CAPE MAY NJ 35 YEARS AGO

I spent a lot of time with my sketchbook and camera in Cape May in the late 1970s and early 80s.  My favorite place was the Back Harbor area, small and undeveloped and home to funky, interesting places.

Cafe Ole

Back Harbor Wharf

Lady Grace

They were exciting years for me.  Every drawing, every sketch was a new adventure, taking me one stop closer to a dream I was almost afraid to dream.

The daily dose of art PEN & INK FAVORITES

As much as I enjoy the comfort of my studio, on the spot drawings possess a spontaneity and clarity that the studio cannot match.  Here are two favorites, the first done on the spot, the second in the studio.

Harvard Book Store

Power Plant

The daily dose of art DRAWING ITALY #2

Motor bikes all everywhere in Bologna; they dart in and out of traffic like insects, driven by men and women of all ages.

Every building in the city has a terra-cotta roof.

From the terrace of my apartment (5th floor)

From the tower

The daily dose of art DRAWING THROUGH LIFE

A life can be remembered in so many ways - I enjoy recalling moments and events stored in the drawings piled high in dusty portfolios throughout my studio.

A Porch on Van Buren Street

A long weekend retreat

ER "stuff"

The daily dose of art BLACK & WHITE WITH A TOUCH OF COLOR

I started to write - "one of my favorite"...but stopped because I realize I say that about everything.  How can something be my favorite if everything is my favorite?  Why am I spending my time writing this? 

I find great pleasure in looking at black and white drawings with just a bit of local color, and more pleasure in creating them.  (I think I should have stuck with the "my favorite" line.)

Union Street  Wilmington DE

Beacon Hill  Boston

Society Hill  Philadelphia

The daily dose of art IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LINE

So simple, yet so expressive.  I love the clarity of a simple line drawing, and have learned through experience that it only works - at least for me - when it is done quickly, fearlessly, and confidently.  If I pause and over-think what I'm doing the exercise does not succeed.   I was at my best during the early ER days when I was sketching everything everyday.  Now, too many years later, that skill has suffered from negelect.

The daily dose of art SIMPLE IS AS SIMPLE DOES

with apologies to Forest Gump's mom.  Sometimes a few simple lines or shapes can convey as much as a full color painting.

The daily dose of art THE QUICK SKETCH part 2

Another page from the ER sketch book today:

the Resident

Walter from the Dumpster

The daily dose of art FONTERUTOLI ITALY

Fonterutoli  the village and winery  acrylic  24x48

My first trip to the "old country"  - immigrants and first generation Italian-Americans referred to Italy as the old country - occurred in 2008 when Patience and I, along with 20 first cousins and family decided to visit the village of our grandfather Renzulli.  We traveled separately and agreed to meet in Castelnuovo della Daunia in Puglia.  Patience and I, and my daughter Amy and her family spent the first week of the trip in Tuscany.  Amy found a Winery located in the very tiny village of Fonterutoli on the Chianti Highway that had apartments to rent.  With a rented van, driven by our son-in-law who is absolutely fearless behind the wheel, we spent the week making day trips throughout Tuscany.

Pen & Ink sketch of the small stables

Pencil drawing of an entrance to one of the private homes

THE DAILY URBAN LANDSCAPE #45 HARVARD

I went to Harvard, or at least near Harvard.  I see no reason to leave Boston after only one day, and I really enjoyed walking around Cambridge with my sketchbook those many years ago.  All of the drawings were done on the spot with a Parker 45 fountain pen.

The Harvard Lampoon

Oxford Ale House

Entrance to Harvard Yard

THE DAILY URBAN LANDSCAPE #33 LOOKING BACK AT BACKS

I couldn't resist the "looking back at backs" thing.  But it's true.  My attraction to the backs of buildings of all sorts has been with me for as long as I have been drawing and painting.  It really began in Wilmington Delaware when urban architecture and landscapes became the focus of my art.
Almost 40 years later, I'm still looking at the backs.

 

Behind Fourth St. in Wilmington

Pen & ink  late 1970s

Behind the Irving Cobb in Paducah

Pen & ink and markers  2003

PEOPLE - NOT PLACES, part 4

More drawings from the early 1970s

Hands  pencil

Life Drawing  charcoal

Line Man  pen & ink

A PADUCAH PORTFOLIO

After writing and talking about this for the past year it is finally about to happen.  The file is at the printer and I'm hoping to be holding a book in my hand in a few weeks.

The book, 8.5x11", will be bound with a hard cover, and contain over 100 paintings and drawings in full color 66 pages.  Approximately 80% of the artwork in new, completed in the past 12 months.

The price is $35.00 plus 6% sales tax for KY residents.  HOWEVER -  for a limited time I am offering the followe=ing a prepublication special:

For Kentucky friends - $28 plus $1.68 tax.  Total - $29.68

For out of town friends - $28 plus $5 S&H.  Total  - $33

To order – Send check made out to Gallery 5 to 803 Madison St., Paducah KY, 42001, or call me (270-366-2837) with credit card information.

Please call or email me if you have any questions or comments.  I appreciate your feedback.

A LOWER TOWN SAMPLER

PADUCAH BUILDS DIESELS HERE

Black & White Plus part 4

As with any series, the work tends to evolve, influencing the original concept.  My initial plan was to execute a series of black and white pen & ink drawings, with or without a “touch of color”, depicting scenes and architecture from the many places I have visited with my art.  While this approach works well with some subjects, it quickly became apparent that others would benefit from more than a touch of color.  Being of sound mind and flexible character (more than once I have been called flexiBill) I adapted to this with ease, completing the first stage of the evolution of the original idea.  All of the work will begin with a line drawing done with pen & ink, and augmented with color as determined by the subject.

I was still in the B&W frame of mind when I completed these two drawings which represent the “look” I wanted for this series

 Feeling more than my share of piss and vinegar, I decided to take on a more ambitious subject – my favorite power plant on the Ohio River in Pittsburg, PA.

pwer plant

Obviously I deviated from the original plan, and happily ended up with this drawing that I really like.  The end result was 2 more drawings in the same manner.  Here is the first of the 2.

The name of the series will remain Black & White Plus, but I am growing fond of the title, Second Time Around, referring to the choice of subject matter – places I have visited and drawn and painted in the past.  But based on the experience of the past week it would be foolish to make any claims about how this will all end.

Black & White Plus part 3

-->

Here are 2 more of the early pen and ink drawings:

Taking advantage of my enthusiasm for this medium (my enthusiasm for most things has a habit of waxing and waning) I have been diligently working at my drawing table for the past week and a half, and thoroughly enjoying myself.

Drawing the brick lines is not as easy as it used to be, and I occasionally have to resort to using a magnifying glass.  Anything for art!

 

Black & White Plus part 2

In the beginning it was all about the line.  It is impossible for me to describe the excitement and enthusiasm I experienced as I began to express my fascination with the surrounding urban environment with a series of simple line drawings.  Of course part of the reason for the pen and ink was my lack of facility in the various color mediums.  But even as that eventually changed my love for the simple line drawings continued.

Here are several drawings from those early years.