On Route

Sketch a Day - Day 42/365

I had another meeting with a wonderful Writing Squad writer today. Which meant another trip by bus to Keighley and then over the top and then down to Hebden Bridge.

And today I decided I would draw while I was on my journey.

Drawing people in situ is a little intimidating for me. I find it hard to shake the feeling that if you dare to draw in public, you’re somehow suggesting that you think you’re ‘good’. And what you are drawing is therefore ‘good’.

To find the courage to draw in public I lean into these ideas: A) I remind myself that I don't know what other people are thinking. B) I accept that even if they are thinking what I fear they are thinking, that I don't have to take any notice of their opinions, all I have to do is decide to dare to draw. C) That noone ever got good at anything without practicing, so anyone who draws in public, who seems ‘good’ will have spent time drawing things that were not ‘good’. Thus, see point B.

As you will note, in my life so far, I have spent a good deal of time imagining and worrying what other people are thinking.

I can say, hand on heart, that all that time has been wasted.

It has been of no help to me.

Going forward, I am trying very hard to do what I feel like doing.

Ie, if I want to do something but fear other people will have a negative opinion about it, I now try to simply note the fear but then do it anyway.

And so far, when drawing in public, no one has sketch-bombed me to tell me to stop drawing this minute because ‘awful’.

But yes, I did feel a little uncomfortable getting my sketch book out and scribbling away.

And I did feel some people watching.

And it did make me feel a bit weird.

But I just kept going.

And I learnt some new things and I was pleased with a few drawings and I thought a few others were meh.

And it's all ok.

And more importantly, what a wonderful thing it is to really look at another person and see them.

To see their frailties and little nervous nods and their ways of peering out of a window or passing the time in a queue.

What a wonderful thing it is to forget about myself and my worries about me. And notice that the world is rolling on quite happily without an opinion about what I think or do.

The more I look the more I remember that this world and the people in it are amazing.

And that's the news.