Bakelite radios

Pen&ink and watercolor on Hot Press 10 in x 7 in

 These radios are at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida. The author put together two elements for this piece, an African American portrait and Bakelite radios. It was the group of radios which I thought I could be fun to sketch. I actually had to find out what Bakelite was. It’s a plastic which was produced in the 70’s which was very popular because it was easy to make objects of different shapes and forms but the process was very toxic so it’s not produced any more, therefore any piece made of Bakelite is a very desirable collectible.

For what I read, the dominant colors of Bakelite are brown, black, green and red. I applied a first layer of Buff Titanium to the radios and the floor to unified the pieces and to age them a little bit. The palette of this scene screams vintage. I enjoyed doing it, calmly, on a desk and several cups of coffee.