These were drawn on different days, in different places.
A salt shaker and sugar rack at Beans & Barley on Milwaukee’s East Side—a place that is gone now. A chair at Starbucks, which is still there.
When I go places, I wait.
Waiting is filled with observation.
Observation is recorded with marks.
Marks spark memory.
I can look at a few pencil lines years later and remember where I was.
Maybe that’s what a sketchbook really keeps. Not drawings of things, but evidence of moments.
For Doodle Addicts, I would use this rather than making Beans & Barley the whole story. The loss of Beans & Barley gives one sketch poignancy, but your larger idea is better: drawing converts otherwise disposable waiting into memory.
She is screaming.
You just can’t hear her.
Cinch tighter.
The paper crumples.
She takes up less space.
Sometimes, silencing is just making someone smaller.
Okay, I may have paraphrased the quote unintentionally when I was drawing this but it still checks out, hopefully…!
“Say what you mean, because communication is a sure path to personal happiness. But don’t say it mean, because causing pain for others will never heal your own.” - Kay Medaglia.
Where will my curiosity take me, you say? Down the road of some Curious George fan art this time around!
Also, one way to honour another legend too with this here quote :-)
“Everybody should keep some grip on childhood, even as a grown-up.” - Tim Curry (1946 - 2026).
