Bus People
Back in 1981/82 my first wife, Kathy, and I were living with her parents in San Jose, California. We had returned to the Bay Area after my failed graduate school effort at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. That’s a story for another time but the result was we returned home with no money and no jobs so living with her parents was really the only option. Once we were there I quickly landed a job at a restaurant in downtown San Jose called Eulipia. To get there from their suburban home I took the bus every day. The first nine are from that year of bus travel.
Drawing on a moving vehicle of any kind is a challenge. You have to let go of precision. It forces you to let your physical action in the world be part of your image of the world. It’s an incredible teaching tool in developing both style and ability. If I was teaching drawing now I would make that an essential assignment.
Fast forward 21 years to 2003 and I am in Europe with my daughters on vacation. We travel by train, bus, car and subway and I draw while on them all. The final three are from that trip to give you an idea of how my style and ability changed and progressed over those 2 decades. While they were drawn live I worked on them quite a bit afterwards so they are much more polished than the earlier drawings.
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Bus #8
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Roberta - Bus #9
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Greg - Bus #15
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Bus #16
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Bus #19
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Bus #21
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Bus #22
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Bus #23
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Bus #24
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Kathy - Bus #28
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Bus #29
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Christina - Bus #42
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The Woman with the Longest Curls the World Has Ever Seen on the Bus in Nice
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The Woman on the Subway Noticing Everything About My Daughters in Barcelona
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The Simple Woman and the Complex Woman Sitting Together on the Bus in Nice, France
