Intrusions of Culture (Blog)

You may have seen social media posts of artists sketching someone without them knowing, and eventually giving them said sketch to record their reaction. I had never done this before until a few weeks ago in Galveston (sans the recording part). My intent had nothing to do with how many likes I could get. It was completely organic in my mind. As I said, I didn't even think of recording any of this (which would have seemed really weird anyway).

There I was, sketching from the seawall, a Mom and her two children enjoying the day at the beach. I was far enough away to not seem creepy. I loved her hat. Anyway, it was just a quick pencil sketch and I thought, "that Mom (it was Mother's Day weekend) would probably enjoy having this." But dare I? 

With some apprehension I walked down and approached the complete stranger. "I hope you don't think this is weird but I was just sketching beach scenes and thought you might like to have this."

Her reaction was absolutely priceless and made me really glad that I did it. She was truly thankful and appreciative. 

"Well that was cool," I thought to myself, and walked on my way to do a few more sketches farther down on seawall. Later on that day I see this same woman walking towards me waving. She told me she was driving by and saw me and just wanted to get my name and thank me again. She told me that that was the best souvenir ever and that it was perfect since it was Mother's Day weekend. I told her that I was just paying it forward. I told her about the nice couple I had just met that bought me lunch--just because they liked my sketches! It was a banner day for social non-media.

I informed her that her reaction made my day and that I was thankful to her for that. She made an old man appreciate how art can, and does bring people together in a unique way. How many other human activities bring complete strangers to interact with each other in such a positive way? Maybe street buskers playing music, but that just affirms the connections between art and music. During the entire week in Galveston I probably had 50 people that walked up and complemented my efforts, the best part of plein air. 

Just more encouragement that art is something I will continue to do as-long-as I'm able.