Clarinet player

I think.

There was some discussion on the telly last night about if an Artist can depict a Musician correctly if they cannot play the instrument themselves.

That's me scuppered then.

Orchestra

So you know how I have been saying, on and off, that I would love to find an Orchestra that would let me sketch them. Well finally managed it.

The London City Orchestra have opened their doors to me. Which is brilliant.

The previous few musical sketches were from my initial meeting with them, but now I have access to their rehearsals and it is an amazing thing.

The relationship between musician and instrument is even more complicated to draw than I had expected.

Violins, ( see previous post ) their curves are so specific, and to draw them right and in perspective as they are played. It does your head in. 

And the French Horn !

Seriously. Who designed that in the first place. I spent all my time just working out where the tubes all went. And not even that yet.

Amused that the glibness of my sketching style goes out the window as I try to decipher what I am actually looking at.

But looking forward to some great sketching.

Thanks to all at LCO for this opportunity. 

The position of the hands

When drawing a violinist, is it possible that you can position the hands and bow in the wrong place in relation to each other ?

Would an expert look at this and ( after laughing ) say, if the fingers are on the strings there, the bow would never be being drawn across at that point there ?

Are there rules I need to understand ?

Postcards home

This man sat in the cafe at the Joan Miro Foundation. Writing all his postcards. Sending news home.

" Having a lovely time, but bothered by bloke sitting opposite me in cafe who keep looking at me and scribbling in a pad. Wish you were here... to go and beat him up"

Hepworth Cello

You know I can't resist a cello. Something about the curve of the neck or the little twiddly bits...

Ahhhemmm.

Went to the Wakefield Hepworth gallery. A beautiful building inside and out. Go.

And there was a cello recital by Ryan Madhok in one of the galleries. 

Sketches not the best by any standards but such a pleasure

He sat in front of a huge William Scott painting which made the composition even better. William Scott is one of those British Painters whose work you walk past in the Tate and think nothing of. Until you see a whole room full of them, and then you fall in love and wonder why you ever walked past them in the first place. I urge you, if you haven't already, go and look at them. Properly. Wonders.

A quick one

Because I should be doing other stuff.

But I'm not. Snigger.

Listen

When you are straining to hear.

Or blocking it all out.

Night birds

Was taken, if not exactly kicking and screaming, but with no massive enthusiasm, to an Owl City gig last night. And, not knowing the music, there is very little I can think to say about it that won't make me sound like the proverbial old fart.

But was breaking in a new sketch book, so I enjoyed myself.

He played with 100% energy and his audience were astoundingly enthusiastic. In my day ( oh... here we go... ) youth were into a bit more rebellious a sound, but, hey, everyone knew all the words, and sang them to their loved ones with a seductiveness that, I hope, achieved the desired end result, so whatever...

And, as the man says, Planet Earth turns slowly.

Music

Getting the right track for the moment is of the utmost importance.

And with your entire music collection at your fingertips these days it can sometimes be a daunting choice.

Hard workers

This guy was working hard on his laptop in a Starbucks in Pimlico.

I am breaking my rule again because I do know him, but if I don't say it here I am assured of protecting his anonymity.

The same day I found out that Mozart wrote his first symphony in a terraced house near Victoria bus station. He was only eight at the time so would have traveled free if Leopold had a super saver return.

I'm a singer in a band.

One last sketch of the Cuban domino players.

The singer again, sitting out a game.

Dominoes

Spent a while sketching a group of guys ( who later turned out to be a band !!! ) killing time playing dominos.

They played with such energy and swearing. Maybe whole lives were at stake.

We need more dominoes here. 

Neckerchief

That doesn't look right . Is that right ? Neckerchief ? Looks wrong to me. Hmmm. says it's right.

Too old-fashioned a word. Not used to seeing it.

Anyway...

One of the (many) bands that played for us wore these round their necks. Liked them more than the music.

What can I say ? I'm English. I'm genetically engineered to dig up potatoes and fry them, not to swing my hips to syncopated rhythms.

If music be the food of love...

...give it a rest for a bit.

Every time you sat down to eat or drink anything, a band popped up to belt out their version of Chan Chan, swiftly followed by the chance to buy their ( seriously dodgy graphics ) CD.

By the end we were literally pleading with them not to play.

Sketched a few of them. This is my favorite. Like his fingers. Got them wrong several times, but the accumulated effect is sort of right.

Three's a crowd

Three girls jumped on the train, on their way to college. Two were sharing the headphones of an i-pod between them. Although they didn't need to, it was loud enough to know it was Rihanna's 'what's my name', even from where I was sitting. In between verses they were dissecting her performance on the Brit Awards.

The third girl stood quietly next to them, listening, but not taking part.

Then one of the plugged in girls reached out, just her finger tips, very lightly, on the third girl's coat sleeve.

"Are you okay ? " she asked, " you look a bit sad."

...who only stand...

Not sure if this one made it or not, but clearing the decks for next week, so up it goes.

Apologies if this is it's second outing. 'Girl with a discman'. You don't see so many of them these days do you ?

Music to my ears

La la la, de de dum, la lal laaaaaa. Ohh ohhh. Mmmmm. La la laaaa Ohhhhhhh  La la laaaa

In the Zone

The I-pod continues to revolutionize and isolate in equal measure. Where as you would never really see a business person with a CD player or a radio plugged in, now everyone is at home rotating through their entire music collection in the 8.45 rush hour mush.

You just plug in. scroll through, and disappear.

Now that would be something, if you could actually physically vanish when you plug into one of them. Like Frodo wearing the Ring.  Internal Vs External space. Being in two places at once, no hassle. 

I won't be throwing mine in Mount Doom any day soon.

Proms.

Went to the Proms last night. In front of me was a young boy with his Dad. They both wore plaid shirts. He jammed his thumbs in his ears when the music got too loud for him, and I thought he wouldn't last the night. But I was wrong, he was still clapping as enthusiastically at the end as everyone else, and even stood for the ovation.

One of the pieces was Holst's 'Mars', and it got me to thinking. I have never owned a recording of it, or heard it performed live before, yet I knew every bit of it. Can you imagine creating something that goes out and becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes part of everyone like that. You instinctively know it. How it goes, what it means. To give the world just one amazing thing.

That would be a goal worth having, wouldn't it.

Cello 2 = 198

I have long harboured the desire to get permission to sketch an orchestra at work, in rehearsals kind of thing. I love the shapes musicians make when they play, how instruments alter their posture.

Have snuck some drawing over the years, but never had the courage to actually find and ask any, and the stupid thing is I shared a flat with a girl who worked for the London Sinfonia for a while, so if ever there was a missed opportunity...

This I found the other day and liked that I could post another cello. I sat and listened/sketched a youth orchestra in the Place D'Armes in Luxembourg city a few years ago. It was a sunday, and there was nothing else to do. This was the best of a so so bunch, but liking the cello bit. What's it called, the arm, the neck, the curly thing ?