We were fortunate to happen across a guitar gig in the city on Saturday afternoon while we were having a little staycation at a nearby hotel for a special milestone. The artist was a Franco-Czech guitarist by the name of Jan Vanek. He is a multi-instrumentalist who lives in France and travels all over the world, sharing his unique interpretations and style of playing. For this gig, he was playing solo and played a variety of recognisably French tunes, jazz and world music, including his own compositions. To say he is talented is an understatement! Technical skill combined with obvious emotional investment and enjoyment of a virtuoso on full display! We were treated to two hours of fabulous music and witnessed an artist completely lost in his music.
Lucky for me I had my sketch gear on me, so I took the opportunity to practise my people sketching as the music washed over me. I managed a couple of sketches before I set my kit aside and lost myself in the music and hypnotic movement of his fingers up and down the fretboard.
Sketch one as I sipped my wine and let the music wash over me.
The gig was at Smiths Alternative in the Melbourne Building. I had never been there before but I immediately fell in love with the boho feel of the bar and gig space. We will be going back!
Sketch two before the brief intermission. I love how sketching during an experience like this imprints my impressions and reactions onto the page. Every time I go back to these sketches I will remember precisely what it was like to be there.
I was too shy to sit closer to the stage and sketch, but thankfully no one sat in front of us.
At the end of the concert, I mustered up my courage, dusted off my high school French, asked Jan to sign my sketch, and told him how much I had enjoyed his playing. We had a brief conversation that flipped between French and English, and I went away energised as I always am after seeing live music.
Here’s a video of Jan playing at a radio station. He played this one during the gig, and I could picture myself cruising into a little French village in a CV2 ready to collect my afternoon baguette from the friendly boulanger!
Jan’s interpretation of Dave Brubek’s Take Five with a percussive modern jazz slant.
The creative life is all about feeding one’s imagination with a wide variety of inputs – gathering inspiration, provoking thought, tickling one’s fancy – and then making connections between all these disparate little bites. Here’s a selection of what grabbed my attention this fortnight, perhaps some of them will inspire you too.
This made me laugh 🙂 Guaranteed to confuse your child learning to tell the time.
Nina’s urban sketchesalways inspire me to want to get out and draw more
There’s never been another moment like this particular one, and never will be again.
That means that at this moment, we have the opportunity to fully appreciate the miracle of this moment, and how it came to be from the infinite number of causes that created it from preceding moments. We are alive in this moment because of millions of other people who have supported us, because of everything on this planet, which just happened to be the perfect conditions for creating the person we are right this moment. What a freakin’ miracle!
Remember to sign up for email updates on my blog because Facebook and Instagram both restrict what you see, and sometimes I get buried in the noise of the interwebs. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the madness! There’s a link over on the side bar. I promise not to spam you, and I will never on-sell your details to anyone.
I am sitting here this week suffering from the inevitable Summer sniffles and bundled up in a blanket even though it is 33 degrees C outside. I am so annoyed that I made it through my Christmas break without getting sick like I normally do on holidays, and then the first week back at work I get sucker punched. Ugh.
Here’s some of what grabbed my attention this fortnight as I fed my creativity, perhaps some of them will inspire you too as we head into the weekend.
Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.
“Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an an enormous reward. You will have created something.â€Â – Kurt Vonnegut
And last but not least .. who would not want a giant purple squid to keep them inspired?
Remember to sign up for email updates on my blog because Facebook and Instagram both restrict what you see, and sometimes I get buried in the noise of the interwebs. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the madness! There’s a link over on the side bar. I promise not to spam you, and I will never on-sell your details to anyone.
The creative life is all about feeding one’s imagination with a wide variety of inputs – gathering inspiration, provoking thought, tickling one’s fancy – and then making connections between all these disparate little bites. Here’s a selection of what grabbed my attention this week, perhaps some of them will inspire you too.
I found these bumble bee earrings via a random link on Instagram that I now cannot find….they make me happy when I wear them.
I am in the midst of my yearly self-imposed hermitry as I recover from 2017 and prepare to launch into 2018. I found this post especially helpful as I try to refocus.
I really wish I was not allergic to cats.. they are funny!
Remember to sign up for email updates on my blog because Facebook severely restricts who sees my posts, and not everyone has Instagram. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the madness! There’s a link over on the side bar. I promise not to spam you, and I will never on-sell your details to anyone.
The creative life is all about feeding one’s imagination with a wide variety of inputs – gathering inspiration, provoking thought, tickling one’s fancy – and then making connections between all these disparate little bites. Here’s a selection of links and bits and pieces that grabbed my attention this week, perhaps some of them will inspire you too.
It has been a prickly year all round really… Susannah Conway has some kind, soothing words to help.
Delicate folds – I love the way this artist has captured the fabric in this piece.
“My mother had two messages for me in my growing up years: to be a lady — don’t be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment, these things just sap energy and waste time — and the other was to be independent.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Remember to sign up for email updates on my blog because Facebook severely restricts who sees my posts, and not everyone has Instagram. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the madness! There’s a link over on the side bar. I promise not to spam you, and I will never on-sell your details to anyone.
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Robertson Studios.
