The Human Canvas does PBS!

I should clarify.

Like - when I told a friend 

that I had an A&E show, he said he watches

that channel, and I should let him know when it is.

 

 

The show we were

talking about is KVC-Arts,

aired on KVCR-FM, in San Bernardino, CA.

So when I say "The Human Canvas does PBS,"

I should say that I spent a late morning - early afternoon drawing PBS characters. KVCR is an NPR affiliate

on the FM side, as well as a PBS TV station.

 

We also launched FN/X.

That's First Nations Experience,

a television station with solely indigenous

programming

 

So back to PBS.

Lillian Vasquez, Marketing Coordinator

for KVCR, was the first to serve as a canvas that day.

She asked for a Clifford (the Big Red Dog), and I

was QUITE grateful. It also became my favorite

of the Cliffords done that day.

 

I was a bit nervous

about having to draw exact

representations of things. This gave me a

practice session, and made me realize that Clifford is

close to the easiest thing (in the world of PBS) to

put on someone

 

Curious George, believe it or not,

was one of the more difficult characters to draw.

Just a little bit off, and it ends up being some sort of

cartoony bastardization of JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy.

Pictured below is probably may favorite of the

Georges I drew that day. And there were

quite a few OF them.

 

It's getting to where

I can't draw on people at a festival

without the EMT's getting involved. At least

they're not rescuing people from Sharpie

inhalation or something.

 

What was actually

the EASIEST to draw was Shiny,

one of several siblings from Dinosaur Train.

 

 

It's interesting that this was

the easiest because this has more blends,

and more depth than Clifford, George,

or some of the others.

 

The first version of

Shiny went to Grant Wisegarver, Lillian's son.

His turned out REALLY well, though with his being

the first of those, I was still toying with

the idea of just doing faces

or "busts" of sorts.

 

I kinda wish that I had done

a complete drawing on Grant, like this one below.

This one MAYyyyyyy..... be my favorite.

 

 

Not only in how it turned out,

but in that she had every intention of flying it

proudly at her Senior Homecoming dance that night.

 

That made ME

even MORE proud

to have done such a good one on her.

But again - I soon discovered that Shiny

was possibly the easiest...

 

...And if you do one that's a bit smaller,

it becomes one of the OTHER siblings - Tiny.

 

 

Though truth be told,

they became rather diminutive

because I was drawing on tiny, tiny, arms.

One more (slight) variation on this one.  Make it

a blue blend instead of green, and you have John,

yet another sibling. 

 

 

As mentioned earlier,

there were several more drawings

of Curious George that day.

 

 

Including on some of

the Crafton Hills College faculty and staff.

 

There were quite

a few Cliffords as well,

and only ONE of this guy below, Elmo.

 

 

I tell ya,

Elmo was SO quick and absurdly simple,

I couldn't believe I had done it with such simple lines,

but there he was!

 

 There are of course MANY

PBS characters that are wildly popular,

but might take a BIT longer to draw. All of

these were done because they were quick pieces.

 

 

The only one I took

a lot of time with was on Daniel Tiger here.

It was drawn on Lindsey Wisegarver. Lindsey is 

Grant's sister, Lillian's daughter, and all-around GREAT person to have on hand at a KVCR event.

 

She's also a very willing canvas,

and enjoys the fact that she keeps getting some of the

best work at the festivals we're both at.

 

Above and below,

Lindsey, Lillian, and Grant.

 

This is now the third festival for me to be at,

with three more in the relatively near future. Thanks to EVERYONE involved in such a great event, thanks to Lillian for having me there (and booking even MORE gigs for me), and thanks to Lindsey for letting us BOTH get our fix

for some REALLY cool blends.

 

And thank YOU for being the next canvas.

I'm NOT slowing down!

 

 

A COOL take on MacBeth!

MacBeth.

Ooh! (glancing around) MACBETH!

THERE! I said it. Some people won't.

But we'll get back to that.

Not too terribly long ago,

all things relative, I had been

planning on making a drive to LA

somewhere to catch Val Kilmer in his

one-man Mark Twain show. This woulda been

a given, really. I'm a fan of both Mr. Kilmer AND

Mr. Twain, and am also fortunate to know

Robert Valentine and have enjoyed

HIS Mark Twain.

And his Thomas Edison - to a great great degree,

but that's another story.

Sometime the afternoon of the show,

(was that a Mametism?)

I decided against going to LA, and instead

go to a community theatre production of

The Importance of Being Earnest.

Yeah.

You heard (read) that right.

Dropping LA for a community theare.

Dropping Kilmer and Twain to go see a show which,

having been involved in at LEAST once,

I've seen a lot.

Long story short (too late)

I'm SO glad I made the decision I did.

It was without a doubt the best interpretation

and production of Earnest that I've seen. And I

have to say - I've been bored to tears on Broadway,

and some of the best theatre I've seen has BEEN at the Community Theatre level.

(((Yvonne Flack - Radio in back and white)))

That's part of what made me

contact Yvonne Flack (who directed Earnest) to do an interview about MacBeth. She's directing a version

that be up during the latter part of March, 2013.

Go to www.inlandstage.org for more on

the upcoming season.

It's a good'n. 

So...

Shaelyn Blaney and I set up,

and got going for what would turn out to be

a wonderful interview. Interview? Yeah. I suppose.

But what I really try to strive for is

more of a conversation.

Think Terry Gross, only taller.

And more Presbyterian.

Anyway.

First of all, when you talk to Yvonne,

it's incredibly clear she knows knows knows her stuff.

But it comes out with casual reference through a sort of comparative explanation. This as opposed to, ohhhhh...

Ya know those people who ask a question at

some symposium or something, only their question

is posed (to coin a phrase) to show how much

they actually already know?

Really hate that.

When you talk to Yvonne,

ya don't get that at all. You get knowledge

ALL too apparent. But it comes out with a casual and relaxed friendliness. There's no way I can truly do justice

to this wonderful conversation. Ya really NEED to check

out the interview live or via podcast. Both will be at www.kvcr.org starting 3/1/13 at 8pm.

This production

of MacBeth has a post-apocalyptic

setting - housed in a meat packing factory.

Mm! Tasty! It makes wonderful sense though,

in this bloody aftermath of a world they're in...

trying to survive  - and struggle for power amongst

various factions. It's a dark show, with an all too

appropriate dark setting. There's a modern, if not

futuristic update, but the language is more

than 99% intact.

Other tweaks shouldn't really bother the purists,

and should be quite interesting

for the rest of us.

 Now one of the things about

MacBeth - in the theatre world that is - is that 

it's considered bad luck to say it. MacBeth, that is.

Technically speaking, I suppose it's really ONLY bad

luck if the name is uttered inside of a theatre, but there

are some that are SO hardcore (or so NUTSO) that they

won't say it ANYWHERE! They won't say MacBeth...

At All. They'll walk around saying, "The M-word"

instead. While we were talking, I had to ask her

feelings on the subject. She says she doesn't

believe in it. Words have power... but it's

only the power we give them.

HOWEVER -

While saying that there

hasn't been any bad luck in the run, she say's,

"...but so far - knock on wood (and she does) - we

haven't had any bad luck." Now THAT'S irony.

I think. I'll have to ask my wife. 

One of the

other REALLY cool things

about this interview is that it also

included Sean Longstreet, who's providing

an original soundtrack for Inland Stage Company's

MacBeth. At the last minute, I called Sean to ask if he'd

bring a guitar with him to the session. Maybe an acoustic

that we could point a mic at - and hope

for somethin' good.

He ended up bringing an acoustic-electric,

which we were able to pug directly into the board,

and have a nice sound as a guitarist talks about

what he's gonna do - and then proceeds to give

a bit of a demo. Worked out QUITE well.

Sean is no stranger to

scoring for plays (and more) and

is QUITE talented AT it. He's also a wonderful

multi-instrumentalist with a very technical mind and

the ability to translate emotion into sound. He also has

the ability to stand out... without upstaging, and has

created some wonderful dark moods to

accompany this production.

And, I'd say,

his music REALLY helped

to propel the final product of the on-air

version of the interview as well. I mean - I knew

it'd be cool. But it REALLY made it.

Really.

After the interview,

they posed with Kai. Kai Ryssdal,

from Marketplace.

Okay.

We all did.

I mean...

That's whatcha do.

Whatcha do choo-choo.

Right?

Even a caveman could do it. 

At the time of this writing,

the afore-mentioned interview airs

tomorrow night at 8 (3/1/13). Anytime after,

there'll be a podcast available too. You can hear it

at 91-9 FM, or online at www.kvcr.org.

Again - it was a GOOD interview!

And the music - the beginnings of a soundtrack

for MacBeth - became QUITE the soundtrack for

this interview.

I DID the interview. I EDITED it.

But listening to it, it STILL makes me want to

go see this upcoming production. And THAT, I suppose,

is the reason for this write up. Doing the interview itself

was fun. Listening to it in post-production (even though

I was the one DOING the post-production) gave me

chills at times, and MADE me wanna listen to

whatever followed.

MacBeth!

See it near you!

And again - www.inlandstage.org for

more on the rest of a really, really cool season,

and www.kvcr.org to hear KVC-Arts, or

to get the podcast.

Thank you Yvonne. Thank you Sean.

And thank you Inland Stage.

The Human Canvas - Rock Autism! 2012

So...

I was recently at a really

cool music event in Yucaipa, California...

Rock Autism - presented by the Autism Society - Inland Empire.

Some great music...

 ...And vendors...

And I got to hang out at the KVCR booth,

drawing puzzle pieces on people for a donation of any

amount to The Autism Society - Inland Empire.

First Priya...

um... Priya.

Then Alyssa, who was there representing KVCR.

She found it painful!

Well, maybe not.

From the website, Pinning Down Autism:

The puzzle piece logo was first created in 1963 by the National Autistic Society. They explain “that the symbol of the Society should be the puzzle, as this did not look like any other commercial or charitable one as far as they could discover. The puzzle piece is so effective because it tells us something about autism: our children are handicapped by a puzzling condition; this isolates them from normal human contact and therefore they do not 'fit in'.”

Since then, the interlocking, mutli-colored puzzle piece has become the international symbol of autism. Its significance has become multi-faceted. For some it represents the mystery and complexity of the disorder, for others it represents the mechanical nature of an autistics persons thought process. The bright colors are said to represent hope.

There were a few kids who wanted a piece done...

...Including one who had been waiting around until I got

back from wandering the site.

While it was (mostly) only puzzle pieces done that day, on many of the pieces, I found myself (unconciously) color coordinating with what they were wearing...

Or in this case,

coordinating with what was already tattooed.

She already had the four primary-colored puzzle pieces.

I provided the red and green ones.

This next wandering festival-goer got a piece to

match her clothing...

...Then it was back to Alyssa for a Sharpie

color-blending demo. I was talking with a KVCR friend

who was curious about "this whole

Sharpie thing I do."

Some of the coordinators for the event didn't

escape getting Sharpied.

Above and below, Theresa McFarland -  on the board of directors, Autism Society - inland empire...

Along with Beth Burt - 

President, Autism Society - Inland Empire

They each got something to go with their shirt.

Then, in between other festival-goers,

back to Alyssa.

(Below, a nice happenstance with the shadows)

Believe me - she woulda been COVERED
if I'd had my way. She was actually prepared to be
covered, too. Well, I missed THAT boat,
didn't I?

 Next time maybe?

On then to other patrons, volunteers, and wanderers.

I'll close with the shot I opened with.

Possibly the coolest that day, and (oddly enough)

something I hadn't considered doing. Interlocking

some pieces that is.

Thanks to ALL involved!

Again, each one of these pieces was done for a

financial contribution (again, of ANY amount) to the

Autism Society, Inland Empire. I had a LOT of fun

hanging out doing this, and I've run into

people since then who had fun as well.

Even a guy who got out of his

car (while blocking me in) to come over and shake

my hand when he recognized me

from the event.

FUN!

Thanks for stopping by and checking this out.

And thanks for telling ANYONE about this site.

AND

Thanks for being the next canvas.

Please check back. I should have another session

posted every few days until I catch up!

Meantime, you can ALWAYS catch the beginnings of all these Human Canvas adventures through a couple of tabs nears the top of the page "The Human Canvas - the beginning", "The human Canvas 2011" and "The Human Canvas 2012"