Drawing in NYC

What it conjures up that I usually suppress

The A train is my subway, I live way uptown in Manhattan. It’s a drag sometimes to live a bit removed from the “action,” but it has its positives. One is riding the subway for a half hour regularly. I can draw while I ride and there’s a lot to see as humanity gets on and off.

Just now, I am on said subway and did 2.1 drawings in my iPhone. But I have a story to go along with the drawings.

When I live-draw in cities, I have to be hyper aware of my surroundings, for obvious reasons- some of which have to do with creativity and others with safety.

I got on the train at 207th and found a seat. It’s where the subway ends so the train is often very unpopulated and just waiting for riders. I started drawing this woman with a hat across from me. This is as far as I got:

Soon, I heard a woman behind me ask loudly for a dollar for water and when I looked around, she was bent over a plastic bag and eating voraciously. Food was strewn messily on the seat. She seemed unhinged. Out of a safety I moved further away. Others did as well. Before I finally decided to move to another car, I drew this man:

When I sat down in the next car, two small elderly ladies also sat down and one of them was in the phone. I overheard that she was talking to someone — an official— about the woman we all fled from, and how she needed help.

I felt suddenly ashamed that I had not done anything. I thanked the elderly woman for making the call.

In NYC, I am constantly unsure what to do about homeless or destitute or mentally challenged folks on the street that I am seeing, everywhere. Giving money here and there seems pointless. Is it? For a while I carried change just for those who ask for it, but stopped doing that. Not sure why.

I suppose donations to organizations to help in a bigger way is the answer. Is this post just a way to assuage my guilt?

Thoughts?