It's weird meeting people you idolize, like, good weird. I got to be a part of a Ladies Drawing Night here in DC hosted by some of my absolute favorite illustrators and (clearly) my inspirations, Julia Rothman, Leah Goren and Rachael Cole.
I'll skip the part where a 27 minute commute took me an hour and the part where I looked for a parking spot for 20 minutes and the part where I stumbled to the building and found the door locked because I was 24 minutes late... And go straight to the part where I was warmly greeted by Rachael and invited to enter a cozy, Christmas lit room full of girls sitting together getting their art supplies out to start making things. (Run on sentence.)
Since I was fashionably late, I missed the chance to sit down and instead found a small bar table and got some markers and sign pens and chipboard out to sketch on. I immediately got to meet all my favorites and they told me I was cool for bringing candy and showered me with wine. (I took the cool part very seriously, obviously.) We then spent the next hour and a half posing for each other and just drawing. I personally didn't pose because I'm shy as crap when in a room full of strangers but I got to draw a lot of pretty girls and that was dope. The room had a ton of ladies aging from 8 years old to like, I don't know 60? All using different mediums, all with different styles, some "known" in the art world, some like me- nobodies, and some who have never drawn before.
(My giant head in the foreground)
It was finally a chance to interact with the creatives of DC and see who is making what. I can't say figure drawing is my best talent (ask my college professor, he said I sucked,) but hey, I had fun!
I also got drawn by Leah which is honestly all I needed in life. Arrow pointing me, duh.
I then had to walk back to my crazy far parking spot in the dark in a really sketchy neighborhood and got some nice catcalls from some class A jerks. A suburban full of guys drove past and made fun of my chubby legs and I was traumatized. Especially since I just bought the skirt I was wearing and I thought it was flattering... Haha! But that just fuels my creativity, so it's cool.
Diagram sketch of the outfit I was wearing when I got yelled at.
Now I'm on a real drawing kick! More soon!
Marimekko inspired flowers in gouache.
