I often go to The Drunken Monkey (444 N Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL) after work if I need to kill some time before heading out to an evening event. I enjoy the coffee, hot paninis and the local art on the walls. Patrons are almost always sitting alone staring at their laptops. While they are captives to their computers, I am captive to my sketch pad. My sketching must be more socially acceptable today because people are often busy working while in a crowd. Since everyone around me is so involved looking at computer screens, they never suspect that they are being sketched. I used to use a baseball cap to hide my gaze from suspicious models but now I can stare with immunity. At times I feel I should have been born at the turn of the century but it is easy to blend in while sketching today. Perhaps I have been born at the right time.
I no longer go to Drunken Monkey since they used one of my
sketches without consulting me on their Internet welcome page. I usually
support local businesses but I can’t support theft.