Memorializing Memorials

7/7/12, Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor

After seeing my sketches of the Boston Irish Famine Memorial, a reader in the Sketching Forum commented that he had lived in Boston for 22 years yet had never seen or even knew about that memorial. I started thinking about all the monuments and memorials in Seattle that I may not know about. I also thought about all the many memorials I’ve seen while traveling and probably even photographed, yet if I were to look at those photos now, would I even remember that I actually visited?

Sketching the Boston Irish Famine Memorial has left an indelible image in my memory. Sketching anything always does.

I’ve decided to make it a goal to sketch as many monuments and memorials as possible, wherever I go. I started yesterday with a quick sketch of the Sadako Sasaki memorial in Peace Park just a couple miles from my home. It had been a while since I last visited, and I was moved by the number of folded paper cranes decorating the memorial.