Vesuvio part 5

Had some time today so I figured I should continue work on my latest block drawing.  I suppose I could have stayed home to do it, but I do like getting out of my apartment and up to my Studio on a regular basis.  The one thing I did at home was check the photo of my standing figure on the right, the one whose arm I wasn't happy with.  In my sketchbook copy I had cut off her left arm and had been unsatisfied with my attempt to fix it yesterday.  Turns out in the photo the whole arm can be seen, so I just sketched it as it was originally in my source photo.  I brought the block and everything else with me to the Studio in the afternoon.

My main concern today was in fixing architecture and furniture, since I don't think I need to add any more figures.  My depiction of the dining room follows the photo in general, but I did remove several tables in my initial drawing, mostly to improve sight lines and space in the image.  Which means at times I can't copy the photo, but have to invent what I am showing, but based on what was originally in the room.  So today was a lot of tables and chairs, the framed works on the wall, the one visible window. I also filled in some dark masses, because I think this print will have some.  The light in the original photo is a bit dim, so there are some serious shadows, and the floor can barely be seen.  The shadows may serve to contrast the bright colors of the furniture and other things, so potentially a good thing.  I don't know if any of the shadows I put in today are permanent or just place holders to get a feel for the value balance.  Still a lot of details to add, but so far it's coming along.

Molly's stuff was untouched since yesterday and I seemed to have the place to myself, so went with music.  One I had brought from home- Briefcase Full of Blues from the Blues Brothers.  The Blues Brothers characters were not musicians. but comedians John Belushi (Joliet Jake) and Dan Ackroyd (Elwood) developed the act as a fill in on Saturday Night Live, based partly on an interest they developed in blues during their Chicago training, and used on tv, and later in film.  The backing band were all professional musicians, many of whom backed or toured with Atlantic's R&B acts, or had been part of the NBC orchestra. I wouldn't call them a great blues band, but that album (from a live show in the 70's) did make me want to see the movie, which included a scene with John Lee Hooker as a musician on Maxwell Street, which made me want to buy some Hooker albums, and the rest is history.  Had it on vinyl as a kid, picked up the cd in a discount bin years later for convenient listening.  When that disc ended I went with one from my Studio library, a copy of Tom Waits' Beautiful Maladies, a greatest hits collection from his years on Island Records.  If you don't know Waits, it's hard to characterize him, except to say that he's eclectic.  There's jazz, rock, vaudeville, all delivered in his very gravelly voice, the songs often about society's lowlifes and rejects.  Good to make art to.