Jools Holland . . . master musician

Had some free time today, so I cut a silhouette of my favourite pianist, the brilliant Jools Holland.  I have been to see Jools, his orchestra and his guests a few times over the years.  Memorable nights indeed!  One particular night in an Edinburgh Jazz club we had a ultra close up view of their show.  No stage to speak of - we were in touching distance of his piano.  He had the full orchestra there and special guests, the brilliant Ruby Turner and Marc Almond.
Anyway - a little technical info on this silhouette cut.  As always it was done completely freehand.  I am right handed, so everything was cut from right to left.  The big challenge here was getting his hand in correct proportion to the piano and his head.  the hand comes first, so I just had to trust my judgement.  The jacket sleeve is indicated with slash cuts.  When these are completed the piece of paper begins to become rather flimsy, something akin to lace.
If you know about Jools and his orchestra please check out his drummer, Gilson Lavis.  He is an excellent artist and has drawn fantastic portraits of the band in ink.

I thought, as I was in the mood, I would also do a silhouette cut of Phil Veacock, the lead saxophonist in the band.  Same rules apply here, everything is cut from right to left.
Can't wait to see them again.  If you enjoy great music, a Jools Holland concert is the only place to be.

Basin Street

This one is called Basin Street.
It is a mixture of Indian Ink work done with the fork as usual, and some watercolour.   I was much heavier with my use of watercolour this time as I wanted to create a smoky atmosphere.  I used earthy tones for the most part, but if you look behind the pianist's head you may see a colourful image of him drifting into the room.  This is a mixture of the colourful music and his aura.  That's what I tried to depict anyway.
We have been to New Orleans a couple of times now and have visited Basin Street itself.  Not much there to see now except the Lafayette graveyard and the Basin Street Railroad station which is now a museum.
We did, however, visit the French Quarter and enjoyed some fantastic live music in the Bourbon Street Jazz clubs.

O Fortuna

Another musically inspired piece.  I am a big fan of Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana.    This little pen and wash sketch is my vision of the energy in that first measure of 'O Fortuna'.
This again was created with a broken plastic fork and a few light sweeps of watercolour.