At the Intersection of Worlds
#257 with the temptations of a conversation overheard.
Dear reader,
This month’s Reader Hangout could not take place last weekend so please join me this Saturday for a sketchbook tour of my drawings from India and a chat about some new art supplies. Readers who live in Vancouver and nearby, I am doing an Open Studio Day on the 30th of November. Drop by!
In today’s post, a drawing of human interaction over coffee, of worlds colliding at a cafe table.
The SneakyArt Post is a publication of secretly drawn art of the world. Every week, I share the latest pages from my sketchbook and the best ideas from my journey as an artist and writer.
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I swear I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I took my coffee to the only available table, and all I wanted was a break from writing.
(Project update: This month-end I will submit the final portion of my book about building drawing habits. I am so eager to share more details with you, but that will have to wait at least until January. It has been a long few weeks of writing, with hardly any time to draw at all!)
People talk, I guess, and loudly sometimes. I couldn’t help it. Reader, is it some kind of Rule Of The Universe that overheard conversations are always the most interesting?
In last week’s post, I spoke about spending time in public spaces to remind ourselves that we are not alone.
Wherever strangers cross paths, worlds collide. SneakyArt is created at this intersection of worlds. Do you see? If you look carefully, you will see sparks flying, colours rising, and the tingling particles of spontaneous beauty.
A cafe can always be found at the intersection of worlds. Strangers congregate at cafes, united by the need for caffeine, by the desire for a third space, to get warm, to get wifi. A cafe serves many needs, and scones too.
The thrill of listening in on a spicy conversation is similar to the thrill of watching another passenger’s movie on an airplane. It isn’t your life, but here you are. You could look away, but it’s happening right there. You aren’t actively responsible, circumstances have brought you to this. Like the kind of conversation where you wonder if you should stop what you’re doing and just listen instead? Like the kind of movie you would never select for your own screen but don’t mind spying on?
Reader, why do we do this? Which secrets do we seek in other people's lives? Which movies have you seen on other people’s screens? A few years ago, I saw nearly all of A Star is Born this way.
The gist: Someone broke up with them over a fear of commitment and despite being in their 30s did the childish thing of completely ghosting them I mean who does that in this time and age you’re literally not a teenager and it’s enough to make them lose their faith in love & dating and one of the reasons they’re moving back to Korea.
Also, it’s too grey and rainy here. [sigh]
This drawing, and many other tiny originals, will be on sale at my Open Studio on Nov 30. Come say hello!
Thank you for reading. I am glad to have a space in your inbox.
Which secrets do we seek in other people's lives? What a question! Wow, I think, off the cuff, it may have to do with those things we are afraid to do ourselves. But I’ll have to give it more thought and maybe even write or draw about that. I want you to know — you a joy in my online life. I wish I lived closer. I would come to your open studio events all the time. Have a beautiful day, Nishant, and thank you for your inspiration as always.
I love to sneak peeks at people in restaurants, wondering about their lives. Listening, not so much. My ears have grown intolerant to other voices at the moment, but that could change. Meanwhile, I spotted a young man dressed in cowboy hat, jeans, clean pressed shirt. All I could see was his back as he hunched over the counter in the coffee shop. By the way he hung his head, sometimes covering his face in his hands, it appeared he had lost the ranch or was on the verge of losing it. I wondered if he lived at the beleaguered property I drive by each day. A lone horse dozes in one spot in a tumbleweed-choked corral, looking as trapped and dejected as this cowboy.