The recording of space and time, the capturing of the moment thus establishing of one 'being there' in body and mind if not in spirit is what my sketching is all about and then some...for when I sketch a scene in front of me it could be anywhere and at any time but I reach out with my senses to smell and taste, to feel the objects I am sketching thus most of the time my sketches have a sense of characters about them.
I have ridden the MUNI Buses in the San Francisco Bay Area from one end to the othersoemtimes just for the fun of it and while doing this icame across numerous faces that after time began to look like this was the Face of City itself. I starte sketching these faces and soon i found that each bus route had its own group of characters as regular passengers.
Take the N-Judah bus, more often than not it was always filled with Chinese passengers who mostly lived way out in the Sunset District near the Ocean.
Busses were idetified by their numbers and names but the locals had their own designated names for them like the 'The African Queen" for the number 5 Fulton bus. This was because it was often loaded with African Americans. "The Rio Grande" for the number 14 bus as it was always loaded with Latinos living in the Mission.
People were generally reserved when they travel alone on buses and they keep to themselves hidden behind earphones and news papers or books and magazines.
During cooler months jackets and scarfs was the norm and it seemed like the passengers bury themselves within these to further alienate themselves from others. However San Fran. being a tourist city, those who were visitors were more inquisitive and you could pick them out among the crowd from the way their eyes dart all over the place.
The regulars often than not would fall off to sleep as soon as they settled down into their seats.
When you practice smiling at others especially strangers do not expect any in return for if you do get a smile in return it means you are not practicing. The nonchalant or distant look or even sometyimes disdain looks are what mirrors your soul; the return smile is when your soul is smiling when you were not.
Walkman was the way to go while riding buses in those days and byt the time "Wishing You Were Here," is over you are ready to get off.
Man is as men are and ther is no man who is anisland unto himself for we exist interdependant upon our fellow creatures. The walkman you are listening to took the effort of many to make it what it is and you are just the end user.
Whether you sit or stand in the bus you are part of the same load that is travelling from one end to the other, no different from the next guy. The only difference is what you carry within yourself, the load that is occupying your mind.
Hair is the women's pride, it is her crown and no two hairstyles are the same. The art of keeping an aesthetically elegant hairstyle is an age old practice since the dawn of women.
To have lived life to the fullest in style and with dignnity, what more can one ask but to exit life with grace and not disgracefully. As a MUNI bus rider in San francisco I have touched humanity in its multifaceted appearences and charms, an this was a privillage i will cherish through my sketches.
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