Journal to a Muse

Spared!

Today wasn't the best day I've ever had. And I'm going to spare you the details.
But it certainly isn't even close to being in the top 100 worst days, either. Meeting a colleague at Starbucks (AND discovering there was still enough value on a very old Starbuck's gift card to cover iced coffee AND a cranberry walnut bar) was a pleasure. After she left to lay seige to the mall, I got out my sketch book.
This seemed to be a group of 15 or 16 year old friends who'd gotten one of their mothers to take them out for frappucinos. Had a great time watching the non-daughters relax and fold themselves into pretzels, as well as observing the dynamics between the mom and daughter.(I colored it later with Photoshop)

Across the street is a homely new bank building. But from my vantage point the roof line, and windows were exactly symmetrical. But the symmetry was thrown off by the 5 o'clock shadows. Not sure I captured it exactly, but it was fun choosing what to leave in and what to leave out.











Slightly later, a mother, her hulking teenaged son, and her not so hulking pre-teen son invaded my space a bit by filling in the other three lounge chairs. It was the pre-teen who tipped me off to the scene outside by staring out the window.
Yup, between them, these two had three ball pythons. The young woman was the boy's tutor, and the snakes were his. He was working on science homework, even though it wasn't herpetology. He was delighted to hear how frightened the mother and sons were by the snakes, as well as identifying them for me, and pointing out that they would probably "only" get get to be 24-36 inches long. Theirs were about 18 inches long and seemed very happy to sun themselves while wound around the boy's and the girl's necks. (They ARE constrictors, and I did NOT volunteer MY neck.) I particularly enjoyed when one snake served as a "scrunchy" around her bun.

A friendly conversation with strangers, who happened to be young and enthusiastic, with surprising content is JUST the sort of thing I enjoy.

This is a drawing from last week's Life Drawing Class.
Again, when I don't know quite what do to, I start adding color! Even the model thought it was a good likeness. I was pleased. (This image is linked to the remainder of the evening's efforts on Flickr.)