Three Heads, Three Hats.

Here are some heads and hats I scribbled while I was drawing at gigs during Swansea Fringe recently. The hat in the middle was particularly hard to draw.

Behind The Scenes.

Here’s another scribble from the recent Swansea Fringe, of a roadie setting up. The equipment doesn’t get itself on stage, the sound of the band relies upon those who work hard behind the scenes.

Setting Up.

When I’m sketching at gigs, I don’t just draw the performers, although they probably take up most of my time. I’ll also scribble the audience, and those unsung heroes of the live music scene, the roadies who rush on between acts to set up the equipment. Here’s one at Elysium during the Swansea Fringe.

Two Of The Same.

Here’s two sketches of the same musician from the recent Swansea Fringe. He’s playing with the band Sigiriya. It’s good practice to repeat sketching the same subject, it refines what you do.

Hitting And Dribbling.

Getting some colour down at Swansea Fringe last weekend – has it been a week already? I was rocking out to Sons of Thunder (at Hangar 18) and literally HITTING the paper with my Inktense blocks. Then I hit the paper with my reservoir brush, dribbling the water all over the place. Sometimes the image is dictated as much by the music as by observation and technique.

Groovy Paisley Shirt.

Sometimes when I’m sketching at gigs, I look for interesting things going on around the figure I’m drawing. This musician with the band “Strange Orchid” had a groovy Paisley shirt and was performing in front of Philip Cheater‘s artwork in Elysium.

I drew the head with a graphite block and used Inktense blocks and a reservoir brush to do the shirt and background, working into my Khadi handmade square paper sketchbook.

Heavy Rock Legs.

When I sketch at gigs, I don’t just want to draw the bands. They’re often moving so fast that it gets a bit frantic so to cool off a bit, I draw the audience. Sometimes it’s fun to draw heads, sometimes legs. This is a leg sketch. It’s good practice to get that foreshortening on feet. I’ve been noticing, too, how rock men seem to wear shorts and trousers with HUGE pockets stuffed full of…well…stuff. I have loads of drawings of legs at gigs and I’m tempted to do a big screen print of them all, Hmmm.

These legs were at Hippos on the High Street during Swansea Fringe last weekend.

The Psychedelic T-Shirt.

I was sketching at Hippos on Swansea’s High Street on Friday, part of the Swansea Fringe, and I spotted this fabulous t-shirt on one of the musicians in King Goon. I scribbled with a ballpoint pen and Inktense blocks.

The Enthusiastic Rocker.

I was sketching at Swansea Fringe this last weekend, and I spotted this guy in the audience at the rock gig at Hangar 18. He was loving it (so was I) and I had a quick scribble.

A Little Hairy Basket…

I went on a short course at Swansea Print Workshop this weekend led by the artist Dr. Veronica Calarco. It’s called “Prints To Baskets” and she shows how to reuse those failed prints (we all have them) by converting them into hand-made baskets. This is a selection of those made by the artists participating.

The idea is to showcase the beautiful colours and textures of prints by coiling and stitching with different threads. But I sort of mas the mistake of using a ball of very hairy wool that I had hanging around in my wool bag and it sort of took over. You can’t really see the recycled print coils, but I now have a little hairy basket. It feels great.