Live Event Drawing
What is Wandering Witness (What was The Real Charlotte Observer)?
I have a separate site for this project here and an instagram account here.
Since 2014, I have pursued drawing from life and urban sketching as a daily practice, evolving my style and approach, compiling a visual archive of life, fashion trends, and the social scene of the Charlotte area, for a project formerly called
The Real Charlotte Observer, now called
Wandering Witness. From 2014-2018 shared these drawings for free within 24 hours of the event that occurred, a one-woman journalistic endeavor that regularly kept me up till 5 AM after a night out sketching, a self-imposed unpaid full-time job.
I practice every day to gain the speed and design dexterity needed to capture fleeting moments as they happen, and by cataloguing the way people move and interact in the public space, I'm recording historically significant cultural movements and events as well as everyday minutia---which itself is historically significant in sum with other moments.
I sketched at a wide array of events, from live music to art openings to protests and political action, and hours in the courtroom, listening to cases and weaving compositions that attempt to convey a sense of the scene. Using ink and paper, I create narratives with strategically selected figures and items, arranging negative space with hatching techniques to make humorous yet thoughtful and attentive interpretations of events. In an age of such accelerated access to photo and video technology, I believe there is a place for re-emergence in information-sharing methods like oral traditions, storytelling, and non-photographic means of event coverage.
I moved from Charlotte to the Greensboro area and continue this project under the name
Wandering Witness.
I am available for hire for documentary, journalistic, or private events. Please also contact me if you are interested in a mural or large painting based off reportage figures, or if you want to buy print of a sketch I posted.
If I received funding to pursue this project more intensely, I could potentially
distribute a regular, most likely weekly, publication free of charge to the area of these sketches. If you are able to fund something like this, please contact me ASAP.
I make a ton of other work, and have some work that spawned specifically from this project. Because I spend so much time in the public space observing people, I began making illustrations that make social commentary that speak to the things I overhear and see. I also make animations from some of the sketches. You can see this work in
Offshoots.
I was unable to gain funding or opportunities for this project while in Charlotte, yet have experienced nothing but overwhelming support from the community that I service with it. I know that this project has value and the potential to be even bigger with actual funding. If you are interested in having me to your city for a temporary artist residency or a more permanent opportunity, or simply know of an opportunity that fits with this project or my other work, please contact me.
Can you give me more details on what I'm getting when I hire you to live draw at my event?
I will create one-of-a-kind drawings capturing your event. There are 2 options you can choose from:
Option A: a
minimum of 3 full-color works of art done from life, you receive the original drawings, size 4" x 6" to 8" x 10"
Option B:
1 full-color original work done from life, minimum size 16" x 20" and up to 32" x 40" (to be discussed before the event)
You can book up to
4 consecutive hours for your event. No sessions shorter than 1 hour. Each hour includes the specified number of drawings, so if you book me for two hours, you get 6 drawings, at 3 hours, you get 9 drawings, etc.
Your guests do NOT need to pose or stand still for me! I capture drawings directly from life in the middle of the action and do not need to interrupt your guests' good time to get the work done.
Live Portraits
Do I need to be completely still for a Live Portrait?
No, you do not need to be as still as a model, however staying stationary is necessary for the portrait. You can still move, talk, blink, eat, or do whatever you'd like to be doing in the portrait, as long as you're standing in one place.
If you want me to include a child, the child has to be able to stay in one place the whole time. Portraits can be done in as little as 20 minutes and can take up to 2 hours if you want a larger finished piece.
You can book a
Live Portrait here and a
Live Mini Portrait here.
I want you to draw me naked!
I can do that, but we have to do it somewhere where you won't get arrested, so that would probably be your residence. Contact me to talk about this option to get started!
What if I don't like what you draw?
It's important to do your research before you choose a portrait artist! I have a massive body of work available online to peruse; you can also see how I draw myself. My work is heavily stylized, often grotesque, and distorts the body, so it is not for people who are looking for a realistic, beautiful, traditional portrait of themselves. If you like the work of Egon Schiele, you will probably like my portrait of you.
I want you to draw my portrait, but I want it done in a specific way, with certain elements, in a specific style.
What you’re asking for is different from a Live Portrait, but I have a package for that as well; check out the Portrait option.