Dear Sarah - 021

Oysters and cell division

Dear Nikki - January 21, 2025

I felt I had unfinished business with an oyster shell yesterday, so I had another go today, this time with pencil. I have a "free" day today: apart from a yoga class first thing this morning (and by first thing I mean 9 am), I don't have client calls or work pulling at me. Mind you, the sun is luring me outside, but that can wait a bit.

Meta has, of course, figured out that I am drawing, and I'm being inundated with posts for so many drawing and painting classes. Draw realistic portraits in a week! Sketch Brighton Pier! Enroll in Mini Landscape Course! Try Open Air Sketching! Unleash Your Creative Potential! And on it goes. I'm trying to stay focused on what you and I are doing and enjoy the small pleasure of putting pencil or pen to paper. Maybe one day I'll take a course in urban sketching, but for now I'm going to savour the oyster!

Now that my drawing of the day is done, I'm heading back to Littleneck to ramp up the intensity on all fronts.

Dear Sarah - January 21, 2025

A very busy day today and a late arrival at my drawing session… One of the pieces I found a) interesting and b) moving at the museum in Tokyo was Cell by Chiharu Shihota.

The forms and palette are simple so I decided to stick to some simple repeating shapes (circles and dots). What I should have done was only use a single colour, but I got carried away, this time with my water-soluble crayons and assorted felt-tipped pens purchased in Japan.

The three photos were taken along the way as I’m never sure if I’m going to like the addition of whatever might be coming next.

I have no strength left to work on our novel, so here’s hoping you had some energy to spend some time on Littleneck. And yes, I am also fed a steady stream of ads for all kinds of classes for which I have no time. Someday, when I retire…

(Just joining us? These letters chronicle our full year of daily drawings and accompanying correspondence/conversation. Learn more about Sarah Harvey here. More info about me can be found here.)