One of the few attributes of long travel days, despite the many hours spent in airports and on planes, is that there’s not much to do but read (and sketch, of course). How many days in a given year does one have the luxury of being able to sit with a book for hours on end?
Waiting 1 ©2016 Elizabeth Fram Airport gate areas are a terrific place to draw
A couple of weeks ago, while heading back and forth to and from California — after I’d had enough of my book, and the people I was drawing in the waiting area had all begun to look the same — I caught up on several months of articles I had saved to Pocket. Do you know about Pocket? If not, you should. It’s an app that offers a way to save all the items you come across on the web but don’t have time to read right away, making it possible to access them when you do have time — across all your devices…and it’s free!
Waiting 2 ©2016 Elizabeth Fram Most waiting travelers, regardless of age, are plugged into their devices. The advantage is they are oblivious to a lonely sketcher. The downside is there is little variation in body posture as most have nearly the same bend of the neck and hand placement while looking at their phones or tablets.
Aside from the ongoing slew of links that I stockpile, digest, and then discard, I have a few items saved in my Pocket that I’ll keep permanently. I hold onto them to reread from time to time because they’re just that good.
Water ©2016 Elizabeth Fram Sketching my water bottle, poking out of the seat pocket in front of me, helped to pass the time during a 5 hour flight.
Entrepreneur and writer James Altucher’s excellent post entitled What I Learned About Life After Interviewing 80 Highly Successful People is one such piece. I am happy to return to it from time to time, not just as a means of giving me a bit of a boost when needed, but also to help me remember to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. It contains 15 short maxims; points that seem appropriate no matter where we stand as we strive to keep moving forward with our goals. It’s too lengthly for me to transcribe here, so please follow the above link. I think it’s well-worth sharing and hope you agree.
Pen Cap ©2016 Elizabeth Fram …and then I moved on to drawing my own left hand – and covertly, the hands of the passenger to my right who was lost in his newspaper.
Do these ideas resonate with you as well? I keep coming back to “Many moments of small positive, personal interactions build an extraordinary career”… or, one might also say “life”… don’t you think?
❖
In case you can go: This month members of the Vermont chapter of the Surface Design Association are exhibiting at Frog Hollow, Vermont State Craft Center in Burlington, in a show entitled “Material Matters”. We have an active and motivated group across the state and the show reflects that commitment.
Parterre 2 ©2015 Elizabeth Fram
The term “surface design” was coined to identify “manipulations of textiles that go beyond woven constructions”. Legendary textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen explained the term best by expressing his opinion that surface designers are interested in fabric as geography, in providing unlimited options for dimensional and structural enhancements, greater possibilities for opening interior spaces, and more opportunities for experimenting with color, texture, and design.
Frog Hollow has created this catalog of the exhibit, which you can browse through at your leisure. It offers an idea of the breadth of work on view and includes information about the participating artists.