Glasses are Over-rated



7/21/12, fountain pen

7/21/12, fountain pen

We were headed for Seattle Bon Odori, our local Japanese community festival, where I knew the fair weather would bring huge, pressing crowds that would make sketching awkward. An absolutely minimalist sketch kit was called for. I grabbed a pocket Moleskine and my tiny Kaweco ICE Sport fountain pen – that’s all. Unfortunately, I omitted the third essential component to the sketch kit: My glasses.

7/21/12, fountain pen

Every book on drawing I’ve ever read advises spending more time looking at the subject than at one’s drawing. So who needs glasses? I decided presbyopia was an ideal condition for practicing gestural sketches. That’s how I captured these jazz band members playing in the beer garden and taiko drummers performing.

7/21/12, fountain pen