Drawn together by drawing

I'm often moved by how the act of drawing can connect stranger to stranger. Yesterday was a day of such connections.
In the morning, my husband and I went to a café for breakfast. With a busy day ahead, I hadn't planned to sketch, but an older couple in my line of vision grabbed my attention. The stoic stiffness of the man's body, the way the overhead light robbed him of local color, bathing him half in warm, half in cool light was compelling. His companion was a woman, much smaller than he, birdlike of feature, blue of eye. Her heavily-accented English accent broke in and out of earshot. I tried to be unobtrusive, but after a time she noticed what I was doing. She left her seat and came to our table. She said 'I noticed you were sketching me. Are your sketches for the public to see?' I apologized for intruding on her privacy and handed her my sketchbook. She looked at it, was quiet for a few seconds and said, 'The last person who sketched me was my father. I was seven years old.'
We talked a bit more before she left. My husband recognized her. 'She is Mrs. M,' he told me, ' a Holocaust survivor who lost her entire family in Germany in the war.'
I'd scheduled a morning of sketching with Sue, a wonderful woman and fellow artist who lives in a nearby town. We'd connected on the internet a couple of years ago, through my blog and her Flickr account--- drawn together by drawing.
We went to a different café and drew. Here are my sketches. After I finished this one, I showed it to the girl who who was the subject, as she got up to leave. She hadn't known I was drawing her. She smiled and said, 'You picked the right person to draw. I'm an artist, too. I do pet portraits to help pay for college.' I asked her her name and gave her my business card.

As Sue and I were winding down our sketching session, a man appeared at my shoulder and said, 'I've been watching you draw. Can I see what you've done?' I showed him and we introduced ourselves. His name is John, he said, and he draws, too. In fact, he's illustrated a book. I asked him for the particulars and he gave me this website link. We talked about local figure drawing opportunities and said we might see each other at one of those sessions. Drawn together by the act of drawing again.

Comments

[Shelley Whiting]

Your sketches are exciting and I love the expressiveness and gesture of your line work. Beautiful and fascinating work.

[Carol Feldman]

Months later I accidently come across this. I envy you your friend to sketch with. I hate sitting and drawing by myself. Not only are they are lovely drawings, they evoke such a easiness with your surroundings. I'm glad I ran across them.

[Paris Parfait]

I love these stories, especially of the older woman who approached you. And your art opens so many doors! xoxox

[Genxster]

Looks like I'm late to the party. I wanted to tell you how moving this post was for me. This inspires me to push aside my fears and go out and sketch in public. You're sketches are lovely of course. I like the mother and daughter one the best. So intimate. You really captured the feeling of closeness between the two. *sigh*

[Laura]

Wow, what wonderful comments, for which I thank everyone! It was one of those very special days from start to finish. I'm glad I was there for it---you know what I mean, there with pen and ink and an open heart. Many thanks again for taking the time to register your reactions here.

[Jana Bouc]

I'm so impressed with qualities you achieve in these sketches. They feel so complete even though they're sketchy and loose. Each of them show the character and personality of the individuals, all quite different from one another. The mother and child sketch is very powerful. Lovely story too.