Whole Earth Festival

A good deal of today was spent wandering around and just sitting sketching—here’s a composite of some of my sketches with wash. The festival seems far more politically engaged this year—as a friend said yesterday, “nothing like a war to get people to come out of hiding.” There was lots of music and also a good deal of talking by veterans of the peace and environmental movements. Davis gets transformed each year by this festival. The University has apparently been trying to get rid of it for years…

In no particular order, favorites include the bicycle-driven yellow submarine, the geodesic tent, the indian flute stall, the drummers (I don’t think they stopped for over 48 hours), the jewelry-from-spoons stall, Lydia’s Luscious Foods, and the massage therapist suspended from overhead bars. Three sound stages made scheduling difficult but sketching is best done in one spot anyway—there’s no shortage of material! Sketching people in movement is tough and forces economies of line and gesture. It’s a great exercise.