by Leopulde (Anita Santiago)

My sister has written a book (”There Lives In A Little Wood”–working title), about her pet Dachshund (”Frank”–official title), that I will be illustrating. The story is about Frank, and the adventures (sleeping, eating, etc.) and misadventures (trash, mess, etc.) he experiences while his owners are away for the day and he is home alone. I am excited to illustrate this story. The only trouble is my lack of experience drawing Dachshunds.

Lucky for me, I have my own model right here at home. This month I’ll be doing a couple sketches a day of our beloved Mr. Bean, to prepare for illustrating the story.

This sounds great on paper, but it’s a little trickier in practice. My first go at it was met with a variable I wasn’t anticipating, namely, he moves. I’d start sketching, he’d move. I’d sketch, he’d move. There was a lot of time spent following him around, working as quickly as I could, and while I completed some good initial sketches, I also managed to induce a fair amount of anxiety in the poor thing. Creatures as small as Mr. Bean don’t do well with anxiety. He finally got so worried about what I was doing that he turned around, sat, and stared at me for a really long time with a very concerned look on his face, imploring me to stop (see the last sketch below). Hopefully I’ll get faster with practice, and keep Mr. Bean from racking up a bill at the psychiatrist’s office.

Check in next week to see how Mr. Bean and I are fairing…

In addition to finishing up his upcoming masterpiece ‘Lobe’, Leopulde has begun a series of pieces that will culminate in an album of compositional gestures more exploratory and intimate, and entirely instrumental. The first installment of this collection, ‘A Healthy Cardiovascular System’ is a nocturne for the 21st century; featuring the evocative sonorities of saw, viola, cello, and piano, supported by the pathetique strains of accordion.

Enjoy!

note: We strongly encourage listening to the following in a nice quiet place, where one is free from interruption (phones off!), so as to provide an atmosphere where wandering minds can go about their business!