I have never been to Japan, but in May 2016 Japan came to me
with the Japanese Cultural Fair in Santa Cruz, California.
I have always loved drawing people in motion, especially
musicians and dancers, and most especially if they are in costume- so I figured
this would be a prime opportunity for some juicy sketching.
I grabbed my supplies and headed to the Mission Plaza Park,
where it turns out the fair has been held every year for the past 30 years.
When I arrived the Awa Odori Folk
dancers were performing. I had brought several Inktense
watercolor pencils and a waterbrush with me, so I sat
on the grass with the rest of the audience and sketched the dancers and
musicians, inspired by the beautiful traditional costumes and movements.
There was an older man in the group who had had a wonderful
smile and so much energy. While I was drawing him he disappeared from the stage. A few
minutes later a wild haired demon appeared and began to dance and weave among
the audience.Later I
realized that it must have been the same man.
Then the San Francisco Taiko Dojo came onstage and I decided
to try loose watercolor and ink, using a Lamy Safari
pen, my tiny set of Winsor Newton watercolors and a Pentel
water brush. I had to work in quick gestures to try to capture the movement,
and found myself mesmerized by the rhythm and intensity of the drumming.
One of the joys of being an urban sketcher is sharing my drawings
with my subjects. I was so moved by the performances and beauty of the festival
that I sent my sketches to the JCF Facebook page. Several months later they
asked if they could use them as promotion for this year’s fair. I was happy to
give my permission as a way of saying “Arigato!”
