Fiddling Around at the Black Sheep

I took some time off yesterday, it being Sunday and all, to revisit the Black Sheep Pub. I hadn't sketched the Sunday Irish musicians, Irish Jam, there for nearly a year, and I had a sketchbook I needed to try out. This blog entry may interest you if you have trouble keeping yourself supplied with sketchbooks ~ they ain't cheap.

Because I'll be making a sketch/journaling journey next month, I wanted a small sketchbook that would fit easily into my pack and reduce the weight of my usual journal (a 6 x 9, Robert Bateman Series journal with smooth, heavy paper, which I love ~ but I'm trying to keep my carry-on weight down).

My brother David-the-printer suggested that we use the paper I had always printed my workshop workbooks on, 8½" x 11", cut in half, punched and coiled to make a 50-sheet journal. This would make the sketchbook half an inch shorter and narrower, 5½" x 8½" instead of 6"x9," and reduce the weight by a couple of ounces.

I wasn't sure the size was big enough, although I knew the paper was satisfactory for ballpoint pen and not-too-wet watercolor pencil application, so sketching at the Black Sheep would give me a clue as to whether this would work for my trip. Besides, I haven't sketched for awhile, and you really do get out of practice.

This group, or at least, as many of them as have the time and inclination, play at the Black Sheep Pub every Sunday from 3pm to about 5:30 or so. The light isn't great, and they're in a circle, which means that the nearer ones have their backs to you and the other side of the circle is further away than I like. But the music is grand, the instruments varied, and they don't mind being sketched at all.

If you'd like to hear what they're like click here (this isn't them, but the sound is very similar). There were about twelve of them there yesterday, and I managed to sketch only five of them since the pub was packed and I couldn't see all of them very well.

I started out with just ballpoint sketches. The first two or three were stiff and lifeless, and I didn't include them here. But then the music entered my pen, the Guinness Stout started to kick in, and I began to roll.

The musicians move around a lot as they play. And a number of these folk play numerous instruments, depending on their mood and the music being played. So there's not much chance to do a detailed study. The drawings have to be quick and sketchy, so you must throw caution to the wind and let fly. I did most of these in pen before I got out the pencils after a couple of hours with the ballpoint pen.

A rollicking group of eight dancers started an Irish set dance next to me and were stomping and clapping and whirling (often right into me) with great abandon. I could only laugh and stomp my feet in response. In fact, I was scribbling with the watercolor pencils and painting and stomping all at the same time, which kinda bent a couple of pages on the backside of the book. Ah weel!

Notice that the best sketches are the closest ones (and from the rear, because of that!). I don't know if everyone has the same response, but I've found that the closer I get to my subject, the better it turns out.

I only had six watercolor pencils with me, all shades of brown. This fits with the clothing they usually wear, the wood and leather instruments, and the dim recesses of the pub ~ besides, I wanted to try a limited palette.

These are shown roughly in the order in which I sketched them, and by the time I finished, with the sketch of the piper (below) from right behind him (I could have reached out and touched him as I sat) I was in rollicking form, scribbling wildly, smearing wetly with the brush, and singing along with the musicians (no, they didn't threaten to throw me out ~ the dancers were considerably wilder than I!).

In viewing the lot, I think I can safely say that the size of this sketchbook is usable although if weight weren't a consideration I think I'd go with my usual 6"x9" pad. The paper seemed to hold up well through my rowdy ministrations, and the surface didn't scrum up at all.

I didn't wet one of the sketches, the guitar player (second image down from the top). I loved the way the scribbled color looked, so I just left it. It will be okay as long as it doesn't get wet. I wonder if you could protect it with a fixatif (maybe on both sides of the paper!).

If you'd like to try making one of these sketchbooks, go to your local print shop and ask for Wausau Exact Vellum Bristol, 67lb, 92 Brightness, White, #82211, 8½ x 11. If they don't have it, they can probably order a package with little ado in their next paper order (print shops use lots of paper, and order often), then have them cut and punch it for you. Be sure to also have them cut and punch however many heavy cardboard backs and card stock fronts you need. To save money, you can assemble them and insert the coils yourself, putting as many sheets as you wish in each sketchbook. I put instructions for assembling these in the backs of all of my downloadable sketchjournals if you aren't sure how to proceed.

Hope you enjoyed this little trip to the pub. Be sure and listen to the irish music in the link above (or click here) . It REALLY sets the scene.

Promoting the Workshop & Drawing Irish Musicians

Stuffing Envelopes is kind of soothing. I am a great one for organizing movements (I was totally impressed by the efficiency scenes on how to take a bath in Cheaper By The Dozen, many decades ago) . The envelopes are placed with the flaps in THIS direction, the flyers are placed with the opening THIS way, the single-sheet 1/3 page inserts are placed here with THIS orientation, and the business cards face up and to the right HERE. Then I can pick up the envelope in my left hand and flip up the flap with one movement, then with my right hand I slide in the flyer, then the insert, then the business card. I let the flap flip down and push the filled envelope onto my lower legs as they extend directly past the end of the board toward the TV. Hey, it's smoooooth, fast, and I can watch Masterpiece Theater at the same time as I get all 90 envelopes stuffed, then stamped, then return-address-labeled, then licked. Talk about efficiency!

The insert is really pretty. I designed and printed them out on the color printer yesterday, 3 per sheet. Quite fetching, I think. Makes ME want to go to the workshop, anyway.

I was happy to have a soothing evening, because I had a raucus afternoon. My artist friend Cathy and I went to the Black Sheep in Ashland for a Sunday afternoon of sketching the Irish musicians. It was only a small group because that's all that showed up (it's totally off the cuff, and whoever comes, plays -- if enough people show up). So yesterday featured five musicians at its highest count (they came and went), plus a very talented clogger who only dances (he also carves quite marvelous walking sticks).

Cathy tried ink sketching for the first time. She's an excellent artist, but always sketches with a pencil and had never tried on-scene sketching with a pen. She decided today was the day. So we both drew with ballpoint pens, and she was unexpectedly pleased with the freedom it offered. She observed that with pencil drawing she is always fussing around with erasing and getting the lines just right. But with the ink drawing one has to just dive right in, and make the line, right or wrong. Knowing that some lines won't be right, you just have to shrug and think "okay, so now if I squiggle here, it'll look like a hand and be just fine!" A really nice epiphany.

Juiced up with a couple of "The One And Only" Newcastle Brown Ales (on draft) and using an ordinary black Bic ballpoint pen, I was experimenting with making quick original drawings, then fussing back in with a little more detail to give the drawings interest. Hair, seams on the jeans and shoes, details on a neck warmer, etc. As we sketched, the Irish music flowed and jigged around us. While The Black Sheep is a pub, there are generally little children running around, sometimes trying to dance to the music, and yesterday playing with balloons. I loved it when several times the pennywhistler's toddler climbed up into his lap and sat, rapt with pleasure, as the wild notes swirled above his head.

The baby's mother and grandmother had come for the afternoon, as well, and they loved the drawing of little Rowan on his daddy's lap. I told them to come to this blog, where they should be able to download the picture if they wanted a copy. [Hey pennywhistle folks, if you come for the picture, could you give the address of this blog to the other musicians so that they can come visit, too? I don't have their names, and if you'd pass this along they might be pleased.] I do know the baby's name is Rowan and the pennywhistler is Andrew, but that's the extent of my introduction.

It was, as always, a wonderful afternoon of music, companionship with Cathy, and pleasure in sharing the sketches with numerous passersby and the musicians. Rowan's mother tried to explain about the picture to Rowan, and he patted it appreciatively, but I don't think he quite got the concept of "this is a picture of daddy, and this lady drew it, and there you are on daddy's lap!"

My thanks to the musicians for a lovely afternoon. They are a wonderful sketching resource since they expect to be stared at, and don't mind being drawn.

And now, today, I have to get back to work on the editing of the Swamp book. I'm on page 41 now, and have begun to improve sub-par illustrations as I go along because I get bogged down in words after awhile. Stopping to correct or improve a drawing makes a nice break.

Later!

Irish Musicians and a Big-Time Computer Crash

WELL! I have had quite a month! My computer crashed with a resounding thump the third week of August as I was preparing the workbooks for my newest workshop, the one I've been chronicling here. It has taken me quite awhile and quite a jouncy ride to get a new computer up and running, the workbooks finished and off to the printer so they could arrive here in time for the class, and to finish gathering teaching materials and getting ready to teach that class. WHEW!

Below is the entry I managed to prepare the week after the crash (but never got a chance to post), and now I'm already in the middle of the Journaling workshop so it is slightly out of date -- but there's some really interesting news in it so I'm going to post this tonight and then post the info about the workshop (how it went, what I'll have to change, and other cool stuff, plus pictures) tomorrow or the next day. So start reading, and keep tooned.

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drafted about August 25 but never posted:

My Journaling Workshop is Official!

Hoo boy, it's for real now! My classified ad just appeared in the September issue of The Artist's Magazine (page 84, top left corner!), and I have two students signed up already plus the magazine has sent me "leads" from people who registered interest in it. Looks like it's a go! I need to send out info to those leads soon!

I spent some time putting my Journaling Workshop web page together, too, and I think it looks pretty exciting. El Remanso, the wildlife lodge in Costa Rica which is hosting the workshops, has also put up a web page about it.

I have my first go at the class in just a couple of weeks here in The Rogue Valley (that's what they call this area, since the mighty Rogue River, of Rooster Cogburn fame runs through it). The class is listed on page 33 of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Guide along with the new venture that fellow artist Cathy Egelston and I are going to try, which is leading sketching rambles in Lithia park on the 2nd and 4th Mondays in October and November.

I've heard of other artists going out and sketching with whoever shows up for the "crawl" and thought it sounded like fun -- so we'll give it a try. Since Cathy and I both teach in the area, we figured it might be a nice way to get acquainted with potential students -- they can come and get a free look at us before committing time and their hard-earned money to a class or workshop.

My workbooks aren't finished yet, though. I had finished the sketching workbook and was putting the finishing touches on the writing workbook when my barely-2-year-old computer crashed. Gone. Have you noticed how time seems to pass by so quickly as we get older? Well, I thought I'd backed up just a few days before, and it turned out it was three WEEKS before. I lost a lot of work I'd put beau coup time into, and I also lost all my email for the last many years, all my contacts, etc. And I lost EVERYTHING in the workbooks.

Actually, I'd printed out a fairly recent draft (with only (!) a couple of days of improvement lost), but I'm in Oregon and my InDesign program disk was accidentally left in Idaho last time I went, so there was no time to start over and no time to get it here with the Labor Day Weekend in the way. So I've been scanning all the printed draft pages into Photoshop, making the needed changes graphically, and I'll put those into pdfs to send to the printer. They'll work fine -- it's just not how I planned to spend my week!

And oh, if you've ever had your computer croak on you, you'll know the agony of sitting down to do something and discovering that something needs installing, or you're missing a beloved program that you only had on your computer and have no way to replace.

So it's been a tough week, but at least my new computer is up and running and my old scanner works again, so, soon I will scan in some of the things I've been sketching. It was SO much fun drawing the Irish musicians again last week! Thirteen of them at one point, with harp, bodhran (drum), mandolin, guitar, fiddle, pipes, bones, box, button accordian, and banjo (hope I didn't forget anything!).