In the summer of 2003 I took a long road trip through the Deep South, visiting places in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. My destination in Louisiana was New Orleans, where I spent three soaked days wandering through the city in the downpours of Tropical Storm Bill. I drew all the time of course and during a less rainy moment I got the time to draw this grandiose mansion in the affluent Garden District of New Orleans. This area later got hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. This house was across the street from an even more grandiose dwelling. I sat in my parked car doing this drawing and wondered why so many people were looking at that house (not this one across the street). Even busloads of tourists came by. Finally I asked one of the "pilgrims," who said she had come all the way from Las Vegas, what was the attraction. She said it was the home of vampire author Anne Rice. I've read some of Rice's books but I'm not a huge fan, certainly not enough to make me travel all the way from Vegas. Anyway I got this drawing done before the rain started really coming down so I escaped from Vampire Street unharmed.
Technical pen black ink on sketchbook page, 6" x 6 3/4", June 29, 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment