Big Draw LA

The Big Draw LA event downtown today (in Grand Park) was a lot of fun! There were all sort of stations of activity, and lots of people were jointing in with drawing in various media, including making masks (so drawings and cut-outs) and making drawings on the concrete plaza area using strips of tape, which I thought was rather clever. (I forgot to photograph any of those, but look on twitter – and I presume instagram – under #thebigdrawla for things people have been posting.) One of the most interesting things was the construction made of drawings that people did on pieces of slate that lock together to make a larger structure. Have a look in the pictures below (click thumbnails for larger views). There were several, but maybe still not enough adults involved, in my opinion (at least when I went by). Perhaps this was due to a “I can’t draw and it is too late for me, but there is hope for the children” line of reasoning? Bad reasoning – everyone can draw! Join in, all ages. There are events all around the city (see links below).

The pursuit that had the highest proportion of adults was the costumed figure drawing station off to one side, with a man and a woman dressed as carnival performers of some sort taking turns to do poses, and sometimes together. In finding a good place to draw in the shade of a tiny tree nearby, I gave up having a good view of them in any of their poses, but was quite happy since it was more interesting looking at the people who were busy enjoying drawing anyway, and so I drew some of them*. The green-haired woman (see drawing at top) was a really good subject, since she was intent on her drawing and had a solid pose that meant she held it well for a while. I liked my drawing of her well enough to do a bit of watercolour pencil (and water brush) finish on it for fun. For the record, she was drawing something other (and for more accomplished) than what I ironically put on her paper in my drawing, long after she’d left. (If she sees this I hope she is not offended!)

As I did in the previous two posts, I strongly recommend joining in other Big Draw events in your city (it is a worldwide celebration of drawing) through the Month of October. The Big Draw site is here (find your city) and the Big Draw LA site here, where I imagine you can find lots of great drawings. Lots of events for the month are listed there, and this is a fun way to explore and see the city.

-cvj

*Thanks aef for the photo of me drawing!