Things and Stuff and Shadows

The Miami Book Fair International: I don't know if you have anything like this near you, but if you do, and you don't go, you are cheating yourself. If you are a reader, of course, you will be close to heaven - guaranteed.

But you don't have to be a reader to enjoy the fair.

Authors speak about their books, and they write about things that interest them. So if you are interested in things, the book fair is for you.

Then there are many, many booths where you can buy books for cheap! Cheap, of course, is good. And books can be about all kinds of stuff. So if you are interested in stuff, then the book fair is for you too.

And then there are the people - everywhere the people - fun to watch, fun to draw, and the fair food and the bands. What more can I say?

It seems like I've been sketching in public forever but in fact this is the first year that I even thought to sketch at the fair. I drew the panel of authors above in my Moleskine in the morning. It was my first drawing of the day. [Since the blog does not show two-page spreads well, double-click on the image to see it clearly.]

I drew the authors as each of them spoke in turn. They spoke in this order (from left to right, 1, 2, 4, 3). My hand was kind of tight on number 1, but by the time I got to 3 and 4 I was cookin'! It may just be me, but I think the drawing reflects this.

For those Everyday Matters folks that sketch in church (at their blog here) and claim to hear the sermon: I listened to each of the panelists. I laughed at their jokes in the right places, and I heard what they said. But now I can't remember a darned thing. I suspect it was because I was so busy drawing that my brain can't quite split in two like that to retain the information. It might just be my brain - all the filing cabinets may be full. Or the difference may be this: you never expect to have to (or sometimes even want to) remember a sermon afterwards, right? Or at least I don't.

There is more about the book fair - another sketch and a tale of loneliness, that will be the subject of a third fair post. That tale is the story that I spoke about in my last post. So for Martine, who said, "What about telling us more... soon?", and all of the others waiting for a story, patience .. patience. (Man, I hope it's good!)

In the meantime, though, here is my entry for Shadow Shot Sunday. It's a little early I know, but the blog is from Down Under. For Australia, this Sunday probably happened last Tuesday anyway. Besides, I will be visiting with family over the next two days and won't have time to post this weekend.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!