I look forward to coming home and opening my sketchbook to review what I saw that day. Each drawing is like a sort of Cliff’s Notes, containing a whole universe within it.
I feel again the spark that prompted me to draw. I feel pride in drawings that show some new progress or bravery in an attempt at something new -- or sometimes simply to try at all. I feel joy seeing my world made anew.
Because of drawing, as I traveled from here to there to spend time with some of my favorite people this weekend, it wasn’t just my friends who made my world joyful, but strangers, too.
This lovely woman, waiting for the train, the “42,” of the “42 Street Time Square" subway sign making a halo over her head.
I finished her drawing on the train, and then gifted it to her.
She said it made her day. It made mine, too.
These two friends, eating noodles inside the warm glow of a Chinese restaurant. With 15 minutes to spare before I had to be at my friend’s apartment, I stopped and sketched this scene, painting the hazy electric glow with cold hands and a humming mind, lit up with the cozy perfection of this classic New York scene.
This handsome young man (woof, I’m getting old…) headed somewhere on a Saturday night with a newly crisp fade. Swiping the hair from my own face, I managed to leave an errant mark of pen on his portrait, but that simply becomes an exercise in acceptance when you draw in ink. A thought that I meditate on as a turn the pages in my sketchbook.
These sleepy strangers making their way home at the end of a long night.
I couldn’t decide if it was comic how bundled up they were from the cold and the Covid -- or if it was a sad reminder of how much we have to hide these days.
And behind each drawing is me, pressing each image into my mind, spinning the blurry background into focus, like a reverse kaleidoscope. My sketchbook is like a treasure map that doesn’t lead to some hidden cache, but rather reveals that the real riches lie hidden in plain sight along the meandering dotted line -- but only for those who look up.
I can’t wait for you to find this joy, too. Pre-order your copy of my book now to get your copy delivered on publication day: December 21! Plus, fill out this form by November 30 and you’ll be entered to win a class with me - and get some fun stickers, too!
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