One of my favorite blogs, Life of an Architect, recently penned a post called—for lack of a better phrase on my part, "The Joy of Sketch." Bob's blog has always provoked a combination of misty-eyed nostalgia, envy, and abject admiration in me. It's a constant (although not unwelcome) reminder of the career I regrettably—albeit voluntarily—walked away from 20 years ago. In fact I've exchanged a few emails with the him regarding my own sense of loss at having left the field. He's urged me to get back on the horse if I miss it that much, but at this point in my life I know if nothing else my knowledge of construction (how the bits and pieces actually go together to create a structure)—if not my CAD/drawing skills themselves—are too far gone to ever entertain returning to the profession, but at doesn't mean a guy can't dream…or at least dabble on his own.
A few weeks ago, while waiting with Ben in the checkout line at Michael's, I spied a display of sketch books that were on sale. They were sitting there screaming in my ear to buy them, but I dismissed that siren call by rationalizing, "When do I have time to sit and draw?" After we'd left, I immediately regretted that decision. It was now like an itch I couldn't scratch. Make time, damn it! Seeing those sketchbooks reminded me of how much I used to enjoy drawing. I mean at one point, architectural drawing and sketching was my life.
The itch didn't go away, so the following weekend I returned to the store and picked up one of the books along with an assortment of pens.
My first attempt, a free-hand sketch of what we'd like to do to our house if we ever bought it, didn't turn out well. I mean, it was acceptable in a first-attempt, amateurish sort of way, but certainly not what I remember myself being capable of doing. I didn't beat myself up too much over it because I knew those skills had atrophied over the years from disuse, and it would take a concerted effort to get them back to where they once were.
So to that end, I cracked open the book again this past weekend and this time (armed with a pencil and architectural scale) I did much better. Still not what I used to be capable of—I could actually draw perfectly straight lines without assistance at one point and wondered why everyone else couldn't—but it definitely more in line with what I was hoping for. And quite frankly, I was surprised how easily using the scale returned to me…
All I can say is, "Practice, practice…"