I got up early on the day after the Dallas Marathon that Caitlin and I ran in. Caitlin and Linda were sleeping in so I went off to Starbucks to draw and have some coffee.
The sun rose as I started to draw, hitting this woman who was studying intently. The pale yellow glow was focused directly on her and I quickly started getting her down on paper. After I had drawn her top half she got up, picked up her backpack and laptop and looked like she was getting ready to leave. Luckily she was just going to the bathroom. When she returned she crossed her legs as you see here and I was able to finish drawing her without it looking disconnected from the top.
She kept her head down for a good portion of the time but I had to draw her facial features from memory since I hadn’t drawn them while she was sitting the first time and now her face was turned at an angle. I kept waiting for her to turn back to the right side of her page so I could see her face straight on again but she didn’t.
I showed her the drawing after I was done. I try to gauge the reaction from the people I draw and I definitely felt that while she was impressed to some degree, she was also perhaps a bit freaked out by it. I introduced myself, gave her my card and told her to contact me if she was interested in seeing the drawing after I had finished it. I asked her name and I thought she said ‘Alton’ but when I repeated it back to her she said what I thought was ‘Alta’. So, until I hear otherwise, she is Alta!
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Drawing and story by Marty Coleman
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