Rosemont Muvico

A quickly drawn sketch of the Muvico Theatre in Rosemont, near Chicago's O'Hare airport. Felt tip marker on tracing paper, approximately 6" by 9" original size, done April, 2012.

Cultural Center

A sketch of the east front of the Chicago Cultural Center along Michigan Avenue. I remember it more as the old Chicago Public Library. The buildings to the north and to the west are merely suggested. Felt tip marker on tracing paper, approximately 8 1/2" by 11" original size, drawn April, 2012.

Greatest Hits

Coming up to six months since I established this blog, I thought that the audience might like to know which posts have been viewed the most. The view of the Tuileries from Place de la Concorde in Paris (top sketch) has received the most hits, followed closely by the sketch of Paris' L'Arc de Triomphe (middle sketch). The most hits in one day goes to the watercolor of Bunny's Liquors in Urbana, IL (bottom sketch). Now, how does one explain the audience's interest? Some of it has to do with the subject matter of the sketches, I suppose; or it might be the medium that the drawing was done in; or it could be the style of the sketching technique. In order to make it easier to find a type of sketch or technique or media, I recently added more labeling gadgets.

Log Home

Exterior view (top sketch) and interior view of the great room (bottom sketch) of the log home project in northeastern Illinois from 1995 from a previous posting. Felt tip marker and pencil on tracing paper, 6" by 4" original sizes.

School of Athens

This is the outcome of an assignment in one of my drawing classes: to copy and abstract a Renaissance painting. I chose Raphael's School of Athens at the Vatican from a photograph in H. W. Janson's History of Art. Looking at it some forty years later, my depiction of the painting's architecture (a reference to the new St. Peter's basilica) does not really look very abstract. A detail of a 27" by 20" acrylic painting on illustration board, done Spring, 1971. I photographed it at an angle to exaggerate the vertical perspective.

Switch House

A railroad switching yard house in Champaign, IL. A watercolor, approximately 16" by 14" original size, done on site, Spring, 1970.

Bunny's Liquors

Now, I am going to post a few earlier watercolors. Here is a view of Bunny's Package Liquors in Urbana, IL: approximately 16" by 14" original size, done on site, Spring, 1970.

North Avenue Beach

A sketch of North Avenue beach looking south toward the Chicago skyline. Felt tip marker on tracing paper, 8" by 6" original size, drawn October, 2011.

Chinatown

A view of Chinatown in Chicago looking north along Wentworth Avenue. Willis Tower is in the distance, behind the Chinatown gate. Felt tip marker on tracing paper, approximately 6" by 8" original size, done August, 2011, with sky tone added later.

L'Opéra Garnier

A sketch of the Paris Opera, approximately 4" by 3" original size, felt tip marker on tracing paper, done April, 1972, with color depth reduced later.

Café Bar

A view of patrons at a café bar near the Gare Saint-Lazare. The top sketch was drawn quickly on site and the bottom sketch is a cleaned up version of the top sketch done later. This café was all mirrors and neon lighting. Dry tip marker and felt tip marker on paper, approximately 7" by 8" each, original size, done April, 1972.

Blackfriar

A sketch of patrons in the Blackfriar pub. This is an abstraction of a sketch in a previous posting. Approximately 4" by 5" original size, felt tip marker on paper, done February, 1972.

Rue de Montreuil

Although this sketch is spare in detail, it exudes the feeling of France for me. A storefront along a street in the neighborhood where I used to live. 6" by 9" original size, felt tip marker and dry marker on paper, done January, 1972.

Petites Écuries

A pencil sketch on paper of a sculptural keystone medallion at a window arch on the façade of the Petites Écuries, Versailles. 6" by 8" original size of drawing, done in January, 1972.

Burgos

View of a monastery church near Burgos, along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. An unfinished watercolor from sketch notes taken on site. Original size: approximately 12" by 18", December, 1971.

Vence

Another view of Vence. The upper illustration is approximately 7" by 10", pencil on paper, drawn on site, December, 1971. The lower illustration of the same subject, done in a more abstract style later, is felt tip marker on paper. If the scenes of Vence appear that the town was deserted of people, it was, in fact, not. But the sketches were done in early afternnon, when people activity was more subdued.

Nice Vieille Ville

Pencil sketch on paper of a doorway in the old quarter of Nice. Original size: 6" by 8", done on site, December, 1971. Image posterized in 2011.

Place de la Concorde

The original of this drawing is really tiny, no more than 1" by 2", felt tip on tracing paper, done October, 1971. It is rather diagrammatic, a view from the square with the obelisk in the foreground and the vista of Arc de Triomphe, one mile distant. The proportions and tones are accurate. As I remember, Arc du Carrousel in the Tuileries appears to be the same size as Arc du Triomphe as viewed from Place de la Concorde, though Arc du Carrousel is closer.

Place de la Concorde

Another felt tip marker on trace drawing from 1971, approximately 4" by 2", original size. I added the sky shading in 2007. This is a view of the National Assembly from Place de la Concorde. You can also see the dome of the Invalides to the right.