At the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, on the Main floor all the way in the back of the good design area, under the stairs that lead up to the abstract expressionists, sits an outboard motor cased in a Lucite box. It is beautiful; silver and shiny in spots and grey industrial metal in others. It is a hierarchy of knobs, tubes, flanges and handles. The motor was designed by John R. Morgan and manufactured by the now defunct Sears, Robuck and Company in Chicago Ill , 1936. It is made of steel aluminum and rubber.
As the MET has a strictly no water media permitted zone, I drew this with Graphite Aquerelle by Faber Castell and a Printing pencil which produced the very darks. I had planned to add water in the cafeteria, but have since decided to leave it as is. It was a very focused sketch with all the engine’s parts weaving in and out under the gas tank and I really enjoyed it in spite of the fact that the pencils were a 4B and 8B making very difficult to keep a sharp line. I don’t often draw in pencil anymore and this drawing made me question why that is.