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tommy-emmanuel-painting

Raise Ladders To The Sun

Here is some album art my friend hired me to do 🙂

vjolla album crop for blog

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Check out her music here: http://www.francescaha.com/

There was a time

My latest Kina piece:

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A close up on the face detail:

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Holy Ground

Here’s kinalien playing a violin!

Break

It only gets better from here

Today D-Pryde released his mixtape, Flagship. I am a fan of his so I instantly downloaded! As I was listening, I drew this sketch of him.

It’s a really well made mixtape. High quality production, and his lyrics are clever. I can’t believe I got this without paying for it. You can check it out here: http://www.datpiff.com/D-Pryde-Flagship-mixtape.358448.html It`s free!

cheerio!

Karmin!

give me one reason

Here is a Tracy Chapman sketch.

Clouds

One of the first music I was exposed to was through the melodies of Joni Mitchell.  My mom used to sing her songs when I was small. And they still influence me to this day.

Her writing is very colourful and her melodies pure.

Joni Mitchell on the music industry today and what we hear on the radio:
“We’re no longer looking for talent, we’re looking for a look and a willingness to cooperate. Because talent is a pain in the ass.”

I see her point but someone should show her YouTube!

Pulse

One of my favourite tabla maestros, Zakir Hussain:

ZakirJi on the topic of playing with musicians across the globe:

“The musical instruments across the globe play the same notes and so in the basic core sense, there is no difference. If anything at all, the difference may come through in how we package it. When we’re working with musicians who are not from India, the main thing is to understand their way of life, more importantly their culture, their social scene and how they interact with each other. Similarly they have to understand what it means when I get on stage and bow to my drums and what it means when I touch my Guru’s feet. Once we understand the social backgrounds, it becomes clear the kind of reverence being put forth towards the art form, the respect and honor one bestows to their elders, etc and this is what reflects in our music. For instance, in an orchestra, I need to know that the only person who is called maestro is the conductor and so when I know that I know how to interact with him.

When this understanding is in place, hearts meet, minds meet and there’s no question of egos or anything else and so this gives way to beautiful music. Forgetting any differences, we need to relate at different levels and this makes the music very multidimensional.”

-Zakir Hussain

in touch

Here’s another one of my favourite artists, Justin Nozuka. His band and the music they make is as fundamental as the earth we step on, the water we drink and the air we breathe. I’m always inspired to be a better artist, musician and person when I listen to him.

“In a society that feeds us poison this is our time to love and to become peace. Let’s come together and start doing the right thing.”

-Justin Nozuka

Update, just did variation:

Very superstitious!

Stevie Wonder, a musical genius:

“You can’t base your life on other people’s expectations.”

– Stevie Wonder

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

Another big musical inspiration: Jimi Hendrix. The more I learn, the more I appreciate his work, his art.

Here is my sketch of him:

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”

– Jimi Hendrix

I need peace and space.

 

One great inspiration in my life is Tommy Emmanuel, Certified Guitar Player.  He’s an amazing performer and listening to his music always gets my creative juices flowing.

Here’s is a sketch of him:

 

“Audiences are very similar all over the world and it comes back to one thing and that is: everybody wants to see and feel something real, and what I do is very real.  It’s not shrouded in mystery or aloof.  It’s open and completely vulnerable and exposed.”

-Tommy Emmanuel