Candela farewell gig sketches

About a month ago I went to a farewell gig for longtime friend/musician, Robbie Belgrade, who has gone back to San Fran with his family after 18 years in Japan. The evening was a real blast. It's always great to see Candela live, and it was a joy to sit in with them and even jam on one of my originals with them and the other great musicians who sat in that nite. It was also just nice to see and hang out with a bunch of musician friends who I usually don't see unless I'm working with them. I spent all my time sketching when I wasn't jamming on stage.

These are all done in a watercolour sketch book using Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble wax crayons and a waterbrush. I love this medium for stealth sketching. It's so nice to be able to use colour with the waterbrush.

Andy Bevan hitting it on flute



Mark Tourian and his beloved bass



Robbie, the man himself, chopping out on the tablas.



Robbie on bass clarinet



Robbie on Riq (yeh, I know, the hands suck.......)



Chris Hardy, wonderful percussionist who I almost never get a chance to play with cos he's so busy.



Jonathan Katz chopping out on the pianica



Jonathan on piano - I still have to fix the colour temperature of the neck.




Bruce Huebner playing his unique brand of wild jazz shakuhachi - he moved very early on, so I couldn't finish it.


The only downside with the Neocolor crayons is that you can't really do lights over darks, I may eventually add a few light colored contes to the mix, or perhaps some of those Holbein water-soluble pastels. I do like how there's no dust mess to deal with while stealthing.

Joni, an oil sketch

oil on taped linen, 24 x 32cm
Singer, voice actor and good friend, Joni passed thru town from Vancouver. I took the opportunity to christen my stealth oils kit after we all ate too much delicious carrot cake at Good Honest Grub in Hakajuku. The stealth kit worked a treat, though I might need to make it even more stealthier by working smaller if I were somewhere where the people running the place didn't know me.

The life painting classes and all the painting I've been doing latley must be starting to pay off - it's a long held dream of mine starting to come true, I've always wanted to be able to do oil sketches like this - done casually, loosely and quickly (took maybe around an hour or so), capturing the likeness and essense of the person. Working in darker lighting also helps find the values easier, though the colors aren't always what I'd expect once it's under proper lighting. But that can make for some interesting surprises.