Always sketching

Unfinished interior sketch
marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches

Whenever I'm on the phone, on hold, waiting, or talking
for pleasure, I draw if I have a sketchbook and a pen.
That's why I try to keep a drawing materials ready.
In an artist's house, hiding the art materials is a lot
harder than finding them -- pens, paper, paint -- the
stuff is everywhere.

Sketch study for kitchen table painting
marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches

If I know I'll be talking to a friend for awhile, I
scramble to find something to draw. I've drawn my
room several times, interiors from photographs,
friends, my family, sketches of the portrait commissions
I'm working on, and whatever's in front of me.

Unfinished interior sketch
marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches

When the phone call ends the sketch ends. Later
when I discover these sketches I enjoy what was
left out, as much as what I finished. I'm not good
at leaving out detail. But the chair leg is incomplete,
the ceiling odd, the packed table bizarre. Everything
looks more formal in a painting, even when it's
a quick sketch. The drawing sketch can be light, lyrical
and forgiven for being exactly what it is -- a
sketch, nothing more.

Have a wait!-I-want-to-draw-while-we-talk day.