I like to draw shoes. They are a good subject because they stay where they are and I can draw them at home. I have been drawing my kid’s shoes since 2009, ever since the first baby shoes, which was a little slip-on with a little rocket ship on, not meant for walking in. I filled a small (very small, 3″x5″) Moleskine thin paper cahier-type sketchbook with black and white pen drawings (why? I was not yet comfortable enough with my drawings of shoes to commit to drawing anything bigger and in colour, something I grew out of very quickly). I filled Volume 1 fast enough, and for Volume 2 I chose a slightly (!) bigger book of about 5″x5″, one of the ‘Handmade’ brand of books that can take a bit of watercolour, though not as well as regular watercolour paper, but it means I can actually colour them in. It seemed a good idea at the time, drawing in a square format, because at the time the shoes were smaller. Volume 2 has a lot more pages, and so I am still in Volume 2 fifteen years into the project. These days, the shoes fill a double page spread, and that seems to be about right. I don’t draw them often, but well, here are the latest set. Some are drawn twice for different views (and because I was bored in the hot summer evenings and really wanted to draw more). Above, hiking boots from our trip to Utah last Spring break. They got very very muddy at Bryce Canyon. My attempt to clean them in our sink led to our pipes being clogged up with red Utah mud, which must have congealed and caused a blockage because when we flushed the toilet next day, all the water backed up over the floor. That is never a fun moment, but I know enough now about our plumbing (from previous times this has happened) that I was able to poke around with one of those long drainage snakes in the outside outlet to unclog it all. The joys of home ownership. Well, lesson learned, next time we will clean boots outside with a hose.

  Here are two pairs of Converse shoes, one pair in light green, the other in light blue. Converse are nice shoes to draw, they aren’t covered in unusual patterns that are difficult to render in pen, and everything looks better with a big star on it somewhere. Classic designs. In fact the very first shoes of my son’s that I drew pre-dated drawing the series, and looked a bit like baby versions of these. It was part of a ‘collage’ drawing I did which I called ‘Miscellaneous Details’ (after the David Devant song) and actually sold at a gallery in Davis, the Artery. Here it is. The little shoe (Vans) was my favourite bit, with its shell-toe and velcro straps, and up to that point I think I had never drawn a shoe, so I decided to pull out all of my son’s shoes up to that point (there were only about three or four of them) and start drawing them all in order.   

My Mum always used to say, get a good pair of shoes and a good bed, because if you’re not in one you’re in the other. It is also from her that I inherited the superstition about shoes on the table, you should never put a new pair of shoes on the table, it’s bad luck. New or old or not as new, just don’t take the chance with these things. I still never do. In fact, it made drawing these shoes a little tricky, as I have to put the shoes on the table to see them while I draw. I get around that with some mental gymnastics. First of all I always put a few layers between the table and the shoe – an old cereal box, a Safeway ad, the scarf I let the cats sleep on – that helps prop it up but also tricks the shoe into not realizing it’s on a table. I realize that saying that out loud sounds a bit weird, but since I’m typing it silently I’m technically not saying it out loud (just don’t tell the shoes) (I’m not saying I believe shoes are living things, but they do have soles). Also, it’s not really a table, it’s a desk, so in the court of superstitious law I think I’m in the clear. These last ones are Asics running shoes, a little bit of mud on them there which is always a sign of good use. I have never had Asics shoes myself but I appreciate the brand, because I loved their football kits in the early to mid 90s (Sampdoria, Blackburn, Newcastle, Villa, some classics, and don’t forget the flaming brilliant Japan kit of 98). Maybe I should look at some Asics running shoes myself, as I prepare for this 10k in November. Anyway shoes, until the next round.