I have a friend, who on her walks through Moscow in more peaceful times, and hopefully even now has this exercise.
She would take note in her mind of the people she walked by. Maybe a feature or a gesture or the clothes or a piece of accessory. Then when she got home, she would draw it.
I which each one of you would have your own nuanced daily practice.
If you do have a daily practice, or if you could have a daily practice what would you like that practice to be?
I’m not going to ask you to go on a walk, but there is an exercise that has been around where instead of drawing portraits you write a description of a person from memory, this is your assignment.
Pick a person from memory, it might be a stranger or a close friend, I’m drawn to the image owner of a bagel shop on the corner of University Avenue (it’s not actually a corner, but close enough), He had moved to California from New York to be close to his daughters who were studying in Stanford.
Once you have your person, list down their features from memory, it’s okay to write down your best guess, what were they wearing how did they move, what were their expressions like, did they make a gesture you remember, with each line you might fine more of the details come to mind… keep writing for ten minutes.
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I had an unusual habit of imagining I could touch and feel the textures of plants and trees whilst looking out of a train window … it was very tactile and real in my mind …
I had an unusual habit of imagining I could touch and feel the textures of plants and trees whilst looking out of a train window … it was very tactile and real in my mind …