32-20 Blues part 3

 I had my block at home the past few days, and we did get a little bit of rain, though not enough that it would have kept me from getting up to the Studio if I needed to go, but because the block was home, I didn't need to.  Did some drawing, though, and used my bedroom to help out with it.  My preference would have been to draw a real figure in a real bed, to get all the shadows, furniture, and fabrics exactly right, but I didn't have the items available for this, so no point in trying to find a model.  Luckily I have a lot of things around the house and I'm artistically trained, so I got it done.  

The bedroom is similar to some I have drawn in the past, and the simple iron bed frame is the same one I remember using for a Dubliners print years ago.  The cracks in the plaster walls come from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, Little Red Riding Rabbit, if I remember correctly, one of the plaster walls in Grandma's house, frequented by Red, Bugs, and the Wolf in this wonderful bit of war time animation.  I used my actual bedroom as a substitute for the one in the image, so it's my sheet and blanket that are visible.  For the figure I used two things- a mannequin torso I keep in the basement as a drawing prop, and a pillow as the body under the covers, and more of my pillows behind the mannequin's back. My image has the light come from a window, but the window in my room is behind the bed, and didn't cast light where I needed it, so I used a small table lamp as my source, which would be about where the flask of bourbon and glasses are in the block drawing.  The one thing I had no substitute for was the head of the woman, so that stayed the same, and I made the hair solid, instead of all the individual drawn locks.  Looks just as messy in the end, but a simpler dark shape.  I used the light from the lamp to create the shadows on the bedding and figure, and made up those on the face.  

Later I sat down with it at a table, and refined the shapes and made it a little more logical.  Added more shadows around the room.  This image may be about done, but I'll sit on it a few days before making a decision.

Meanwhile, there was a lot going on at home this morning.  But that was all done, and I needed to move my car anyway, so I did it as part of a trip to the Studio.  First a bit of business at the office, where I checked in with Jeanne and the status of my drawing class.  I had seen nothing about further sign ups, and heard nothing from my boss, so it was all still a mystery, and I had no idea if she would even be there.  But I had to move my car.  And it turned out, Jeanne was there when I got there around 1:30 pm. She confirmed that no one had signed up yet, and we both agreed that one was just not enough.  However, I do know that my mother saw a reference to the class on the internet, so maybe something will happen.  We decided to wait until Monday.  If no one has signed up by then, we cancel the class, and try again in the future.

No need to do much artwork, as I had done it at home, but it is easier to photograph things there, so I took the above photo showing the update of the image.  And then I roughed in the lyrics on all three blocks, just to make sure there was room. 

For those who may be wondering, what the title means, it fits more or less with the other lyrics, which are mostly about the narrator's desire to shoot everyone.  A 32-20 refers to a particular cartridge from Winchester that could fit a number of rifles and pistols, inexpensive, and relatively small, suitable mostly for small game and varmints.  This seems odd, as elsewhere in the song he complains that a 38 special is too light a weapon, though it is a larger caliber than the gun he takes pride in.  He also sings about a gatling gun, which could do a whole lot more damage.