Bohemian Quarantine (day 10)



Ok, I’m still apparently not used to blogging, but I did promise myself that I’d post an urban sketch from quarantine everyday. I’ve gotten all twisted up about the text for today’s (yesterday)’s post because I’m trying to figure out how to say way too much all at once. that I don’t have any idea when I’ll finish it. It seems like the best thing I can do now is just post the unfinished blog post and fill out those bullet points tomorrow.

As a consolation prize, I’m putting another version of almost the same sketch at the end of this unfinished post.


Thanks for bearing with me here 😊

Onto the delinquent post proper!


Zahradní Město from part of the the bedroom window. Yes, I sketched a view of Zahradní Město yesterday. Truth be told, I imagine I’m going to do many more quarantined sketches of it while hunkered in for the duration.
I’m pretty fussy about posting things but the promise I made to myself and abroad to post a daily home urban sketch of Prague presents a number of intriguing challenges for me.
namely:

  • Appreciation. There is no standard obligatorily gorgeous Prague architecture visible through any of the windows of our flat. I think this could be a great opportunity for me to work on trying to find and present whatever poetry I can in the inherently “drab” parts of Prague that are available to me to sketch. I imagine that for Edward Hopper there would be a zillion gems outside my windows. I gotta get better at recognizing them as such on my own.
  • Exploration.
  • Fidelity.
  • (I’m not sure how to phrase this one yet).


Bohemian Quarantine (Day 9)

We’re on the ninth day of quarantine here in Prague. Mostly it’s “self quarantine,” but it is pretty strict. We’re allowed to go out only for necessities (grocery shopping, medical needs, walking dogs, etc.) and everyone has to wear masks while outside. Like everywhere, real masks have been hoarded so everyone’s improvising. I saw one man at the grocery store sporting a World War One era gas mask. Wish I had me one of those.
The world of Urban Sketching has moved into quarantine as well #uskathome. Until recently, I’ve been too busy to join in as I’ve been preoccupied with:

  • moving my English lessons online
  • figuring out the host of other living with corona logistics that most of us are dealing with
  • realizing that I probably should’ve gone with WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com
  • and not feeling well. (don’t worry, it’s MS, not Covid-19)
  • etc

to join in.
Now that we’re more or less settled I’m going to try to post a sketch of Prague as seen from our flat everyday.
this one is a view of Spořilov and Zahradní Místo as seen from the window next to my drawing table in our living room. The empty building in the foreground is an abandoned and gutted concrete blob that sometimes serves as the site for guerrilla techno parties.