The Human Canvas - Artists in Action - The Vault, part 2

So...

 

 

Remember Roxi?

She got the first piece of

the night at the previous week's Artists in Action

at The Vault. The Vault is about my favorite watering

hole in Redlands, and it didn't take much for me to want

to be a part of this. Learn more about NerdPop,

Rob Mardis, and everyone involved in making

these events happen with

a click HERE.

 

 

Or for it to be publicized again.

I sure didn't mind. No matter what I've done,

or who I've been fortunate to have

been able to interview...

 

 

It's still kinda cool

to have my art up on a flyer somewhere.

Even if it's mostly online. Much of my art

washes off in a couple of days.

 

The previous week saw

Roxi getting a butterfly. One of my

earliest REALLY cool sessions involved

a LOT of butterflies, and the model suggesting

I start the piece on one leg, and continue it onto

the other. You can link to that session HERE.

Again - a fun one!

 

 

For reasons I won't go into here,

my heart goes out to her today as I write this,

but I CAN'T draw a butterfly without thinking of her.

At least a bit. And butterflies are close to my favorite

thing to draw (on a person) nowadays.

 

 

This week I was QUITE fortunate

to have my friend Mike Munoz serve as

photographer for me. He's done so several

times in the past, and this REALLY frees me up...

 

 

...And let's me stay in the moment...

 

 

And just - draw a butterfly.

 

 

Or two. 

 

 

Really, having Mike

there also really helped to
get more of these "step-by-step" photos,
without me having to time away from drawing.

I mean...
Beyond the whole thing about
"getting out of the zone," it just takes
a LOT of time to stop and photograph.

Especially when
I'm quite fond OF these progression shots.

 

So it's nice that I can do these relatively quickly.
Quick enough that the model still
has the energy to smile.

Even AT the camera.

So...
Done with these two.

So let's start a third!

 

Wow!

That third one turned out nicely!

So of course we couldn't be done without

me stepping back and deciding on a fourth 

for this loose shirt to frame so nicely. It was really

the color and flow OF the shirt that got this all going.

So I think we were able to call this back-piece done.

 

 

And then move on to the front!

Really - just for one more somewhat

stationary step-by-step.

 

 

But again though.

Lookey how the shirt hangs.

SOMEBODY had to put a butterfly there.

HAD to. I'm glad I was there.

 

And then to the back

of the bar for a great, well, backdrop for this back.

Thank you SO much Roxi.

 

 

And to Courtney,

I wouldn't even BE drawing

butterflies (on people) if it weren't for you.

Thanks again for getting this going, in a way.

Again - something I now LOVE to do,

can do well, and can do

relatively quickly.

 

You remain on my mind as I type,

and will be again when I revisit this page.

Thank you for something special.

 

 

The Human Canvas - Artists in Action - The Vault, part one

Rob Mardis 

had been organizing these

events all over the region. ALL over.

Anaheim to San Diego... And then inland to Redlands.

And it gave me a chance to ink up a few people.

Here's Roxi. You'll be seeing her a bunch.

And a buncha butterflies as well.

 

 

Rob's been part

of making art happen in

The Inland Empire for quite some time.

This bit at The Vault - only his latest. It encompasses

so much though, and you can find out more with a

click HERE. This'll explain NerdPop, some new

comics coming up REALLY soon, games,

and so much more.

 

 

When I read of the event on Facebook,

seeing there was, well, some sort of gathering

where people were drinking, drawing on tables,

drinking, and listening to music, all while drinking

and drawing on tables... well, of course

I left a comment like,

 

"Hm. Seems like an

environment RIPE for Human Canvas sessions."

 

Rob replied rather quickly with,

 

"I could make a flyer."

 

In about 5 minutes I saw this:

 

 

Wow !

WAY cool!

Done and done then.

I knew what I'd be doing in a couple nights.

 

 

Of course we saw

some familiar images coming up.

But the folks who had read of the event

were there to have fun...

 

 

...and get inky with a friend.

 

 

All to be part of this Artists in Action at The Vault.

 

 

And maybe it doesn't show in the picture...

 

 

...But they were having a good time.
 

I did only 5 pieces this night,
including this Sugar Skull. I wasn't as happy
as I could be with the result. Not horrified, mind you,
but it was only the second time I'd drawn one of these
on someone, and I hadn't thought
about proper structure.

On this angled photo,
it seems fine, but I've done a few
since that I was QUITE proud of.
And I feel I owe her another.

The only other piece that night
was on my own hand. Still being April,
it was easy to just draw another puzzle piece.

I'd only done 50 or so that month already.
And the next day it got some polka dots
to sort of break it up just a bit.

 

 

I was there again next Thursday,

saw Roxi again, and she got

another butterfly or two.

 

Or maybe it was 5.

Tune in next time. These are a good thing,

& I hope they continue. But thanks for

stopping by for this one.

The Human Canvas - Dia De la Moreno

Despite my tendency

of generally publishing these

sessions in the order they happened,

this is the only one I have together,

beyond a brief narration.

 

 

 

We'll get back to
proper order soon enough,
but meantime, here's Karen once again.

She's been a canvas several times now,

with more sessions in the future.

 

 

We have a REALLY cool

Cheshire Cat planned, but that's truly

one that I'm gonna have to play with a bit

before putting it ON someone.

 

 

So a "Sugar Skull" is

another design we've talked about a bit.

I've done one miniature one ONCE before,

and a kind of spur of the moment one at a bar,

which I ended up not being happy with.

 

I'll be including that one in the near future.

 

 

So this session with

Karen gave me a chance for

a bit of a reprieve. Also - a chance

for a bit of practice, if you will. This session

was a day before heading out to Boulder, where

 I knew I'd be doing at least one more. I ended

up doing a couple... one of which is amongst

my favorite pieces to date. Of any kind.

We'll show that one in the

near future as well.

 

One of the nice things
about doing sugar skulls is that
there are no rules. No real rules anyway.
There are a few basic ideas, I suppose, which
tend to show up in various representations,
but beyond this, the rest
is your own.

The nose on this one
is an upside-down heart.
Karen likes anything heart-related,
so this was easy enough
to work in.

The real "practice" was
not so much on the image itself,
but rather the order in which to draw.
This is only important in that I tend to lay
my hand down as I draw, and this causes smudges
and smears if I'm not ready to cover it
with something as I go.

We could call it done at this point,
but after stepping back for a photo-opp...

...I decided it needed a bit of "flash."

Nothing complicated,
but if I surround the skull
with another color or two, the negative
space becomes a color I couldn't have drawn.

And really set it off
once I accent with a bit of black...

...And then step into
the sun for a couple more photos.

 

Oh yeah.

The signature.

I don't always do it, so it's easy to forget.

 

 

But not on this dia.

Thank you Karen. We'll see you again REAL soon.

And thank you, reading right now.

We'll see you soon as well.