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| 12/7/13 Evan Flory-Barnes. Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper |
It was 20 degrees yesterday morning, the coldest day of the
season so far. Peggy and I arrived at Gage Academy at 8:35 a.m., which meant that we could either wait in the warm car or
wait in line outside for 25 minutes before the doors would even open. Without
hesitation, we both headed for the line immediately – and three people were
already ahead of us, shivering as we were!
Crazy?
Maybe. But that’s the way it is at Drawing Jam, Gage’s annual festival of participative art, which I
had been looking forward to ever since I went to my very first Jam last year! Where else can you spend 12 hours
drawing, looking at art, chatting with friends while drawing, eating, drawing, meeting
people, drawing, getting free art supplies, drawing, listening to live music
and drawing some more – all for $10?
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| 12/7/13 Miss Kitty Baby. Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen |
As I did last year, I spent most of my time in the “Stars of
Seattle” studio, where local celebrities like the Seattle Seafair Pirates, rock band Midday Veil and burlesque performer Miss Kitty Baby posed as models. My favorite “model” was improvisational
jazz bass player Evan Flory-Barnes,
who, unlike the others, didn’t pose – he simply performed his innovative music while
we sketched him. (The life drawing monitor kept interrupting his performance
every 20 minutes to ask him if he wanted a break, which he always declined. I
wanted to shout, “Stop interrupting! Let the man play!”) Sketching while
listening to live, improvisational jazz. . . does it get any better?
After eight hours of drawing, I finally called it a day, and
I’m already looking forward to next year. Rock on, Gage! (To see more of my sketches from Drawing Jam, see my Life Drawing set in my Flickr Photostream.)
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| 12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink |
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| 12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink |
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| 12/7/13 Midday Veil. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink |
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| 12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink |
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| Only three people ahead of us in line -- but we still have 25 minutes to wait in 20-degree weather before we can storm the doors down. |
Your sketches of the people are fantastic!!! The Drawing Jam sounds like a lot of fun. I've never heard of that before. Is it unique to where you are???
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joan! Yes, I think Drawing Jam is unique to Gage Academy, which is a wonderful art school here in Seattle. It's where I sometimes go for life drawing practice.
DeleteMy goodness what a great event that must be. I've never heard of anything like it. Your sketches from the event are great. Wish I could have been with you.
ReplyDeleteCheers --- Larry
Your sketches are worth the wait in the cold weather. They are very nice. I have gone to those sketching jams in the past, waited in line but never in the bitter cold. It is true to it's title....a jam of serious, fun loving, artistic people crazy enough to stand in line for twelves hours of sketching, painting, listening and talking to other artists, observing people, learning, and sculpturing with clay.
ReplyDelete