Tour De France 2010

Copyright 2010 Rosa Lee

I was recently in Paris for a professional workshop with the Dalvero Academy! It's the first time I've been to Paris! As a young girl I used to imagine going there soaking in the French culture. To experience Paris through drawing made it an even more special experience. We drew at all the major "must see" sites! One of the class for this session was to draw the Tour De France! It was very exciting to imagine drawing this global event. My friends and I got up early to pick our spot to draw at, knowing there would be a large crowd as it got later in the day. Prepared to camp out at our spot we drew everything around us as Paris got ready for the Tour. As the crowds built, our little spot in front of the barricades grew smaller. Pretty soon the crowd had pushed us up against the barricades and I had just started to work on my large panoramic! I didn't know how I was ever going to finish my drawing! I had to work on it one piece at a time and continuously apologize to my two friends on each side of me as I elbowed them while I drew and the crowds pushed up behind us to cheer on their team or country! When the cyclists raced by, my hands and eyes raced alongside to catch this moment on paper! What an unforgettable experience! - Rosa

Look and Listen

 

Recently I was invited by my friends to go draw at the Look and Listen Festival. It was interesting to listen to the different sounds and think of them as music or even something that evokes other emotions & thoughts from us. I walked into the performance to the quiet hush of the audience and the sound of tearing paper. It was interesting how the audience contributed to making the sound become more significant. It felt like we were at a temple listening meditatively to the sounds of a deep bell ringing at regular intervals.

 

 

I really enjoyed the listening to the vocal group that performed. They were beautiful to listen to. There was also a musician who loved to make music on her baby piano. While she played on her red baby piano I couldn't stop thinking about Linus from the cartoon Peanuts! For those of you who are familiar with the Charles Schultz cartoon, you would remember that Linus would always play music very seriously on his baby piano.

  

The performance was held at a gallery with art on the wall and you really were there to "look and listen". Art and music both complement and amplify each other. I really enjoyed my night of drawing and I hope you can experience a little of that through my drawings!

Aura

 

There's a debate whether digitally created art is "art" and how it affects the idea of "original" art since it can be mass produced. Does it have an aura, energy, that extra ingredient that allows us to connect to a piece of art psychologically and emotionally? Yes. Art does not discriminate what form it takes, whether as a painting, drawing, photograph, installation, sculpture or even digital. It has the power to reach out from its physical form to touch us on every level of our being. It agitates our thoughts and has the power to provoke, suggest, and stimulate ideas. Artists create art with the intense energies of their thoughts, emotions and physical being. It is this "creative energy" that infuses a piece of art with "life".

What is "original" art? The idea of a special one of a kind piece that can not be mass produced. It is such a complicated idea that involves sharing art to reach the largest audience, how it's created and what physical form it takes. Art created by an artist with their ideas is "original" art because there is no one who thinks about things the same way, have the same emotional response to an idea and can produce a piece of art the same as that artist. I think the answer to what "original" art is is not a black or white answer of yes or no. Art is a sensory manifestation of an artists ideas that has taken a form that we can connect with. I think that is what makes a piece of art "original".

These two pieces are part of four digital pieces I created in response to these thoughts. Enjoy! - Rosa