The Human Canvas - In the Recesses of the Vault

Actually, it's in 

The Vault Martini Bar.

 Down the stairs and to the left.

Though where we were stationed, 

I think that WOULD be the definition 

of a recess.

So here's Tiffany. 

Someone who became 

a friend just about the time 

she was gonna go away and become 

a Banana Slug (UC Santa Cruz).

Another puzzle piece. 

This was done a few days 

before we got into April, and I was 

sort of gearing up to do a LOT more. 

Add to that she has a brother on the spectrum, 

purple is her favorite color... it went from there. 

That is to say, we didn't STOP there.

I kept adding flowers below the puzzle piece...

Pull back for a quick shot...

Then add another flower above as well.

Add a few trailing across her back...

And then stop for a few flex-shots.

After that it's just 

a matter of adding a BIT of black...

...Making these flowers pop JUST a bit. 

I like how this one turned out. Kind of ordinary 

flowers laid out to make me think JUST a bit of Hawaii, 

and her recent trip when she got a tree of life in henna 

on her arm. I thought I might do a tree of life when I 

finally got the chance to ink her up. Didn't work 

out that way, but we were both 

happy with the results.

Thank you Tiff!

The Human Canvas - Dia Deux

At long last. We return.

This first photo is from a previous session

on a friend here at KVCR.

 

 

 I used

her name in the title,

calling it "Dia de la Moreno."

Funny,  because she IS a brunette... but anyway... 

You can link to that session with a click HERE.

A few days later, I was in Boulder, Colorado.

Whilst in the middle of

a game of Cards Against Humanity,

I noticed the availability of canvas next to me.

I don't remember if she even cared what went onto her.

I mean, she probably DID care, but trusted me

(to a certain extent) to not be

too foul or profane.

 

Sorry it's sideways.

I think most of us were sideways too.

 

So as I was thinking

about  the relatively few sugar skulls

I've drawn on people here and there, a woman

pointed out her bracelet - a rather STUNNING

Day of the Dead inspired piece.

 

 

It inspired ME...

to get out one of my new metallic pens.

Still working out the bugs on these things,

but THIS session turned out well. Amongst the

favorites (if not THE favorite) of a friend

and recovering canvas, Tracy.

 

I liked it a lot as well.

Fairly basic and simple, really.

And the silver was not always a COLOR, per se,

but sometimes only an accent.

 

 

Then adding these lines,

and connecting them, we ended with

a sort of piece of jewelry. A bit of a scarab perhaps?

My goddaughter had just painted up her own arm

with something similar. Really love her work. I've

posted some here and there on these pages.

Check out at least one of those

groupings with a click

HERE.

 

Back to this one.

Done with the drawing,

and having made her twist her arm

so her skirt would serve as a backdrop...

 

 

We found that

putting her amongst the quartz

was quite nice, and I'm sure more comfortable.

 

Only one more session

left from the Boulder trip, and it's a doozy!

I'm getting impatient to get caught back up,

so we'll be seeing that soon.

 

Enjoy your dia.

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.

The Human Canvas - A Hookah Smoking Caterpillar

A bit out of order now, 

And still SO many to get to. 

Hate to be behind like this, but glad 

to have a BUNCH now awaiting publication.

Had several cool experiences in Boulder...

But that'll have to wait. I'm just gonna 

have to crank these out every few 

days until I'm caught up.

So here we are with Lil' Dave. 

He's provided canvas for me several times by now, 

and I'm sure there'll be many 

more in the future.

This session involved 

me stacking a bunch of spheres, 

shading as I went. This is much like 

what I did with Songhammer. It's a recent post, 

relative to this one. You can scroll down, 

or I'll get a link to it soon.

Dave's a fan of anything 

Alice in Wonderland, so that was a 

part of the reason for this particular session.

Like I said... he's a fan. There was plenty of inspiration around the room.

Grab a bit more pink. Oops.

Grab a bit more pink...

...And work in that hookah.

Shade it with blue, 

in case I want to go darker here and there... 

Step back and look again...

...Then back to it.

At this point, just playing with treys, blending, and adding some black to define...

And then we were done. 

It was much later before I realized 

I had forgotten to give 

him little arms...

But here's the shot I was after.

Okay. Shots.

And then he finally got to check it out in the mirror. 

It was later before he saw the 

shots with the backdrop.

Thanks again Dave. 

You'll be seeing him again.