Over the past few months I have tried to go for regular walks with my sketchbook. It has two purposes: walk more and sketch more (and thus become better at sketching). Last week, when we had a bit of a heatwave, I decided I’d go to the nearby woods to sketch because atleast it would be shady. And I can honestly do with some practice drawing trees etc.
I’ve sketched out and about plenty of times but people have always ignored me (or thought quietly to themselves “what’s that weird doing?”) but something funny happened last week. People started talking to me! I don’t know if it was just random that these people would have talked to me regardless of where they had spotted me. And this is a dog walking spot so people do tend to say hello when passing.
But I think this may have something to do with it: last week I borrowed the collapsible stool Tony bought for when he has gone to festivals, so I’d have somewhere to sit. And I think me sitting down with the sketchbook made me seem much more approachable than e.g. leaning against a wall. I dunno, just my hunch!
On the first day I spoke to a lady walking two shelties, Trixie and Albie (because Albie is almost completely white; he is also deaf and blind on one eye and one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen!) I also spoke with a lady walking Norman the lab cross. And on the other two days I ran into both of those ladies again. And their dogs. I have no idea what the ladies are called! :-D
Lots of other people said ‘good morning’ when passing me, with or without dogs. :-)
It’s going to be interesting to see if I have similar reactions when I next go sketch somewhere with houses. Will people ignore me or will they say hello as I’m sitting there squinting at eaves and bay windows?
For this sketch I got a bit fed up with all that green so I thought I’d give myself a challenge and only use the three cool ‘primary’ colours in my small palette. I was a bit unsure how to achieve the feel of trees and grass without using green, but I think it turned out ok. And I like that little patch of green that mixed accidentally on the page! :-)