watercolor by N Wait 1983

Once upon a time I fled the Upper East Side of Manhattan for what was then the wilds of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. My motive was a (very) cheap rent for lots of space in unfamiliar surroundings where I might recreate myself (again). My intention was to paint my inner life. Then, hankering for some outer life during my second year, I took to the streets to see what was there. I recorded my findings in an 11×14 inch sketchbook.

I found a woman selling Bibles, hats and tambourines outside the church on Eastern Parkway.

watercolor by N Wait 1983

I found shoppers examining fruit at the produce stand on Utica Avenue while the crowd surged by.

watercolor by N Wait 1983

A man trimming vegetables on the sidewalk of Utica Avenue.

watercolor by N Wait 1983

And then I found a woman going inside the pizza shop while another woman waited outside with her children.

Then, just as suddenly as they had begun, my appetite for street scenes came to a halt. I went back to my inner life.

The very next drawings in the sketchbook were about the shadow-self and the dream-self.

watercolor by N Wait 1983

watercolor by N Wait 1983

8th St just off 7th Av by N Wait 2015

And now, all these years later, I’ve gone back to drawing street scenes. This time of Park Slope, where I live now. My inspiration was the Sketchbook Project.

Because I see now I’m not happy unless I’m serving both, outer and Inner…