Drawing in Public

Fiona, of Leap-of-Faith (I love that blog name!) shared a poignant passage on the subject creating in public. The author, whom she quotes (Eric Maisels) talks about overcoming embarrassment and imagined criticism when writing in public, at a restaurant or on a sidewalk or whatever. I love that quote. It's about creating in public, in front of strangers, among eyes that may judge, mouths that will comment aloud, and brains that will mutter quietly to themselves.

I love Fiona's own words even more. She writes about drawing, how she thinks of drawing...

"...as a tool for being more creative. I can see the need to play and to use it to quiet that inner critic."

I love that! Nevermind the eyes and mouths of strangers in public. My biggest critic is me!

When I sat on the floor in that traffic class I noted with words some observations around me that I didn't draw. Just random visual images and quotes, moments in time. For example:

• The girl with the black pants, loose hanging pants, like a skirt, got her ticket on Dickson street. She's wearing an orange tank top with a gold sequined trim around the arm holes.
• The guy with the gallon jug of water is from New Jersey. He's never been to Tulsa. He asked someone where the fountain was so he could wash off his apple.
• A tall dude with big curly hair has a piercing below his bottom lip. He was going 20 mph over the limit.
• Black lace trims the neckline of a thin black tank top worn by a girl with long blond hair. She is talking to the person next to her about the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She loves Johnny Depp, "but not because he's aesthetic. He's such a good actor and chooses such interesting roles to play."
  
• There is a tattoo of some kind on the top of the foot of the woman sitting next to me on the floor. She has a cool bag. It's a white canvas bag with large round lime green spots.
  
• The instructor is telling us he used to play bass in a band during the 60's and 70's and how the loud speakers and amps caused his hearing loss.
• The girl who was talking about Johnny Depp earlier just asked me, "are you an artist." I answered, "I like to draw."
  

That question, "are you an artist?" is a curious one. Do people who are writing in public get asked, "are you a writer?"

I think everyone is an artist. Everyone. Some folks just haven't been practicing for a very long time.