It’s been so cold here lately that I’ve been reluctant to go walking.  The other problem, of course, is that ‘walking’ is more like slipping and sliding here right now.  So I’ve been doing some writing, trying to make some progress on that front.

But I can only stay at home so long before I start going nuts so I went to a nearby coffee shop to work.  I grabbed a table in the back corner of the place and a café allongé and went to work.  After a couple hours I took a break from editing and decided to give my new Sailor calligraphy pen a test run.  I quickly sketched (3×5) the view I had, which wasn’t great because I purposefully had hid myself from most of the clientele.  This pen is quite different from my Hero calligraphy pens and Tina Royama claims it’s easier to control.  I think she’s right but it will take a bit of getting used to, as this sketch illustrates.

I got another coffee and moved to a place by the window and worked for another hour. I saw this woman working as a crossing guard in the bitter cold.  The sad look on her face got my attention and I devoted a bit of ink to capturing her plight.  I shared those feelings as I’m an Arizona boy and Quebec winters are not something I take to with great fondness.

I looked around and there was a guy sitting with his back to me.  He was wearing a backwards baseball cap.  He’d taken his coat off and was wearing a t-shirt.  For some crazy reason this stuck me as odd, given that everyone else was wearing long sleeves, sweaters or coats.  Internally I chuckled and I drew him as though it weren’t -30 outside.  I drew him in his t-shirt, backwards baseball cap and shorts.  I guess I was hoping it would make me feel warmer.

This sketching adventure involved about three hours of writing/editing and less than ten minutes sketching but it was better than nothing (grin).