Jesse Balmer, Niv Bavarsky and Michael Olivo are three Bay Area artists who started drawing together with little more than entertainment in mind. They are showing their collaborative works under the moniker Golden Source Power Three at Needles & Pens in San Francisco through March 3rd. The 3 discuss their works through email internet technology.

JB: We started drawing together in February of 2012.

MO: I started with Niv about a month before, in late January. That was two months after I moved to Oakland.

NB: Michael emailed me one day to tell me he thinks I am "a magical man" and when he moved to Oakland we started drawing together - Jesse saw the early results online and the three of us started working as a trio about a year ago.

JB: It's pretty simple. Each of us starts a drawing and we pass the three drawings to the next guy.

MO: Yea, usually consists of multiple drawings being passed around in a circular motion. Rarely is anything sketched in beforehand.

NB: It's pretty intuitive and playful - we work together in the same room, each working on something, and we rotate. We have good conversations. We do very little planning in the initial stages, but as a drawing starts to take form, we help direct each other. I'd say we all trust each other to pick up what the others are putting down.

NB: I have long flowing curly hair, and a beard.

MO: ...

JB: She does.

JB: In the beginning the drawings were significantly less coherent. We've definitely learned how to emulate bits and pieces of each others' style to make the drawings feel more structurally sound. It's pretty easy to see that evolution when you look at the work.

MO: It's similar to love-making. Tough to tell who's where sometimes.

NB: We've all absorbed little techniques from each other - one of us will make a certain kind of mark, and another will decide that kind of mark will go well in another part of the image, so this group vocabulary has started to emerge.

JB: Sure. The collaborations have led to experimentation in my sketchbooks that would never have otherwise occurred, and so areas where maybe I felt my drawing was weaker have strengthened a little bit. In general I feel more confident with a wider variety of tools.

MO: Yes. You definitely pick up new mark-making techniques in the process of trying to bridge the varying approaches that can happen during the drawing. Just seeing the process of how someone else draws opens your eyes. It's a healthy way to break up certain drawing habits you may rely on too heavily.

NB: Of course - we're learning from each other, and making drawings that we wouldn't have made alone, so this carries over into the solo work. It's led to a wider drawing vocabulary and a lot of enthusiasm.

JB: We started using Copic markers recently, which has been a lot of fun. Pen and ink is the easiest for us I think.

MO: Sounds about right. We have one painting, and it has taken a very long time.

NB: Pens are our go-to, since they are graphic and immediate. You have to make the choices and stick to them. That kind of limitation is actually pretty freeing, in this set up.

JB: We're very confident.

MO: I'll tell you later.

NB: There are three of us.

JB: There's talk of taking the show on the road, collabbin' with folks around the country. Am I allowed to talk about this, guys?

MO: I guess we are talking about this project specifically. Maybe, a bar or a wall would be willing to let us do a mural for a large sum of money?

NB: We'd love to publish a book of these drawings, for one. I think we're ready to slow down the process and make some larger works, as well.