UCLA Indian Classical Students Show

Did some sketches in the dark at a cool little show put on by very talented traditional Indian Classical music and Dance students at UCLA.

Andal Tiruppavai Vaibhavam

  

I went to the Andal Tiruppavai Vaibhavam Sangeetha Upanyasam by Thiruvaiyaru Sri S. R. Krishnan. Say that three times as fast. During the sound check the musicians sounded amazing, but the actually performance was more of a lecture without any music. I'm sure it would gave been interesting, but I don't understand Tamil, so I did some drawings, and after two hours left. Still, it was very nice of the host family to open their home to complete strangers for enjoy the performance.

Drawing Club: Matrix Part 2

 

Drawing Club: Matrix Part 1

 

  

 

Drawing Club: Santa Claus 2

 

  

The rest of my Santa sketches. See what the other artists came up with here.

Drawing Club: Santa Part 1

 

Look, it's Santa!

Drawing Club: Bladerunner Part 2

Here are the rest of the sketches from that session. Check out some of the other artists' work here.

Drawing Club: Bladerunner Part 1

This Bladerunner theme was a lot of fun to draw.

Drawing Club: Leyendecker Part 2

Here is another batch of sketches from the same session. See what other artists came up with here.

Drawing Club: Leyendecker Part 1

Here are the first set of drawings from the Leyendecker theme at the Drawing Club.

Odalan Bali: An Offering of Music and Dance

I went to an amazing show called Odalan Bali: An Offering of Music and Dance at UCLA's Royce Hall. During the first half I cobbled together this sketch of a very small fraction of performers on stage. During the second half, I sat in awe of the amazing dancers and muscians and drew nothing.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 4

  

Eventually, I hope to bring more of this quality to the sketches I do at shows or out and about. These drawing sessions help a lot, because we have such hard working models who hold poses. It becomes a lot more difficult to capture that essence elsewhere, when people are in constant motion. See what some of my fellow artists came up with at this session here.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 3

As usual, you can see multiple interpretations of most of the poses from this session. When I really get going, I just let go and speed up to reduce the amount of thought I put in each. For me, I find the work gains more spontaneity as I feel the work instead of thinking too much about it. Working this way creates more excitement for me, which I hope translates into the work. All of this, is of course pulled from the amazing energy that the model provides.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 2

Second set of drawings from the session. All watercolor and calligraphy markers. This was a very productive set for me. Productive = oh so much fun!

Drawing Club Boxer Part 1

Here are the first set of sketches from this weeks drawing club session.

MIA at the Wiltern

Saw MIA again, this time at the Wiltern. It was a bigger show than the last one. I managed a few sketches in the dark. Sometimes you draw just for the sake of doing it. I liked the ones from last time more, but these were fun to do, and the show was great!

Drawing Club Country Girl Part 2

The second set of drawings from the drawing club. Take a look at the amazing work that some of the other artists produced at this session here.

Drawing Club Country Girl Part 1

After the zoo, we head to the drawing club.

Noon time Dance at UCLA

I went to see my friends Sandra and Shyamala of Post Natyam perform with a number of other dancers at a noon time dance program at UCLA. I drew these watercolor sketches while watching.

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!