The Human Canvas - Here Be Wolves

My tooth is really killing me right now...been in and out of a daze...but I gotta get this one done. With this one more post, with just one more day in the month, I will have July as the month of Human Canvas Sessions from Turkey. I unexpectedly was able to do 5.


While I had been doing the first four at Arsah, Musa - who works there - had been quietly witnessing these sessions, or the results OF them. Turns out...he wanted a wolf. I kind of expected something kind of easy...a profile of a wolf, howling at the moon. Something like what's pictured above.

But...

...He had an image in mind.

It was on his cell phone...

...which kept disappearing after 15 seconds, due to the screen saver.

I sketched it out with a yellow highlighter to kind of get the general idea...

...and went from there.

This is where it became handy to have NOT had a black pen during the last session...

...but having hung onto the one we were able to find...

...giving me a couple different shades of black to play with.

And since Musa wanted THIS image of a wolf...

This allows me to do the whole howling at the moon, wolf-profile image on someone else...

...'cause at this point, I only have one more session to publish...

Before having run out of smiling participants.

Thank you Musa.

And to all at Arsah: Whether you work there, own the place, or just happen to have stopped in while being a tourist during late April - and let a complete stranger draw on you...

Thank You.

The Human Canvas - Smaugy in Istanbul

Istanbul...Arsah - again, THE place to go if you're in the area. For me, among other things, it was also a great place to draw on people. I really didn't think I'd be doing any Human Canvas sessions while in Turkey...but one night, I ended up doing three.

Meet Mehmet.

The previous two pices that night - a Sun on Ha and a whirling dervish on Heena - were by request. Mehmet didn't really care...he just wanted to be a part of the experience.

So...I relied on something familiar...

...while trying to incorporate things I'd learned on other drawings.

So...once again...

Here be Dragons!

Some detail...

...and a background...

...And there we are.

Now...here are all three from that night:

Left to Right - Heena, Ha, and Mehmet.

Thanks to the three of you...

...And thanks to Mehmet AND Huseyin - for allowing me to do this in their store. As well as the next two...done a day or two later.

Please check back. And for the beginings of these adventures, click on the tabs near the top of the page for "The Human Canvas - the begining" and "The Human Canvas II - 2011".

The Human Canvas - Here Comes The Sun

Well, I went to Turkey recently...great art, food, architecture. AND - I spent a lot of time at Arsah - THE place to go in Istanbul. Arsah is an antique store, specializing in carpets...but really, it's just a great place to hang. Huseyin, Mehmet, and Musa make you feel at home...and always great people - from all over -  walking in.

Curiously, visitors to the store often ended up asking why I might have 30 Sharpies with me. Take for example, Ha.

She heard the story, and was up for a session.

After trading shirts with her friend, Heena, we talked about what she might want.

In this case, it was a bit of a trial run...

...for a tattoo she wanted...or at least wanted for a couple of days.

She didn't have any pictures.

We just talked about the image...

...the kind of sun you might find on an old map...

...Or perhaps on a horoscope.

So...I had room to play...

...and just try to recreate something from the mind's eye.

We just knew that we wanted kind of a serpantine flow to it. She loved it, & wanted it signed before the final photo.

So with that...

...Done!

So...once again...meet Ha. Post-Sharpie.

And now meet Heena. She took the above photos...

And then became the next canvas. We'll get to that one real soon. 

It's a good'n.