Buttnekkiddoodles

I have a solo show at Rockford College opening this Thursday, Feb. 2nd. The above image is just a section of a 7′ x 20′ composite/collaged wall piece comprised of individual pages from various sketchbooks over the last 28 years. Molly Carter is the director/curator of the gallery, helped me put up this wall piece and did a super job with some help from artist/printmaker/uber mench Dave Menard installing the rest of the show.

 

These drawings are on every kind of paper, vellum, ledger, bristol, onion skin, recycled, and drawn with ball point, gel, India ink, gouache, water color, Pitt Artist Pens, felt pens, Sharpies, colored pencils, fountain pen inks such as Noodler’s, Iroshizuku, Calli, Diamine, Platinum Carbon,  also grease pencil, (aka- China marker), Tom Bow, Daler Rowney F.W. acrylic inks, Staedler, and probably a few other pens no longer in production.

   

 

 

   

These recent pages were drawn in a ledger book given to me by Stuart Balcomb. The book was used to enter recording session info from Universal Studio sound tracks for mid ’60’s T.V. shows. Look close and you can see which ones.

Went to the Great state of Kal-A-Forn-Eye-Ayyyyyyyyy to do a mess load of demos. Stayed with my nephew Brett in Redondo Beach right ‘ere on de water. That’s him above serfin’ the ‘net and sportin’ a tee with Mr. Lee’s not-so-likeness on it. Brett is one of the truely good humans on this planet. My 2 brothers and I must’ve drained all the rascalness outta the gene pool and all that was left by the time Brett came along was kindness.

Below left is the sketch made whilst waitin’ for Brett at LAX. Next to that a street sketch I whipped out of a pub T rider coolin’ his heels in the shade. I did a demo right after that at Nick Gallo’s  Blue Rooster Art Supply where I met my grand niece Ariel for the first time. We went to The Hard Rock Cafe afterwards and I drew this elephant head she sculpted while she knocked out the sketch, to the right of the elephant, of me.

  

 

 

Pitt Brush Pens featured almost exclusively on these pages with a liberal addition of white China Marker. I like to draw over top of grease pencil marks with the Pitt pens, especially on toned paper as it produces a contrasting luminous effect.

 

The second image above, of the dude lookin’ dazed and confused, is my boy out there in the Bay, the Deacon of Dog Patch, Michael Recchiuti. If chocolate is your thing, Michael is without doubt your Messiah.

Taking in an early mornig pastry and a cup of hot coco at Piccino, a sweet little cafe and restaurant owned by two of Michael’s Dog Patch chums, Wayne and Sher.

Back at the Palette & Chisel where I drew Anne sporting a new hairdo. You may have seen her, a model I’ve drawn several time (refer to posts “Sprints and Longer Poses” and “Nudes from the Past Month” where she can be seen with her signature Page Boy cut. A very good model, imaginative poses and really clear definition of muscles. She brings a very bright personality and baked goods. Drawn with Pitt Artist Pens and white China marker on recycled Utrecht paper.

The above drawings are from the tremendous show of WWII posters at the Art Institute of Chicago “Windows On The War”. Go on line and check out the large format, stenciled prints by the Soviet print collective TASS. I got stopped from sketching in the galleries by the guards who informed me of a sign I had walked right by without noticing that precludes tripods, flash photography, and sketching. I’ll make an effort to secure permission next week to do so but I’m not holding my breath. I guess it’s largely for insurance reasons but it’s gotten to be more of a pain in the ass trying to draw in some museums.

The blue ink is largely Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron though I make some use of Pitt Artist Brush Pens.

The 2 drawings to the left were done at The Press Club wine bars in SF.

James and Tilly Rex were 2 performer/juggleros/acrobatiste/clowns at the trade show in Berkeley who graciously agreed to pose for me. Tilly’s giggling made it difficult for her to keep poking her tongue at me. The small landscape was done at the conclusion of a walk around the perimeter of the Cesar Chavez Park, a nature preserve built on landfill that sits next to the Berkeley Marina. From top of the park’s hill you can see Alameda, the Bay Bridge, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the southern tip of Marin County, Tiburon, Port Richmond, Albany, the UC Berkeley Tower and the hills beyond. Being a lazy landscapist, I picked a simple view of the north wing of the Hotel, a wall of trees, and a grassy slope. It does serve a purpose as the ariel view from Google earth makes it look flat and relatively uninteresting. I think it’s a nifty little spot from which you get a lung filling sense of the bay.

Weather in San Francisco was spectacular. Dolores Park was teeming with folks. Intended on drawing the gleaming dome of the church but time and people watching robbed me of the opportunity to do a color study of it.

Strange stuff, this blue ledger paper. I’ll have to use acrylic ink/paint because white grease pencils don’t seem to have much presence on it.