The Human Canvas - "Man! How Long Did THAT take?"

So here we are,
Just about at the end of this first month of this new year.

Nearing 12,000 visits to the site, and I've once again been asked how long these things take... 

...These Human Canvas sessions.

So...

...This first shot is from a trip to Istanbul. 

Untangle them, and that's Ha, with the sun on her back, and Heena, with a whirling dervish on her forearm.

Yeah, yeah - I know.

I started with a shot that gives her a bit of a moustache...

...But I REALLY wanted to show off the background. 

It was such a great spot to be doing this.

The Human Canvas sessions take place in QUITE the variety of settings. This session, with Heena, took place after hours at Arsah - an antique carpet store...and more! Seriously...if you're EVER in Istanbul...stop by. Really! You'll have some new friends! 

In the shot above, that's Huseyin, the owner, lounging in the background.

And in all fairness - here's a shot of Heena withOUT the moustache...getting ready for her piece.

But that's not why we're here.

We're here because a friend had observed photos of  canvases doing a variety of things while being drawn upon...

...Working on that perpetual doctoral dissertation...

 ...Reading... 

...Or what looked like dozing.

(((She wasn't actually dozing, by the way. In working on shots that would include both the seahorse AND the large back-piece, she had her eyes closed with her face buried in one of our favorite Mexican blankets.)))

With time to read, nap, or say, you know - work on a doctoral dissertation, the question was, "...just how long DO these things take?" Some have taken quite some time, as they were a rather organic process. Only a few of these were really planned out ahead of time.

Let's take a look at a few I remember.

Heena's whirling dervish, which I saw a very abstract image of just moments before, took only about 10 or 12 minutes...

...While this large sun on Ha, which we were sort of "discovering" as we went, took around 40 minutes.

And by "we", I mean "I".

The koi on Bree (below) took 20 minutes? Maybe 25? Hard to say. It was New Year's Eve in the middle of a bar.

It was also only the 4th koi that I had ever tried TO draw.

Marci got koi number 5 AND 6 - as part of my first large back-piece. This took a little over 2 hours, but that includes a couple of breaks...

...checking in on sleeping kids...

...intercepting a husband walking in on this...

...That sort of thing.

This next piece shown also took a couple of hours.

But that includes trying out a concept that the canvas herself had suggested...that we do a major leg-piece which STARTS on one leg and ends on the other.

Really - all I knew was that I was gonna draw some butterflies on her.

We also took several stretch breaks.

As well as time to snap some photographs. 

This IS something which really slows me down. The fact that I often serve as my own photographer. This next butterfly took maybe 7 or 8 minutes...

...while this next koi took maybe 15 minutes.

It shoulda been quicker, but this includes the time spent running around a carpet shop in the middle of Istanbul looking for a black marker.

This was explored in the Human Canvas session entitled "C'Mon! Who Leaves Their Hotel With Just One Sharpie?".

In about 6 minutes, in the middle of cleaning out the garage, I did a small landscape on my arm. A sort of prep/practice for a future session.

While talking about this, and giving a demo at work, I did another one in about 4 minutes. YOU do this at work, right? Update weather forecasts, give the news and traffic reports...draw on your arm...

...other people do this too...right?

The piece below took about 25 minutes...

...after trying out a new blending method

(about 20 minutes)...

...And later employing it to a much greater extent.

This shark took...well, longer than it shoulda. Hey! We were visiting. Hadn't seen her in 2 1/2 years.

Also, beyond the koi, all my fish before this had been pretty much made up. A "being of some sort" which incorporated eyes, mouth, fins and a tail to become something...fishy.

Adding a background didn't make it go much quicker...

...But really didn't take TOO long.

Discovering yet another blending technique,

some pieces have gone REALLY quickly.

This seahorse...4 or 5 minutes...

...While this blending demo, which became a bonus piece for the evening, took MAYBE a minute.

With this same blending technique, as well as a canvas provided photo (thank you Shaelyn), koi have become quicker...and better.

But when you stick it into something more complex...

...Well, that slows THAT right back down.

So...some repeat images ARE getting quicker.

The PROBLEM is, I hardly, truly, repeat images. With both a photographer and videographer on board, some of this will go MUCH quicker. I'm currently working on seeing just what kind of pieces I CAN do quick enough for, say, a paid session.

Speed, however, is not the point of these exercises, and  I can't stop trying to accomplish something new...somehow.

Of course the question wasn't how fast these go, but rather how long they take. Sarina, the latest person to ask this of me, is a friend from my theatre time, and provided me with the wonderful quote which heads this page. It's this quote that finally just started to make some sense out of what I'm doing.

She also tends to re-post some of these more current adventures - which I GREATLY appreciate. Any individual blog entry CAN be shared on facebook, twitter, or several other media. As I only do facebook, I ALWAYS appreciate you letting someone else know about this. I can't.

More soon.

Polly Frost: She MIGHT be near you soon!

I was first able to interview Polly Frost because she's going to be performing her one-woman show, "How to Survive Your Adult Relationship With Your Family" at The Canyon Crest Winery in Riverside. Before she contacted me - I must admit - I thought her name was a bit familiar - but I didn't quite know who she was. I shoulda - given my interests - and now I'm glad I DO.

(I don't know who to credit this photo with, but it's a beaut!)

Want an introduction...and more? Go to pollyfrost.com...or just click HERE

(photo by Erik Kragh, erikkragh.com) 

How To Survive Your Adult Relationship With Your Family, while comedic, is not standup comedy. Polly has a number of standup comic friends, and said that this wasn't what she wanted to do for her show. The show combines storytelling, survival tips, and observations. TRULY - observations. I brought up how David Mamet picked up on dialect so well from taking notes, quietly, in a coffee shop. And that some of Tina Fey's best Sarah Palin bits came directly from the transcripts - not the writers, per se.

Polly said that some of the stories are indeed close to being "transcripts", and that to write the best "material"...all you really have to do is quietly take notes.  She wrote the show because she discovered that "...no matter how much you've come to terms with your childhood - no matter how much therapy you've had - it won't prepare you for the surprising ways in which your adult relationship with your family can change..." and that some people can change quite dramatically.

At some of her performances, she's seen people laugh, cry...then laugh again. At first, when seeing this, Polly thought she should possibly pull back just a bit. After encouragement - FROM audience members - she knows that this type of interaction is JUST what's called for.

(photo by Erik Kragh, erikkragh.com) 

As you'll see from Polly's website - again, pollyfrost.com - she's not just a performer. She's a published author, playwrite, and was part of the team to create TheFold.tv. Along with husband Ray Sawhill, and Matt Lambert, they in essence took EVERY idea they had brought to the table...and kept ALL of them. With this, you have a man with Aspergers...who is also a time-traveller. Without making fun of folks with aspergers OR time-travelling abilities, you now have something that's part sci-fi, part sex comedy...and part art movie. This was created on a budget of some 8,000 dollars and was released as a 6-part web series.

There are quite of few OF Polly's books to choose from. Among them - erotica. One of the things that Ray said when talking about TheFold.tv, is that regarding sex in the movies...there's either mainstream...or porn...nothing in between (speaking of which, she DID get a rather nice endorsement from Ron Jeremy for her erotica collection, Deep Inside). Polly, Ray, and Matt all have an appreciation for the '60's - into the '70's - "sexploitation", horror and sci-fi. Things like Barbarella, Roger Corman films, Japanese "pink" movies, and "Japanamae". She was surprised when I mentioned a couple names. Names like Jess (Jesus) Franco and Tinto Brass. More than surprised. QUITE pleased. The three of them are all big Franco fans, and just the mention of this niche director made it clear that we were indeed on the same wave. LIKE Franco, Polly's erotica goes beyond just sex. It delves into the supernatural. And horror. And, of course, humor. 

(photo by Erik Kragh, erikkragh.com) 

Well before our conversation was over, I felt that rather than some interview...with some person...at some venue, I was just hangin' with a friend. I SO look forward to her performance at Canyon Crest, followed by dinner, some wine...and continuing the conversation.

Folks - I've just barely scratched the surface. Go to her website, pollyfrost.com. Beyond tour dates for her current show, there is SO much there.

Ya better bookmark it.

And see? I sometimes CAN go beyond The Human Canvas, and back to amazing authors, performers and players. Or in this case all of the above!

Please check back. The Human Canvas adventures will continue as soon. There's one or two in the batter's box right now.

The Human Canvas - Drawing on Many Lessons.

Okay?

Now...

...Let's go back to the beginning.

At the end of an earlier entry for The Human Canvas, entitled Not Sleepless In Seattle (link to it HERE) I said something about it being the first entry of 2012, and that "the house sitter may be next...if'n she's still up for it."

Boy was she up for it. 

But we'll get back to that. 

Shaelyn came over with a specific image in mind.

An idea for a future tattoo. 

Mayyyyybe.

This is about what it would be...just about where it would be.

I wasn't initially gonna include the above photo, but it kinda looks like I colored in her eyes with the same marker, doesn't it? 

NOT recommended. 

Okay. Back to the drawing(s). 

Shaelyn's a cool, art-minded person, and we chatted about the process as we went.  I was telling her about a type of blending that I'd be playing with that evening - she stuck out her arm to serve as a blank slate for a demo, as I explained how I'd be melding these two shades of blue.

The demo tuned into a bonus piece for the evening.

But again...back to the drawing(s).

A quick, quick background, with just a touch of that blending technique on both the seahorse and the background...

...and done...

...Well, done with the seahorse anyway. 

Now...time to PLAY!

Making marks with the orange, then drawing it out (as it were) with a yellow. 

Some detail with a fine line...

...Then something heavier...

...And remembering that as the background gets colored in...

...her skin will show up AS another color...

...So extend those fins and the tail with just a series of dots...

...which gives it just a bit of a looser, frayed edge.

(((Okay. Same moment - different angle. She was actually prepping for class during a great deal of this session. But...again...back to the drawing(s).)))

Some scales and detail later - time to start playing with that blend again.

Really - just a series of marks with any dark tone...

...pulled and spread with a lighter tone.

Now going back to another method...

...A series of rough, fine line sketches...

...Blending the color this time with alcohol and a swab, an experiment I first tried HERE and HERE.

Just a different type of smear, with a different tool. 

I'm sure a garden rake would give a different look as well...

...But wouldn't feel too good.

The leaves...a dark green mark - pulled down and out with a lighter marker.

A bit more dark green again to give a varied tone...

...And some black for definition. 

JUST a bit. NOT going overboard. 

JUST enough for some depth.

Look close...over and over...

...And I think we're done.

Oops. Except for a signature.

Again. Done. 

The photo below is the same as the top of the page, but it's a nice photo, and catches both the seahorse and the back piece.

Oh yeah. 

And I couldn't resist....

...Drawn and Quartered.

Get it?

Oy.

Shaelyn's made it clear, not only HOW close she lives, but that if these only last a few days...

"...we can go at it again in - what - 5 days or so?"

"Excellent."

Truly appreciated. 

It was a great sitting...and there'll be more to come.