Yesterday found me drawing at an annual event that I truly enjoy--- for several reasons.
I grew up living not more than a mile from an ice rink, and it was far and away my favorite (and pretty much only) form of exercise during most of the year. And when the Winter Olympics came around, figure skating was the only competition that didn't glaze over my eyeballs. So, drawing the young ladies at this tournament is a nice change of pace for me, from the thousands of (ho-hum ;-) baseball-themed caricatures I have drawn in my career…
Below: This is the ONLY boy I drew all day. a stalwart little brother who cheered on his medal-winning big sis.
When the last medal was given out, I packed up my gear and was about to head home, when I decided to ask when the next public skating session started. ( This huge complex has two rinks----the little one of my childhood, which was owned by a Philadelphia Flyer, was rinky-dink in comparison) The next public skate wasn't scheduled to start for another two hours, but the nice lady I spoke to said, 'why don't you go enjoy the last half hour of the current session', and stamped my hand gratis!
I hadn't been on skates for more than ten years! Running through my mind was the fate of a friend and fellow caricaturist, who had an ice-skating accident and severely injured her drawing hand and shoulder. She was able to make lemonade out of a pretty rotten lemon by using learning to use her other hand, (among other things she learned) but I'm sure she would have preferred not to go through all that physical and mental pain. I decided to be REALLY CAREFUL for the half hour allotted to me. :-)
Surprise! It took almost one whole spin around the rink to get my skating knack back! And I didn't fall, and even felt brave enough to whiz around with my iPhone in hand:
Course, it's nothing on these little athletes:
Maybe I'll go buy some wrist guards. :-)
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