When I first moved to New York, I got a job with CBS News doing courtroom drawings some undercover work and also fieldwork.
I was okay at quickly drawing having studied classical drawing and working at Disneyland drawing people in the park. I had to dress up like a pirate but that’s another story.
So I ended up in a lot of NYC court rooms drawing for the nightly news. A lot of these trials involved black panther shootings, the Weather Underground . The guy who shot John Lennon, Brooke Shields , along with every day killers like a mob guy who shot a girl then as he was stuffing her in his car trunk three CBS technicians saw him and asked what he was doing so he shot them also and tried to stuff them in the trunk also. Caught doing so of course as they would not all fit.
So this led the way to looking at New York in a different way, an interesting vantage point. I see the city with a huge amount of optimism, but there is a darker side also.
To see some more images and hear the stories of what I heard and experinced, the entire playlist is on YouTube here
Reportage
Courtroom art, NBC News from 1979 Palimony trial. Lee Marvin finally noticed us drawing him and gave us the finger on the forehead scratching gesture then a cross eyed look as Michelle Triola described her “heroic efforts” holding a drunken Lee Marvin by his ankles as he tried to plunge out a 20th story window. According to Michelle she saved his life on numerous occasions. She was well over 5ft tall. Lee Marvin looked like a guy you did not want to be on the wrong side of. The only guy I ever met whom I felt could kick Chuck Norris’ ass with one hand while lighting a cigarette with the other. Coolest of the cool.
On-site drawings from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, DC. Ward 11, criminally insane patients. Commissioned by Psychology Today.
On-site reportage drawings done for various news agencies including CBS
Network News and NBC News
For a series on the Montreal Canadiens playing the Soviets, this set of drawings was commissioned by CBS News and NBC News
Sixth Ave Flea market for New York Times Greater New York Section.
