The green dragon in Seattle

And all the love there and everywhere

We took the train to Seattle this week. I mentioned in my last newsletter that we were going... and during our trip I worked on this sketchbook page below off and on. Shaky pen lines are due to train juddering, us walking, bus bouncing and so forth. I only did one page spread in my sketchbook because one of the purposes of the trip was to rest my drawing and writing hand… and yet I wanted to record our trip in ways besides taking photos. I've noticed that when I just snap photos I don't pay attention in the same ways that I do when I draw or write.

In Seattle, Washington we walked everywhere. We saw this green dragon at a very busy intersection and a photo is all that was possible as I walked through the crosswalk. Yes, I thought about stopping and sketching it but safety first! 😁

The main attraction, besides the coffee, was The Seattle Public Library. It is a fantastic 10 story literary labyrinth - 363,000 square feet with more than 1.4 million books and materials - Jorge Luis Borges probably had this library (or one like it 😉) in mind when he wrote the short story The Library Of Bable.

I, however, thought about love.

All of those millions of writers who spent years of their lives on topics they loved and/or cared deeply about. All of those millions of publishers, printers, book binders, illustrators etc who gave years of their lives to support the projects that they too loved and cared about. Plus all of the groups of ordinary people, educators, librarians, book conservationists and document restorers who have worked throughout time to save, protect and preserve the books they loved and cared for. That's a lot of love and care over a huge swath of human history. So for me books (and art) are the tactile, tangible, evidence of love.

Speaking of tactile things… also in the library was a jaw-dropping topographic globe. This globe and maps in general are more examples of people loving… in this case, loving places.

The library also had art exhibits!

There was a wonderful exhibit of artwork by Charles White in one large room within the library.

There was an amazing exhibit of artwork by Elizabeth Catlett in another large room in the library.

Out of respect I didn't take photos of their artwork but I've included links (their names are clickable) so you can see some more examples of the artwork I saw in the exhibits at the library (click for details and a slideshow about this exhibit) of the artwork of Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett.

See all the love there too??? Love from the artists and from all of the people who love and care for the artists’ art…

Of course my wife and I did our small part to love and support this treasure of hope for humanity and we bought books and a bag from the public library gift shop.

My spirits were revived by our trip - especially by the library portion of it - but I'm physically tired. During the trip I got food poisoning, our train home turned, due to technical issues, into a charter bus ride of epically eternal porportions… suffice it to say my wife and I and our fellow train/bus travelers dealt admirably with all of it. The many train and bus people were quick to respond, they were careful, kind and considerate of all of us - really admirable given the circumstances. More evidence of love in this world!

I was reminded that it's not what happens that matters most it's how we perceive things, our attitudes towards them and the ways we choose to respond that matters to our own wellbeing and to the wellbeing of our fellow travelers in this life.

The day after we got home I summed up our trip in my sketchbook during breakfast.

I’m feeling much better however, due to the aforementioned adventures, please excuse my casual mention, without images, of my upcoming fine art exhibit Figures Of Speech - which opens Oct 5 - by only including this sentence about it and this link.

Anyhoo please know, via all the art and books currently existing in this world, that you are loved.