Cross Road Blues part 3

We finally got some snow over the weekend.  Not much, officially 3 inches, but it was the first official accumulation over an inch in like two years.  I went out to shovel and clear cars a few times, both mostly done with a broom.  But the timing was enough to close all the schools, and I couldn't get out of my driveway until Monday.   Today was dry and more mild.  It may be even warmer tomorrow, but it may also rain as well, so today seemed the best day to go to the Studio.  I always have something to do there.

As planned, I brought another homemade Jean Shepherd disc with me, this one a show from September, 1965, on the topic of the Jackdaw Syndrome, and the Hupmobile they briefly had when he was a kid.  If you want to know more about Shepherd, you can find it on the previous post.  The Jackdaw Syndrome was about the tendency to collect possessions, a habit of the Jackdaw (a type of bird), and of more than a few people over the years.  Not the most amusing thing he ever talked about.  The end of the show was talking about used cars, something people are converted to, baptized to, or born to.  He felt his father was part of the last category.  At one point his father traded in the family Oldsmobile (a car he was once a big fan of, but now was aching to get rid of it) for a problematic Hupmobile, a new used car he had grown fond of, though in this case it didn't even make it home before problems occurred. and it was brought back and a refund demanded.  (don't think it was said if he got it)  I filled the rest of the disc with a Bob and Ray show (Matinee with Bob and Ray) from December of 1949.  In general their show was funny, though the heater kept me from hearing some of this one.  Like a typical Shepherd show, there seemed to be no script, just two guys riffing on the subject (not sure what it was), reading a commercial (no idea if it was a real product or a comedy bit) and interviewing another film star (John Barrymore), out promoting a new movie.  It took up the half hour.

Part of why I was there was to do a little more work on my most recent Robert Johnson block, results of which can be seen below:

Mostly I worked on two things the bottle, including the label on it, and simplifying some aspects of the background figure.  Not many changes to the latter, but some of the lines are more implied than clear now.  I noticed one more thing I may need to change, but I want to verify this first, and that needs the internet, something I don't have access to there.   So I'm not done with the drawing yet, but I am close.

So close, I started doing some preliminary work on the next ones.   I have ideas for two other prints, but need something to draw from to help get things right.  I prefer a model, but I don't know of anyone right now who had the proper look, never mind the wardrobe (I don't provide clothing, so it's up to the model to bring something) but I do know I have occasionally worked from photographs.  And over the past few days I remembered that there in my Studio I have a huge thick book of reference photos from commercial photographers.  Is there something in there I could use?  Only one way to find out.  So after I was done drawing, I got out the book and went through it.  Didn't solve all my problems today, but found some partial photos that might work, and some images that have given me some things to think about.  Marked all the pages for the future.  Good thing I don't have to get this done right away.  Had just as thick a book of commercial illustrations, and I went through it (some images had both drawings and photos), but most of the drawings were very cartoony, and none were the right angle or pose, so nothing there I can use.

And that was all for today. I packed up, cleaned up, and headed home.