Drawing in the cold no. 2

I´ve been out drawing in the cold again, it´s been one of those lovely winter days with sparkling sunshine and glistening snow. The thermometer said -9°C but it felt warmer than last time I went out (see earlier post). Today it was dry and cold – much easier to dress for than damp and cold.

I was sitting at a park bench while drawing the oak tree and since sitting on a cold surface seldom does any good if you´re trying to keep warm, I didn´t finish the shadowing there. I just took some notes and finished them at home. Then I went closer to home and drew the houses – they are on the street where we live. I drew them standing near a sidewalk, and I got a lot of glances from passers-by, but noone said anything. (About drawing in public: I´ve noticed that people seldom start talking to you while you´re drawing if you avoid looking at them. Eye-contact seems to be the key that makes people feel it´s okay to take a look at what you´re doing and start a conversation. If I don´t feel like talking, I just concentrate on my drawing and ignore the people around me.)

My new favourite tool for drawing when it´s cold is this cheap little bic pencil which I otherwise use only to do crosswords. It´s actually quite good to draw with since it´s 2B, and you don´t have to bring a sharpener for it. The eraser on it is crap, but I usually don´t use erasers anyway when I sketch outside. I kind of like to keep my mistakes on the paper and just keep drawing over them. By the time I finish my drawings the mistakes are often covered by five or ten new lines (or other mistakes), so no one will see them anyway. I hope.