Drawing With Yo-Yo Ma

Notes, lines, laughter

How do you prepare to draw Yo-Yo Ma?

I have no idea.

How do I capture his music and his movement, his passion and expertise, his knowledge and playfulness in my drawing?

We will have an unconventional “dialogue.”

A wild “conversation” of notes, lines, words and laughter, I am sure.

Yo-Yo Ma has been playing the cello since he was three. I have been drawing since I was six. We both live and breathe our art form, it is who we are.

Yo-Yo “speaks” audibly, I visually. Where do the two intersect? We each communicate in a form other than words.

How do I draw his music? How does he play my line?

I did the sketch above from a photo, something I usually don’t like to do before a live drawing event. But felt I need to have a beginning understanding of his face and body, how the cello sits within his embrace — all so that is in my mind. When I am onstage with Yo-Yo, I want to draw him in that moment, as I feel his music and movement.