Great Memories From My Sketchbook

Even though it’s years ago, I remember very well how I could feel a little anxious about drawing in public.

I was afraid that people would look at my drawing and see how much it would suck. For a long time, I didn’t draw in public at all, because location drawing just didn’t even come up in my mind as an option. But then, when I saw other people’s work done on location, I wanted to give it a try too. So I did.
I hooked up with a sketch pal and together, we faced our fears and sat down to draw in the open. It wasn’t as bad as we expected at all. Nobody seemed to notice us or what we were doing, and it was just very enjoyable to sit alongside, to sketch and chat together.

It seems like a very long time ago now. 
Ever since I’ve been doing a lot of location drawing. And of course, at first I felt very self-conscious about it, but now, I don’t even really think about it that much anymore. Whenever I feel the urge to draw, I pull out my sketchbook and start to draw. The strange thing is, drawing around strangers turned out to be easier to get used to, than drawing with people around me who are close. Like friends and family. Them getting used to the fact that I would be drawing while engaging in conversations made me a bit nervous in the beginning, but it turned out that they just all really seem to enjoy seeing me enjoying myself!

Anyway, drawing alone on location can result in more than just a drawing.

Oftentimes I wound up in fun conversations with strangers, who carefully approach me. They just want to let me know how much they like the fact that I’m drawing. It’s hardly ever about the drawing itself – they don’t judge or anything. Often, people express how much they would love to be able to draw whatever is going on around them too.

I did this drawing below, when I was in New York a few years ago.
Exploring the neighborhood I stayed in, I  found a nice place to sit and have dinner by myself.
I was happy with a place at the bar, where my view was straight into the action of the busy kitchen. I love watching people preparing delicious food! After I placed my order, I took out my sketchbook to capture some of the action and atmosphere. Then at some point into my drawing, one of the waitresses spotted me drawing, and was delighted to see that happen. She asked me about it – whether I was an artist and if I draw often, and ‘could I see the other pages too, or is that weird?’. I told her it wasn’t weird at all so we flipped through my sketchbook and chatted about drawing and creativity.

She went back to work but every 5 minutes she was right behind me to follow the process, and when I took out my small watercolor palette, she was there again, intrigued and interested.
It was fun to know there was a new ‘friend’ around, who would check in every now and then. I kept drawing while I ate and enjoyed my meal, and of course, before leaving, I showed my new pal Isabel the drawing. She told me to wait and then brought me a business card and a matchbox from the cafe, and said: ‘I noticed that you glued tickets and business cards so I thought you might like it’.

And I did! back in my hotel, I discovered that the matchbox didn’t actually contain matches, but paper! So then I came up with the idea of drawing my meal as a little cartoon animation. Then glued it in my sketchbook.

Isn’t this fun?

What a great evening. I had a fantastic meal, had an interesting conversation with a stranger, enjoyed myself drawing, and came up with a fun idea that I executed right away! And all of this I captured in my sketchbook.

A great memory and souvenir. 

Drawing changed my life.
It really has changed my life for the better - because of experiences like the above.
If you made it to the bottom of this Blog post, you probably like these kinds of stories. Did you know I am working on self-publishing a book about drawing?

It’ll be filled with drawings from my sketchbooks, stories about drawing , experiences, and ways I found to fit drawing into may days. You’ll itch start and keep a a sketchbook habit yourself!
If you’d like me to keep you posted on the progress of this book (soon I will be launching a crowdfunding campaign for it!), then make sure to sign up for the email list to which I regularly send updates about the book. Follow this link to sign up to get these updates.