James playing guitar

All the sketching with local community musicians motivated me to revisit my craftsy classes- Marc Holmes' People in Motion and Suhita Shirodkar's Figure Sketching Made Simple. It's surprising that how many details I have forgotten even though I have watched the class videos 3 times. For example, I forgot that I could use ink and water to create different shades of grey. How could I forget such a simple thing? I am gonna try using this medium next time when I go sketch the musicians in my neighbourhood.

Musicians in the neighbourhood- 3

I know there are urban sketchers who sketch the same subject over and over again. Like Tina draws her maple tree and Shari Blaukopf sketches her wheel barrow in the backyard. I didn't think drawing musicians would be a thing for me but, hey, it seems that I'm collecting sketches of senior musicians in my neighbourhood.

I am definitely not complaining. After all, these musicians are great models- they don't charge me and they provide beautiful classical music. Unlike studio models, my models have no set time for a pose. They could stay in a pose for a while or just a few seconds, depending on if they are playing along or making mistakes. I have been focusing on capturing their gestures and hands, now also on light/shadow on their face and body. I did remember to shave off a few pounds on the ladies. They may ban me from sketching them otherwise! :)

Non-edible TACO, delicious to the ears

My neighbour invited me to sketch at her monthly orchestra meet-up. The group is called 'Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra' or 'TACO'. Like Urban Sketchers, TACO is made up by adults who love classical music and want to play with a friendly group. People with all skill-levels are welcome to join in as long as they bring their own instruments, enjoy making music with the group and laugh at mistakes together. Although I didn't see any today, sometimes participants do bring their children or grandchildren to come along and play a piece of music with the group.

The first two sketches were done on pre-tinted paper. The guest conductor's hands made me smile. His left wrist moved in a distinctive way.

Cathy, who was a pianist in my sketch before, is the founder and conductor of TACO. I admire her commitment and hard-work to keep TACO running since 2011. There is a lot of off-scene preparation involved to accommodate 50-60 people play music together once a month. Thanks to her and many volunteers, TACO continues to provide social opportunities and musical education to the community. 

In my last sketch I decided to capture a few individual musicians just to show cast different instruments. The tricky part was to connect the subjects together without making the whole picture too messy. I decided to try some technique I saw in Charles Reid's video and I like how the sketch turned out.

After sketching intensely for 3 hours, I was exhausted. But the experience was amazing and no, TACO was not terrible at all! I'm hoping to make it to their December meet-up so I can sketch the orchestra with some choir groups.