Majestic March!!! - Drawing events and performances for your diary!

Hey hey! It's cooking up to be a busy March!
I'll be back in Scotland for 6 weeks from next Monday for a few events I'm drawing/participating/co-organising. If you fancy something drawing based, alternative and involving, cast your eye over these.


First up - 3rd March, Sound Thought Festival, The Arches, Glasgow/7th March, Videolab, Edinburgh

Three Lines: Improvised Drawing/Music/Dance
Jenny Soep, Jer Reid, Monica de Ioanni

Two improvised drawing/music/dance performances I'm part of with experimental musician Jer Reid and the beautiful dancer Monica de Ioanni as part of Sound Thought in Glasgow, and Videolab in Edinburgh.  I'll be creating projected drawings inspired by Monica de Ioanni's dancing which will then inspire Jer Reid's music which will then inspire my drawing.  A chain of influential actions.  Get tickets for the Arches performance here.



Second Up - 4th March, The Old Hairdressers, Renfield Lane, Glasgow 6pm until Midnight

Exhibition Launch - 28 Drawings Later
Glasgow based artist Victoria Evans is the brainchild behind this fantastic project to get anyone and everyone drawing. As it says on the poster, 'What happens if 200 people draw everyday for a month?'
It's been such a great project to be part of - confidence boosting, inspiring, enlightening, educational, frustrating, fun, and above all gratifying.
The exhibition of originals will be upstairs for one night only, with the copies downstairs being exhibited until the 7th.  The copies will become part of a recycled drawing workshop at the International Women's Day event. (Info below!)



Third up - Thursday 8th March, The Old Hairdressers, Renfield Lane, Glasgow 12pm until Midnight

The Garterstitch all day event for International Women's Day, which you might be interested in (it's going to be pretty awesome by the way!!)  Following on from last year’s gloriously colourful celebration of the centenary of International Women’s Day, Loop|Garterstitch100 has organised a day of events in the Old Hairdressers to be enjoyed by the women, men and children of Glasgow. Browse the pop-up Glasgow Women’s Library, participate in a drawing workshop, watch and dance, try out some alternative crafting with the Garnethill Women’s Institute, eat some cake, listen to music, reflect on talks and information, participate in a sound project, browse and bid for the art works of illustrator Jenny Soep…
Check out more info on what exciting artists/musicians will be performing and what workshops you can participate in here.


Myself and Emma Hagen have a workshop in particular between 1-3pm. Details as follows -

WORKSHOP - DRAWING LIVING THEATRE with Emma Hagen and Jenny Soep

Think of a woman in your life. She could be you. 

What's your least favourite thing about her? What's your favourite?

Drawing Living Theatre is an interactive workshop using drawing, drama and creative action methods to explore a chosen topic.  

At this particular event, the 101st year of International Women's Day, we look at one negative aspect of a woman in your life, the possibility to accept this, and celebrate the positive. There are always at least two sides, and it can be good to take a fresh look at the flip side.

Thursday 8th March, 1-3pm, upstairs at The Old Hairdressers (opposite Stereo) Renfield Lane.

Fourth up - 19th-25th March - 360 Narrative Residency with playwright Lynda Radley

I'm going to be part of a pretty cool residency in Stirling with the pretty fantastic playwright Lynda Radley. It's going to be about a couple of sisters called Snow White and Rose Red who are midwives in a strange and alternative possibly post apocalyptic Earth.  Having been a fan of Lynda's previous work (Birds and Other Things I Am Afraid Of, The Art of Swimming, Futureproof) it's been a boon to get involved.  The project is part of the 360 Narrative initiative to find other platforms for theatre/playwrighting and there are 5 other groups/partnerships involved.  Have already looked at the itinerary for this intensive creative blowout week, and as much as I feel super privileged to be a part of it all, I'm super excited to get stuck in.  There's also going to be a darts tournament!!!  Need I say more...


Apart from all that, I'll be creating my 'documentary' style drawings at various artsome and quality musicsome events as usual.  Keep updated on my Facebook page - Drawing The Experience.  Perhaps I'll see you somewhere with your own sketchbook!

Patti Smith, Kronos Quartet, Polar Music Prize 2011

Patti Smith being interviewed by Jan Gradvall
PMP Talks (45 MINUTES)

Today, 29th August, I had the great privilege to draw the legendary Patti Smith and the fantastic Kronos Quartet during the Polar Music Prize Talks ahead of the ceremony tomorrow. (I was also pretty stoked when Patti herself came up to me and asked to see my drawings of Kronos who were having their talk before her :)
She hasn’t seen the one of herself yet, but fingers crossed she loves it. I’m pretty proud of it myself. It’s half past midnight. I’ve been working on images, prints and signing them. Attending PMP events all day tomorrow with drawing tools in hand. About to pass out with a huge smile on my face.

Kronos Quartet being interviewed by Camilla Lundberg

PMP Talks (45 minutes)

CENSTA PARTY

Recoat Gallery Live Painting

Awards being handed out

Audience watching the beautiful film Chez Galip by Bobby Niven

Live Visuals by Florence To, with some revellers

Live Visuals by Florence To, with some revellers Detail

Live Visuals by Florence To, with some revellers, 2nd Image

CENSTA PARTY, SUBCLUB

These drawings are of the festive/birthday/book launch-ish party of the very exciting art(s) collective Central Station which is based in Glasgow and the rest of the world. It's online, it's a community. There's sh*tloads of exciting artists, film-makers, collectives, designers, galleries, initiatives, ideas...etc etc etc.

So me, I was commissioned to document this splendid happenng in my unique style with something alternative and new - my mobile phone.

Drawings were created live on my Nokia XpressMusic mobile phone. The actual drawing screen is c.7x4cm and I draw with the attached stylus (which is easy to lose. In a nightclub, perhaps I should paint it glow in the dark for easy retrieval).

Photos feature in the images entitles Florence To, the photos featuring samples of her visuals in the background. To put it mildly, she's a rather exciting art person/veejay/fashion designer/generally pretty cool chick. Keep an eye out for her.

The 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

At the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. It's been amazing to be a part of it all tonight - seeing Gorbachov in attendance was really special. Hilary Clinton's speech was miles more inspiring than Gordon Brown's....I also cried. I'll admit I ws overcome. It's been an amazing night.


Twenty Year Anniversary Ceremony of the Fall of the Berlin Wall


The Brandenbeg Gate


The Atomic Clock, AlexanderPlatz, Berlin

Teenage Fanclub, and Scotland's Mardi Gras Parade

What a fantastic Parade! What costumes, dancers, puppets, performers, colours, madness, wow! The giant caterpillar that kept bending down to taste the crowd, the many helium balloons that floated off without their children attached, the tasty smells that permeated the entire closed off route, the throngs of sombrero/fez/furry cowboy hat toting public, the stalls, the henna tattooists, the paintings on railings (which I still actually haven't seen up close - I should be there selling, no wait, I should pawn the services of some young sibling of mine to do my selling for me.

Highlights - some amazingly agile capoeira dudes, particularly the chap that jumped down the road sideways on his hands!!! His stomach was like brick work, I'm not kidding, and then later in the park, there was a couple just hurling themselves through time and space like the martial arts heros in east asian films, minus strings attached. Then there were the bee people - with men in bee costumes, furry spikey sting and spikey tits attached. The Burlesque/Cabaret Dancers, the Carnival dancers, the lily pad brigade, the graceful futuristic girls on stilts, the mighty samba bands from last night. There was a lot that impressed me. Anyway, it's 2.31am. I will write more as a review, but suffice to say it was an amazingly sunny day, great parade, ended with some lovely music from Snow Goose and Teenage Fanclub at Oran Mor. Lovely to draw them and see Norman with his band. (Also lead singer of Snow Goose is definitely someone to keep an eye on!)

Quick mention to Stephen who saved my space in the car park above Somerfield - it really was a great space for seeing the Carnival, and thank you!

The Mardi Gras enters Byres Road

Capoeira in the Park

Dancing to Samba Ya Bamba in the Park, 'After Carnival' Party

Teenage Fanclub, Sunday 15th June 2008. The Accoustic Session

'Dias de las Noches' by Teatr Novogo Frontia

Sinister, Beautiful, Black, Spectral, Tense, Explosive. There's some words to describe my experience of this show.


Dias De Las Noches - Spectral Scene



Dias De Las Noches - Finale

Dias De Las Noches - Characters

Dias De Las Noches - Spectral Scene ii

Dias De Las Noches - 'Mask' and 'Lanky Devil'

Not since watching Roberto Benigni's 'La Vita è Bella/Life is Beautiful' have I laughed from the gut with such stress and anticipation of being horrified in the next instant. It wasn't their best show due to only a couple of technical hitches, but otherwise everything - the acting, costumes, use of the stage set - was brilliant. It was an absolute feast of visual delights with the accompanying sounds/music ripping right through you, and I couldn't draw fast enough.

(Just want to note the pratt who got up during the performance - my row of all rows! - and twice I had to shift all my materials and me. He better have had the shits or something equally as pressing...)

The following pictures were done in darkness as I didn't want to take away from the performance with my little 'Mighty Brite' reading light. So pretty much all the scribbles you see were done during, and the colour was added afterwards from memory.

I also just want to add this in - a review I found from 2004:

- Fringe 2004 Reviews (29)
Dias de las Noches Theatr Novogo FrontaAurora Nova @ St Stephens****
Teatr Novogo Fronta of the Czech Republic/Russia brings us into the world of two immigrant actors performing while war rages outside. More than being beautiful and, at times, funny, this is a production intoxicatingly energetic. The five performers, Ales Janak, Irina E. Andreeva, Robert Janc, and Yury Gertsman, work flawlessly together. The music by Vladimir Franz, Viktor Amalev, W.A. Mozart, and Roman Dubinnikov pulls it all together. Exciting and engaging.
Catherine Lamm

And now for something completely different -
Cabaret Act
H.Bomb (Harry Wilson)

The Severed Head of Comrade Bukhari, Daljinder Singh

Can you see the guy lying on the floor?
So, this is my live illustration from the show - all done during it I might add.
However, I might further 'accentuate' it - it's a bit light don't you think? And for such a deliciously dark humoured show, I think it deserves more.

(This is incidently the play whose rehearsal I had unwittingly clomped in on earlier during the poignant penultimate scene. I checked with the actors and director later - no hard feelings...)

The character Comrade Bukhari plays a good guy who seems a little too grown up to be playing with the mates he's got. I wondered why the writer chose to have them call each other Comrade when there seemed to be no other relevant matter, but I guessed it might have to do with the non-altruistic 'efficiency' of a certain communist country where the word 'Comrade' seems an obviously less friendly way of calling each other 'Brother' or 'Friend'.

It had a certain 'Lord of the Fly's' hits puberty feel to it, with all the angst, tests of heirarchy and helpless sensitivity of adolescent males. Excellent use of the set and their big little friend the Jukebox named 'W' apparently after George Dubblya himself since the voice on it is Texan. However, I found it quite hard to hear any particularly consistant character feature from the machine other than, well, it's inconsistancy and stubborness to be 'efficient'. (Look Jen, do you see that? - you've just figured it out...)

Anyway, enough from me. It's worth a watch. Go see it.

Arches Theatre Festival 08

Sixteen, by Rob Drummond

(This was the page I drew through the crack in the door - felt like such a voyeur! The top picture is half drawn at the time, half from memory and the initial sketches.)

So here I am, and here's the first two images of the day. Been sorting out technical and management difficulties - mainly my own!

Managed to clomp in at the end of one performance while 3 young lads were trying to deliver a poignant moment with a stumped head (heh heh) and they were talking about having a nice cup of tea. The Director Daljinder Singh came up to me at the end of the rehearsal and asked 'if she could help me?' in a manner that was obviously pissed off with my late entrance, spoiling the magic. - 'it put's the actors off'. I apologised and innocently replied that 'I had been told there was a 3 pm showing which I was supposed to be drawing at'.

I then realised I was late for the real 3pm showing and once I'd located it in the mass of corriders in the Arches, there was no chance in hell I was going to squeeze my way subtly into that!

Rob Drummond's play 'Sixteen' is played out in a tiny claustrophobic stage/theatre with 3 out of the four main characters all sitting together(what appeared to be one couch, but that was out of my view!), no-one really listening to each other, or explaining themselves properly. It's a stomach churning toe curling cringeworthy experience of a father's bid to stop his 'about to be legal' daughter openly committing the act under his own roof, with this charming good looking but 'foreign and 30 something' chap once midnight has chimed.

From the father's point of view, his bid to get rid of the unwitting 'young' man, has about as much speed, efficiency and disgust you might have at trying to squeeze a skelf out of your own skin.

I'm looking forward to seeing it properly before Saturday hopefully - it looks really good, and I don't think my viewing it through the crack in the door will ruin seeing it again from the specifically designated audience seating!

And just for a little throwback -

I've learned to use the old digicam somewhat, so here's some images from that fab chap Aidan Moffat's performance at the Arches on April 1st - no joke! He'll buy a picture from me one day so he will...!

The Support 'Band' - Remember Remember - Very very impressed with this chap and his saxophone playing sidekick. It was like the Desktop Symphony with the main man sampling bubblewrap, a lighter, scissors, hole punch, stapler, sellotape; seriously, I don't know if this guy has a desk job, but someone's missing their life's hoard of stationary! He meanwhile clapped, sang and played the electric geetar over it. Yep. I very much enjoyed the 'warm up' to Aidan. Much slicker too. But that's also what I love about Aidan's performances/music.

Anyway, time to go people. A festival to draw at/see etc. Come along and check it out!

'Tiorchar Ar La'

Warning: Expletives abound in Following Drawings - Not for the Young 'Uns.

'Are you a Celtic Supporter?' 'Well, eh..em' 'Just say Yes' 'Okay, Yes'

I'm going to admit something. I am not a football supporter. I don't support any sport, but if I was to support any football team, it might be Celtic, particularly after my experience in one of the supposed roughest pubs in Glasgow, The Brazenhead.

After suggesting what my plans were the previous day, when everyone had told me I was mad, I retorted 'I'm short, I'm a girl, and I've got a sketchbook - how threatening can I be?'

I found out today, that someone's friend had been put in a coma there a couple of years back, and one time the bouncers had been dragged round the corner under the bridge and stabbed to death. I wonder if I'd known that, would I have gone?

I guess having the Old Firm games now start at 12 in the afternoon must quell some of the violence. I did witness an arguing couple a few hours later, the guy of which had obviously had his ego pricked, turning on some random guy busting in his face infront of the green light traffic. No-one ran over to help; I guess you've gotto know the whole picture, but there's just no need for that.

I did meet some lovely people in the pub though: Cheryl, Big Tam, Wullie, Mick and a few others. They all got drawn tho' the drawings of Wullie and Mick are on my mobile since I gave them the pictures there and then. I've since bought a new digicam for such occasions in the future. Looooooong overdue - you can borrow your friends' only so many times...

During the match, venom was spouted forth from many mouths, as I'm sure all you real footie supporters would be well aquainted with, but all in good humour from where I was sitting and when Rangers scored, the pub had one of the quietest moments during the match. The camaraderie in there was great though with the non-pc anthems baled out in good key, and when the game ended with the undesired result, the live music was quick to start. A folk band got up, tuned up and entertained the flag waving masses.

The bar itself is actually a fascinating and quirky 'big wee place', full of character with loads of past football tops hanging from the arched ceiling, memorabilia and photos. There is a few dents here and there which could have been left by a couple of 'heated debates' in the past.

I found a spot on the far end of the bar in the corner where a fairly big burly bald bloke stood looking a little fearsome if it wasn't for the wooly jacket he was wearing. His girlfriend Cheryl from Fife was sitting there looking immaculate and wearing a black blouse with stars on it. She looked like she would have been more at home in a nightclub, but she wasn't the only gal dressed up for the occasion.

I have to say, I expected it to be full of 'sweaty swearing thugs', and it really was just like your local community pub, with a big variety of people old and young, pretty girls and young well manicured guys.

One of the 'older wiser' folks - Wullie, has impressive eyebrows, twinkly eyes, and a cut on one of them. Cheryl thinks he looks like Mel Gibson, Big Tam says he looks like Sid James. I did a quick waterpencil drawing of him which I was pretty pleased with and he seemed to like it too 'Check oot thae photae she did fur me!' and I got myself a pint out of it - nice one.

I have to say, I think I got a good deal - they all took care of me and made sure I was alright, perched on top of the pool table on my make shift 'throne with a view' - 'Artist, ye wanna drink?' 'Ooh, yes please - some water!'' Wus that Vodka and Water?' 'No no, just water please!'' Wullie, buy the girl a drink - Vodka and Water.'

It was a great experience and one of the best introductions to watching football in a pub that I could have had, even if the results weren't what was desired.

As someone pointed out ' Tiorchar Ar La' apparently meaning 'Our day will come' in Irish. I hope so - they've had a good run up to now. And it'll be good again, according to my sources...

Note: I've since been informed that it's spelt 'Tiocfaidh ar la' pronounced 'Chucky ar la' and refers to the day when the IRA will get what they desire. It's a beautiful phrase though, and the Celtic supporters I've met use it with pride when results don't go their way.