Catch -Up Post No. 1: Maplewood

 I can't explain the huge amount of drawing that I did during the past ten days, except that it might be a result of the past year's practice.  I made a little journal out of a Trader Joe's dark chocolate box, and it was comfortable to carry and use, so I always had it with me.  It was small enough to be discreet while drawing in public.  I wasn't crazy about the paper, but after a few drawings I got used to it and learned how to accommodate its less-than-perfect sizing.  I really really had fun doing all this drawing!

Page one was done while sitting on the plane waiting to leave Asheville: the usual skyline, plane parts, clouds that I always draw, very calming and absorbing to me.

To the left are faces done in the Charlotte airport during a long layover that grew in length (from the anticipated 2 1/2 hours to 4 1/2 hours) every half hour until finally the magic confluence of weather, mechanical readiness, and air traffic allowed us to take off.  These people were fabulous to draw.












More of those Charlotte passengers, including a desk attendant who had Barbie doll hair.

 Also fun in Charlotte was watching the airport mechanics at work.  Maya and I sat near a window watching these people.  We watched for so long that we made up names for them.  We especially liked Cowboy Man, who wore a cowboy hat with the brim tied up.

The page above is a map of the trip after a few days with little sketches and quick notes as reminders of what we did those days that flew by so quickly.  We spent the first four days in Maplewood, NJ, visiting Maya's cousins Nate and Abby and their parents.  Lots of swimming, a movie, visits to toy stores for Nate's upcoming birthday and for Maya to buy some gifts for friends and family,

visits into Manhattan for the Museum of Natural History with Nate, and then back the next day to the Tenement Museum and a walk to and across the Brooklyn Bridge.

To the left is a series of drawings that Nate and I made in the toy stores.  He told me what to draw-- the toys he liked.  And then he selected his favorites from looking at the drawings, and I bought them for his present.

 Above is a continuation of the toy store sketches, and on the right, drawings of some chestnuts that Nate and Maya and I found while walking in the park on our way downtown one afternoon.

The drawings to the left are from the Museum of Natural History exhibit of North American Mammals. 

More of the mammals.

Maya wanted a drawing of a gray wolf, but I had to do this one from memory since we had already left the wolf area.

Part of a black bear and a small spotted skunk, which the sign said stands on its hands as a warning that it's about to spray.

The next day Maya, P and I went into the city to do a more strenuous day-- the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, then a walk from there to the Brooklyn Bridge and then a walk across the bridge.  These drawings are from the museum.

On our way to the bridge, we stopped at a little cafe for chicken schnitzel on baguettes.  Then from the bridge, I drew a quick sketch of the skyline of Lower Manhattan showing the new WT building.

Tune in tomorrow for New Hampshire!