Monthly Archives: January 2015

…Tagtooling again last Saturday with Vložte kočku at the Anděl Music Bar in Plzen. Their programme, Otázka času, was the same as at La Fabrika but Anděl was a very different kind of venue – a club attached to a big cafe and restaurant. The projection screen was behind the band so the Tagtool drawings were a bit different as well. We set up the Tagtool on the balcony at the end of the room opposite the stage, which was great as I had a clear view and for once didn’t have the problem of someone tall coming and standing in front of me blocking my view of the drawing! I took this photo of the venue before the concert.The three photos below are from my first drawing sequence.I made a lot of shorter drawings at this concert, some quite abstract……reacting to the changing colours of Dima’s LED lighting panel……and then adding a figurative element.These photos are screenshots from Dima’s video of the concert – I will post some edited clips later. Here are some more figurative drawings……and three screenshots of the landscape for the song, ‘Koně’.To end this posting – my drawing for ‘Furiko’, the band’s encore.

This was the venue for the Vložte kočku concert on 13 January – the former Richter Machine Works in Prague that has been transformed into a superbly designed and equipped art centre and theatre. Vložte kočku’s hour and a half programme entitled ‘Otázka času’ featured both new music as well as work from their previous albums. Below, a collage of photos of the stage set up at rehearsal and one of the many photos of the stage that Dima took during the performance.The matt black projection screens on the side walls of the auditorium were made of some kind of material that appeared to be completely opaque. However, the colours in my projected Tagtool drawings, as well as being really bright, could be seen on both sides of the screen dividing the bar from the auditorium – the reversed images making for a really interesting drawing experience!Here are some photos from my practice session during the rehearsal…Above, looking from the bar towards the auditorium…


…and below, Peter and Dima busy programming the LED lighting for the stage.The collage below shows the drawing that I made to welcome the audience before the band came on stage (with Peter and Dima still making some last minute adjustments to the programming of the lighting effects!).The Tagtool drawings during the performance were to be a sequence of three images loosely connected with the themes of the songs in the programme, meaning that each drawing took about 30 minutes to be ‘complete’. Below, some photos of the first drawing on the theme of landscape and memories….

The second drawing sequence, beginning with the icy pond to accompany the song, ‘Ryby II’ was in monochrome to provide a stark contrast to the brilliance of the stage lighting and Kryštof’s new illuminated electronics console …


And a return to colour for the third landscape….with horses (to accompany the song, ‘Koně’)….

and some children (a reference to the children’s choir singing in the song, ‘Bože’, who could hardly be seen on the balcony above the stage)

To end this post, some photos of Kryštof’s illuminated electronics console….…this was really spectacular!

On Wednesday 7 January ‘Flying Freedom Festival’ presented, ‘The Story of Gilgamesh’ – in a production combining music, theatre, puppets and masks….….and also my Tagtool drawing of the fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.After the performance the company entertained their friends with a party and jam session which provided me with a great opportunity to do some more drawing. I was able to stop from time to time to enjoy the party, listening to the music and taking photos. Here are a few from my first drawing sequence….


The walls of this historic building, recently reopened as a theatre, had been stripped down to expose the brickwork so all my drawing had this nice texture.The (very good and very expensive!) Epson projector that we were able to borrow from Lunchmeat gave beautiful bright crisp colours. The music was great too – making this the ideal Tagtool drawing experience!I tried combining drawn silhouettes with the shadows of the musicians and also creating an illusion of lines in the drawing floating around them on the stage.



So – a big ‘thank you’ from me to Lunchmeat for letting me use their beautiful new projector – and to all the musicians for providing such inspiring music!

With whisky, home-made shortbread and Dundee cake at midnight of course!But because our friend Janko Polak and his theatre group are staying with us over New Year, rehearsing in the studio, it was a really international party with ten different nationalities represented in the company playing and singing round the table in the kitchen – with Timur and Diamond (centre below) as audience!Then we all went to the studio for some more music making – and a little drawing session. Because some of the company had not seen Tagtool before, I did some quick drawings to show the functions of the different sliders – and the big red button to make it all disappear! Then it was time for some old-school jamming but I was so busy drawing (and partying!) that I forgot to take photos and only have these two showing fading from my demonstration session….
Playing with Tagtool – a great way to start the New Year!