I am an inconvenient person.

Despite being raised on catholic guilt, a year of all girls episcopal school, and four years at the straightest job known to man I have managed to tenaciously cling to my authenticity. There will always be people pushing you to be what is most convenient for their needs and goals. It’s one of the greatest challenges to know yourself and to stay on the path to what you want even if it means being an inconvenience to others. As it turns out, I’m exceptionally good at being inconvenient.

MaybeEmily

I stopped by maybemily’s studio last night even though my brain was fried from staying up until 5 am drawing & reading the night before. Surprisingly, I was awake but useless for making conversation so we enjoyed working congenially side by side & listened to a thrilling discovery channel special about the earth’s core. Very Dramitic! Seriously, they somehow made the earth’s core into a minidrama including semi-horror-flick-esque music & sound effects. She was making a dress from scratch for an upcoming wedding whilst I sketched her & somehow managed to rub two brain cells together long enough to learn something about sewing & patterns. Always an enjoyable night when it’s spent with Em.

Close At Hand

Caley is usually pretty close by, so this week when I have nothing better to do with my hands he gets a quick sketch done of him. They usually look more like whatever else is on my mind than his face. Piles of Caley drawings are emerging and I can’t tell if this is a good or a bad habit yet. I had a friend that once told me that he drew his father every single night before moving away to go to school… probably at least ten years worth of drawings. Isn’t that just the sort of thing reaffirms your faith in humanity?

Margaret In The Mail

Going through some old sketchbooks I came across a page that had a drawing of Caley’s Mom that I started one afternoon a few years ago when we were visiting Indiana. Deciding to finish it was easy. Margaret Lents is a gem of a lady & who wouldn’t love to unexpectedly get their portrait sent to them in the mail? I know I’d freak out, in the good way, if it ever happened to me. Ah vanity, where would we be without it? My friend Rachel sometimes sends me whole boxes of art in the mail, unannounced, and it’s always the best thing ever. The practice of random gifts of art comes with my highest recommendation. It goes in the mail today & I hope it makes her smile.

Another “Shock & Awe” Monday

Sometimes the workweek jumps out and smacks you silly, you know? Well, when I get home from “shock & awe” Monday I usually need some good old fashioned sketch therapy so that I can sink back into my own skin.

Figure sketches from Mars

In the light

Here’s a little watercolor self portrait of myself in the sunlight. I love white empty spaces in a piece. Even in dinky little portraits. In fact, white is my favorite color and I’ll come to blows with anybody that tries to say it isn’t a color. Bring it on.

It’s my favorite for it’s potential. It may be a little traditional of me but I think anybody who grew up facing a sheet of blank paper like it was a great mystery to be unlocked knows what I mean. That whiteness, that incredibly blank slate, is the feeling of standing at the edge of a precipice. It is so so much of what makes it all worth while…and sometimes looking at it feels like sunshine.

And all we could do was to

Sit!

Sit!

Sit!