeles, Pasadena to be specific. A community that has seen the return of some of it’s former luster. I stayed just a couple blocks from the main drag, Colorado Blvd., which sports some very tony clothiers and boutiques. I scoured the stores looking for a pair of rugged shorts as I was looking to do some rafting and possible white water once I got to Oregon, plus it was 88 freakin’ degrees. The stores had already switched to their Fall/Winter lines, it was on the eve of Halloween. Nothing to be found but long pants, sweaters, wool cardigans, leather jackets, and Empire coats. Couldn’t risk an epidemic of pneumonia sweeping thru poorly clad Los Angelinos.

 

Formerly a grand hotel and now a la-di-da condo, Castle Green presented the challenge of trying to define architectural structure swarmed by various plant shapes, (the leaf clusters of hedges were easy compared to the 10 thousand swords of palm fronds), while capturing the ever shifting play of light and shadow and the changing hues of green. I threw in the towel before finishing a number of palm trees. Several people stopped to have a look, some of them making comments, but perhaps most interesting were 2  denizens of street life, both by all appearances homeless, who engaged in brief conversations with me about the drawing.

 

  

Some grease pencil, otherwise Pitt Artist Pens.

              

Sorry to have neglected the website for so long, but now that I’m back from a 2 month road trip, I will put forth a flurry of sketches from across the country. You can see drawings from that trip if you go to: doncolleyroadtrip.tumbler.com. Drawn in an old doctor’s ledger book from 1937 and in a Utrecht toned sketchbook with Pitt Artist Pens and my old pal, the white China marker, aka the grease pencil. Cheers, Darn

Headed out across the country for my Fall tour on September 10th. Denver was the first stop. The above statue is dedicated to the 3,000,000 young folks that worked in Roosevelt’s “Tree Army”, the Civilian Conservation Corps. 55,000 worked in New Mexico alone. When you hear the mantra that government is the problem, not that it can’t be problematic, and that business and the “market” will be our salvation, business was slow in coming to the rescue in the 30’s in this country. If the market is so dependable, why did 3,000,000 Americans feel a need to trek off into the outback with shovels and picks? Just a Thoreau like need to get back to nature?

    

Got to Denver 9 hours before my bags, compliments Delta. Knew it would be tricky when my flight schedule had me landing in Minneapolis for my connecting flight at 4:35 PM and the flight to Denver boarded at 4:35 PM. we landed 18 minutes late and a mad dash to the next gate just got me in before the door closed. Once in Denver, got off the bus from the airport and thanks to the kindness of strangers, made it to the ballpark where I met Tim. Tim provided the lift in his pedicab to my hotel while holding a running conversation about things Denver, etc. Worked a demo the next day at Meininger Fine Art Supply, the oldest in Denver, and many parts West for that matter. Henry Meininger’s grandfather opened the store 132 years ago and has provided quite the slew of artists with gear including Charles Russel and Frederick Remmington.

   

That’s Judd Meininger, great grandson of the original owner of H.R. Meininger Fine Art Supply, and wife Olivia, takin’ in a Colorado Rockies ballgame and a strip of chocolate covered bacon. Hell yeah I had a bite. Judd is quite the omnivore and a fired up cat with a vigorous appetite for life, period.

      

Went to the Everett McKinley Dirksen U. S. Courthouse a couple weeks ago to sketch in court. Had a pretty interesting experience for 3 days. Then put 3 days in Federal Court in Hammond, Indiana. Beats daytime TV but could at times be likened to a 15 inning baseball game where both pitchers are hurling no-hitters. Forgive me if this sounds like a pitch but using the Pitt Pens, fountain pens and grease pencils means no one around me is having to put up with the rank smells of solvent based markers.

        This drawing may give one the impression that the judge is smiling. Far from it. He didn’t cotton any nonsense and could be very curt in his reprimands.