Come join me @artshare_la for @laartshow after party and closing reception for our All Stars show. It is FREE to attend! There will be 2 DJs @azul213 @djfrancescaharding, and a cash bar available with cocktails from @mulhollanddistilling & @qmixer and beer from @pabstblueribbon.
In the the studio today. Sculpting these hands traced with Trumpet mushrooms.
•Ishan Project: 107/258•
CHAEN
Chaen was going to have trouble slipping by this many guards. He’d have to use his cloaking power and imitate a Triton guard.
His body leans forward as he transforms into their dazed look. He uses his covert ability to reach his family now trapped in this lair.
Underneath this building there’s too many twists and turns. All of the tunnels zig-zag like a maze in here.
CHAEN / Gouache, Pencil / 5.5″ x 8.5″
•Ishan Project: 52/313•
AWHILE
He laughs when he thinks of how he used to give her such a hard time. Anali’s father, the Judge of the Ishan people, had made a decision that caused him to lose the respect of the community. They were only kids at the time, but you know how kids are. They act off of what they hear the adults say and follow the crowd. She was too cute when she got angry, though, so even after time had passed and he didn’t really believe all the rumors, he would make fun of her just to watch her nose wrinkle up and her cheeks get flushed. Good times.
AWHILE / Gouache, Pencil / 5.5″ x 8.5″
•Ishan Project: 43/322•
SPRING EQUINOX I
Just like we style our hair, the Ishan like styling their branches. The difference is instead of it taking minutes to style, it takes months. It’s easier this part of the year because of the longer days in the sun.
SPRING EQUINOX I / Pencil, Marker / 5.5″ x 8.5″
•Ishan Project: 40/325•
ARAM
She had been watching him for three days.
He would wake up about 1 p.m. and grab a late breakfast from the nearest trash can. After watching people walk around Central Park, he quarantines himself in an abandoned building to have lively conversations with a man named Bob and a child named Booger that are very real in his mind between the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. Then she watches him wail for his mom for another hour. After each psychotic episode, he begs at multiple locations. He has to keep moving to avoid police and other homeless men that would either try to seize his spot or seize him. He was only 11.
Aram couldn’t stand to watch him anymore. Tonight, when he goes to his usual spot to rest she’ll have to grab him there.
ARAM / Pencil, Acrylic, Chalk / 5.5″ x 8.5″
•Ishan Project: 24/341•
THE BRANCH THAT DOESN’T BLEED
Time: 1643. Netra battles the Birdface Crew and decimates them. Afterwards, Chûndra investigated how Netra was able to cause this type of destruction. She finds out about the Bleeding Chair which gave Netra these restorative and magnetic powers. She tries to replicate these by digging up the buried Ishan and chopping of their limbs. But it doesn’t work. The limbs she cuts only survive a day then die off. Now this opportunistic huntress turns her attention to Rïden.
THE BRANCH THAT DOESN’T BLEED / Pencil, Pastel / 4″ x 6″
•Ishan Project: 14/351•
THE FORECASTER
Just before she went into the Dark Sleep, AnaLi Q recalls seeing a cloaked figure hovering above her. As her eyes closed his eerie grin was etched into her memory. A large hood was draped over his head so it was difficult to see his facial features. As she describes him, I start sketching. In her description, though, he has a feather tattooed on his left cheek below his eye. Further investigation revealed that he is associated with the Triton Queen Chûndra. They call him The Forecaster, because when he shows up, bad things are about to go down.
THE FORECASTER / Acrylic, Ink, Markers / 5.5″ x 8.5″
•Ishan Project: 1 /364 •
Due to a mysterious occurence, mankind’s memory has been wiped clean of a group of people that look like us but whose extremities streach to the heavens like branches from a tree. Through a series of Art projects for the next 365 days, Leah Smithson is documenting her investigation of what this occurrence actually was. In addition, she is creating a visual anthropologic documentary of the Ishan’s story and history. Resist + Remember. Follow this compelling story through pictures and interviews of the Ishan.
THE AWAKENING
There were two storms. The first, happened 774 C.E. This storm, while putting the Ishan to sleep, gave humankind amnesia. May 7, 1988 the second storm started coming in waves creating an unsettling condition in the earth. And so begins the awakening…
THE AWAKENING / Charcoal, Pencil / 9″ x 11″
4 Days Until the Ishan Project Begins. Materials: Ready. Sign up to Follow this Gripping Tale at http://leahsmithson.com/blog.html
Sketchbooks: Ready. Sign up to Follow this Gripping Tale at http://leahsmithson.com/blog.html
leahsmithson.wordpress.com 