The Profoundly Ordinary

4/28/21 A rare alley in Maple Leaf

I listen to the SneakyArt Podcast. In his recent interview with Urban Sketchers founder Gabi Campanario, host Nishant Jain talked about how urban sketching is, for him, about capturing all the small moments that make up our routine, everyday lives – the kind of moments that may be overlooked as not special enough to bother sketching. He used the phrase “people doing profoundly ordinary things” to describe these moments, and I felt moved by that phrase.

As busy sketching as I have been throughout the pandemic, what I have missed most is being around people and capturing them doing profoundly ordinary things. But even when people are nowhere to be seen, mundane neighborhood scenes strike me in the same way – beautiful in their profound ordinaryness.

3/23/21

By the way, I highly recommend the podcast. It’s the only one I know of that focuses specifically on urban sketching. Nishant’s guest list reads like the who’s who of urban sketching, and the interviews are always well-focused, inspiring and stimulating. He also now provides a well-edited transcript for those who prefer to read the highlights instead of listening.

4/13/21 The last of the cherry trees

4/26/21 The concrete mixer left just as I finished the sketch!