A Day With Geese

A few weeks ago, Mom and I decided to spend the afternoon sketching at the park. It was one of those perfect day, warm sunshine and blue skies. The park sits next to a small lake, and from where we were sitting you could see the grain towers in the distance.

If you're from around here, you will know exactly which ones I'm talking about. They're one of the first things you notice when coming into town. They're tall, industrial, and have become part of the landscape. Today they seemed worth slowing down and really looking at.

So, I pulled out my sketchbook and spent some time sketching the grain towers while Mom worked on her own drawings nearby. There's something satisfying about sitting in one place long enough to notice details that usually get overlooked. Sketching has a way of making me pay attention.

While I was drawing, I couldn't help but notice the geese. There were quite a few of them scattered around the lake, a mix of the familiar Canada geese and several large white geese. They spent most of the afternoon doing what geese do, swimming, wandering, arguing with one another, and acting like they owned the place.

After I finished sketching the grain towers, the geese started making their way toward us.

Normally, geese keep their distance. These geese, however, seemed completely unafraid of us. They waddled right over as if we were old friends. I'm guessing they've been fed by visitors more than a few times because they didn't seem to have the slightest bit of fear. Watching them inspired me to start sketching. I spent the next little while sketching them as they wandered around the shoreline and paddled through the water.

Those quick sketches ended up becoming more important than I realized at the time.

Since that day, those geese have found their way into several more drawings and even inspired a painting called Three Geese and a Couch. The funny thing is that the painting has almost nothing to do with the park itself. The geese came from that afternoon at the lake, but the couch and house were inspired by other places. Somehow the ideas collided and became something entirely different.

3 Geese and a Couch

That's one of the things I love about keeping a sketchbook. Sometimes a sketch is just a sketch. Other times it becomes the seed of something larger later. You never really know what will stick with you.