Sketching in the sun!

So you're going to have to forgive me for the messed-up timeline. I'm not necessarily posting in the same order that I sketch - the reason for that is that I'm taking part in #30x30directwatercolor, so my priority every day is to post what I have done in the previous 24 hours or so in direct watercolour. But I have some older sketches or projects that I still want to share with you. And as I am busy, I can't always keep up.

So this sketch is from the first week of deconfinement, and I actually managed to sketch with a few friends who live nearby. Some you will recognise, others you won't!

I don't know how everybody's feeling after these last few months. But for me, I'm finding it harder to get back into the real world than I found it to live in lockdown. I'm an introvert. That probably explains part of it. But I think this probably affects most people, even extroverts. A friend of mine who had been in jail for a number of years once told me how strange it was to come out into the real world after being released from prison - the streets, the people, even normal stairs in a normal home were strange to him. So I have to say that I had to do yoga breathing while driving over to the park to meet my friends. It was like my brain was struggling to process all the visual information that was jumping out at me. And the emotions. But I got over it and enjoyed the sketching. So, actually, what I think happened, for me anyway, is that sketching helped me get into a meditative state that calmed me completely. It isn't necessarily my best sketch, but it's a memory of a special morning for me as Ireland exited its lockdown!