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Lots to update on, so I’m going to split this up into separate posts.  Just got back from a week in Toronto visiting friends and family.

This is my fifth time visiting, but this was the first time that I was bringing a sketchbook.  There was a moment when my mother-in-law, I call her “Ah-Ma”, asked me why I sketched all the time.  At the time, I told her that I was doing it for practice, and trying to get better at my craft, but for some reason, that answer didn’t feel quite accurate to me.  When I later reflected on that conversation, I realized that the real reason was because it helped me to have a new outlook at what was before me.  I never thought about how sketching forces me to be more observant about the things in front of me, how it causes me to sift through the vast amount of visual information in front of me to get to what Walt Stanchfield calls the “first impression”.  And it helps me to see the story that’s behind every seemingly insignificant gesture or moment whether it be someone stirring their coffee, a couple having a conversation, or a weathered shipping yard; there’s always an individual backstory to everything and everyone.

So here were some of the moments that I managed to capture, some accurately, some not so great.  Regardless, what I would’ve expected to be a routine family visit turned out to be rich with enjoyable moments and little surprises.

 

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Toronto 2013, Part 1

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