SKETCHBOOK: "The Ryan J. Lee Trio"

I had a fun evening...went sketching at "The Blue Room" Jazz club in downtown Kansas City.  I went to see the "Ryan J. Lee Trio" (which may end up with a new name for the group).  I had heard the drummer, Ryan J. Lee, at a couple of different venues last year and was really impressed with his amazing talent. He was joined by two equally impressive musicians, Danny Embrey on guitar, and Dominique Sanders on bass. As is my custom when sketching musicians, I got their autographs and enjoyed talking with them during their break.  Terrific guys and a great gig!!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, and only had my old phone cam to take this shot.  I definitely will go see them again!

SKETCHBOOK: "Before the show"

Last night I went to see my friends, Amado Espinoza and his wife Karen Lisondra perform at the "Just Off Broadway Theatre" with several other musicians.  These are sketches I made while they were setting up before the show.

And here are a few pics from the concert.

Painting a DIDGERIDOO!

Today I had the pleasure of delivering a project that I've been painting on for a couple of weeks.  My incredibly talented musician friend, Amado Espinoza, makes instruments as well as performs with them.  He had asked me if I would barter with him...drum lessons in exchange for me designing and painting his hand-made "didgeridoo".  This is an unusual instrument from Australia that he made from PVC pipe that you can find at the hardware store.  He crafted a unique "slider" tube that allows for changes in pitch when he plays.  Above is the "Big Reveal" with Amado and his wife, Karen Lisondra.

These are some images of research that I gathered for inspiration.  Amado had shown me the pattern in the upper left corner that he liked.  I also found some other "didge" designs, as well as photos of the "goanna" lizard from Australia.  Amado wanted a more "Aboriginal" style.  Below is the didgeridoo before it's been painted.  Amado was playing it in my kitchen, while I recorded it with my little digital microphone on the floor.

I made some quick sketches at the kitchen table while we discussed some options of what this could look like, colors, techniques, etc.  On the right side are some photoshoped renders of how this might look with a solid black "slider".  I was concerned with scratches that would form during use of the slider pipe, so I suggested a "spatter" effect, which we went with in the end.

I used ENAMEL spray paints, so I had to set up outside...the fumes were quite strong.  Probably would have been fine if I had been on a "walkabout" looking for some "Dreamtime" experiences.  But I needed to keep a clear head. :)

I made a little stand out of a broom handle and some scrap wood.  This came in handy for the detail painting and for moving the "didge" around while it was drying in my garage. I used BLACK for a base coat.  Then I used BLACK, GRAY, and WHITE enamel paints that I sprayed into a bristle brush. I would sling dots of spatter on the upper slider tube, building lots of layers up of alternating tones.

After I let that dry, I used a RUSTY RED on the bottom tube.

Once the enamel coats were dry after a couple of days, I began the detailing work.  I masked off the main area with blue painter's tape, creating the GOANNA lizard. I then painted the shape of the lizard with BLACK acrylic paint, brushed on.

Then came the laborious process of drawing and painting DOTS and DOTS and MORE DOTS!!!  For the white areas of details, I primarily used a WHITE SHARPIE pen.  It is acrylic water-based paint.  I changed up the patterns on the lizard a bit before I was all done.  Then I used a 1/4" wide wooden dowel to paint on all of the larger border dots.  I would dip the dowel into acrylic paints...follow the shapes of the lizard, and alternated WHITE, YELLOW and ORANGE dots until all of the tube was covered.  This was not so much fun, because I had to go over everything TWICE to get the coverage to be opaque enough.  This took several hours, with a day for drying between each application of each color.

The last stage was to spray the whole designed area with clear enamel varnish.  Below is the final didgeridoo with Amado's "AE" logo at the top.  He was very happy with the finished piece...which makes ME happy!

If you would like to learn more about Amado and his music and the instruments that he makes, please visit his website:
http://amadoespinoza.com
or you can find him on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/amadoespinozamorales

SKETCHBOOK: "YES Concert, People and Veggies"

On Thursday night, I got to go see my all-time favorite band, YES , in concert.  Since I had about 3 hours to wait before it started, I took the time to do some sketching outside and inside of the historic Midland Theatre in downtown Kansas City.

While scanning the YES drawings, I ran across a few "people" sketches I had forgotten to scan. These are from some of my smaller sketchbooks that I keep in my car (4"x6", 4"x8" sizes). I use the little books for when I'm waiting around for things...doctor visits, at the airport, waiting for exhibits to open, etc.

UPDATE 8-10-14

Drew this at church today...some of the bountiful summer harvest from the community garden our church has.  Hundreds of pounds of fresh veggies are given to local food banks to help folks who need it.  I just could not resist sketching and painting all the wonderful flowers and colors at the donation table this morning!

SKETCHBOOK: "An Oil Change and Some Jazz"

I took my mini-van in today to have the oil changed, tires rotated and re-aligned.  So I planned on sketching some of the customers while I waited.  The whole job was supposed to take about two hours...no problem.  Then there WAS a problem...a stem on the wheel broke, so they had to replace a part...another two hours to wait.  I could've taken a "loaner" vehicle, but I just decided to use the time to draw some more!

Above are two of the ladies that were unsuspecting models. Before I started the sketches in the waiting room, I decided to walk over to Starbucks, and drink some hot tea. The sketch below was of some of the guys there.

The "Three Wise Men" below, cracked me up...they were just chatting it up about life, philosophy, and the History Channel.  Almost interesting.

After a while, I headed back over to see how my van was coming along.  Below are some more of the folks that came and went over the remaining two hours of waiting.

 

The next set of sketches was a blast to capture.  I went to Johnson County Community College to listen to the "JAZZ WINTERLUDE"...a FREE concert of several top-notch professional Jazz groups that play around Kansas City.  It went on for 4 hours!!  Here are the sketches I managed to capture in the low-lit auditorium.

First up...the "Ron Gutierrez Quartet" (minus the piano player...I didn't have time to draw him).

 Next is "KC Sound"...

 And the last group I heard was the "Chris Clarke Trio".

What a GREAT way to spend an afternoon!

SKETCHBOOK: "Plaza Art Fair"

Today, I had a blast at the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City. Now anyone who knows me very well, is aware that I do not like crowds.  However, instead of just wandering around looking at all the artist's booths (which I did enjoy doing), I decided to MAKE some art.  Somehow that changed how I was seeing everything...I was in "the zone" and looking for then next thing to draw, instead of feeling overwhelmed with all the people.  Sketched for about 5.5 hours!  

It was a gorgeous morning when I did the sketch above.  I was walking out of the garage where I had just parked my car, and saw the view looking down the steep hill. I just set up my little stool on the sidewalk and began to sketch.  As usual, lots of folks stopped by and wanted to watch for a bit.  Several asked if I had a booth set up in the fair...and were surprised when I said I just did the sketches for fun.  I don't mind chatting with folks...I can handle crowds if it's only a couple of folks at a time!  :)

The sketch below was of Brush Creek and the main stage for the bands.  It was not supposed to be divided in the middle. I had meant to put all of the scene in the upper box.  But my drawing was "off" in scale from the start.  I hated to lose the nice shadows under the bridge...so I just drew in another box and completed the scene.

The rest of the time was spent "people watching".  It was quite a challenge to capture a sketch...most people kept moving.  A couple of artisans were sitting on stools, though, and that helped.

The last page below was of some of the musicians there. The Art Fair has three stages at strategic locations.  The drawing in the middle was of the "acoustic" stage...five gals in that band.  The same drummer was playing with a jazz trio later in the day on the main stage.  I set up in several spots to catch various views.  The bass player was the most fun to draw...he got the most sketches on the page.

It was a terrific day.  I might go back on Sunday, just to listen to some more great music.  Who knows...I might even sketch!

UPDATE!  I need to add one more sketch to this post.  Tonight I went to hear "Sante Fe and the Fat City Horns" (all the way from Las Vegas)!  One of the most outstanding bands I've ever heard!!!  They were playing at the Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series.  I did a quick sketch of their instruments about 20 minutes before showtime (from the front row).  Then I got most of the guys in the band to sign the drawing after the performance.  Such great way to end the day!!!!

SKETCHBOOK: "Before the Concert"

Last night, I got to witness the incredible show, "STOMP" at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.  Simply outstanding!!  I love music...all kinds of music. Which brings me to this post of some recent drawings I've done while waiting for concerts to begin.  This all began last year, when I decided to take my sketchbook along to a concert to "pass the time".  Now I purposely arrive WAY before a show will start, just so I can draw the venue.  I may run out of adjectives to describe the performances. They have all been of supreme quality!  Kansas City is a great place for the ARTS and I want to keep experiencing more of it!!  (In the sketch above, that's me in the lower right corner, in the box seats.)

Below are a couple more sketches while waiting inside the KCPA. An amazing structure...it was my first time to see a performance there.

The next trio of drawings were done on March 18th before seeing my favorite band in the whole universe...YES!!!  They were performing at the Midland Theater...an awesome historic building that I would love to explore and draw more of another time.  The interior was very dimly lit, so the details are quite loose.  Terrific concert!! (And a shout-out to fellow YES-fans, Amanda and Carrie...new friendships that came about as a direct result of watching me sketch!)

These last two were drawn at the Johnson County Community College.  The one below was done while waiting for an extremely fun concert of The California Guitar Trio joining forces with the Montreal Guitar Trio in early March.  It was fun to add people into the scene as they arrived.

And finally, the sketch that started it all...again at JCCC for the Performing Arts Series.  This was drawn last year in March, while waiting to hear "Ukulele Master" Jake Shimabukuro.  This one-man-show brought down the house! He was so generous to the fans waiting to speak to him after the show.  I even got him to sign my sketch!

Okay that's it for now...ON WITH THE SHOW!

Bucket Drums!

The other day, I ran across this photo while looking through some old files. Gave me a chuckle, so I thought I'd throw it on the blog (I spruced up the pic with a new background...60's style).

One of my "fun activities" is playing percussion (congas, bongos, djembe's ,etc.). Some time back, the church worship band I played in needed another drummer. I was encouraged to give it a try. Rather than waste a bunch of time and money buying a "real" drum kit, I decided to see if I could build my own to practice at home with.


I put this "bucket drum kit" together after a trip to the local hardware store. (Okay, I bought the hi-hat and kickdrum pedal, but I got 'em real cheap.) I found out really quickly that I wasn't coordinated enough to make my feet cooperate! Eventually, I disassembled my "PVC Special"...except for the snare drum...you never know when you might need a plastic bucket snare drum.

Til next time...
-W