01-30-2012. Full Circle.

It was one year ago today that I started this experiment. Not sure I could do it, HATING sketching, but willing to give it a shot...nothing ventured nothing gained, right?  So I thought that it was fitting to go back to the beginning. So, I wandered down to the little coffee shop with my sketch pad, a pencil and two markers in my pocket, and enough cash for a turkey wrap and a hot tea.

On and off throughout the whole experience I've sketched people in the coffeeshop, on the train, occasionally at home (thaaanks, mom!), and, when the weather was bad or cold, I'd steal photos from my friends (with their permission, of course).

And so there I was, at the coffeeshop. I spotted my quarry, a gent working diligently on his laptop, and grabbed my pencil. A few quick lines to make sure he stayed in proportion (relatively) and here's what I realized that I've learned. And it's taken me a year....

CONFIDENCE. Be confident, let yourself go, and it will come to you. And some days it won't. I am more confident now in my lines, in myself being able to lay the lines down, and I am also confident that I know NOTHING. Which doesn't bother me any more. Before I wanted to learn. To be able to voice it with specifics. I wanted to be able to dissect, and disseminate. Now? Mmmmm. No. I just want to do.

This has become much more than a practice. This has become, to me, my meditation.


“Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.” 
― Lao Tzu