Random Sketches 1989-2

Catching people in action by sketching is a challenge as it is unpredictable as to what or when the person is going to change his or her posture. One has to have an intuitive feeling for the moment and execute, it is somewhat like taking a picture with the camera only you have to be sure and fast at it.

The sketch of the Cambodian girl came from black and white photo I bought at a secondhand book store on Clements Street in San Francisco, The Green Apple was the name of the store. I bought quite a few old books from this store including one by Yousof Karsh called 'Faces of Destiny', which I later donated to the Miyagi Museum of Modern Arts' open studio library. Black and white photos especially taken by the masters like Karsh is a precious sources to have if you like sketching in black and white. For that matter so are the black and white older Japanese Movies by the legendary Akira Kurosawa.

having spent ten years of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area I was exposed to a whole different Artistic culture where the quest to being a good artist was not so much as to how well off you are financially or how famous you may become through your reputation as an artist, but how well you have lived your life as one. How mindful and sensitive you are when in the midst of the day to day living among others.

I try to record life around me where ever I am and as i sketch a scene i am fully exposed in my senses towards all that was happening in and around me, sometimes I can feel the thoughts of others, their happiness and their loneliness, their joys and sorrows their curiosity and their disdain towards me as an artist sitting there among them a complete stranger recording a moment in the lives.