Are you an artist?

I was asked this question today as we milled around in the early morning waiting to board our slow boat on the Mekong River. I tend to pull out a small sketchbook when I am waiting, to alleviate the boredom, and we met a nice young Japanese guy who saw my quick sketch from the day before. That   question, "are you an artist"? always catches me off guard, as I sometimes feel shy just saying "Yes". Jim said it is easy, that it is a one word answer. This time I replied that I like to keep sketchbooks.

In the time we have been traveling, I have sketched lots of places, and I think I have had exactly one person( the Japanese guy) comment on my sketches. 

I am always very excited when I see other sketchers working in public, and this happened twice in Penang, Malaysia.

One was a fellow American from Maine, who comes there frequently and always sketches on the street.

We had a great discussion about sketching in public and I marveled at his detailed pen and ink drawings, especially given the heat of Penang. Later that day I saw a woman showing off her sketches to anyone who would look. I've never been brave enough to do that!

The next day in Georgetown I took a taxi to view a wonderful exhibit by the Urban Sketch group in Penang. 

Wow, I wish I could sketch like this! Or that I could handle being in that heat long enough to sketch anything!

But back to the boat trip....

We had wanted to go on the Mekong River in Laos, and finally decided that a few hours would probably be ok, rather than the much more expensive and lengthy trips. As it turned out, that was a good decision.

Again, these boats are built for smaller people than we are and the seats are hard. So riding for two hours each way was plenty. The big destination was the caves where Buddha statues have been stored for centuries and it was a steep climb. While jim went further still, I decided to sit and sketch the steep karst mountain across the river. Something steep that I didn't have to climb.

My favorite moment was realizing that as I sketched, I had a little audience of older men that hung around the caves for?looking over my shoulder. As I added the palm trees in the foreground, one said "coco dae" and they had a little discussion about that, and no doubt, my water brush and custom paint set. Another man peered into the distance and said" coco dae", as if seeing those palms for the first time. 

I wish I could say that I sketch everyday, but some days I am simply too hot, or too tired, but I always carry my small sketch book in my bag, for sketches on the go.

 And for times I don't feel comfortable taking a photo. This was a sight we saw in many guises on the ferry from our Malaysian beach holiday. 

And just to clarify, on my passport forms, under profession I write " artist".