Soho mannequins 2

Soho mannequins

My new favorite day-off (or hour-off) activity: roaming the streets in Soho, sketching the mannequins in the shop windows.

Lonely Girls

The results of an evening misspent sketching the bar crowds on 2nd Ave near the U.N. Lots of businessmen, lots of diplomat types, lots of women in heels they could barely walk in. Funniest moment was when a passing guy briefly took an interest in what I was doing, only to realize with some disappointment that my pencil sharpener wasn't drug paraphernalia.

Sketchiness in Seattle

Times Square

Sketching the passerby from the front window of Smith's Bar near Times Square.

Video Shoot

While working at Berkli Parc Cafe today I noticed a video shoot going on near the front. When the crew finished they sat down next to me, so I showed them my quick doodle. The model asked me to sign the sketch, all the while raving about how great I made her ass look. Which caused me to blush something awful, I don't mind telling you.

Sketching at Sugar Cafe with friend

The public schools were closed on Election Day, so I took the Kindergartner to my favorite people-watching cafe and handed her her own sketchbook. To my great delight, she eagerly accepted it and went straight to work. We spent a leisurely morning alternately nibbling on breakfast and drawing the passers-by. I got to witness a wonderful moment when a light seemed to go off in her head and she exclaimed that peoples' heads arent circular, they're oval shaped! Like the consummate perfectionist she is, she promptly ripped all the circle-head drawings out of the book and started over. At some point we took turns drawing each other, something she pulled off with much more confidence than I did.

Pike Street Brewery

Sketches from an afternoon at the Market in Seattle back in August. That was the weirdest afternoon, and by weird I mean insanely great.

Often, drawing on the street is an exercise in frustration at where my abilities are at and how far I have to go. That afternoon though, something clicked in my head. Something about focusing that hard made the experience start to take on a life of its own. I remember walking down the street afterward and almost feeling like my consciousness had been altered, like the way people sometimes describe being on hallucinogens. The world had become hyper-real and I wanted to draw everything and everyone. Everyone I passed on the street, interesting details of their facial features were jumping out at me. Everything mundane suddenly looked miraculous and I had an all-too-brief experience of the wonder of creation. I know it sounds weird and cornball, but it was actually how I felt.

I mean, I'm not ruling out that it could have been all that Belgian draft kicking in, but still, pretty sweet.

Sketching at Sugar Cafe

Passerby on an East Village morning. Hm, looks like I have a speck on my scanner.