At the bottom of every blog post, for the last 8 years, there has been a tag line that reads:

About Bobbie Herron: I live surrounded by watercolor brushes and paints, fountain pens, sketchbooks, and journals- often wanting more than anything to write and paint at the same time. 

Now I am adding one more beloved activity to the mix, officially, even though I have been doing it on and off my whole life: STUDY.  I want to study for the joy of learning how to improve my thinking skills, my living skills. And so, I am beginning a course of formal study in the art of writing.

“But Bobbie, you’re already a good writer, have published three books, have an active blog that people love. Heck, you even own the ProWriting Aid app and actually use it! What more do you want?”

A lot more, so much more, because writing is the endorphin soup I swim in.

For the rest of the year, my weekly blog posts will consist of excerpts from my second book, “Double Take.” I hope it will give you a glimpse into the mind of an enthusiastic urban sketcher who occasionally also ventures forth into the countryside to look, notice, smile, and say, “Look at that!”

I have enjoyed having an every-Sunday-morning-publish-a-new-blog-post practice for the past few months, and this new plan will be a way to ensure I continue to offer you regular quality posts. No cobbling together random thoughts on a Saturday night because I suddenly remember I have “homework” due. All of these upcoming blog posts were “vetted” well in advance.

A bit about Double Take first:

Published in 2022, this book is an artist’s illustrated memoir. After publishing my first book “Look at That!” in 2020 (and having it reach and maintain best seller status for many consecutive months), I decided to write a small volume to reveal the actual human behind the art instruction book. I wanted to show what was going through my heart and mind all those minutes and years while I sketched. I hoped to show how sketching and watercoloring, for me, provides its own incentive and momentum, regardless of skill or vision. This “little” volume with a mind of its own grew to 230 pages with 155 illustrations (at one point it was 40% larger than that!)  and it continues to be a slow-but-steady seller on Amazon.

So this week, we begin with the preface. The back story to the back story. Time for a cuppa and a comfy chair.  Enjoy, and please feel free to comment, send feedback, and leave a smile of appreciation in the Tip Jar!

~~~~~~

“Double Take” Preface: A Return to Joy

In 1992, I quit drawing and sketching forever, or so I thought. Two decades later, on January 24th, 2013, I heard a radio interview with Danny Gregory that changed my life.

At the time, I didn’t know who Danny Gregory was – I was simply driving my car, listening to a favorite talk show. During the interview, the NHPR host asked Danny about the role that sketching played in his life. Danny’s answer was casual and eloquent.

He described how he’d worked for many years in advertising in New York, and carried an inexpensive sketchbook with him, a normal tool of the trade, that he used for taking notes while brainstorming with clients, colleagues, as well as jotting down random campaign ideas throughout the day. Like me, he could think better when he had a pen in his hand.

One day, a life-altering family tragedy occurred. His wife was badly injured, and suddenly Danny became the sole care-provider for their toddler son while his wife was being cared for in the hospital.

He told a story about one day, when his son had just gone down for a nap, and Danny suddenly felt overwhelmed. Without thinking, he picked up his sketchbook and a pen, sat down, and just stared at the items on the shelf in front of him. He began tracing the edges of the items, not really drawing them, just slowly doodling the shape of the “skyline” of the bottles. After a few minutes, he noticed two things: there was a very wonky sketch on the page in front of him, and also, for some mysterious reason, he felt a little less overwhelmed. I smiled. I knew that feeling.

The radio interview ended, and I finished my drive home. The next day, I walked to my local bookstore, Gibson’s, and found a copy of Danny’s book, Everyday Matters. The book felt like a secret talisman in my hands. I carried it to the checkout counter and thought, “Perhaps this is the key I need to unlock my heart, to return to sketching for joy, not results. Maybe I can learn to play again.”

I had left drawing and painting and my identity as an artist behind twenty years prior, in 1992, because I was going blind. Suddenly, that didn’t feel like a good enough reason.

(to be continued…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Public comments can be posted below.

Private questions or comments will reach me by using the Contact link here.

All three of my books are available on Amazon in eBook and paperback formats. The newest book, Look at That! – Second Edition, is also available as a beautiful hardcover.

If you find these posts valuable, I hope you will make a contribution to The Tip Jar. It is a secure site, it helps keep me and this website solvent and is greatly appreciated!

 As always, thanks for spending some time with me “aloft.” Happy sketching!