Playing Through The Pain

In sports there are regular references to athletes who play through the pain.  I feel like I’m trying to do that right now with my sketching.  I’m at a point where I can walk and stand but doing so requires a lot of energy because of my pronounced limp.  Then, when I get on site, I further abuse my knee by sitting on my tripod stool.

At the same time, a star finally appeared over planet Quebec City, or at least that’s what the astronomers call it.  The result has been that we’ve got these things authorities are calling shadows and a lot more light than normal.  It has also gotten warm enough that we can sketch outdoors.

A fairly large group of us were downtown sketching.  I learned later that everyone thought I’d gone home, I suppose, because of the grimace on my face when I walked, but actually I’d limped down to the south side of city hall and drew a street view.

Normally I lose track of time when I sketch but on this day I knew every minute because my knee kept sending out tweets screaming about being harassed and abused.  But eventually I did finish the sketch.  I didn’t notice, until now, that I didn’t draw any of those shadow things I mentioned.  I guess I’ll get used to those in time.

Stillman & Birn Alpha (5.5×8.5), Platinum 3776, DeAtramentis Document Black

When I finished I limped back to where everyone else was sketching.  They were finishing up sketches and starting to talk about getting coffee.  I sat down and with a couple minutes to fill, I started drawing some of the roof lines.  Then we went to get coffee and reflect on the day.  I think it’s going to be a long summer.  I think I should be on the disabled list but don’t tell coach.

5 thoughts on “Playing Through The Pain

  1. I’m sorry you’re in so much pain with your knee, Larry. Hopefully it is something that will improve with time. I admire your perseverance. Beautiful sketches.

    • I’m hoping that things will improve as I walk more. I’m learning a bit about motivation to do art. I’ve been sketching for about 6 years and I’ve never had any motivation problems. I drew every day and never thought about why or what. From that perspective I had a hard time understanding all the emphasis on motivation within the internet art community. Now, I’m faced with a good deal of ‘hurts too much’ and ‘maybe I’ll wait until tomorrow’ and it’s just hard to get out and draw. I’m learning to deal with it but more important, I’m learning to understand it.

  2. I’m sorry you have such pain, Larry. Maybe you need one of those walkers with wheels and a place to rest your knee. I do like the drawing.

    • …an easy solution to my dilemma is to simply stop walking so darn much, Julana. I’m afraid that a walker isn’t really workable when you’re walking 4-5 kilometers per day. You see, I had to spend several months without walking at all and I lost considerable muscle mass in my leg. My current walking regime is one of rehabilitation as I slowly rebuild the muscles in my leg. Besides, the sun has come out. I have to go draw 🙂

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