Bright and Jazzy Weekend

This weekend has been gloomy on many fronts, so I welcomed some new distractions. Mom was in Osaka for a few days, and I asked her to visit some of the craft stores mentioned on I Try DIY's guide. I was so relieved that she was able to fly back in this morning, unaffected by Typhoon Lando's havoc; and it was like waking up on Christmas day, with her hoarded goods laid out on a table. She brought home Royce' (not enough!) the strange but delicious square persimmons that I love, a designer bag for herself, and a mountain of cosmetics. She also bought some USB-powered reading lamps, and she was so cute when she happily showed them to me. She scored these calligraphy holsters and nibs, Copic pens, and Kuretake brush pens for much cheaper, that I almost couldn't believe the conversion!

Calligraphy nibs, holsters, Copic pens, Kuretake brush pens, music note puncher

A photo posted by Katherine (@kaichypoo) on Oct 20, 2013 at 6:08pm PDT

Before I can get around to playing with those, I've been taking a break from drawing, and pretty much everything else, because I'm speed learning a couple of songs for gigs next week. I'm both excited and freaking out (more of the freaking out!) that I'll be performing with Baihana to sub for their alto. I absolutely love and look up to these girls, who sing harmonies so seamlessly, in their signature bebop/swing/big band jazz. Every free moment of this weekend has been spent trying to sight read their pieces, and then attempting to sing along with their recordings. Not yet there, but I will get there. Maybe tomorrow.

Learning jazz pieces for Baihana (c)

Practice Makes Progress

Almost a week since I did the first drawing exercises, following instructions from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, I'm now on chapter 4. (I switched editions, and "The Definitive, 4th Edition" is a friendlier, less scholarly read.) This chapter has the exercise that Chris had described and got me curious: copying an image upside down. The book proposes that seeing an image right-side up automatically triggers our Left Brain to assign labels to everything, and with those labels come our own interpretations of things based on personal experiences. What it wants is for the reader to try engaging the imaginative Right Brain, ignoring the analytical Left Brain, so that we draw what we see, just as we see it, free of our own opinionated interferences.

SPOILER ALERT

If you want to try reading the book and doing all the exercises, you may not want to see what I drew, so you'll be a clean slate when you do it yourself. Although, the author did share an anecdote of a student who did it twice by mistake, still producing the desired results even if s/he had already seen the original image. Proceed with discernment =)

The book presented a portrait of Igor Stravinsky, drawn by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, oriented upside down. My brain immediately tried to recognise the picture, but I tried to suppress it. So although I knew it was of a person, I tried to see it as nothing but lines and curves, as I was supposed to. The average duration of activity was 45 minutes, but I took almost 2 hours, starting at 11:37 am and ending at 1:20 pm. I made two attempts, the first I discarded almost halfway, because I was unhappy with my attention to proportion. Being more cognizant of that weakness, I tried again. When I was finished, I turned both drawings and looked at them right-side up for the first time. I was pretty pleased with the similarity I achieved... I mean, that's a freaking Picasso!

My version of Picasso's Igor Stravinsky

The original: Portrait of Stravinsky by Picasso (photo taken from Wikipedia)

Having now done the first few exercises, I realised that my biggest disadvantage was and is my impatience. Considered a Left Brained trait, I was just too aware of time ticking away, thinking about how badly I must be doing, and I gave up on the tasks very quickly, not wanting to fix parts I could see weren't precise.  As mentioned, my spatial abilities are not very sharp and I have difficulty with proportions; so in my drawing, Stravinsky's (anatomic) right shoulder is higher than the left, and the hands became chunkier to compensate at that point (I copied from top to bottom of the lopsided image.) I also made him look mad, oops! 

But like Dory said, "Just keep swimming;" and yesterday, while talking to Macy about calligraphy, she was encouraging me (as she so often does) to keep practicing. Practice, indeed, makes progress. 

Reading/Drawing/Styling

If there's anything that can be done one day at a time, it's learning. I advocate the thinking that anything can be learned, even skills that people insist are dependent on talent, like singing, dancing, and writing. Sure, talent makes it so that there is a predisposition to a skill, but with enough attention to the right procedure and plenty of practice, I think every skill can be developed. 

I've always envied visual artists, those that can replicate the world around us, and especially those that can transfer their own imaginings onto canvas. I've often wondered how it would be like if I could just draw or paint all my thoughts! Wild. 

I don't think I'm terrible at drawing, in fact I can draw enough to give semblances to my target images; but I have obvious problems with proportions and depth (and, well, patience.) Last weekend, over sandwiches and beer, my friends and I got to talking about arts and crafts. I somehow had shared that I wasn't good at visual arts, and was frustrated by drawing. Chris started to excitedly describe a book, whose author supposedly guarantees that everyone can learn how to draw, and draw well. He gave a very rough gist, but enough to pique my interest, because here I am two days later, on the third chapter.

After a short introduction on the basis of the teaching technique (which read like a research journal or some other academic paper,) it went on to listing the materials needed for the drawing exercises. The first exercise, however, only needed a pencil and paper. I had to draw a 1) self-portrait, 2) a person from memory, and 3) my hand, to serve as a point of comparison when tracking my progress (a ka, "before" drawings. Forgive the scans, I recycled lyric sheets from past productions.)

Self-Portrait: It looks like a person, but it doesn't look like me

Person from memory: Ryan, who ended up looking like Marcos =/ So bizarre, I'd just seen him minutes before, but I couldn't remember a single detail vividly when I tried to bring his face to mind

My hand: strangely disfigured

I think I've proven a point about my drawing skills, or obvious lack of it. I'm hoping I belong to the demographic that this technique works on, and that I'll actually see improvement in my "after" drawings. In the meantime, I'll document this entire project for posterity. 

I've been consciously working on my visual creativity lately, and I mentioned having dabbled in food styling a few weeks ago. Here is the first finished product, as posted on the Chef's Classics Facebook page. It took a leap of faith in myself to accept that project, long hours in the kitchen studio to get things right, and what a great feeling to see it come to fruition. I have so many things to refine, like my taste and my eye for composition; but what's important is I tried it, I learned from it, and I'm willing to do better next time.

Cooked and styled this one-pot Chicken Pilaf to show off @chefsclassics cookware with detachable handles 👌 Entirely new skill set for me, but the guys of @videobybelle made it enjoyable! #LetsCookPH #food

A video posted by Katherine (@kaichypoo) on Oct 5, 2015 at 5:18am PDT