Sunday, November 1, 2015

What I did in Church this morning...

I was paying attention. Really.
I take a sketchbook with me most of the time, Like Da Vinci used to say "You gotta' do something while you're doing nothing".

It's nice to have it with me in case of long lines, moments of inspiration or when I make a particularly good batch of cole-slaw and want to write down what I put in it before I forget. My favorite are the small Black Moleskine brand Sketchbooks and I have a satisfyingly tall stack of them on a shelf by my drawingboard. They take me anywhere from a couple of months to almost a year to fill up and going through the old ones is a lot like leafing through a journal. There's a surprising number of notes and cryptic entries on the back pages with the recipe's and URLs. Even some Poetry that I'm not sure the world needs to be exposed to in the state things are in already...  I was going to get a new one today at the Bookstore but suddenly they only have them in RED.It's a nice red but I left empty-handed because I'm not sure what would happen if I threw one of those on the stack with all the black ones. I have to think about that before I do something that potentially disruptive.

I do some of my best sketching in Church, especially profiles of the folks a few rows over. I can't ever let one of those books fall into the wrongs hands however because some of those profile portraits include giant Billy Preston style Afro's on middle-aged white Mennonite I.T. technicians or wooden Pinocchio noses sprouting from the otherwise angelic faces of the children of my friends. It seems pretty innocent until you have to hide your drawings as soon as the benediction is over so no body can wander over and see what they'd look like with a neck tattoo.

This is what I drew today. Pretty obvious what I was thinking about during the sermon. It turned out pretty well but not that much like the image in my head.

 Alas.

 I aspire to draw as well as Frank Patterson who's illustrations were an integral part of Cycle Magazine back in the first half of the 20th century. If I ever get close to that quality of work I'll never pick up a wrench or a brazing torch again. Just sit around drawing all day(which is precisely what I should do starting tomorrow if I ever want to do work like his I suppose). That and hope someone decides to publish a large format Weekly Cycling Journal so I can make some sort of living illustrating it for them...

If I manage to do something better than this I'll post it and let you have a peek. 

6 comments:

  1. Whoa. Nice piece, Rev. You have a fair touch with that ball-point pen.

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  2. Thanks. If you do anything for 40 years you can start to make some progress...

    Spindizzy

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  3. I saw Billy Preston that one time I went to Texas in 2004. Though he didn't have a fro then. Glad it's memorialized in your art work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6F3zshmtIM

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    1. Billy Preston ca. 1972 had an awe inspiring Afro. I have no idea how much trouble something like that is to maintain but it's worth it.

      Spindizzy

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  4. you probably already know, but Frank Patterson injured his leg in his mid 30's and for most of the time he was producing those fantastic illustrations, he couldn't actually ride a bike

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    1. I didn't know that till someone remarked about it on somebody else blog. One of my Daughters managed to find a copy of a collection of Patterson's illustrations published a year or so after his death(air mailed from some former British Colony just in time for Christmas)and found a drawing he did of himself in the late 1930s riding one of those old lightweight English trikes. I NEVER wanted one of those things before but now want one SO bad.

      Spindizzy

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