More Small Stories

7/10/20 ambidextrous sider

One part of the Urban Sketchers Manifesto is that “our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.” Sometimes when I say that to new sketchers, they reply, “Oh, I don’t have any stories to tell. . . I just felt like drawing that.” But “stories” don’t have to be a big expose, a dramatic narrative or newsworthy. As small and insignificant as they may seem, my ‘hood is full of stories. Here are some I’ve sketched in the past few weeks. A roofer and a sider doing their jobs (the sider used both a nail gun and a traditional hammer simultaneously!); the S-shaped trunk of an ornamental cherry leaning over a fence (it looked fairly old; I wonder how old); a small historic building near the former Maple Leaf Reservoir (this deserves further research and a larger sketch someday).  

They probably won’t make headlines. But they are what’s going on in Maple Leaf, and they are enough for me to sketch.

6/16/20 roofer

7/1/20 ornamental cherry tree

7/1/20 historic building somehow associated with the Maple Leaf
Reservoir

7/1/20 backhoe waiting for excavation to begin

7/7/20 My first walk through Maple Leaf Park since the
pandemic began... it's reassuring to see that the water
tower is still standing.