Rockland with J and my new Moleskine watercolor book, waterpens & a small paint box instead of my usual colored pencils. Dinner at the Park Street Grill, a walk along the harbor, and music at Rock City Café, which is also a 2nd hand bookshop and a bar by night. The music was hard to hear, so we wandered into the bookshop. I found an out of print copy of Danny Gregory's Everyday Matters, his memoir of the changes in his life after his wife became paralyzed and of his discovery of seeing/drawing.
On Sunday, the ideal spring weather day, I sat on the old fashioned veranda of the Limerock Inn reading his book. I had encountered some of Gregory's themes years before through The Zen of Seeing and other books of Frederick Franck. A timely reminder: I am happy when sketching, whether I keep or share the drawings or not.
A group of giant construction trucks (on holiday) were plunked in the middle of a road. In a practical sense, they were a nuisance, visually they were, for me, adorable. I never drew trucks, I never even noticed trucks until I worked with young children who loved Diggers and Dumpers. To me they still seem like GIANT TOYS. I got lost in trying to record the proportions and perspectives of the "BOMAC" roller above. Nevertheless, I got to see it more clearly than if I were just "whipping by", in Gredory's words. I wonder how I'd like driving the big old BOMAC. Ironically, J was at a nearby car show. Had I gone, I would have had lots of opportunities to sketch vehicles!
