3rd entry for May 3, 2015

The top-most study here was the point at which my efforts to tune out the improv music at the Jam Factory Collective session snapped*. After struggling to make connected lines of Denis' body, I started scrawling and generally attacking the page with pens and a brushpen.
Jason Kenemy's music was shifting and polyrhythmic. I could have spent an intersting hour or two drawing my response to his music with no model. Drawing Denis as I'm accustomed has a different set of slower internal rhythms and would have been fine on its own as well. Trying to do those simultaneously just wasn't working, so I gave over to the music. For the two drawings after that, I was using big sticks of graphite - often held `mitt' style in my fist, to put bold scrawly lines in keeping with the music's tempos.
After that I was able to be more loose and free about the drawing. That I feel is ultimately a good thing. The session was like an art class where an obstacle to working on autopilot is thrown in. The upside is that I started getting a lot less precious about the drawing. So all whining aside, it was worthwhile.

* and I suspect, the most interesting drawn response I've done in a while, which I'm going to think about.

If you want to get a taste of Jason's music, you can hear some excerpts online. From the 2:00 mark on the 3rd "littleBits and piano" piece is where I was getting wound up; the moody electronics were fine - it was the piano atop it that kept jarring. The other three tracks underscore his adept and interesting playing. (just more interesting than I thought I wanted .)  2 hours of solo piano improv is pretty impressive.

The top two are on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper. The lower four are on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson XL Watercolour paper, mostly using a big hexagonal Lyra water-soluble graphite crayon the thickest, least precious drawing tool I had.