Often when I’m driving, working in the garden, or perhaps out for a run an idea will come to me. It may be a phrase that I might include in a manuscript or a thought about how I could construct a figure or painting. It’s too diffucult to carry a sketch book with you at every moment, so often I need to put something down on paper from memory. You can lose some of the flavor from the moment of inspiration, but it is still best to record what you recall.
Sketch (drawing) is not only the perfect way for me to get down an idea I have very quickly, but also a very relaxing pass time. Artists use this form of illustration for many purposes. I’ve used my sketches as references for a later work, and some drawings have inspired story lines that I’d like to work into completed manuscripts. But one of the greatest pleasures that they bring to me are in the smiles that they bring to young ones when you hand them a quick sketch of themselves and they can see how someone else sees them. It’s a unique experience.