Drawing Together

Today was a day of work and drawing. There was joy for the hard work and great questions asked by my students taking their first steps in learning Hebrew. Then I joined the Graphic Medicine "Drawing Together" workshop for the first time. What a wonderfully safe place to do some drawing! We were given 10 minutes to draw 4 imaginary insects in 4 panels:

Then, in the next 10 minutes, we were invited to imagine a conversation between two of our insects:

Finally, we had a chance to show our work to the other (c. 45) people in the Zoom Room. Despite my current self-promotion, I find it makes me very anxious to let others see what I draw. It has felt a bit easier to share what I've done whilst under lockdown. Sending things out into the world when I remain safely in my bubble seems a little less scary! So I enjoyed what others had done and, right at the end of the session, held my page up to the camera. I hope to join the group again next week.

But the drawing wasn't over for the day. I checked Instagram (I'd posted a sweet photo of a flower in a friend's window box yesterday) and saw a short video showing how to draw Charlie Brown. So I thought I'd have a go.

NB when I was 11, the first Art task at SPGS was to paint a self portrait. Emptying our mother's flat, my sister recently came across that painting, lost for an unmentionable number of years:

That was the first version. And earlier this evening, this is what I managed to draw:

Hopefully the Snoopygrams Insta will offer guides to drawing the other characters also. I'll be keeping my eyes open. 

This was really a good day. I haven't even mentioned the wonderful Ayurvedic massage from L to help me recover from my little fall on Friday (everything's fine, poo poo poo, just a rather bruised dignity). It is important to remember the good days. Vi auguro una buona settimana.

dance dance wherever you may be

those of you who know me well, also know that i have physical anxiety attacks at the thought of dancing anywhere, anytime. this is a terrible pity when you also know that i would love to be able to dance like eleanor powell or xavion glover or my friend maria two streets over. it is however so. my hands turn to ice, my skin turns pale (except for a bright red spot on each cheek like mary poppins), and i sweat like an endlessly cascading chocolate fountain.

nu - at the cafe deville last saturday night, while i realised that house music is really not my thing, mainly because it is so relentless and i find that utterly boring, i seem to be developing an affinity for a latin beat. not only did i dance and enjoy it for a couple of tracks, but somebody told me (albeit someone even further down the dance food chain than am i) that i looked good. well whaddya know?! and all i'd had to drink was seltzer.

to quote (for me) a more religiously/culturally relevant song - wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!