The Human Canvas - Dr. Who, Dr. Jha, and Da Sharpie!

Meet...The Professor.

Um...I don't always call her this. Sometimes it's Dr. Jha. And she doesn't always look like this. The above picture is from a few nights after the Human Canvas session we're talking about here.

We were getting ready to go to a bit of an open house for the new Visual and Media Studies offering as a major at University of Redlands.

It was also a bit of a book release - TARDISbound: Navigating the Universes of Doctor Who, written by a friend, Piers Britton.

Click on the Title above for a link.

But...I digress.

The book mentioned above, by the way, is the only thing on this blog entry having anything remotely to do with Doctor Who - but now that you're here...stick around for a second.

This session - about 25 minutes before we were set to leave - was a bit of an experiment...again. 

An experiment in fine line...

...very basic design...

...and just a touch of color.

Something that can blended, with just a light scrub of alcohol. This a bit reminiscent of the session referred to as "The Butterfly and the Big Bruise". You can click HERE for a link, but here's the (first) attempt at erasing that inspired the name:

Yuck, right?

But look at it again as a blending of color, along with the creation of NEW color. Colors you won't ordinarily get with even your best array of Sharpies. You can CONTROL it...

...for a rather attractive look...

...especially when you go back in with a bit of black to re-define.

Done?

Well, after adding a quick signature - as it were -

...and powdering it - to give it a bit more of an under-the-skin look...

...NOW we're done.

There were several people at the open house/book release that thought this was a real tattoo.

Cool!

Thank you Priya. This was long over due.

And thank YOU for making time for me to draw on you NEXT! There are two tabs near the top of the page which show all of the (documented) Human Canvas sessions so far. Thanks for checking it out, for your comments, and your encouragement. More soon. I'm excited by this new method, and am quite anxious to continue. The above session was only the night before this writing.

The Human Canvas - Jade Bennett, Singer AND Canvas!

So...once again...I have yet to write about some recent interviews...Arlo Guthrie, Stanley Clarke (again), Shirley Jones and Marty Ingels. Some great performances and/or venues to talk about...Jules Day, Kulak's Woodshed, 5th street Jazz...so much more...

Meantime...The Human Canvas series picks up again. Of course it did. I had jusssst updated the tab for Human Canvas II -2011 to include everything to date.

So meet Jade.

Sunday nights often find me at The Vault. This is a place in Redlands which always has good drinks - and often has good, live music. Take for example...ohhh...Sunday nights.

That's The Hometown Get-Down - most Sunday nights, 7-11, at The Vault Martini Bar in Redlands, California. Just sayin'. 

Click HERE for a recent write-up.

Left to right: Gino Matteo, Trevor Monks, James Breker, and Quinton Hufferd. Most nights - IF you're lucky - Jade Bennett will sit in for a few tunes. 

Gino sure don' mind!

Jade is a vocalist who combines sultry, smokey-bar blues with just a bit of rasp and a whole lotta power! She's inked up, but does have SOME room left. Um, right. Her left arm is tatted up, but the right one was empty...I saw it as available.

I do this sometimes. Really. If you...you, reading this...if you ever find me staring, I'm (possibly) not being rude, per se...let's just say it's an art thing.

So this one was a bit of an experiment - again. I've played around with an Alice in Wonderland theme...but I always get it wrong. The THEMES are there...but the order of appearance is messed up.

Link HERE for a Human Canvas example.

But back to Jade. At some point in the near future, we're going to work on a much larger Alice in Wonderland piece. Tonight...at The Vault...a first stab at the Queen of Hearts.

Hadn't really decided...until just a moment before.

Which means I hadn't really TRIED to represent this character before.

Next time - several things to do differently. I like the idea of doing a session in a bar...club...party...whatever. HOWEVER - lights are low, and ya end up with lines that aren't quite as clean as they could be...some areas which aren't as solid...

For example - these next 3 pics came from a session in the middle of a disco during a  Dr. Who convention in Los Angeles (2010).

But I have to admit - I like the audience. This goes beyond mere narcissism. A bit, anyway. Anyone watching is a potential canvas. I need to have some "David Fleming Arts" business cards made up - though it can never hurt to keep handing out KVCR cards. Especially during fundraising times.

Having turned out WAY larger than originally intended, I added a bit to the bottom...

...and called it done.

We've talked about another shot at this. I KNOW I can do a better Queen of Hearts...and want to add a bunch more from Wonderland.

Thanks Jade. 'Til next time.

And to see the start of all these adventures, click HERE, or go to the tab for "The Human Canvas - the beginning" near the top of the page. The adventures continue with "The Human Canvas II - 2011", or with a click HERE.

Thanks.