Parijat Desai Dance Performance

I caught a performance of Parijat Desai Dance Company at the Skirball Center after work on Thursday. It was a lot of fun and I managed a few simple sketches too. The first one is of the interior of the building that the theatre was in and the rest are quick sketches of the dancers. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I did want to try and put something down.

Wednesday Figures

At last I got a chance to scan these. I started falling asleep at one point, so some of these are from then. I ended up leaving a bit early, but it was a fun session.

Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon

Ammar and my brother Waqas called up to ask if I had anything to do today..so I found this show called Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon. It was a really good fundraiser for the California Jazz Foundation which helps jazz musicians in need. Here are some sketches. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Hossein Alizadeh and the Hamavayan Ensemble

The work week really wore me out, but I still checked out Hossein Alizadeh and the Hamavayan Ensemble in a performance called Persian Innovations at UCLA's Royce Hall. Here are some sketches. I felt like doing these actually helped clear my head and get closer to the music.

Wednesday Figure Drawing

I tried out some really watery ink using only a wide dipping pen and my dwindling supply of watercolors. I'm not so sure that it matters whether I use waterproof ink or not at this point. These are so quick that the ink isn't dry by the time I lay down the watercolor anyway. I'll have to try regular ink and see how much of a mess I can make with that next time.

Iran and America Make Music

I went to a show called Iran and America Make Music, co-produced by the Levantine Cultural Center last night. Opening with John Densmore on percussion was a group called Reluctant Gurus with Donna Delory on vocals and Hani Naser on oud, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. Ney Nava Dance Theatre did a dance performance followed by Reza Derakshani (vocals, tar, setar, kamancheh and ney) and John Densmore (percussionist) with Carlitos Del Puerto on bass, Dennis Hamm on keyboards, and percussionist Cristina Berio. Yeah..can't go wrong with that.

Faith Jam 2007

Thanks to my brother Waqas, I went to Faith Jam 2007 with a bunch of friends including cameraless Ammar, to see Junoon. It turned out to be Salman Ahmad and a really good tabla player Samir Chatterjee, instead of the full band. The whole night was a lot of fun, with some throat singing and tyco drumming from Om Ensemble, an energetic and fun Israeli band called missFlag, Junoon and then a church choir and band called Christ Our Redeemer, before the audience and all the musicians came together at the end. There were also two really funny comedians; Maz Jobrani and Eric Schwartz. I managed a sketch of Salman Ahmad and the tabla player Samir Chatterjee.

It's always fun checking out music and bumping into friendly faces, familiar and new.

Hip Hop for Education

I went to a show called Hip Hop for Education after work on Saturday. I think I just missed Quetzal, but I did see a bunch of other fun acts. Suheir Hammad and Saul Williams in particular were amazing. They both performed some very powerful spoken word, the kind that makes you hang on to every word. I didn't manage to get in a drawing of Suheir Hammad (sometimes you just have to listen), but pulled myself out enough to get in a sketch of Saul Williams (fourth sketch). I also drew Sabac Red (first sketch), X Clan (second sketch), a security guard, a hip hop fan and visual artist named Anthony (gave him the sketch) and a strange downtown LA skyline on a night with a full moon and lunar eclipse. Some of the performers I saw but didn't get to draw were Visionaries, Medusa, and a few others.

Wednesday Figure Drawing

3's, 5's and the last 4 figures are 1's. Time to buy more ink.

LA Contemporary Dance

Went to check out the LA Contemporary Dance group perform at LACMA. It was a lot of fun to see what they did inspired by the works of Magritte. It was family day, so there were tons of funny little kids all over. A woman next to me explained to two little girls that what the dancers were doing was surrealism. The little one sat quiet, then pointed and knowingly said "That's funny!" and she was right. Another kid was pushing chairs, and many others provided additional entertainment in their own confused and happy way. The dancers loaned us kids some cool green apple masks, wigs and scarves. I sported a curly blue clown wig. It was cool. It's pretty cool to see so many parents bringing their kids to check out art, and then to see them understand it and enjoy it in their own way. I always feel like that's how it should be. Afterwards, I grabbed some food then checked out the Crafts and Folk Art Museum with my brother Waqas. That place always has amazing stuff. This time I got to see works by Ramona Otto, who was there to tell all kinds of fun stories behind her pieces.

Hong Kong Six and The Autumns

Met up with and welcomed my talented musician pals Anand Subramanian and Arthi Meera to Los Angeles and checked out a show at the Gig on Saturday. We caught Hong Kong Six (first two sketches) and the Autumns (the last image). Nothing like some live music to end a workday.

Wednesday Drawing

Got to this session a little late, due to work, but it was cool to see what I could pull out of it. Our model was Michael Q. Schmidt who's always good natured and gives us artists some challenges.

Samaj sai Samjhauta

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Aashish Khan Sarod and Swapan Choudhury Tabla

I went to a Music Circle concert to see Aashish Khan play Sarod with Swapan Choudhury on Tabla and David Goodheim on Tanpura. I love these concerts. I can't say enough in words to describe how much fun it was. I just sat there with a goofy grin until it felt like my mouth was going to drop off. I also did some painting. For one of them, I decided to try and draw it all in with pencil first. I guess one should bring an eraser...but I did without. Accuracy is not really the point here. Most of what I've been doing of late, or really for a while has been straight watercolor or straight ink and watercolor so there's no erasing anyway. It's a good way to try and train myself to make those first marks the right ones. The tree is from just outside the chapel where the concert took place. It was a quick sketch done before they let everyone in. Lastly, my friend Robin Sukhadia took some photos during the performance, and a few were of me :). Thanks!

Wednesday 3s and 5s

Did some drawing. It was fun. Here it is.

Forever Flamenco

To round out my Sunday, I head over to the Fountain Theatre, for Forever Flamenco. The first sketch is of the cafe at the theatre. Next I did one of José Tanaka playing guitar, Richard Chavez dancing, two of Lakshmi Basile dancing and finally one of Rosa Maria Prats singing. I didn't get to draw Luis Pena, but he too was amazing. It was all over so quick. Very energetic and fun. There was so much expression. Not a bad way to prepare for the next grueling work week.

Nitin Sawhney Temple Bar

Went to check out a DJ set by Nitin Sawhney. Before hand I got to see Carmen Rizzo and Satnam Ramgotra's set. It was good to be out. Here are a few sketches from the Temple Bar, just to keep it going. I got to try out a new pocket sized watercolor sketchbook. I like.

Featured Artist: Jorge Martinez

I wanted to feature a piece by my extremely talented friend, Jorge Martinez. We actually met at a show at the Temple Bar a couple of years ago, and I saw him again at a show there last night. I did a few sketches, which I'll post after this, but he did one too. I was going to post that, but he sent me this other piece to put up instead. He does amazing things with cut paper, markers etc. I've been trying for a long time to get him to put his work out there. He is an amazing talent and this is the smallest taste of his work. Please email him and encourage him to setup a presense on the web.

Laguna Beach

The week just passed my by again. Last Sunday I went to Laguna Beach, checked out galleries and tried to paint a little, but mostly just sat on some rocks and stared out into the ocean. That place is like a little piece of paradise.

Here are my two favorite galleries there:

Laguna Fine Art (have a look at the amazing Dali etchings).

Richard Macdonald (beautiful sculptures and an amazing sculpture garden in the back).

Wednesday Figures

3, 5 and 1 minutes.