My Friday afternoons truly begin just after I finish a biology lab - BioSci 106 or BioSci 103, alternating each week. This means that I am usually either feeling on top of the world for having conquered yet another experiment, or am completely rock bottom and smelling of fish insides. Depending on which end of the spectrum I'm in, I  buy a new book  to either celebrate or commiserate.

I tend to buy my books from second hand bookstores because I've always imagined that the books there are like the older children in orphanages who never get adopted because they aren't as cute as the younger kids (I'm far too sympathetic towards inanimate objects). I don't usually get the urge to buy books while I'm still in town, it most often kicks in when I'm on the train home and I stop by Grey Lynn or Ponsonby to get my fix. But today I got the shakes for a new old book way before I planned on leaving town, so I went about getting myself some book action (seriously, I sound like a super bookworm but thats only because I am). I spent roughly 40 minutes trying to find a second hand bookstore in town, even asking nice elderly folk using my best tourist voice to show me the way, but had no luck.

I eventually gave up and just headed into Whitcoulls, feeling a pang of guilt for the orphan books I would not take back to a loving home. I perused the many sections of Whitcoulls downtown, but nothing jumped out at me saying "Buy me, I'm awesome!" (although, to be honest I would have been very startled if something had). I was up in the stationary section looking for a new sketchbook to draw some SimAntics in, as I'd almost gone through my first one, when I came across a sign that said "PURE GRAPHITE".

Now, I'm not sure whether it was the big bold writing encapsulated in a jagged yellow star or the sense of giant manhoodity the words PURE GRAPHITE exuded, but I decided to buy two. After I had made the purchase, and almost left the store, I decided to come back to the cashier and ask him: "Ummm...what is a pure graphite?"

It turns out pure graphite sticks are hunks of lead (an unfortunate piece of naming, as it is actually made of Carbon [C] not Lead [Pb]) so big they don't need a wooden sheath like ordinary pencils. Apparantly, artists prefer using these as they allow a variety of shading and applications when sketching.
I'm not an artist, I tend to leave the art making to professionals, but I really enjoyed sketching this image of a woman reclining on the ground and her lips, using my new graphites.


My model was some woman in Albert Park, she wasn't naked at the time, but it was just much easier (and far more fun) to draw her naked than with clothes on (if you are that woman, I apologise and promise never to imagine you naked again).

It was kind of scary how easy it was to disrobe the woman, and then sketch her. Perhaps this is somehow my hidden superpower....not exactly the worst power in the world, I just wish it was a little less pervy. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Give me feedback on what you think of my new power, especially if you are good at art and have tips.