Watermark and Gary the Marker Man

One of my favorite places to sketch is Doma Café in the West Village, NYC.  I sit in the corner facing the huge windows where I can people watch and drift in and out of thought.  There's always a man, maybe in his late 40's/early 50's drawing people with his fancy markers - any time of day, any day of the week.  Most days he sits outside, and during rain or snow, he'll sit inside (we battle for my favorite seat sometimes).  It reminds me of my sister when she was in high school and college, purposely going to crowded places so she can draw people.  What do you think this man's story is?  He's definitely not homeless - he's got nicely soled shoes and the fancy markers cost a meals worth.

Well I've been creating his story in my head - His name is Bob.  No.. Gary... yeah, it's Gary.  Gary the Marker Man, a famous illustrator.  He's patient, gentle and sweet - much like  Andy Goldworthy, except Gary has splashes of metropolitan.  Gary's got one boy named Alexander, around 7 years old, and a wife, Jillian - a hard working publisher.  It's all connecting now - Gary sketches people so he can come up with children book illustrations (how does that sound?).  He draws people during the day, then takes his drawings home with him and turns them into colorful cartoons at night.  On weekends, he'll go to fancy gala's with his wife, and instead of mingling with people, he'll sneak off to a tucked away corner between the chocolate dipped strawberries and ridiculous ice sculpture so he can continue observing and sketching.  Because this is Gary the Marker Man's way of finding peace amongst his high energy life in New York...    

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Shoot, it's 8pm, time to go so I can make it home in time for Lost.  As I'm packing up, a super cool watermark from under my glass caught my eye...

(please don't laugh at my drawings!)

With a hand saw, I create my own die out of acrylic, which was used to create the hallow form shape.

Marriage of metals technique - I saw out the different strips, solder them together, then clean them up (10 hours of bliss and cursing).

28 hours invested, but seeing it done makes it all worth it to me (click here to see the final piece)... These pair of earrings represent my watermark on the world - what is yours?