3rd Entry for June 3, 2019

Chamber trio rehearsal. Heliconian Club.  June 3, 2019.  Staedler Lumograph Black pencils on paper, 18 x 24"

2nd entry for Oct 29, 2015

These are a couple of 10-minute studies above, a 15-minute and a 25-minute one below. These are all Koh-I-Noor Negro oil-based pencil on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Drawing paper.
The space was crowded, which I find challenging, but the poses, and Addi and Jacki's comfort with each other, balanced that out.

2nd entry for Oct 15th, 2015

These are a 10-minute study, three 15-minute ones and a 20-minute one, I think. Addi and Jacki had a very warm energy towards each other, and it was enjoyable to work with two people who were into each other's bodies and to figuring out how they could fit together to be drawn.
The space was small, and Addi is a rather tall person, so trying to fit two people on the smaller 18 x 18" paper I brought was a challenge I was not quite meeting.
The top study is Pitt pen with some graphite underdrawing. The next three are Pitt pen plus some Progresso woodless coloured pencil, and the bottom one is back to Pitt pen on Canson Drawing paper. The top four are all on Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

2nd entry for October 2, 2015

These are four 5-minute studies at top,  three 10-minute ones and a 15-minute one below. with some additional working on sequins and foot necrotizing of the last one during a break.
As is usually the case with the Dr. Sketchy's sessions, the costumes had a lot of textures and surfaces to work with, especially with veiling and lace. It's a very good drawing challenge.
The second-last one has a wee bit of Goya-ish ness that I'm liking more as time goes by.
The soundtrack for the night included a bunch of wedding-themed music, and will likely be one of the only times I'll draw accompanied by His Name Is Alive's "Are We Not Married".
The top four are Pitt pen on Canson Recycled paper, the next three are Pitt pen and India ink washes on Canson Drawing paper, and the bottom one is Pitt pen, ink washes and Progresso woodless colourted pencil on Canson XL watercolour paper. All are 18 x 24"

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.

2nd entry for May 3, 2015

These are some 5-minute and 10-minute studies. As I tried to slow down and go slower with some more precise lines,  I was finding that Jason's musical performance was becoming a challenge. It was a little improv jazz-y, a little Chopin-ish and a little start/stop high/low volume like some Satie pieces. Jason's musicianship was strong, but listening to the music and drawing was puling my brain in two directions, and his work was a little too varied and had enough shift changes that I couldn't put it into the background. There was some nice industrial-sounding loops he was using, which I personally liked, but then surprise piano flourishes  would pierce their steady rhythms.

Drawing can be a kind of dance, and when dancing I do tend to tap out the beat of music, and his rhythms were not in sync with the movements I was trying to make on the page, which was slowing things down and becoming frustrating. I was respecting that Jason was looking out to the room and responding to his environment. Internally, I felt my drawing was getting weaker and less connected.
I found I was being reminded of the piano solo in Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" now and then.

These are all Pitt pen and ink washes on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

2nd entry for March 10, 2015

These are studies of Jane Mappin and Daniel Firth. Also ink wash and Pitt pen in an 8.5 x 11" sketchbook.
It was interesting to watch a tech rehearsal underway, and to have the opportunity to watch a run-through of the work by Jane Mappin and by Peggy Baker. The second piece was more kinetic; daniel Firth was a more restless mover, which added to the challenge of sketching. It was a good workout, and the ink washes in waterbrushes were a good means to get information down quickly..

1st entry for March 10, 2015

I've been taking part in a dance/visual art collaboration class at the TSA. On the Tuesday night I was able to sit in along with several of my fellow students at Dancemakers Studio in the Distillery at a rehearsal for an upcoming dance performance. It was for the dance series "Older and Reckless". These are all pen and wash in an 8.5 x 11" sketch pad.
The top studies are of Peggy Baker and Larry Hahn, and the bottom-most images are of seies organiser Claudia Moore looking on.