The Art of the Mule
During their first set at last month’s Brewster’s show, the Mules couldn’t help noticing an audience member at one of the closer tables who seemed to be glancing back and forth between the stage and a pad of paper on which he was . . . taking notes or . . . drawing? As soon as we took our first break, several of the Mules converged on his table to see just what he was up to. What we found was a sketch, well in progress, of all 7 Mules.
Mark Falconer sketches Miracle Mule on stage
The man turned out to be Seattle artist Mark Falconer. He has done what he calls his “urban sketching” not only in his home town of Seattle, but also trans-continentally, in London and Milan. And at some point he developed a sketching sub-specialty, namely band sketching, which he has done in Seattle, as well as in our favorite town to sing about, namely New Orleans. And now here he was in Petaluma, sketching us.
One couldn’t help but wonder what strange coincidence had led him to the Bay Area and to our show. It turns out it wasn’t all that coincidental after all. It seems he had once worked for Lehmann Plumbing and his boss had been none other than Miracle Mule’s own drummin’ plumber, Jimbo Lehmann. He was in town for the weekend and was checking out Jimbo’s various bands. Mystery solved.
By the end of our show, Mark had completed 2 drawings of the Mules, sketched with flow pen and polished with a small portable watercolor set. He had all 7 of us autograph both pictures and presented one to Jimbo as a keepsake.
Jimbo asked Mark how the band members appear to him, and his immediate answer was, “I see you guys as rock stars.” Thanks, Mark, we’ve been waiting years for someone to say that. And you’re rather a pen-and-watercolor rock star yourself.
You can see more of Mark’s work at FalconerCreative.com and on Instagram as @falconer_paints.
Seattle artist Mark Falconer shares his completed drawings with the Mules. L to R: Sandy Geller, Mark Falconer, Charlie Fager, Jim Lehmann, Geoff Mack, Brian Dettor