Sketching at Panera, sepia Pitt pen and pencil in moleskine, 3/21/09
I went to Panera Bread and sat in the corner, near the entrance. I was actually quite a bold move, as there was a window behind me and quite a lot of people stopped to observe. I got a few approving glances and smiles from some old ladies.
I’ve been numbering my sketches lately so as to show the progression. You can see how I loosened up as I kept drawing. Here is how it went:
1) He had was sitting on one side of the booth and his friend and girlfriend were on the other side. I didn’t mind drawing him, except for the fact that his buddy kept staring at me. Extended periods of eye contact with complete strangers makes me nervous!
2) I should have left number one in pencil, but only inked it because this girl was also looking at me draw her and I was sort of glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. When I didn’t have a clear view, I resorted to the dots that formed #1’s hair. She was sort of hippie chic as my friend Theo would say. She was wearing a pinkish coral shirt and an orange scarf which is one of my all time favorite color combinations.
3) At first I thought this man was very stern and serious, but then I saw him playing the staring game with his small daughter and it was a touching father/daughter moment. He also had a very nice nose!
4) This woman was the wife/girlfriend of #3. She was chewing and wagging her head around quite a bit, but I had fun drawing her messy ponytail.
5) He was completely oblivious to me drawing him – he was there before me and was still there when I left. I’m not sure what he was working on, but he was sitting there typing away ferociously.
I had grand plans for today but ended up sleeping in and frittering away the whole morning. But I redeemed myself with public sketching! This sort of thing is excellent practice and I don’t do it nearly as often as I would like.
