ROOFTOPS OF CHESTER, ENGLAND

Rooftops of Eastgate, Chester, England, 9.5 x 12.5 ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

The ancient city of Chester, on the Welsh border, is the last stop for a subway train you can board in downtown Liverpool.  The ground floors of the old buildings lining Eastgate are full of modern shops and eateries, even a Disney Store.  I preferred to look up for this on-site drawing.

This is the last weekend to see Traveler's Sketchbook, my exhibition at Beverly Arts Center in Chicago.

TRAVELER'S SKETCHBOOK EXHIBITION AT BEVERLY ARTS CENTER IN CHICAGO NOV. 6 to DEC. 6, 2015

Albert Dock, Liverpool UK, 13.5 x 9.5 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

Albert Dock, drawn on my recent visit to England, will be one of 50-plus paintings and graphics from my Traveler's Sketchbook Series featured in the main floor galleries of the BEVERLY ARTS CENTER, 2407 W. 111th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60655 from November 6 to December 6, 2015.  Gallery hours are 9am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm Saturday, and 1 to 4pm Sunday.   "Traveler's Sketchbook" is what I call the mostly small-scale, mostly on-site watercolors and drawings I make of places and things I find interesting on my travels.  Subjects range from my own Chicago back yard to the back roads of Europe.  Also shown will be a few of my large-scale studio landscapes.

THERE WILL BE AN ARTIST'S RECEPTION ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15 FROM 2 TO 4PM.  Everyone is welcome.

ON THE EAST SUSSEX SEACOAST

The View from the Beekeeper's Cottage, 10.5 x 14.5 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I drew this one in England about a month ago.  Those who know who the beekeeper in the painting's title is may appreciate what it means when I tell them that two and a half weeks ago I had breakfast at Speedy's Sandwich Bar and Cafe in London at a table positioned almost exactly where Mycroft told Watson the bad news about Irene Adler.  And I enjoyed the omelette, chips and cappuccino too.

UPDATE:  APRIL 20, 2016
I just saw the movie Mr. Holmes on Netflix.   In it, Ian McKellan portrays 93 year old retired detective Sherlock Holmes keeping bees on the East Sussex downs, a retirement mentioned several times in Conan Doyle's stories.  I swear that when I made and titled this painting in England last fall I had no idea that these chalk cliffs called the Seven Sisters had been portrayed in the movie as being within walking distance of Mr. Holmes' (the beekeeper's) cottage.  

JET-LAGGED IN BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

Jet-lagged in Brighton, U.K., 14 x 10 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

This is me about three weeks ago, on the first night of a visit to the United Kingdom.   I can never sleep much on airplanes which made for a very long day.  I crashed after supper in my hotel in Brighton on Britain's south coast,  but then found myself wide awake in the middle of the night.  I pulled a chair into the bathroom, set it in front of the sink, and drew this self-portrait.  The chrome faucet in the foreground is real and everything else in the drawing is the reflection I saw in the mirror.

THE CABINET SHOP AT SHAKE RAG ALLEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS IN MINERAL POINT, WISCONSIN

The Cabinet Shop, 10 x 14 inch watercolor and colored pencil painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

The Cabinet Shop is one of the restored historic buildings in Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts.  It was the scene of one of the workshops I taught as part of the annual Woodlanders Gathering in July.  The day lilies are always in bloom at that time of year.  

PALETTE & CHISEL ACADEMY SCULPTURE AND WORKS ON PAPER SHOW AUG. 28 TO SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

I will have three works on paper in the SCULPTURE AND WORKS ON PAPER SHOW at the PALETTE & CHISEL ACADEMY GALLERY, 1012 N. DEARBORN STREET in CHICAGO from AUGUST 28 TO SEPTEMBER 7, 2015.  There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, September 28 from 5:30 to 8:00pm.  All are welcome.  Scroll down a couple of posts to see Two by Two by Two, one of the works I will have in this exhibition.  The other two are life drawings and can be seen on my NSFW figure drawing blog at
georgecclarkdrawings.tumblr.com

REND LAKE IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

Bass Boat, Rend Lake, Illinois, 8 x 17.5 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this one day last fall, just before sunset.  On the horizon is the causeway that carries a state highway across the lake.

ANOTHER PAINTING FROM TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Two by Two by Two, 15 x 8 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

Another painting from my trip to Florida in March.  The title refers to the two ospreys in flight, the two big fishing trawlers moored across the river, and the two smaller sponge boats in the foreground.

"SPRING CLEANING" ART SALE AT PALETTE & CHISEL ACADEMY NEXT SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015 FROM 11AM TO 4PM

The last four small ink and watercolor paintings I have posted on this blog will be among the many original works by Chicago artists offered for sale at the Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts at 1012 N. Dearborn Street in Chicago next Saturday, May 16, from 11am to 4pm.  All work will be priced at less than $300.  Other work by me in the sale will include a signed, limited edition giclee print of my female nude painting Camel Saddle and an original ink drawing of a young lady in lacy underwear. 

AN HOMAGE TO KIN HUBBARD

Fisherman, Brown County, Indiana, 12 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark  AVAILABLE

I did this one by the spillway at Strahl Lake in Brown County, Indiana a couple of years ago.  Say, that fisherman... That's not old Abe Martin, is it?... No, it couldn't be.......

TANKMATES IN SARASOTA

Tankmates, Sarasota, Florida, 8 x 11 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this big green sea turtle from life at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota last month.  There were two manatees in the same tank, but they wouldn't hold still long enough to be drawn, so I photographed them.  Later I drew one in and then added watercolor.

OLD TRAWLER, TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Old Trawler, Tarpon Springs, Florida, 8 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this old trawler last month from a riverside picnic table in the old fishing and spongeing port of Tarpon Springs, just north of St. Petersburg.  Afterwards I had grilled shrimp for lunch at a restaurant on a pier that had its own shrimp boat tied up alongside.

KOI POND, SARASOTA, FLORIDA

Koi Pond, Sarasota, 10 x 8 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched the ornamental carp in this koi pond at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota about three weeks ago.  It's an amazing place, with the second largest collection of air plants (orchids, etc.) in the world.

VODOU SPIRITS AT THE FIELD MUSEUM

Vodou God Danblewoum, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

Yesterday I went to Chicago's Field Museum to see the exhibition "VODOU: Sacred Spirits of Haiti," and I sketched some of the objects on display.  This was a polychromed wood carving of the god Danblewoum about three feet tall with a real metal machete. 

Vodou Spirits, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    Available

Most of the objects in the exhibition were anonymous folk art created by various hands.  However, there were a number of these 4 foot tall effigies of stuffed fabric painted mostly red and black with pieces of broken mirrors embedded in them for eyes and elsewhere that struck me as being the work of a single artist, although as near as I could tell hardly any artists were credited.  They were strong and alarming images and I sketched a few of them, here and below.  

Vodou Gods, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

These are the gods Legba Kita Bizango and Baron La Croix.  All these vodou drawings are pages from my sketchbook.

CAMPO SANTA MARIA FORMOSA, VENICE

Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, 29 x 40 inch oil and pencil on paper by George C. Clark    SOLD

This is a big oil and pencil on paper studio painting I made after a visit to Venice.  I sold it to a collector in Lake Bluff from an exhibition I had in Lake Forest in the 1980s. In it I depicted my younger self about to cross paths with Corto Maltese as he emerges from beyond the kiosk at the right.  One of the joys of visiting Europe back then was the opportunity to buy great graphic novels by French and Belgian and Italian artists that weren't available in the States.  I discovered artists like Corto's creator Hugo Pratt, Guido Crepax, Jacques Tardi, Jean Giraud aka Moebius, and Milo Manara.  When I was living in Paris in the summer of 1976 I used to get the magazine Charlie Hebdo for the brilliant satiric Paulette comics drawn by Georges Pichard and written by Georges Wolinski who was murdered recently by terrorists.  The Paulette stories were later published in book form and I still have them all in my library.  Now of course, European graphic novels are easily available here in English translation or their original editions from sources on the internet.