[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-little-pencil-at-the-ica":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil07-25b5805007.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Taso and her marvellous mythical beast\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nOn Friday evening, as part of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.comicafestival.com\">Comica festival\u003C/a>, Gemma Tortella organised with Paul Gravett so that a group of kids, their parents and I watched three animations in the cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Art and then spent an hour drawing to music. We saw \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vimeo.com/1004092\">\u003Ci>Sweet Dreams\u003C/i>\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vimeo.com/2544580\">\u003Ci>Story from North America\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Kirsten Lapore, and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vimeo.com/4312448\">\u003Ci>Bryum & Kapok 03: A Lilt\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Overture. The DFC's \u003Cb>Patrice Aggs\u003C/b> slipped into the cinema with us before she headed off to do her \u003Ca href=\"http://www.comicafestival.com/index.php/festival/festival_detail/black_powers/\">Black Powers\u003C/a> talk and we had a good giggle while watching \u003Ci>Sweet Dreams\u003C/i> when the cupcake starts getting jiggy with the butternut squash. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"75\"/>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/1004092\">Sweet Dreams\u003C/a> from \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/kirstenlepore\">Kirsten Lepore\u003C/a> on \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com\">Vimeo\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\\r\n\\r\nAfter we watched the animations, we went and drew pictures to music I'd picked out. Some of the songs had evocative lyrics and others had quirky instrumental bits I thought might give us ideas. I started off showing them some pictures from my \u003Ci>Morris the Mankiest Monster\u003C/i> book and said that while I'd been painting it, I'd been listening to a song called \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/1RyITAmi09Z8u6cQlvu63t\">\u003Ci>Hunnu\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Egschiglen's Mongolian throat singers. It always makes me crack up because it sounds to me like a bunch of short men jumping around in the mud, which was just perfect for the book.\\r\n\u003Ci>(Sorry, you have to have \u003Ca href=\"http://www.spotify.com\">Spotify\u003C/a> downloaded on your computer to listen to these links. But it's great, I've been listening to a lot of music that way recently.)\u003C/i>\\r\n\u003C!--more More drawings and music links under the cut-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil11-1fdd4ba429.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI also played \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/4bw9645nHJBPi5JKKoh93w\">\u003Ci>Shoals of Herring\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, a folk song belted out by the Clancy Brothers, which my dad often used to sing to me at bedtime. You have to have a lot of confidence to sing this song, and I used to think (well, I still think) it's the ultimate manly song, evoking smelly fishermen in scratchy jumpers and long nights at sea. I think my dad and friend used to sing this a lot in bars to earn free beer when they first immigrated to America.\\r\n\\r\nAnother tune I really liked as a kid and played over and over on my parents' stereo was \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/5IcG6dlHgzrDQVYUKWhyCo\">\u003Ci>Abraham's Theme\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Vangelis. I used to listen to it and dream I lived in a tide pool with the sea anemones and limpets, I was sure that was just what it would sound like in there. I was a little bit obsessed with the idea of living on the sea bed. I was even convinced I could breathe underwater, and I can't actually remember a time where I had to admit to myself I couldn't do it. I just remember not being able to do it anymore and being sad about it. So I have a quiet hope that maybe I actually \u003Ci>could\u003C/i> breathe underwater back then.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil02-5d313c9c68.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was fascinated by how the kids interpreted it differently. Some drew sea life, but one guy thought the song sounded like someone calling for help and drew this person in a dark doorway. (Isn't that a great drawing?!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil15-8fbd3430b7.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil12-d7fd8acf59.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'm pretty sure these three were drawn to David Bowie's \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/7IBfmCrfaR3SLVemWhsucQ\">\u003Ci>Space Oddity\u003C/i>\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil01-fda3291be5.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil09-0bdbec79c3.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil03-06ce40c764.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA guy named Luka drew this band while listening to Count Basie's \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/4XgWXaaAls8xVZd0YDKXgT\">\u003Ci>Jumpin' at The Woodside\u003C/i>\u003C/a>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil04-2519edb180.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMost of the time Luka  sectioned his paper each time a new track came on:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil05-1889109bd6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Evi, the ICA intern from Greece, drawing dancing ladies, I think along to \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/5ZCRQ55ExAxJwqFONKYVhj\">\u003Ci>Chunari Chunari\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Abhijeet and Anuradha Shriram.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil10-d0007e6a08.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI think this one was drawn to \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/4X3tjCu1l7R8JOBrUAo1jt\">\u003Ci>Stealing the Pinch\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by David Holmes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil08-9e14e79adf.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI love the characters in this one; I'm not sure, but I think it was drawn along to \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/5FGUk5O6jV0awJNYe6fr6N\">\u003Ci>Mido Mountain\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, a traditional Chinese tune I heard played by Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road tour musicians when I was in Seattle.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil06-6d665b781a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the best drawings -and I missed my photo op - was this skeleton coming out of a coffin drawn to \u003Ca href=\"http://open.spotify.com/track/37CoNLMEe9EjBcw0V6Qgwh\">\u003Ci>Balada Conducatorolui\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Taraf de Haidouks.\\r\n\\r\nAfter the drawing session, I went upstairs to the bar to meet up with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a>, Lauren O'Farrell and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.themousehunter.com/blog/\">Alex Milway\u003C/a>. Someone had just given Alex a fancy-schmancy feather-tipped pen nib, so we kept right on drawing, although the drawing quality deteriorated markedly as the evening progressed. Really lovely evening, thanks for inviting me, Gemma, Vicky and Evi to the ICA!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil13-12cb076cd0.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/littlepencil14-1a18ac9973.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit\u003C/i> And Little Pencil continues on the first Friday of every month! \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ica.org.uk/Little%20Pencil%3A%20December%202009+22473.twl\">Details here.\u003C/a>","2009-11-07T23:50:00.000Z","little-pencil-at-the-ica",[],"little pencil at the ica",1776628733557]