Wednesday: NYC - Dinner and a Show

Wednesday:

Slept in until 9am Eastern Time. Went down and had some cereal and rye toast. Everyone here has freshly squozed orange juice. I have never experienced the like since Florida. Ohhh it was so good. I stayed with just the one glass so as not to rupture my sugar levels. Got cleaned up, and I headed out for the day, which was all planed out. I was to start with The Illustration House, Arcadia Fine Art Gallery, Forbidden Planet (comic book/toy/geek dom). If I am still standing after all that, the last stop was to be the legendary Strand bookstore. (I wasn’t standing, so I skipped the Strand).

So with Talcum powder freshly applied everywhere, even on my ears… I was ready for another brisk walk down to the Illustration House. Oh, did I mention that the Walking portion of Google Maps is Beta, I may have forgotten that because after 2 hours I was a bit over half way!!! But never fear, I stopped at a local deli that offered 2slices and a can for 4.99. My hope was that the slices were slices of pizza and not slices into my side with a box cutter. I was correct. It was 2 slices of cheese pizza, New Yawk style. It was good. I actually heard some older guy griping about stuff and actually say… “now I got a problem”… to which the owner came over and quickly calmed everything down and sat with the gentleman, served him his lunch and discussed local building history. I believe I may have been witness to a… transaction of some sort. So, I packed up and skee-dadled before jimmy the nose decided I was his next “problem”. It was good pie, maybe jimmy the nose spilt soda on his plaid trousers??? Probably not.

So, I continued on for another hour and made it to a run down alley. No name, no nothing…. I thought… I have been screwed. Then I noticed a lot of dark oak, and books, and some paintings farther away from the front window. There was a small sign that said, Illustration House. So I asked to be buzzed in and introduced myself.

A nice younger man said, “Oh, you’ll want to talk to Walt. I’ll call him down.”

Within a few moments, the 248 year old Walter Reed sauntered down a flight of stairs. He couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds, had hearing aids in each ear… but with dead batteries in both. But could weave tales about each painting and each artist as if they were completed not but twenty minutes ago and he was there to witness it all. His eyes would light up as he would pick up each painting with a shaky hand. I was sure he was going to drop a couple of them. I held one or two as his grip wasn’t quite what he suspected it was. He would point out subtle nuances, tell of stories of the times and technique challenges or discoveries. He apologized for missing some of the pieces due to a show on pulp fiction illustrators that was shipping out this week. I graciously told him that I had come just to see his studio and the Society of Illustrators, there could be no disappointment.

Here is an account of the artwork that I got to see… ORIGINAL PAINTINGS, ALL.

· 3 Michael Golden Punisher Covers, drawn and Inked by Mr. Golden.

· 2 Bernie Fuches landscape paintings… The master. I almost cried.

· 2 Norman Rockwell charcoal finished drawings for the Post. Most people can’t paint as well as Rockwell drew.

· The Hildebrandt Brothers Lord of the Rings masterpiece where everyone is meeting at the garden of the elven city, and the two hobbits are crying… it is flipping huge. And the details are amazing. I think I had an accident when I turned the corner. Mr. Reed had to hold me up, not an easy task for a man 248 years old.

· A Norman Lindsey watercolor of a man fighting off a shark… black and white.

· Violet Oakley’s preliminary painting for one of her massive murals at Pennsylvania University.

· A Hayden Sunbloome pin up girl illustration. (Sunbloome was the painter of the coca-cola santa and the quaker oats man.)

· Several pen and ink illustrations: joseph Clement Coll, Charles Dana Gipson, A.B. Frost,

· Coles Phillips a disappearing girl in deep blue.

· And several of the pulp illustrations that had yet to be packed up.

Mr. Reed stayed and spoke to me for a good hour or more. What an honor.

Norman Lindsey

a different Coles Phillips... very similar, but the girl is facing the other way and the background is blue... but the design and concept are of the same starting point.

Dean Cornwell... this baby is not as big as I have seen him paint. 20" x 24" maybe
I turned a corner and my insides started to quake when I saw this... the corners are actually tattered a bit. They painted to the edge of the board, no handling space at all. It is almost as wide as I am tall.

From there I cabbed it to the Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery. Just too sore at the time… and a bit too lost… I think the cabbie was too. But we made it. The gallery was much more clean, tidy, but certainly lacked the warmth and love of the works the way that Mr Reed had provided. Nonetheless, I did get to see some spectacular pieces by Robert Liberace, Malcolm Leipke, Jeremy Lipking, and Francis Livingstone. The paintings were stunning, make no doubt about it, but after having to follow a showman like Reed, Arcadia just was a room with canvases in it.

From Arcadia I walked to Forbidden Planet. For those who don’t know, like myself,

Forbidden Planet is one of 2 bookstores on earth. One resides in NYC, the other in London, Proper. (that’s England folks).

Forbidden Planet is about the size of every comic book store you have ever been to… added together… and I don’t care how many you have been to. It is STILL bigger than them all combined. It has… everything, literally. If you can’t find it, you only dreamt that it existed and even then… if you ask… they probably still have it. I didn’t even go up to the Third floor to look around for fear that I might find me up there for sale.

So as your little minds start spinning around trying to come up with some odd ball little thingy that the store didn’t have…. Don’t, I already checked… they had that too.

My body sent me back to the hotel for a nap… longer than expected. But needed none the less. I strolled down Broadway to “Mickey Mantle’s” for a supper and a chance to sit (quietly) and observe Yankee nation during playoffs. I had to do it, If they were home, I would have tried for a ticket, but they were in Minnesota. As far as Décor, I don’t know how much of it is real and how much is replica. They had a pillar that was made of Yankee signed broken bats, gloves, shoes. They had a Joe Namath wall, which I thought was odd, but whatever floats. The food was really good and for NY, was reasonably priced. I asked what the server liked to eat… and then chose from that list. A cheese steak hero, actually one of the best I have had, ever. This was goooooood, and not too big, it was a half order. I watched the last half of the Reds lose to the Phillies to a perfect game pitched by Roy Halladay. Then stayed for 3 innings of the Yankees Twins game.

I needed a fresh head about me for the conference the next day, so I decided to walk back, and if I got a bit nervous I would hale a cab. The streets were active with mostly normal looking people. So I was able to maneuver my way back to the Hotel without incident. I did get so see my token “interesting” person of the trip… a shaggy man who had not seen a bath in a few days+ with a long flowing white beard and hair shouting warnings to us all about the end of days. Oh, did I mention he was dressed in carpet samples? Rolls of carpet runners, carpet squares, shag, short fibers, it must have been like wearing armor. Now THAT’s NEW YORK CITY, Dinner and a show.

NYC -Tuesday: somebody get me a leash

Sam Weber artwork from his 3person show at Society of Illustrators: Blow Up.

New York City… New York City? Get a rope, I need a leash.

Had a 5 hour delay in Chicago to get to NYC LaGuardia… so I didn’t get to my hotel until 1:45am Tuesday Morning. Somehow they didn’t have a confirmation for the extra night of Monday night… but they gladly put me up due to open rooms. With an extra minute or two, I was in bed.

The next morning I closed out that old account from a few hours before and switched over to the regularly scheduled program. Now I had the day to explore. I planned out the most efficient walking route down to the destinations… 3 the first day. The Forum Gallery, The Wendt Gallery, and …………………. The Society of Illustrators, you may genuflect if you feel the need.

Forum Gallery: I showed up at a bad time on the calendar, they were packing to move to a new location. They were more than generous to allow me to see what was still up, the current show. It was, nice. But not travel half way across the country nice. But that is due to the new season just beginning and the gallery just packing up. No fault, just bad timing. And they were really nice people.

Wendt Gallery: These girls were the car sales force of the Art world. Hovering around wanting to know how many pieces I was interested in, and as soon as I showed interest in one piece, Man did their eyes and ears perk up… (I probably should have told them that I was not going to buy anything, but it seemed the only way to get information.)

Society of Illustrators: Very nice… very nice indeed. 3 floors. It is a smaller gallery, but full of drawings, paintings, and even a tiny little gift shop. It is smalle

r than the Kemper Museum. There were

two exhibits. One was a 3 person show, which had the final works on the main floor, then on the lower level, all of the preliminary works were displayed as well… which was a real treat. Up the stairwell, and on the Third floor…(the famous Society of Illustrators Bar) was an exhibit of Illustrators who taught. This was capped off by a 12 piece showing of Murry Tinkleman pen and Ink originals. I was in heaven.

Above the Bar, is the original Norman Rockwell painting

masterpiece of a Christmas Carriage in profile filled with passengers, and atop, a driver, horn blower, and several children all having fun. The piece is probably 3 feet high by 5 feet wide? Maybe larger.

I actually had a tonic water

at the Bar… THE BAR. I felt the entire time that somebody was going to yank me out of there in front of everybody… “You! Punk! What do you think you are doing in here?” But nobody ever did. They even chatted with me for a few words.

There were two antique book cases with ooooold illustrated classics in them. Rockwell’s version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Someone’s illustrations for the Book of Birds… A book Titled Searching for Christy, about Illustrator, Howard Chandler Christy. And tons of others.

As far as original works, I got to see an original Paul Calle pencil drawing portrait, a couple of Rockwells, a huge piece on Tale of Two Cities by Harvey Dunn, It had to have 50 characters in it all charging at each other. What power. Bob Fawcett, Dean Cornwell, James Montgomery Flagg, my mind can’t recall them all.

I was on such a high that I walked all the way back, not realizing that it was almost 3 miles back… until my body told me, Hey Stupid… this is a long hike back, and I am fat. But I made it. Bought some talcum powder, and took a nap. I awoke in time to make the hike back down there to Society of Illustrators for the Drawing sessions. Yes, with the Talcum powder applied, it made a world of difference. (and it was down hill).

Drawing night at Society of Illustrators. *see the previous two posts with the drawings for examples... I posted 6 of the drawings done at the Society open session.

Short poses: 3 minute, 5 minute, 10 minute, 15 minute, then I believe 3 twenty minute poses.

I couldn’t tell you by name the famous people that were there, but you could tell by dress, hair style, and when I walked around the room, the old timers who just flat out were brilliant. There were about 8 of them in attendance. The rest were younger students… some were also really hot stuff. By the time everybody was settled in and working, there were probably 60 people?, yes… 60 people were there. Also live jazz was played. There were 2 models. Really good, both of them. They did classical poses, but could hold them well.

I am really glad I went. By the end of the night, I had produced a couple of drawings that were ok. For the time allowed, I am happy with them.

Cabbed it back to the hotel, it was dark, I was tired, and it was uphill. Head hit the pillow, I was out.

society of Illustrators Open drawing night

from the 5 and 10

minute group of

drawings at the

society of illustrators open drawing session. 10-4-2010

Society of Illustrators Open drawing night

Society of Illustrators Tuesday Night Open drawing night

Society of Illustrators Open drawing night

Once in a lifetime opportunity: Society of Illustrators Tuesday Night Open drawing night: I had to do it... just so say I did.

Christmas card sketch

got done mowing today, and just started sketching. This is the result... I have no idea why. I had no intention of doing anything Holiday related. Certainly not. The green swirls just looked sort of like wreathes after a while... and I put a splash of red on them. Again... just sketching around... kind of like automatic writing? Wondering what the future holds, kinda scared, kind or curious maybe? Who knows. None of us do. We will just ride this thing out.

The Bewitching Miss O'Donnell

Important Safety Tip: When running for public office, don't ask a question to the press or "Grand Inquisitor", It just leads to trouble... Rep. Senatorial Candidate Christine O'Donnell asked back the following question when grilled about commenting "ten years before" about dabbling in witchcraft when she was in High School... "So How many of you out there never hung out with objectionable folks when you were in High School?"

The lady spins an Ouija board when she was 17 and Congress is up in arms about the downfall of the human race... How about the downfall of the Congressional pants? At the drop of a business card it appears... I would like to know what Teddy Kennedy was doing when he... no WHO Teddy was doing when he was 17? No... scratch that.... I don't want to know Just chop off their peckers as they take an oath and lets see how much work gets done then? Perhaps a surprising amount when your mind is ready to focus... It would also open up more of the bathrooms... just a thought.

Red door studio Drawing Session September 11th, 2010

it has been a rough late summer of 2010... This week, I had a second attack of kidney stones... So I had those sonically blasted / broken up. Went to Red Door drawing group. Did ok, nothing to write home about, but nothing to be ashamed about either. It is what it is.

sunday sketching group... short poses

I spent, No... I was blessed to be invited by a dear and talented artist friend to attend a short pose sketching group that meets weekly. It is a mostly younger crowd... I believe from the Dr. Sketchy's group. Watch out people, this group of up and comers or just out of schoolers is a talented lot. Friendly, confident, a good group from what I observed. It was fun... but sheesh, I am rusty in the short pose department... anyways... good bad or indifferent, here are the 10 minute and 5 minute poses that were passable.

red door studio Drawing Session September 4

worked out of the trusty brown sketchbook... it is like a security blanket for me. ahhhhhhhh.

My Beloved Wife

You were the love for certain of my life

To me, you were always my beloved wife

I don't know for certain how I'll live my life

Now alone without my beloved wife......

I can't believe, I've lost the very best of me

-n.merchant

red door Drawing for august 2010

First time back in over 3 weeks. It was a good session. Good company, Good model, good time, no pressure... just go and hang out... do a little drawing. This is the result. Felt good to be among friends and just have fun. Thanks everybody.

Ms. Daisy

Daisy, the Beagle / Corgi mix that we picked up from the rescue center 6 years ago... at the time, they thought she was about 4 years old. She is still sassy.

Wirry-carl

This is the official start of the Boogeyman files. I have been wanting to work on a collection of this sort for years and now is the time. The first piece was done a few months ago with Japan's Kuchisaki-ona... But this piece kicks off the series. How many? Who knows. I have lots of research gathered...

Wirry-carl- In Scotland, a wirey-cow or wirry-carl was a bugbear, goblin, ghost, ghoul or other frightful object. Sometimes the term was used for the Devil or a scarecrow.

more red Door Drawing for July 2010, part 2

A change in how the model stand was set up, and so the ruffle in the routine caused everyone to move from their established spots and think. It is good to shake it up a bit. Bravo to Lacey.

red Door Drawing for July 2010

A full house on this evening... a hot summer night, so I parked myself on the cool floor and drew fabric. It was a good evening. If you can't see the model, it is no excuse to still not produce some work. Focus on something that you can see. This case: fabric draped over a sofa pillow. Good friends, good times, good music, and I get to draw, what else could a person wish for?

disturbance in the I-force

It was this or trying to work out a clean way of using the phrase... getting "Job"ed

Red Door Drawing for July 2010

down to just orange paper out of Patty's gift box of drawing papers from two years ago... thanks again Patty. I have tried several times to try to see what in the world to do with this stuff... I think I finally tripped over myself and discovered a possible avenue.

Steampunks 11: executive

I am starting to play with application or removal of line. Well, I am probably always playing with line technique, but this piece is starting to play with possibilities. Nothing definite... just pushing to see where things can go... or maybe shouldn't go.