Some figures

Subscribers to Drawing etc (email and RSS combined) = 60 (accurate figure), up from about 30 at the beginning of the year (a guess).

Blogs that I subscribe to = 24 (not counting the sidebar list and blogs I follow).

Total page views since Drawing etc started in August 2006 -- 30,969.

Due for a spring-clean = the OCA Bloggers list in the sidebar. Many of the photography blogs have not been updated in months.

Spring-clean already done = my studio. Hundreds of old drawings and paintings thrown out. No regrets.

Empty pages remaining in main sketchbook = 59, out of a total of 220. It's a thick hardcover 8.5 x 11" sketchbook, both sides of each page used. Photos of the filled pages are in private sets on Flickr. Not sure what this measures, perhaps how close I am to the end of my current course, though I'm less sure lately of being able to finish it at all.

Pianist continued

I was trying to develop the pianist drawing today. I aimed to make the legs longer and develop the head and arm, but the original drawing was done in the dark and was incomplete with wrong proportions so I don't have enough information. Not sure I will take it any further, it's a digression at the moment and I'm trying to focus my energy on my current course. It was interesting to get away from course work for a while. These took about an hour each.

Acrylic and marker in A4 sketchbook

Charcoal and pastel, 11 x 14"

[Countdown: Empty pages in main sketchbook = 62]

The solution

The event was The Marionettes Chorale Christmas show at Queen's Hall, a popular annual event, which I went to on Sunday December 6th, with pocket-size sketchbook.

The audience was in darkness while the performers on stage were well lit.

The pianist: Justin Salloum; the pannist: Johann Chuckaree. They played a lovely piece together, would it be called a duet? -- and they looked at each other often, nodding or making signs, and I thought it was a really nice and touching performance, the highlight of the show.

A Google search on "Christmas concert Trinidad" (without the quotes) brought up this link on the second page. Of the three concerts mentioned the only one with a pianist and a pannist was the Marionettes. Since I knew what I was looking for, you could cry foul!

Then I tried a search on "Christmas concert Trinidad pianist pannist" and got nothing.

Then tried again with "Christmas concert Trinidad pianist" and the Newsday link above came up first in the list!

A review of the concert

An old video of the Marionettes Chorale

Thanks to Duncan, Mark, Bri and Finchley land girl for taking part, and have a great Christmas everyone!

Companion drawing

This was drawn at the same time as the piano player, in the dark. It's even more fragmentary, that's why I didn't post it before. I'm pretty sure only a Trini could guess what it aims to represent. The complete solution would be the names of the two people and the event. Together with the drawn-in-the-dark clue and the time of year, there's just a chance someone might get it. If not I'll post the solution here in a few days.

Mystery drawing

This was drawn in the dark, literally. I wonder if anyone in Trinidad can deduce what it is, or rather, what it was supposed to be. A hint would be the time of year.

Savannah railing at the Boissiere House

The Boissiere House from the Savannah, March 21, 2009

The Boissiere House from the Savannah, December 5, 2009

The Savannah is changing all the time. Last time I was working in this spot there was a magnificent umbrella-shaped tree with deep shade just to the east of the area in the photo (which is the Boissiere House). That tree is now gone and instead there are piles of soil and a man-made hole. Although the missing tree was behind me and doesn't affect the picture, I became disoriented and got the angle wrong.

Also, in the previous pair of photos, careful examination reveals that the nearest tree on the right is gone.

[Countdown: Empty pages in main sketchbook = 65]