Veronica Lawlor

There’s nothing more poignant than a swing set in the rain. The sight of it evokes memories of summer afternoons of my childhood in the Bronx; the smell of the rain hitting the hot pavement signaling the end of playing on the swings. “But I get wet in the bathtub - what’s the difference?”, my logical argument, didn’t cut it with our mothers, and we kids were unceremoniously yanked in the apartments to avoid the lightning that was sure to strike the Parkchester playground at any moment! Well, those days are long gone, and the rain wasn’t going to stop my afternoon of drawing. As I sat perched under my umbrella drawing this lonely swing set, a homeless man walking by yelled out words of encouragement - “That’s right baby, water for your watercolors!” Too cool.

This is a drawing of my favorite corner in New York City. I’ve spent many hours on this corner shooting video, but I’ve never drawn it until now. It’s walking distance from where I live, and it reminds me of the old New York, the one I grew up in. On a hot summer day in the East Village you’ll see kids playing in an open hydrant, folks hanging out windows calling to each other, couples kissing, teenagers listening to music, and people playing card games on the old fashioned card tables. It’s like the Bronx, circa 1973, has been brought back to life. Now some people might not consider that a good thing, but to me it feels very familiar and I like it! I decided to do a small reportage of my neighborhood in NY for the International Sketchbook project, and am posting some of the drawings here. It’s funny how we overlook our own neighborhoods and run all over the world looking for the ‘authentic’ experience. Well, the authentic experience of a New York city park would be this one below, guys playing handball:

The graffiti is ubiquitous and adds a lot to the graphics. Plus it’s fun to draw. And of course, the dogs are ubiquitous as well, meaning, they are  EVERYWHERE in NYC, especially in Tompkins Square park…

The little darlings…well, at least this lady thinks so. The dogs seem to love the city, especially with so many opportunities for ‘alfresco’ diners to drop little pieces of their repast. Sabrett hot dogs, mustard covered pretzels, potato knishes, bagels, shish-ke-bab…it’s a regular doggie heaven out here.

As official urban residents, the dogs are welcome in all the cafes as well. Tiny dog and laptop, the NOW accessories of the village…acoustic guitars are optional!

I call the drawing above, dueling laptops! It was drawn in a small coffee shop across from the park. The shop has all the Village necessities - wobbly tables, obscure slightly bluesy music playing, photos of people you don’t recognize, mismatched chandeliers for effect, stale coffee cake and, of course, burnt coffee.  Ugh. I enjoy the atmosphere of the place but prefer my coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts!! Actually I prefer Chock Full of Nuts but those places are long gone. However, it was a nice experience to treat my home like a tourist and draw a bit. Think I’ll do more as the summer progresses. That is, if it would ever stop raining….

OTRA is one hot latin jazz dance band that I saw performing at the Blue Nile in New Orleans. I met Sam Price, the bassist, when I was drawing him performing with another group at a club on Bourbon Street. “You’ve got to come to Frenchman Street and draw!” he said, and drew me a map to get there the following evening to see his own band perform. Frenchman Street is very cool, Sam was right; a small winding street with little jazz clubs interspersed with pink and blue shotgun houses and magnolia trees. On a warm spring night the air smells like honeysuckle and the people and music spill out of the tiny clubs on to the street. So I went to the Blue Nile and saw Sam’s band Otra - they were HOT! Sam gave me one of their CD’s, I’ll give you the description from the liner notes and let them describe their music: “The backbone of OTRA is no doubt the fire-hot, hip shaking beats oozing out of percussionists Humberto ‘Pupi’ Menes and the always smiling Cristobal ‘El Canon’ on timbales. Together the soaring horns, propulsive grooves, and shake that a** sound make OTRA an unbeatable combination.” - Indeed! If you want to dance to some a** shaking sound like the crowd at the Blue Nile (see drawing above and below!) then check out their sound at www.otramusic.com - it lives up to their description!! - Veronica

Go to one drawing a day .com to see a new drawing daily by one of the members of Studio 1482!!

Read the full article on Gabi Campanario’s blog here: http://gabicampanario.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustrators-as-storytellers.html

One-drawing-a-day - this is the new blog site that our studio, Studio 1482, has launched. There are eight of us in the studio, so each of us will post something new up there every eight days. I hope you’ll check it out HERE. For my postings, I am going into the “archive” and posting some of the drawings I made in New Orleans back in 2005. I drew the Jazz Festival, as well as did reportage around the city and jazz clubs. What a great place! I had a terrific time drawing and even made some friends along the way.  The first drawing below is of the zydeco tent at the Jazz Fest. If you don’t know what zydeco music is then you really have to check it out! Think afro-caribbean-french with accordions, lyrics loaded with sexual innuendo (the cute kind, not like rap music) and lots of yelping. It’s really FUN! Hope you enjoy looking at these drawings as much as I enjoyed making them…

More aikido drawings to post. I love drawing these guys (and sometimes, women). The movements really show the flow of directed energy. I love the way they stretch at the end of their workout - by rolling back on top of each other (see drawing). Reminds me of some of the Japanese netsuke at the Museum of Natural History. Terrific fun to watch. Not sure I could do it myself - too much slamming your body down on the mat!

Last week Neil and I took a few days to visit Washington DC. We had a chance to go to the Newseum and visit my drawing from September 11th displayed there - I had not seen the exhibit until now. I felt very proud that my work was there, I almost cried when I saw it in the showcase. What an honor. After we saw my piece, in the “Who Controls the News?” citizen journalism display, we went downstairs to see the 9/11 exhibit. Seeing the film and artifacts brought that whole terrible experience back…it was pretty intense. I drew the wrecked antennae from the World Trade Center that was displayed at the museum. Wow.

I recently had the opportunity to illustrate the cover of Spiders of Allah, by journalist James Hider. The book is a first hand account of his experiences as a journalist in the Middle East. What a great book - satiric, sad, ironic, and all too honest. I learned many things by reading this book, not only about the Middle East but about the United States as well. I recommend it highly. The US edition will be released by St. Martin’s Press on June 23. You can pre-order it from Amazon.com  HERE. Spiders of Allah is Mr. Hider’s first book - congratulations! You can read the book review in Time magazine HERE.

“Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba, known as  ”O Sensei’ or ‘Great Teacher’. Aikido focuses not on punching or kicking opponents, but rather on using their own energy to gain control of them or to throw them away from you. It is not a static art, but places great emphasis on motion and the dynamics of movement.” (From the Aikido website, here.) Aikido is also a martial art practiced by my friend Neil. I went with him recently to the school where he trains, Long Island Aikiki. I drew while the class (mostly men) practiced in pairs - one man is on the offense and one is on the defense. It’s a lot about figuring out your opponents energy and moving with it to defeat him, rather than pushing against it.  I had a ball drawing these guys throwing each other and flipping on to the mat. The philosophy of aikido is all about energy and movement, things that I deal with all the time in drawing — it’s called body language! Well, these guys had a ton of body language and were fun to draw. The hands seem to be very important - placement and precision of movement is key… Hagihara Sensei (sensei means teacher) was the coolest. A small Japanese man who commanded the attention of all the students; he would watch from the side and yell out instructions. Like Yoda with attitude. The best part was when he demonstrated something to the students. He would casually walk by one of them and reach out with one hand and FLIP them like a pancake. No effort - he didn’t even look at them. Now THAT’S style.   This class was rather special, as it was also Hagihara Sensei’s birthday and there was a party after the class. I would love to be able to move and flip people like that now, never mind when I’m in my 70’s. Pretty suave, sensei!