National Ball Cap Day
10:01 AM
Is it my imagination or has the old-fashioned courtesy of taking your hat off when you're inside gone the way of the unicorn?
We went to dinner with my father-in-law the other night and I was amazed at the number of guys (and a few gals) with hats on. I drew the two gentlemen in the sketch above simply because they were sitting in front of us. It also surprised me to see a guy wearing a purple polo! Go, dude, good for you.
It started out as sketching practice—and I'm pleased to say I'm improving—before becoming more of an awareness about the hats. You haven't seen the other people sketches because they looked more like aliens. Disfigured aliens. Maybe a few zombie aliens. Definitely not pretty. But highly entertaining.
I started looking around and it seemed over 50% of the male population was wearing hats. I'm sure this is nothing new. It's just one of the many gifts of sketching—it tends to raise your level of awareness about what's going on right in front of you.
Have you had that happen to you? You're sketching a place or a thing and suddenly you're launched down a totally unexpected path of learning because the sketching made you slow down to observe? That's what keeps me sketching. Those unexpected paths that lead me to random, seemingly unrelated learnings...that nearly always comes back into play at a later date.
I especially find travel journaling to be like that. Maybe because my mind is already open to new experiences in a place I've not been before. My left brain becomes a little like a toddler, "Why? Why this? Why that? How come that's green or he's wearing that or she said that?"
The cool thing about my left brain being busy is that it leaves my right brain alone and allows it to do what it does best, draw.
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If you're interested in learning more about sketching on location, come and join me for An Imaginary Visit To Sweden, starting on April 7th. We'll be explore the country, its people and history. Click here for more info.
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P.S. And by the way, National Hat Day is in January. As far as I know there's no National Ball Cap Day! Happy April!!
P.S.S. I am one spread away from being finished with this no name watercolor sketchbook that has been my purgatory for the last six months or so. Cannot wait to be finished with it so I can get back to my beloved Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
5 Creative Thought(s)
This post reminds me of my Mother. She HATED to see a man indoors with their hat on. I am afraid that she passed that gene on to me. I think it very rude to see someone in a restaurant with a hat on. I still have to remind my son that it isn't allowed at our dinner table. ha... The way the world turns now.
ReplyDeleteI know just how your feel using a sketchbook that you want to use up because you don't care for the paper. Keep on sketching.
I'm afraid to say that the old tradition of taking your hat of may have gone away with a lot of other things from our past! Unfortunately, I am one of those abusers and have worn my ball Into a restaurant if I had a bad hair day! I actually have an incriminating photo of me in a crabby bills restaurant with a ball cap on, LOL! I had just come from an 8 hour fishing charter and had "hat hair" and was not about to take my hat off! "I would not have eaten at the restaurant had I been required to remove my hat, LOL!) I am sure in more exclusive (and pricey) restaurants that have a dress code, they will definitely require you to remove any type of hat.
ReplyDeleteYour theory of sketching things around you making more aware can be applied to other crafts as well. My sewing is inspired by a lot by things around me too and recently I sewed a pair of pajamas in a print that I am seeing everywhere! In carpets, bedspreads, wall paper etc.! I am positive that this print has always been there, and now I am more aware of it because I've used it in one of my projects. Very nice post Laure, it invoked a lot of thought!
Dear Laure great question as well as super sketch. You are right when one loses themselves in the creative process it does make certain things apparent. By the way I do love that purple polo shirt too. Makes up for wearing the ball cap:)! Hugs
ReplyDeleteDear Laure great question as well as super sketch. You are right when one loses themselves in the creative process it does make certain things apparent. By the way I do love that purple polo shirt too. Makes up for wearing the ball cap:)! Hugs
ReplyDeleteFinally a minute to respond on this post. The first time I saw it (probably on Facebook) it really caught my because of the black and white checkered background - very eye catching. So fun to see how you captured these men proudly wearing their baseball caps. As usual I'm always drawn to combinations of handwritten text and watercolor. Great combo here!
ReplyDeleteLet's talk!