The Human Canvas - Rock Autism! 2014

Except... 

That it wasn't Rock Autism. 

Or Walk and Rock Autism, like last year. This was 

The Autism Society Inland Empire's 

2014 Walk for Autism.

I guess with fewer (read as NO) bands, 
they had to drop the ROCK part. The walk was 
still happening though. And a lot going all
before, during, and after

All this means is that this wasn't 
my third annual Rock Autism Festival to appear at. 
It was just my third annually consecutive autism 
festival organized by the same group that put 
together the past festivals.

Speaking of which, as soon as I got there, 

everywhere I looked, there were signs of support
for Autism past and present. 

T-shirts ALL over the place...

And even a few 

autism-specific tattoos. 

Real ones. Not like the things 

I'd be DRAWING on people later.

This one has a NICE, 

NICE story behind it, which SHOULD be 

waiting for me via e-mail when I get 

back to work Monday.

Did I mention drawing on people?

Well, since this IS on a site devoted (pretty much) 

TO me drawing on people, let's get to it then, shall we? 

This WAS the purpose of me being there, after all.

The first one to get got was Barbara. 

She works at KVCR also as Project Analyst. 

I'd been drawing puzzle pieces on most of the staff 

over the last week or two, and Barbara was waiting for 

the day before the festival to get hers. THEN I DIDN'T 

SEE HER AT WORK!!! Thought she'd ducked out!

Yeah. Good Friday, indeed!

 

But there she was AT the festival. 

So thanks to Barbara for getting' the ball rollin'.

Next was Yendis, Senior Accountant at KVCR.

And while Barbara 

got a purple piece to go with the color of her shirt, 

Yendis was wearing a Hawaii T-shirt shirt...

So SHE got a puzzle piece with a little grass skirt.

There were many there 

who had shirts designed for someone special. 

In this case, designed for Dallas - the son of

the couple shown below.

I really LOVE drawing butterflies with Sharpie, 

and had been toying with this next piece as a design. 

I also wanted to make sure Andrea here 

got something special.

I really like how it turned out, 

and she was there with a friend, who also got one.

We joked about it really being like a "girls night out",

with the two of them going out

and getting tattoos.

 

I had thought of 

designing a puzzle piece "tramp-stamp," 

but both of these folk ended up with one on their arm. 

I MAYYyyyyyy.... get Andrea back under the pen again. 

We'll see. They DID crack up over the idea of 

the "tramp-stamp," and on mentioning it, 

Andrea's hands flew to the small of 

her back as she laughed.

Romeo, pictured below, 

was QUITE excited to get a piece done, 

and I promptly sent him away to get permission.

He came back with his Mom and some friends, and

four minutes later, was happy with the piece.

One of Romeo's friends 

got a purple - simply because it's collectively 

their favorite color...

Romeo's other cohort 

was in the mood for something green, 

but wanted it a bit specific to her friend...

And was happy with the result.

There were a few that had to go quickly. 

The walk was about to start...

Quick, yeah, but I've really 

grown to dislike drawing with solid colors. 

Most of the time, anyway. I REALLY prefer to 

work with a blend. And something simple like a puzzle piece only takes about four minutes nowadays,  

even with that blend I've started to 

get so persnickety about.

This next one though HAD to go QUICK!  

He was maybe 3 years old?

Had to do this one QUICK! And yes, 

the color was picked out because of the lollipop.

The next one used 

the two shades of blue represented in her shirt. 

A much more relaxed pace, but this one's actually 

PRETTY small, and took a couple minutes longer. 

Good thing I brought my magnifier glasses. 

I'd been wanting to do a hand-piece, 

and have it propped under 

the canvas's chin, 

like so:

This next one was also QUITE small. It was 

MAYBE an inch and a quarter? 

She wanted it purple, small, 

and on her wrist.

She also told me up front that she wanted two. 

The second she asked to be multi-colored, 

so I got to work a bit larger. 

Maybe 3 1/2 to 4 inches?

The plan was to freak her parents out. 

They don't like her real tattoos, and she was 

hoping they might think she'd gotten a few new 

ones in honor of it being Easter the next day.

Ready and armed now (as it were) to try it out!

Only a few more. 

The next three were doing 

the walk as part of an organized group, 

and were wearing variations of a heart/puzzle piece 

theme.

I knew immediately (sorta) what I'd be drawing on them, 

which was a variation of something I have planned 

for a friend from KVCR. 

Oops. 

Make that a COUPLE variations.

Okay. 

THREE variations.

 

But they all liked 'em.

And now finally, this last one. 

Simply enough, orange - to go with her shirt. 

The black shading is a BIT different on this one also. 

Designed to stand up a bit more? Maybe? 

We'll work this out on future canvases.

She also asked that the "D.D." be included. 

Another private dedication. 

Nice. 

And you notice how empty the background is? 

She had been waiting, and the festival was actually over. 

They were literally tearing down around us, but they left 

the table we were working at. She'd waited long enough, 

and there were a few of us who quietly witnessed 

her bouncing along, showing it off to 

person after person.

Only did twenty pieces this time about, 

but there were several things, like that for example, 

that really made my day.

There were a few that I didn't get to. 

Brandon, for example, was all set to get a 

band of flaming interlocked puzzle pieces (to build 

on what he got last year), but this was about the time 

the walk was starting, so I hurried on to a few other 

people RIGHT when he sat down, ready for me. 

I'm sorry Brandon. 

I thank 

Autism Society Inland Empire 

for having me once again, and I look 

forward to the fourth!