Holiday Break: Some Sketches

Waiting in the parking lot at the vet.

Winter has settled in and the holidays are here, for better or for worse. Luckily, working at a school has its perks, one of which is holiday breaks. I'd been looking forward to the time off so I could get some much-needed sketching in.

So far, I’ve been able to sketch quite a lot, which has been great! I’ve been taking my kit everywhere — cafes, the vet, and even a few from home. It’s been nice to have a few days to slow down, take in moments, and to see things as they are.

This act, seeing things as they are, has always felt radical to me. So much of what we see, or what we think we see, is predetermined in our mind’s eye. We can walk by any given brick wall and register it as a brick wall, but once we stop and really look, we might see texture or a weathered patina, we may even seen vines and various foliage types climbing up the wall, adding a different form of texture on top of the brick. There are always beautiful, hidden layers in every scene we observe, and the act of observing them feels a little like robbing the universe.