Chicago

Damn, it's been a long week. Well, week and a half. While I'm not ready to talk about the most recent events in said period of time, I was thinking about the earlier event, namely, a weekend jaunt to Chicago. My girlfriend swears I slept through most of the trip — and I did, because when I'm on vacation, I'm relaxed, hence, I sleep. But while I did spend many hours snoozing, I also took in as much as I could about the nation's Second City. There's something magical about Chicago. There's so much history, so much, well, random scenery, from the people to the buildings to the signs to litter on the streets. There's something so wonderfully gritty about the place that I fell in love with the first time I went there.

Back in January of 2006, I stopped in Chicago to visit some friends. I was strung out at the time of that trip. My job, which had required me to work up to 80 hours a week with no overtime, was really getting to me. Yeah, it's cliche, but I was feeling completely empty. During the visit, my friends took me to the Art Institute. It's not like I'd never been there before. But that time was different. Something sparked inside of me, and for the first time in nearly a decade, I felt that I wanted to be an artist. I ran down to the gift shop and bought a cheap sketchbook and a pen. And for the first time in my life I was inspired to keep a sketchbook. I'd bought dozens of sketchbooks over the years, but after a few cursory drawings on the first few pages, I'd cast the sketchbook aside, never to be used again. But that day, I discovered the pleasure of keeping a sketchbook. It didn't matter if I was just doodling on the sides of the pages, or drawing intricate images. All that mattered was that I was drawing, and that I kept drawing.

It's now December of 2006. Less than a week 'til 2007. I'm on my sixth sketchbook of the year. The previous five have been filled up with doodles, drawings, ideas, the basis of finished works, aborted images, notes and a clear record of my growth as an artist over the past year. I can't believe it took me until I was well into my mid-20s to discover sketching. I don't know what I did before it.

Anyway, here are two drawings I did during my (waking) hours while I was last in Chicago.