Vintage Rides

 

8/2/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Walking in a direction that I hadn’t been in several weeks, I was delighted to spot these two vintage cars parked near each other. With fancy, shiny wheels and lovingly pampered bodywork, these rides had a proud owner.

As I was drawing the Impala, the owner came out of his house and got in. I finished hastily, but he sat in his car a while looking at his phone. Although I stood right across the street, he never seemed to notice (or acknowledge) my presence before driving away.

As I alluded to in my post yesterday, this is what usually happens when I could be caught sketching – but I rarely am. My preference is to keep a low profile, so I’d rather not be caught. Still, I always wonder: Are most people not observant enough to notice someone standing across the street, staring at their car, scribbling in a sketchbook? Or they do observe it, but they don’t care or aren’t curious? Or they do observe and maybe are curious, but like me, prefer to avoid the conversation (further perpetuating the Seattle Freeze)? I guess I’ll never know, because I’m too busy perpetuating the Freeze myself.

Technical notes: Although it’s a simple thing, I’m super pleased with the way the box I drew partway around the Impala ties the two cars together into a story when two separate sketches would not have. I’m also laughing at the wonkiness . . . but still, not too bad for less than 10 minutes each (and I almost lost the Impala before finishing).