Pretty much the only occasion I have to leave any particular domicile I happen to inhabit is in search of mind altering substances. The one that seems most readily available most everywhere is caffeine. Particularly here in portland it is impossible to wander without stumbling across dozens of drug dens peddling this fine fine nectar. Every time I start a drawing I'm faced with a bit of a choice, to just let the curves and scribbles form themselves into a somewhat nonsensical conglomeration of forms and shades, or to impose some sort of form and order on them, attempting to guide them to acquiesce into specific shapes. The latter usually seems too daunting a task, and has always felt almost like I'm faking or something. But, that sometimes doesn't stop me from trying. One of the few things I've ever been taught about drawing is that you shouldn't draw things from memory, instead you have to carefully observe a real subject and almost forget the nature of the object you are drawing and let it dissolve into form and value. The mind will simplify and flatten and standardize your perceptions if it is left to its own devices. Needless to say, I don't quite agree with this lesson. Whether it is on some sort of philosophic grounds or just because I feel uncomfortable drawing real things, I tend to only draw either completely made up things or things twisted and processed through my sense and recollections. I try to be very observant whenever I am anywhere, but it is still quite a challenge to come up with the random debris of existence that we see so often that we are immaculate in erasing it from our memories. Whether it is populating a street with common objects (aside from the strangely forthcoming newspaper dispensers) or trying to remember what kinds of furnishings one sees in the coffeeshops one visits on an almost daily basis, filling a scene with objects that seem to belong there and fill the space sufficiently is undoubtedly one of the more difficult aspects of this entire endeavor.