No. 165: Very Dark

JOHN COLTRANE By Tom Wills, August 2012

It's unfortunate that listening to John Coltrane will forever make me angry.
It's not Trane's fault. No, I enjoy the highs and lows and wild surges in his music and I have gone out of my way to collect as much of it as possible.

Though I love it, this music for me is tainted by a bad memory that no melody can hide, no burst of energy will overcome.

Sax and suit take shape.

What were you doing on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001? 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., precisely?
My young family had gone down the road to St. Pius X School, for school and work. I had the morning off, not scheduled to drive to Youngstown until about 2:30 p.m.
The old house in Warren, Ohio was quiet.  Even the dog was asleep.
Not a sound except for John Coltrane.

Many pencils were destroyed during this production.

The performances by John Coltrane are:
Naima.
Impressions.
On Green Dolphin Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ywkpVJ624
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me7P9qqBgwI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny1n5E4IdYY

The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846.  Sick motherf**ker,

My television was off.  I was downstairs, in the Man Cave next to the converted coal furnace, under the big pipes. I was recording onto a big old reel a multiple CD collection of John Coltrane that I had borrowed from the public library. Nothing else was on my radar.

Handmade, hand-engraved frame.

I had it up pretty loud and barely heard the phone.
My mother-in-law. Never a good call on a good day. 
"Do you have your TV on?"
Nope, the newsman said.
"Better turn it on."

I've Just Seen A Face

I didn't see the first plane hit the World Trade Center's North Tower, but I saw the second one burst open the South Tower.
I don't remember what song was playing. It doesn't really matter.
That was the abrupt ending. I turned off the music and shut out the lights.
Terrorists.
I was at work before noon and we newsmen and women were planning local reaction to a national horror.

Just wild.

The Coltrane reel didn't get finished for some months afterward. It may have even been a year.  I just couldn't do it, and had long since returned the CDs to the library.
I can tell the exact moment I stopped and started: The rest of the tape is from vinyl, and you can hear the occasional clicks and pops.

The ironically named tape.

This is a very dark drawing by design, and was very much an act of determination. That's a lot of black, and I killed a lot of Dollar General No. 2 graphite pencils (they are cheap and dark).
I worked an hour or so daily for more than three weeks -- more on weekends -- probably 40 hours.

At the drawing board.

It was painful, all of that shading and remembering.
I played that tape as I drew. That old 3M tape is red, not brown, but has held its memory. It's six hours long and I ran it through more than once.

Clicks and pops.
It's jarring, actually.
Forever.

John Coltrane is for sale. Contact hankbonesman@embarqmail.com for information.

No. 164: The Wedding

THE WEDDING by Tom Wills, August 2012

They have been told to be good, these three.  Behave.  It's a wedding, and it's a big adult deal.

Click on all photos to enlarge!

Much time and effort was put into cleaning them up.  Mom, dad and grandparents all chipped in for two dresses, a suit, new shoes, a tie, hair clips and hosiery.
Do not get dirty.

Done, except for the final shading and cleanup.

Baby sister will not keep her shoes on.  She whines and kicks them off.  A decision is made to leave them off, lest she kick one into the preacher's pulpit.

Big brother had to hold her pacifier for this pose.  She went ballistic immediately after the picture was taken.

Cuteness takes shape.

Quiet down, you little showpieces.  "Oh, they are so adorable.  They are growing up so fast."

Big sister is clearly in charge. She's into it, she got dressed with Mommy.  Her little girl.

Big brother has much better things to do.  He got dressed with Daddy.  He got a lecture, too, but didn't pay attention.
He has a frog in his pocket.

This sketch was commissioned for a gift. In these cases I generally do not know the people, or their kids. After staring at a picture for two weeks or so, however, I can pretty well imagine what's happening behind the scenes.
Their names are Ashton, 8, Brooke, 1, and Aubrie, 2.  The only liberty I took for the drawing was moving the sisters closer together.
I bet they had a great time.  I bet the girls fell asleep at the reception.  I'm sure the boy spent some quality time in the parking lot with his dad.

"This was a surprise gift for me today. A customer brought this in for me. He asked for a picture of them because he had something in mind. I had NO idea that it would be this extreme. I can't quit looking at it! Absolutely breath taking!!"

Have a memory you'd like drawn and framed?
hankbonesman@embarqmail.com or willstom01@gmail.com

Deeply Grained

 My new drawing table is 80 years old, and has been a part of my family for nearly 40 years.

It was my father’s drafting table before it was my mother’s painting surface.

This table had been in an upstairs spare bedroom during my teenage years, covered with a sheet of vinyl flooring. It then spent two decades in a basement, and the last six years in Dad’s garage – nothing more than a storage table.

An occasion arose this summer to give my former, smaller drawing table to my youngest daughter,  who has moved away to study art and life at Kent State University. That little table and I cranked out 163 drawings or paintings over nearly four years.

Found the perfect chair, too!

 

I finally prevailed upon my father to give me this big table, once I peeked under the vinyl to see that it is solid wood.

He explained that draftsmen covered their tables because the points on their drafting compass and other tools would gouge the surface.  Indeed, the table has several pinpoint holes, a few gouges and assorted cigarette burns.  They give it character, so I did not hide them (but I did fill them in).

The whole contraption pivots and raises on a series of big cast iron rails and screws.  It is very heavy.

I can’t really make out the manufacturer’s tag at the top of the base.  It appears to say “Hamilton Company. Made in USA.”

Compass holes!

Indeed, the Internet reveals the Hamilton Drafting Table Company made these tables for a century, with continuous improvements and variations.  This one dates from the 1930s.

They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

I view this table as the first expansion project for Tom Wills Productions.  It’s big enough to have two drawings going at one time, or even a painting or two.  I can’t wait to start making my own indentations on that big surface.

No. 164 on 8/5/12

 

Before the cleanup

 I hope my friends will check in on occasion. Thanks for reading this, and the other posts here.

A lot of drafting tape was used.