Sketching in funny places...

I've been all sorts of places that are *not* the studio this week...

A couple of nights ago, I was tagged to chaperon the daughter and some friends at a Colbie Caillat concert at a downtown refurbished-warehouse venue. No chairs, packed with (much taller) people and meltingly hot - after an hour I gave up...

...and walked down the street to an air-conditioned, well-lit location. With chairs. And working surfaces. :-) I had several hours to kill - so worked on some inital roughs for the next book interior -

-as well as playing with some more of the thumbnails of the winter promo. There were some ideas that I wanted to explore further to see if there was enough potential to warrant refining... I felt like all those 'real' artists who work in cafes and coffee shops, but I was somewhere even better!


Ah, Krispy Kreme - thank you for your cool, brightly lit interior which comes stocked with donuty goodness (the seasonal 'pumpkin spice' donuts are quite tasty) - and that you let me sit at your tables for three hours...


The next evening she and I attended a musical at the Village Theatre. Here's another spot for sketching in the dark. :-) Couldn't really see much in my tiny Moleskine as I tried to draw, but I enjoyed the costumes and sets and some of the profiles, so wanted to see if I could at least make a mental note...


It was a cute production. You can see some snippets here.

Drawing with donuts. In the dark. That's how I roll...

Sunday Sketching -

It was a conference weekend this week rather than 'regular' church ...

So, longer time period around the 'grown ups' -

-who obliged by standing up front for at least 10 minutes each-

-or a little longer. Makes for something a little more refined than the tiny facial 'gestures' that I get to do some weeks. Plus, keeps me awake - big plus.

Ren Fair-ing - Part Last

Even though I had hoped to do a bunch of sketching -

I got sucked into *watching* the performances rather than drawing through them. (I did sketch some of the audience backs while waiting for them to start..)

So many things to see! So much to watch!

...Lovely long day. Clear to the very end....

Sketching in the Dark -

- or at least, the dim (it was *really* dark once the lights were all the way off). My daughter and I went to see a live production of Beauty and the Beast this evening. We had front-row balcony seats so I had this great view of the stage, which I attempted to sketch, on my knee, in barely any light, during the 15 minute intermission. (Straight lines and perspective on your knee? not so much...)

I *wished* I could have drawn more in the dark - I'm afraid I wasn't terribly captivated by the production. The costumes and sets were wonderful (and I would have happily sketched those if I could have seen my pencil) but we watched the Disney video of B&B 20 bazillion times when the kids were little, and most of these performances were not an improvement on the versions seared into my memory. They were adequate (with a few notable exceptions*) and pleasant enough I suppose. The additional songs felt mostly unnecessary. I think I fell asleep at one point. Not the most notable play I've attended recently.

(*Exceptions - the actor playing Lumiere was fabulous. I loved pretty much any second he was on the stage. (As much as I adored Jerry Orbach's incarnation of him in the Disney version, this *still* worked.) Also, the Wardrobe was played to great effect by Ellen McLain - she, who is the voice of GlaDOS, the computer from the wildly popular game Portal. My son kept trying to get me into Portal (I'm afraid it made me nauseous), but I must say that I adore the theme song - also sung by Ellen McLain, and written by Jonathan Coulton - which I will leave you with. Probably the more clever and enjoyable entertainment of the evening. I'm suddenly feeling a strange and compelling craving for cake):



(Or you can watch Jonathan sing it himself here).

Sketchin' at the Faire - Part III

I must admit however that my favorite part of festivals, sketching and people watching is the kids...

So many darling little people -

jesters, peasants, squires -

and knights in training -

Very much their own little selves. I love that young yet strong sense of identity and individuality-

-complete with sense of wonder and magic and infinite possibility attached....

(the animals are pretty darn fun too)


(ok, I drew *everything*. Smattering of the pages and pages of 5-10 minute sketches we did all afternoon shown above)

We ended the evening with a most wondrous dinner at the Bors Hede Inne - traditional, period fare served sans fork and sans plate (you do get trencher bread), and with some serenading by the innkeeper. Lovely, lovely day....

Sketchin' at the Faire - Part II

One of the big events of the festival was the live production of Sir Ywayn, the Stone & the Well, an amazing masked dramatization of a 14th century Middle English Arthurian romance is featured by Camlann's troop of players. Taken from a translation of Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain, written in the 12th century. This summer we will present the first of three parts of the romance, in which Ywayn encounters a mysterious knight who guards a well and magical stone in the forest Brocelianda.

It had narrating 'minstrels' -

- knights, maidens, King Arthur and a hunky Ywayn (this is not a tale I'm familiar with, and I can't say I know it much better now. Did I mention I was mostly sketching?)

I did notice at one point that a pitched battle ensued, with much clanging of swords and shields -

The audience looked on with bated breath!

I *think* everything was resolved satisfactorily...

I was kind of busy watching the watchers...

I Can Has... Haggis? Scottish Festival - Part VI

Other Scottilicious miscellany -

What's a Scottish festival without some burly guys throwin' some trees?

-and lots of weaponry, historically accurate and legitimately lethal..

Lots of other spiffy vendor stuff. See the leafy leather masks?! (I bought myself a blue one. They are gorgeous.)

I was lucky enough to get to attend with a couple of POBL cohorts in tow. Kathleen (whose studio we saw a few posts ago) is wicked-amazing with a sketchbook. We were inspired and also played along.

Quickie gestural things of belly dancers and drummers (always an exciting challenge doing fast sketches of moving targets). But it's another fun way to commemorate the fest' besides meat pies and photos.

Another great day, another great festival. It'll have to hold me until next July...