Author: Adlai Burman

Born in Washington D.C., Adlai Burman now lives and creates in the Czech Republic.
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Still got GA on my mind.


I quickly scrawled this out back in April while “relaxing” and hadn’t thought much of it.
Surprisingly, this large doodle resonated with me more strongly than anything I had been working on. It has remained unfortunately relevant for painfully obvious reasons; hence the repost. Truth be told, the only time I was ever there was as a child when my dad drove down to Florida for a vacation. Practically speaking the state of Georgia has never really crossed my mind except when hearing Ray Charles or Dr. John playing Hoagie Carmichael’s 1930 classic, or when when thinking about William Tecumseh Sherman’s hellacious March to the Sea in late 1864.



I’m over in Prague fretting about the senate runoff election happening now in Georgia amidst all of the dizzying poisonous disinformation that’s shrilling around it. Here it’s almost 11pm due to the six hour time difference. I’ll be asleep when(if) any results come in and whatever fallout that emanates from them start echoing through the chaos that’s brewing in D.C. for tomorrow’s Electoral Vote Count.

Got Georgia on My Mind
-frenzied scribble

Most of us are also concerned about this. A disturbing cohort actually seems to be looking forward to as much chaos and bloodshed as can be summoned.
Please let this craziness subside.

Until then …

Update: it’s 10am here in Prague (4am in Georgia) and I see that Raphael Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler a few hours ago!

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Last Day of State Of Emergency

Prague from our balcony.
It’s nice to be allowed to wander out with minimal restrictions. TBH, though, I imagine I’ll be satisfied exploring the wonders of Prague from around our flat for the foreseeable future. There’s so much to explore right here.

Plus, I get to paddle around with art materials that I wouldn’t normally venture out with; yet, still maintain the spirit of urban sketching!

Be safe, y’all 😊.

#uskathome #urbanscetching #urbansketchersprague #usk #sketchfromhome #nazahonech #souvratni #prague #coronavirusart #quarantineandchill .

Balcony view from quarantine
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Sketching@home In Front of Somewhere Else

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In a few days the state of emergency is going to be lifted here in Prague.

I’m not sure 🤔 what that precisely entails. As far as I understand, some businesses where social distance can be maintained (e.g. not hairdressers and nail salons) will reopen and outdoor activities will be pretty much unrestricted providing limits on group size and density.

It seems most people in Prague have embraced a pretty sober respect for the severity and uncertainty of the pandemic. Whatever the official rules will be after lifting the S.O.E., I imagine that everyone is going to stay hyper aware of the things they are orbiting.

Personally, I’ve only been out a few (3 or 4) times for necessities since the quarantine started in mid-March. Yesterday we resupplied on a lot of groceries at Koloniál Sova, a mostly “bring your own containers” shop that is dedicated to local BIO and international fair trade products. As the S.O.E. is still in place until next week, I do not feel comfortable loitering outside and sketching (that’s my “thang” and I deeply appreciate all of the other urban sketchers who have made the similar judgement calls for having done so).

Opportunity Strikes!

Being out and about in the wilds of Michle was exhilarating after being cooped up for so long. Fortunately we had to wait outside the shop for about 45 seconds for the customer inside to finish. For me, that was a great chance to pull out a pocket A6 sketchbook and scribble a sketch without being encumbered by the possibility of futzing over it. Hopefully, I can bring that spirit of spontaneity home with me and stop preening over and fussing my sketches to death 🤞🏼.
I really do need to loosen up.

FWIW, I am not at all sponsored by Koloniál Sova; I just really think it’s a neighborhood gem 🙂

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The Persistence of Cat Clouds Cloud the Elision of the Clouds of All That Other Stuff

Unsuccessfully Trying to Ignore Our Cats in graphite.
This was supposed to be just a warm up with focusing solely on S curves and gradients.

No cats.
Apparently, I lost on multiple fronts here.

That “other stuff” being eluded is still there blossoming and insists on being dealt with. God knows, I’m wrestling with figuring out how they might be embraced and expressed to the extent that I find myself not able to post anything while futzing over them.

So .., for now, the cats win. Yay 😀.

I’m going back to futzing.