out to lunch - sam baker

a good lesson is to have no expectations. the poster for this show had a scruffy lookin man sittin down playin guitar in an energetic (near punk) manner. this seemed ideal to me. first energetic - that's what i love to draw! and secondly sittin down. it is a much more pleasin (and easier) image to capture than a standin guitarist.

he was a well presented slow playin standin guitarist. the first act went badly for me...i had chosen an awkward angle and had got myself hemmed in as well so couldn't escape to change that, every sketch was a failure and my esteem was droppin somethin shockin. here's the most valuable lesson any artist needs to learn

push through

never give up. instead of gettin disappointed take that energy turn it into whatever and let it come out on the paper.

as i was standin there this man's music started to get to me. he was charmin with the crowd and the lyrics were really movin. i'm not totally opposed to country. howe gelb has a room in my life.

first act done, repositioned and although i don't feel i really got the pics i was after i walked out with my head up proud at least of what i managed.

a weird thing is quite often the musicians aren't at all interested in my sketches and i feel a little embarrassed about the whole brief affair i've had with them. but i would have liked to have shown these to mr sam baker. not that they are particularly great. i had just spent maybe 2 hours really studyin him and bein frustrated by him and all the while he slowly got into my head

i had to leave to catch a bus that wasn't there

but this post isn't about our awful public transport network and film crews who are more important than me

out to lunch - mirenda rosenberg

wow. what an amazing performer. luckily i was warned not to be too close to her as she destroys men in the crowd and so i lurked in the shadows, she did indeed spend a lot of time in with the crowd harassin the menfolk. i wouldn't have minded a little harassment but my sketchin was goin horrible for me...how wick i would have felt when she hit me with cliché 3

"that looks nothing like me!"

yep indeed even if i don't worry too much bout gettin a likeness i do want it to represent the event in some manner. well mirenda was very difficult to capture. she moved around somethin shockin.
when i sketch the circus folk sometimes i have about 3 sketches on the go at once and hop back and forth when they go into a certain pose. its obvious with circus because their trainin means repetitions. i can use this to capture what they do. it didn't occur to me until the end of mirenda's performance that she had a repertoire of about 7 moves. i spent the entire thing just tryin to keep up with her.

i barely even bothered with the band - she was such an amazin performer. i've clumsily stitched together some of the sketches on the computator into one image. sometimes it just doesn't work.

i feel like a cartoon villain...

"i'll get you next time mirenda!!!"

out to lunch - the pontiax

as i guessed the popularity of this festival means that its now down to sketchpad and line drawins. well i had a wee happy accident durin niamh when my pen leaked and was able to rub the ink into the picture. i was really happy with the result so thought to myself..i'll get one of those there ink stamp pads! so i did and it would appear that the ink is not watersoluable and doesn't smudge. great if thats what you want. so i'll have to make my own up with a suitable bit of sponge and ink. in these drawins you'll see the effect i got with the mystery inks from a stamp pad. the pontiax are a very talented chicago blues band. but i don't like the chicago blues ( i think while reading this you may wonder if there is anything i do like - i like the delta blues and negativeland and sure whats the harm in a little fugazi).
so in an earlier post i said one of the things people say to you when you are drawin is
"are you drawin?"
and there are two others i get and both i received at this gig. first
"can i see?"
this is fine except when i'm actually sketchin -
"er...i'm kinda usin it at the mo"
and the other is
"it looks nothing like blankity blank"

ok well that one is fair enough but i'll take this moment to defend that.
for me to get a portrait likeness takes a level of consideration that detaches me from the moment and kills the energy of the piece. i use the energy of the moment to create the work and i try to make a more moody piece. to capture the vibe of the moment.
its like i'm jammin with the musicians
my crowd pictures...well you're not meant to go oh there's so and so.
its just to go...this is a crowd.
its like i draw the chi or some crap like that.

out to lunch - Niamh Ni Charra

ok this is more like it. an amazin musician playin some quite movin tunes too.

sadly i didn't have a great angle but got some nice crowd drawins. the festival seems popular so if i'm gonna get some close ups it means line drawins on me sketchpad.

when i have my case set out to do the watercolours and then decide to bring out the sketch pad i always feel like some kind of action hero who's primary gun's ran out of ammo and they pull out there sidearm to finish off the baddies. i guess i shouldn't admit that but its great goin. shit! i don't have the angle - grab the keys around my neck so i can quietly rush to another spot see the angle and scribble scribble scribble.

my pen leaked on this one when i repositioned (the black drawin)- at first i thought i'd cut my hand so was really wonderin what mess i was makin when some guy came up to me and said "are you drawin?" this happens often and makes me feel like bein rude. then he said cause he thought i was maybe a journalist which i said i was then he started mutterin on somethin about nautical stuff. i was like dude i'm drawin here and this woman here on stage is playin music thats makin people cry...shut up.

as much as i can i try not to interfere with peoples experiences or the ambience of the gig. i even use the tipex after the gig cause some people find that toxic stuff offensive

out to lunch - john martyn tribute

the kind folk runnin the out to lunch festival have asked me to come along and document the events goin on there. so on wednesday i hopped on the train to go to my first gig (in typical fashion) before lookin at the time table - a john martyn celebration :(
well singer songwriters have never really been my thing and the worse of them all has to be mr martyn. well the tribute act were very good which made it even worse for me but still i think i got some good drawins done. i was a martyr for martyn. the thing is when i work the energy of the music has a very real effect on what i produce - it makes sense if you think about it. its this energy i tap into as much as what my eyes are seein.
typically for drawin at gigs espec the black box i have almost zero light to work with. but i like that. whenever the lights come on i'm like "thats great!" or "oh hell! what the feck happened there?"

raven

this is a cell animation i did a while back....somethin i'd like to do more of but it really takes a while. hopefully it'll be the kind of thing i do everynow and then...maybe a painted runnin dog would be nice

i really want it to just loop but am havin difficulty gettin that to happen here. hopefully i'll work it out. when it loops its really quite peaceful to watch