After a day and night of bleary-eyed driving through curtains of rain and thick humidity, it is a clear, fresh blue sky morning that makes it a crime to be indoors if you don't have to be. As almost always, it occurred to me that I really should start work immediately and skip the drawing, but after a little over two months of training myself to do this every day (almost), I can more easily avoid coffee or even getting dressed than I can shut off the little voice in my head that says "you're a cowardly artist wannabe if you don't sit down with that sketchbook". So, coffee mug in hand, I walked out onto the patio, pulled two favorite pipes out of my briefcase, and set them in front of me where my laptop computer will take up my field of vision for most of the day, and used up another page in my Moleskine sketch journal. A better start than just grimly ignoring the beautiful morning light in favor of a computer screen, but at this point, a compulsion that I just can't escape. But not all compulsions are bad, right?
before work, 8 1/4 x 11 9/16, watercolor and 9B graphite pencils
