For some reason it was a Picasso afternoon.
My best drawings just came out that way, slightly cubist. I really liked this man, especially his hat. That's another thing I always rush to draw, people's hats; people seem to wear either baseball caps or this Fedora type, which I especially like. He also had a transister radio(!) with him on the table, and he was playing some kind of cafe music, maybe French? He seemed transported from who knows where, but from somewhere. I was sitting at a distance from him, but sketching for quite a while, so perhaps it was inevitable that he finally noticed I was staring at him. Perhaps inevitable but unusual as I can count on two fingers the times it has actually happened. He yelled over to me with an accent, "Are you writing music?" That was kind of funny, something I've never been asked. It's funny how usually people think I'm writing something, they never think I'm sketching. I decided not to care if they knew I was looking at them, after my answer they seemed satisfied and went back to their conversation, he and a friend.
Here is the friend, continuing the Picasso theme! He looked like a sailor, with his white clothes and hat. Or perhaps a house painter.
Here he is again. I liked how he was sitting with his hands laced together. One of the things I really like about this area is people seem so interested in who they are with, their conversations so deep and sincere and totally involving(just guessing from their gestures as I can't really hear what they are saying, but it's so obvious). They seem to have a lot of time and are thoroughly enjoying themselves and each other. Maybe they have other cares, probably do, but have put them away for now, here in the sunshine and under the trees, at the tables with their friends.
Another thing that was different about this afternoon, I was at the tables again, was everyone was speaking French. A woman with her toddler, a man she struck up a conversation with, it was in the air. I like this drawing, these drawings, I tried so hard not to need them to be complete, and stick to the blind contour, it's easy for me sometimes to let that go, which is ok I suppose but when I do I swear I always get better drawings. So I really tried. This area is such a little community. The people are very friendly, when the man who the mother was talking to left he said goodbye to me and wished me a nice day. It seemed like if you sit there you automatically become one of the group.
I looked to the left and saw the back of this lady, sitting with a man who was reading. I just liked the shapes her body made.
It seems like whenever I feel dissatisfied with a drawing and then draw the person again, I always end up liking the first one best. But I never learn and so drew this lady again. But this time, I actually liked this second one, mainly because even though she only turned slightly, she struck a totally different gesture, her body looked more at rest. The first one is definitely more dynamic, so the difference is what's intriguing.