Since I completed my radiation therapy last Christmas, except for the painting as a house-warming gift for my son, I haven’t painted or drawn anything for almost a year. Westfield is a quiet clean suburban town which I like. However, I haven’t found a place like shopping mall or square where there are a lot of people sitting, walking or doing different things and you have plenty of opportunities to choose and sketch. Of course, I have to admit that mainly because of the anemia after the therapy, I’ve been feeling so weak physically that I don’t have the energy to drive around to find subjects to paint or draw even though I did find some good views in parks nearby. I thought of some sidewalk restaurant areas, but parking problems turnt me off.
I kept telling myself that I can’t go on like this lying in the recliner all day. I must resume walking and exercise. Finally, I decided that I should at least handle the walk to and back from the library. So I took my sketchbook with me and tried to pick up my drawing. Unfortunately there weren’t many people there to draw. I first sketch a mother in ink at the children’s books section. Later, I noticed a lady was in deep thought working on her computer. Believing she could be comparatively stable, I chose to use soft pastel as the sketch’s medium. When I finished, I let the lady take a picture of the sketch. We briefly introduced each other. Her name is Mary Ann or Mariann, a lady who got her doctoral degree from Vanderbilt.
