We began the day sitting on the steps in front of the Art Institute of Chicago and watched the world go by. Waiting to cross Michigan Avenue were pedestrians
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and a biker.
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Also sitting on the AIC steps was this fellow.
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The bottom half of one of the bronze lions guarding the museum. (I sketched the top half of the same lion during the last Crawl.)
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Behold: the Cone of Shame!
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Yep.
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While sitting on the museum steps, a peculiarly familiar face floated across my peripheral vision. I squinted and realized it belonged to a lecturer I had my freshman year at Columbia—that was four years ago and in NYC. Small world! Unfortunately, I couldn’t sketch him as 1.) he walked up the stairs too quickly; and 2.) I was too preoccupied being befuddled/bewildered/confused/amused to do so much as twitch my drawing hand. I do know, however, that I sketched him to accompany an article three years ago when I illustrated for my school’s undergraduate magazine. If I can find a copy of that issue, I’ll post it here.
Back to the present. After the sketching session at the AIC, we parted ways and I went into Chinatown to watch my mom sing Chinese opera for senior citizens as part of a church function.
My lovely grandmother as we waited for the performances to start.
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Heads bowed in prayer as the show began.
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One of the emcees, plus the piano player.
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My “9 Uncle” (my mom comes from a family of nine children—he’s the ninth, and my mother’s the seventh) was the other emcee. Included are other performers looking into their songbooks.
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More singers reading from their songbooks. One woman sported a Carol Brady mullet. I was intrigued.
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My mom performs.
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On the El back into the Loop.
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On the El up to Wicker Park.
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There, a friend and I relaxed in a Spanish restaurant and treated ourselves to tapas: one dish of lamb pops
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with polenta and one dish of garlic crusted bread with tomato sauce and goat cheese. I’m not much of a cheese person (I know, I know, I’m a freak of nature; it’s also ironic since I helmed my undergraduate art gallery for years in which I’d often entice potential opening reception attendees with the tagline, “Free wine and cheese! Wine. And cheese. FREE. Did I mention it was free?”), so I let my friend go to town with it.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4614528351_145c9260ba.jpg)
I cannot reiterate enough how wonderful of an idea SketchCrawl is and how it really does push us to truly see the world, to notice the little things that we often take for granted. I, for instance, realized that many people wear glasses. Hey, it’s an important takeaway, if you ask me!
Thanks for viewing my sketches!
Cheers,
Jenny