You might think these look a bit rough and ready. And you’d be right. That’s the point.
For my live sketching work, I think about format just as I do with design for events. What’s the character of the event? What is the style of the venue? What’s going on? How can my work sit well with that? I like what I draw on to be as relevant as what I draw.
I’d promised to drop by community garden Abbey Gardens to draw at its event Dialogues of Space, a day of deep listening, music-making on self-made instruments and conversation. There’s an air of upcycling to the place, and of working with nature.
So I looked out some natural ink backgrounds I’d painted on scrap paper, eco prints direct from leaves made at a Cordwainers Natural Dye Studio workshop (Oh, the bullet steamer – it was like something out of a 1950s sci-fi B-movie) and some direct print from garden flowers. Even my clipboard was a bit of old packing board.
At some of the events where I draw, I’m part of the entertainment so I bring my showing-off gene too. But here, I was more of a hoverfly, looking closely for a little while, then flitting off.
You can see more of my live illustration in the work section of this website, and over on my Instagram feed.
I’d love to do more live event sketching so if you’d like to chat, do get in touch.
