If you’re a regular here, you’ll know I’ve been blogging about the sketches I’ve been doing from benches in Peterborough during my walk to and from work and going about my daily business in Peterborough, UK (other Peterborough’s are available, not that I’ve visited any, yet..). If you know me, you might have been surprised by my order of posting these. So far there’s been blogs about bench views 1-5; 6-10; 11-15; 16-29; 21-25. Sounds logical.. yes and so not me.
This blog is titled random, eclectic, see how my mind works which does not usually involve going in an order expected by many, and so here’s a post about one day. Yesterday. Saturday 1 November 2014. It’s not even about the whole of this day, just a small part of it, the other sketches I did might be posted another time.
My afternoon, yesterday..
I’d woken and written almost 2,000 words for a November writing challenge I do, doesn’t everyone? Then I turned up and sketched from four benches while three local sites were linked as part of the Big Draw, What? You didn’t do that either?
Finally we get onto my afternoon.. I hadn’t done this before. I wasn’t going to do, it but I was going to watch and hoped to sketch as it passed me by.
I need to explain. I get scared easily, always have always will.. Hated Halloween. I can just about manage a Halloween party these days but Zombies, that’s another matter.. I didn’t really know what they were till a few years ago, as I don’t read about them or watch those sort of programmes, they look scary so I’ve always given them a wide berth. Why then did I decide to sit for almost an hour and wait for the flash mob that is the Peterborough Zombie walk to arrive?
Since I started sketching from benches I’ve noticed how many there are particularly in Bridge Street. 28 of them I think.. I’ve tried not to be too specific.. Lots, that’s all I need to know. I’ve noticed that I seem to sketch looking up or down the street yet I prefer facing the buildings and sketching people as they pass. There would be lots of interesting characters passing down Bridge street, I thought, what a great idea to sit and watch the world go by.
‘Really, you’re scared of anything scary.. and you thought it would be a good idea to sit on a bench and sketch while a mob of Zombies walked past, what did you think would happen? That they’d walk past obligingly and not notice you?
Ahh, actually, yes, I did think that.
The sketches on this page are one from before and two during the Peterborough Zombie Walk 2014. The third on this page was the hardest to do. By this time the photographers must have gotten all the scary Zombie pictures they could get and were trying for new angles, hey there’s a woman trying to sketch them as they pass… Let’s take a photo of her sketching them.. Even one of the Zombies decided to stop and photograph me sketching them scaring me.. As you can see by my sketch some of them even started levitating as I sketched them.. It must be true, I drew it.. I’ll write a blog one day about what goes in and what gets left out of sketches.
Sketching from benches has it’s moments but yesterday, I had the most experiences in one day that I could cope with. When I look at what I produce the emotion has been memorised and I can see how I felt in the brush strokes. The first image on this page was finished in situ and the other two had to be completed at home because I was either being scared, honed in on by zombies, (why it didn’t occur to me that me sitting sketching wouldn’t attract their attention I have no idea..) or being photographed by professional photographers and zombies..
I had such a wonderful day. It had to be blogged about..
lynnelives 