#32 Vancouver Impressions
Walking around, podcast musings, and a subscription offer
In this issue, I am sharing first impressions from walking around Vancouver, and some thoughts from the last podcast episode.
Streets of Vancouver
I’m still figuring this city out. I have a good sense of direction, and once I have walked down a few streets, looked at a few landmarks from different directions, registered some street signs, I am able to know which way I am facing and where I need to go. It’s a little funny, but not knowing my cardinal directions (which way is north and which is east etc) can unsettle me.
When we first looked at our new apartment, the realtor said we had views to the north and east out of the living room windows. But after moving I realized it was actually ENE and ESE! The wife laughs when I point this out, calling it a tiny difference. But it’s actually 75deg! Anyway, it took me a few hours before I had it figured out, and the whole time I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. Out of our window, I could see the street we took to get here, and I knew which way it ran, and things just didn’t add up, and that kind of thing just irritates me. Now I know, and the world is alright.
To the city, then! I’ve been walking around to get a handle on things.
At street intersections in the downtown, two out of four corners are likely to be rival cafe chains. I wonder if they’re nice to each other in the great Canadian way of things.
I went to one down the street from us, a local chain called Waves Coffee. It was very long and pretty much unoccupied. I was pleased to have a seat far away from other unmasked coffee-drinkers.
Last week, I recorded an episode for the podcast with the wonderful Liz Steel, and she spoke about the importance of taking down notes as soon as one finishes a drawing, before we even close that sketchbook and lose the disorganized flow of thought to the cruel passage of time. (She did not put in such a flowery way.)
I’m thinking deeply about what I draw and why, how I feel at the time of drawing, and the ways that this influences my choice of subjects. It’s something I will write more about, both on the drawing page and here in the newsletters.
We live not far from the southern waterfront of downtown Vancouver. There is a dock there, and a body of water called the False Creek. I went there this week to catch some sun, because I’ve already learned sunlight is a precious commodity in this part of the world. You grab it when you can get it.
I saw some pretty boats, as I walked along the jogging track at the edge of the water. I sat down at a bench to draw, when I caught an interesting boat name - “Nauti Lust”. Heh.
I wrote a little haiku for the moment -
The rhythm of water
Slows me down when I need it-
A moment of calm.
The next day I walked around the Gastown neighborhood. Again, lots to see here, and I will have to return many more times. I went in search of a cafe with a good view, because I was wearing the wrong kind of mask - my glasses kept fogging up. This made it impossible to draw outdoors.
I went into a Blenz Coffee (another local chain), and sat at the only seat facing the street.
I enjoyed making this drawing. I knew the lamppost had to play an important part. I decided it would be my page divider. On either side of it, I had an interesting urban scene to depict.
I took some progress pics of the drawing to give you an idea of how I approach such scenes.
I shared this drawing on the subreddit r/vancouver and it caught a lot of good attention. It led to an influx of new followers on Instagram, a couple of commission requests, and new readers on this newsletter. (Hi, guys!) I love posting on Reddit. You find genuine appreciation, and any follows you gain from it are 100% organic, real growth. Zero artificial coloring.
Today, on the other hand, was rainy. We were expecting to head out to do some bank chores. But our appointment was cancelled so we spent the day inside. I still wanted to do a drawing, so I made one of the amazing view out of our living room window. This one is in the ENE (east northeast) direction!
I had a lot of fun drawing it because the scene challenged me in different ways. I had to think for a few minutes about where I wanted to begin. I had to think which direction I wanted to go. I needed to account for two different sets of perspective - the angle of the street to the horizon, plus my high vantage point.
It was the street intersection of Granville and Helmcken. The buildings were tiny and the cars looked like toys. I imagined I could pick them up and put them somewhere else, and the city would keep moving as if nothing happened. These megalomaniacal ideas come to all of us who have played Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Living high on a tower also puts thoughts like these inside your mind. Everything far away is brought closer, and everything close feels impossibly out of reach.
I knew this drawing was going to be interesting so I recorded the whole process.
Drawing straight with ink is easier once you know a few things that you should take care of, and figure out how to "plan" your page. I make lots of mistakes in every drawing, but people don't notice anymore. Everything is style. There is a Miles Davis quote very close to my heart -
"Once is a mistake. Twice is an idea. Three times is style."
Are there any quotes that inspire your style or your artistic/creative pursuit? I would love to hear them!
Podcast
I believe in the idea of style being an accumulation of mistakes. It’s a topic I go into with every guest. Having just gone through all my past episodes to make Episode 11, I recall a part of my conversation with Paul Heaston in Ep 2. We were discussing the makings of style, because it’s a question both of us get asked very often. I mentioned a lesson from control engineering, which applied to (of all things) a spring-damper mechanism. It was the principle of accuracy vs precision.
Briefly, accuracy is how exactly correct you are every time you do something. Precision is how consistent you are with your errors/biases. It is important to distinguish between the two, because optimizing for both is sometimes unnecessary or wasteful. In the case of art, in my opinion, accuracy is overrated. There are many media forms for those desiring accuracy. For example, you could take a picture. But to have style, to have distinction, to have something that is yours, you need precision. The cost function of optimizing for high precision often reduces what people call accuracy.
I say this because I also get a lot of similarly-worded compliments on my Instagram. People say I have distinct lines, that they could recognize my drawing instantly, that they have a certain unique quality despite being just lines. And I am inclined to agree. They are my lines. They go along the paths set by my hands, making mistakes that only I would make, forming shapes and curves that I make in my way. To be an artist, I try very hard to not lose myself in a quixotic quest for reality.
The latest podcast episode is being received very well, and I am glad I put in the effort for it. It is the longest I have worked on a single episode, because I had to design the flow of the entire piece. I scripted it in 3 different ways, not sure which kind of flow would be most appealing. I thought about going chronologically, but the connections I wanted to make were not chronological. I thought about covering each guest an equal amount of time, but striving for that artificial fairness is not the best way to design a listening experience. I decided to make it as a journey through the questions and doubts we face as urban sketchers, or artists of any type - first, the hesitation to put pen to paper, then the self-doubt about doing it well or ever trying again, through the excitement of enjoying it, and past the hurdles to building a sustainable habit and an enjoyable practice. For each of these obstacles I found my guests had already given nice answers, at times self-referential and at times drawing from their experiences teaching others.
If you haven’t yet, I recommend you check out the episode. I would suggest sitting down with a pen and a pad while you listen, and doodling whatever you see in front of you, anything that seems interesting. I promise it will be a great experience.
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That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading, listening, following, and caring.
See you again soon.