My work as an audio-visual technician gave me ample opportunities to observe the people around me. Once you’ve done the hard work of setting up the show and making sure everything’s right, it’s usually just a matter of sitting though other peoples’ sales meetings, motivational speeches, awards banquets, company picnics, etc. Might as well draw.

This collection of sketches comes from my early days of working and living in Kansas City. It’s interesting now, two decades later, to see graphic evidence of people doing quaint things like talking on land-line phones, writing notes with pen and paper, and smoking indoors. And no one is staring at a smart phone! Nowadays, it’s a challenge to draw someone who isn’t.

The drawings were all made with black and sepia wax pencils in a tiny (2 3/4” x 4”) Lama Li sketchbook. I don’t see these sketchbooks around anymore, and I miss them. They were made in Nepal from a type of paper that allowed for nice textures and gradations of tone with a pencil. They were, however, poorly bound; this one has pretty much fallen apart.

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On the DC Metro, 2017-21