Sixth Avenue Pittsburgh Archives

I recently learned people are interested in my drawing process so I am showing a progress drawing as well as the final drawing.

This is what the development of the drawing looks like at first. I keep the buildings on different layers of vellum and move them around until it looks interesting and unusual.

Then I finalize and ink the final drawing. It shows 6th Avenue Pittsburgh including Duquesne Club, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Granite Building, EQT Plaza, K&L Gates Center, Wood St Galleries, Wood St. T Station

They are now available s prints in 3 sizes on archival textured paper.This is the process I go through to create another silly ink drawing. I draw all the individual buildings- and fool around with angle and scale of each until I can sense perspective but everything is off-kilter and silly. Then I add stuff going on in the streets.

This is one my favorite city blocks in Pittsburgh- Sixth Avenue between Smithfield and Liberty. I have studied this block, ever since first laying eyes on it. I absolutely love the architecture there. Pittsburgh History and Landmarks has lots of information about Pittsburgh and I often use their site and the Carnegie Library to find out more about my favorite Pittsburgh buildings.

How I got started in ink drawing. Ben and Jerry were just starting out in Burlington, VT when they encouraged me to make prints and sell my first silly ink drawing of Burlington, which had been on the wall of their first ice cream shop. This is the newest addition to the collection. I have done them in Pittsburgh, Boston and Stowe.

More about what’s in this drawing:

A whimsical drawing of Sixth Avenue in Pittsburgh. Cars, bikes, a bus, pedestrians and a kayak make their way up or down Sixth Avenue under the gaze of the Duquesne Club, Trinity Cathedral, First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Granite Building, EQT Plaza, K&L Gates Center, Wood St Galleries and the Wood St. T Station.

In 2016 The Duquesne Club purchased a 22″ X 30″ print of this drawing from the me. The Duquesne Club was founded in 1873. The club’s present home, a Romanesque structure designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow on Sixth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, was opened in 1890; an addition designed by Janssen & Cocken that included a garden patio, barbershop, and new kitchens was constructed in 1931. The building achieved landmark status from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1976, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The Club voted to admit women for the first time in its history in 1980.

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh previously purchased 8 1/2 x 11″ prints for their archive and offices.