Sketchbook Page 33: Burning Man Outfit

Playa fashion: 

Leather helmet with goggles, painted palm frond breast plate, shrunken head medallion, long-sleeve cloth tunic, velvet pants with floral embroidery, robe, boots, bamboo staff

Sketchbook Page 32: Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, California

A beautiful spot not far from my apartment, Heisler Park, has manicured lawns interspersed with floral gardens and native desert plant life: yucca, aloe, agave, etc.  It is gorgeous and home to many species of birds, to which Laguna Beach offers sanctuary.  This is a popular spot where Myrtle Street meets Cliff Drive, with these four landmark palm trees.

Heisler Park Palm Trees
pencil
2014

Burning Man 2014: Spontaneous Play with Light-up Frisbees and Balls

One night, my brother Daniel, aka Fango, and I saw some of the large-scale sound camps along the outer edges of the city.  Having had our fun, we were starting to head home along the Esplanade, the main drag of the city.  Up ahead, we saw, among the mishmash of colored lights, a particular group of lights that seemed to be moving around independently.  Getting closer, we saw they were Frisbees, all lit, presumably with LED's, which would slowly cycle through the color spectrum.  People were flinging the disks back and forth, and they remained lit, creating a beautiful effect of flying and hovering colored lights.  We felt the joy rising in us, and soon ran to join the fun.  There was some camp hosting this party, who had supplied the disks, and participants were running in from every side, drawn by the dancing lights and the sound of playful laughter.  We would chase the disks, attempting to catch them in this wide-open expanse, and throw them back towards the host camp.

After a bit of this, they came out with another toy: a set of softball-sized rubber balls, also lit from within and cycling colors.  These they simply threw out towards the playa, and they bounced and rolled far on that flat surface, being chased and thrown back by participants.  With about a hundred objects flying, bouncing, and rolling all over, there was always something to chase.  No rules were needed, except the idea of keeping the toys in the general play area, throwing them back towards the camp.

This was classic Burning Man: Spontaneous, simple, but irresistibly compelling.  We moved on after a time, panting from the exercise.

Sketchbook Page 31: Wheel of Fire Mandala

Same whirly pattern, but with a stroke resembling flames, woven into a directional wheel symbol.

Wheel of Fire Mandala
pencil
2014

Sketchbook Page 30: Whirly Design Gallery

Inspired by the walls of the Paris Salon during the period of the Impressionists, I drew this salon wall of whirly designs.  

Whirly Salon Wall
pencil
2014

Sketchbook Page 29: Psychedelic Landscape

What do all the whirly designs, grid patterns, symbols and characters add up to? Hell if I know, but for now we'll call it "Psychedelic Landscape."  Warping grids show alien topographies of the mind.  Odd symbols defying meaning suggest an other-worldly language, extra-dimensional syntax.  Entities and ghosts pop in and out, cartoonish faces suggesting and interacting, guiding the eye. 

Psychedelic Landscape
pencil
2014

Sketchbook Page 28 More Scribbling and Whirlies

Just filling up the page with lines, patterns, value (shading), shapes, symbols.  In ink.

Scribbly Whirly
Ink
2014