Noodling …..

My Nephew Noodling.

My teenage nephew is staying over, he’s a music student and I wanted to do some sketching with him. I’ve been doing a lot of scribbling at gigs recently but there’s not enough time to really focus on details like hands and the position and the foreshortening of the instruments. As he “noodled” with his guitar on the settee, we chatted about what we were doing and realised we were following more or less the same process, trying out different things with our instruments, messing around to see what would happen, improvising. Living my best life!!!!!!!xxxxx

Me noodling.

I’m using Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens, Derwent Inktense blocks with a reservoir brush, into a Moleskin sketchbook. I took liberties with the perspective on this, to see what would happen. It has possibilities.

Swansea Fringe 13: Two Til Twelve.

Manically Scribbling.

Sometimes when I’m sketching at a gig, the music influences me more than at other times, like when I did this one at the recent Swansea Fringe. The movements of the guitarist in Two Til Twelve and the music got me scribbling manically, more so than usual. I really got into the zone with my pen on paper.

Swansea Fringe 12: Quick Scribbles.

Warming Up.

These very quick sketches are from the first night I drew at this year’s Swansea Fringe, at Crowley’s Rock Bar. I find it’s good practice to rattle off some very quick scribbles at the beginning of a drawing session, to warm up. I suppose it’s like a singer doing scales in the dressing room or a sportsperson doing stretches.

Swansea Fringe 11: Ria Plays In Black.

At Crowleys Rock Bar.

Here’s another sketch I did at Swansea Fringe the other week, of one of the musicians in the most excellent band, Ria Plays. She wore black, in a black venue on a black stage and I drew in the dark. I guess I’m a bit of a masochist when it come to my art 🙂 I did a very quick sketch in ballpoint pen then worked into it with Derwent Inktense blocks and a water reservoir brush.

Problem with working in the dark is that it’s hard to judge the intensity of the colours and a lot of the musicians I sketched with the Inktense blocks turned out yellow! Ah well, they’re ready for a cameo on The Simpsons 😀

Swansea Fringe 10: The Red Drummer.

Altered Myths.

This guy had everything – tattoos, drums and red hair. Great to draw. Not easy though, because he’s a vigorous drummer and his arms were a blur most of the time. That’s a challenge for me, do I capture a split second in time, as I have here or do I use some technique to show rapid movement, like Marcel Duchamp‘s painting “Nude Descending A Staircase” (below)?

Marcel Duchamp.

If I was to develop something from my drawings and photographs, like a painting or linocut, I might be more considered and design some way of expressing movement, but in the crazy atmosphere of a live rock gig, I think I’ll just leave it there. This is one of over 30 sketches I did at this year’s Swansea Fringe.

Detail: cymbal.

Swansea Fringe 9: Another Drummer.

False Hope For The Savage.

Here’s another Swansea Fringe sketch from last weekend’s after-party. Drummers are often shoved to the back and it’s hard to get a good line of sight to draw them, but “False Hope For The Savage” gave their drummer plenty of space – so much energy and a lot of fun to draw.

Swansea Fringe 8: False Hope For The Savage

As if I couldn’t get enough sketching at the Swansea Fringe the other weekend, I went back the following Friday to the Fringe after-party for some more rock and scribbling. Here’s local band False Hope For The Savage. They’re cool!

Swansea Fringe 7: Zed Motel.

Using Inktense blocks.

Sometimes when I’m sketching, I’m not happy with the result I get with the materials I’m using. That happened with the singer of Zed Motel, a band at Crowleys Rock Bar during Swansea Fringe the other weekend. I liked the effect of the Inktense blocks that I used with a reservoir brush, but they were too chunky to get any of her facial features. It’s hard to get a likeness anyway, between movement and the intrusion of the microphone, but there’s slightly more detail with a ballpoint pen into a smaller sketchbook.

Ballpoint pen.

Swansea Fringe 6: Rock Foxes.

Foxy Rock Boots!

Here’s another sketch from the recent Swansea Fringe, where I cwtched into a corner of Crowleys Rock Bar and drew musicians for 3 nights. It’s not easy sketching bands, there are lots of people on stage and they tend to move around a lot. I have to make a decision who and what to draw and there are different reasons for the choices I make. When I saw The Rock Foxes straight away I thought “I gotta draw her boots!” And so I did. 😀 You can see the comment I wrote on the sketch …. “punk in a red frock“. Brilliant band.

Swansea Fringe 5: Swanhill.

Two from Swanhill.

It’s been just over a week now since my three-night stint as a Swansea Fringe sketcher. It was a great idea and seemed to go down well with the bands. I’m well happy, I did 30 sketches, a lot of work in a relatively short time. And loads of really good practice too. Drawing and listening to rock and metal – living my best life! Here are two musicians from a cracking local band, Swanhill. I loved their set. Check them out here.