Yesterday I took my daughter to an art workshop at a museum. The topic was William Blake and his printmaking and poetry. The kids carved the initial first letter of a poem and an image to go along with whatever poem they selected. They made prints of their carvings and then hand copied the poem on the page.

As the kids worked, I kept my eye on the supplies. When I saw there was plenty left over, I asked the instructors if the parents could make some artwork too. A few adults joined me at the supply table, and we gathered what we needed quickly as it was close to the museum's closing time.

The security guards eventually kicked us out, and my work was rushed...but it was fun to make!

I'm pretty sure the kids in the workshop had fun too.

The Song of the Geranium Fairy was written by Cicely Mary Barker.

While we made art, my son played goalie for the first time in soccer. Two goals got past him, but watch out next time! Season stats so far: 1 win, 2 losses, 2 ties.

I found a great big rose bush on my morning walk the other day, in a traffic median of all places. It's sort of an odd spot to stop and draw a picture and drink my coffee, but I can't resist the rose hips.

Colored pencil and regular pencil, Moleskine. The colors didn't scan very well. The drawing is much browner than it looks on the screen, so maybe squint and use your imagination to get the proper look.

Snippets I've heard lately:

"You ain't got swagger in that wrinkly shirt, man."
Man to his buddy on the subway.

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"Don't try to do it for ten minutes. Go for one minute or even one second. One second is better than no seconds." Teacher to student. Does it matter what the teacher is teaching for this advice to apply?

I'm breaking up the image in my head that I need solitude, silence, and space to work on my writing and drawing. When I really look at my day, look at it as closely as I look at a flower when I draw it or as closely as a memory when I use it in a story, I see spaces in my day ... spaces with enough room for a piece of paper and pencil.

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"Where did you get your shirt?" This comment was directed at me. I wore my t-shirt with the name of my neighborhood sprawled across it while drawing a tree yesterday morning. A woman walking by noticed my shirt and asked me about it.

"I got it at the bike shop," I said.

"You go there? To the bike shop? I've lived here forever and I've never been in that shop. You really go there?

"I bought this shirt there, so yeah, I guess I go there."

"Right," she said, "I've never been inside that place. The bike shop, huh? That's the only place that sells those shirts?"

"Or that really cute coffee shop on the corner."

"Oh good!" she said, "They have a knitting group there."

I don't knit or bike much, but I got swagger in my shirt, even if it's only for one second at a time.

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A series of unfinished drawings is better than no series of finished drawings.

A tree.

I'm learning how to make the best use of my time in the mornings. I need to practice faster renderings in my limited time, and that's what I did with this tree. I'd like to get an even lighter hand with the lines and learn how to say more with less. Perhaps this tree will teach me, if I visit it again and again. It's a lovely tree, tucked away in a quiet place behind the corner of a building.

Today I sat under a sweet gum tree by the Highbridge Water Tower, just above the Harlem River.

As I drew this page in my sketchbook, an exercise class was working out on the plaza by the tower. It might have been a prison program instead of an exercise class. I couldn't really tell.

The female instructon (warden?) shouted to the group of men working out, "I don't want to hear any of your bitch-assiness!" When one class member (inmate?) didn't count his pushups, she kicked him.

I moved to a bench a bit further down the plaza and I tried to get interested in drawing the tower, but the sweet gum tree blocking my view of the tower captured my attention more.

I drew my view, plus a leaf and a crazy sweet gum seed pod I picked up from the sidewalk, but I was frustrated with the tower. I don't like how the building looks on my page, but I'm not going to get all bitch-assy about it.

If you're keeping track, the purple team won the soccer game today.

Colored pencil in Moleskine sketchbook.