My still life set up in the center; going clockwise, drawings by: Cynthia (crayon) Lise (digital), mine (pen/marker), Stephanie (colored pencil + watercolor); Paulina's is unfinished and not pictured here, sadly!

Esther: One of the few pleasant side effects of our current reality is that I see and talk to my friends much more than before. This past weekend, we held our first virtual drawing night, which was also the first time we’d had a dedicated amount of time for communal drawing in years! All of us worked from a still life I cobbled together in the first minutes of our video call– turns out composing a good still life is something of an art in itself. I think I managed okay?

Still life drawing with other people always yields interesting and varied results, despite working from the same subject, which I really love– it’s just so cool seeing the evidence of different perspectives and art-making decisions at the end, all next to each other. Obviously, mine is a reflection of the actual image because of the whole webcam situation!

Alyx: I am a shameless sports addict, and I've really been missing the comforting sound of a baseball game in the background. But this week live baseball returned! Not in the United States, but in South Korea in the form of the KBO. I have chosen to support the Samsung Lions because they are based in Daegu, the city in which I was born. Unfortunately the Lions haven't had a winning record in many season, and this season isn't expected to be much different. It's also a little strange to watch a game with no fans in the stadium. But still! The crack of a home-run hit sounds the same anywhere in the world, and the KBO is famous for its bat flips. I'm really looking forward to seeing some games with fans, since the KBO also has a notoriously excellent fan culture--including elaborate cheers and songs, walk-up songs specially composed for each batter, and really cool rec specs. Anyway, it's been a way of scratching that sports itch, as well as an excuse to bust out a fresh baseball scoring pencil!

Caroline: The weather during my past two days off has been warm and sunny, but as you have probably seen in the news, now that spring is upon us, New Yorkers aren't always doing a great job at social distancing. So, I've been taking my bike out really early in the morning to visit places that would otherwise be crowded with tourists, or right now, crowded with New Yorkers eager to get outside. On Thursday I biked down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across and back, which was my FIRST TIME EVER. It was empty, the sky was clear and the river was sparkling. I may have shed a tear under all of my face gear because it was so beautiful. I felt inspired to go on another little adventure, so yesterday, I left home a little before 7am and biked up to Central Park, where I rode the 6.7 mile road that loops around the whole thing. It was a nice escape (and a real workout!) and for a moment I felt like I wasn't in the middle of Manhattan. The ride down 5th Avenue on my way home was fun too, because I passed so many NYC landmarks. I'm looking forward to more early morning tourist moments as the weather starts to get nicer. 

 Julianne: I adore Green-Wood Cemetery even in non-pandemic times, but have been especially appreciative of this beautiful historic cemetery in the last few months. (Pencil trivia: did you know Eberhard Faber is interred there?) Green-Wood Cemetery extended its operations to accommodate visitors who need more green space while we're all cooped up at home.

I recently spent an hour walking through the cemetery and sitting next to this beautiful tree that was at full bloom. From afar the tree was total spring magnificence, and up close it was vibrating with bees happily feasting all around it. With few other people around I snuck a few maskless inhales and the spring air smelled almost sweet. The hour I spent next to this tree has got to be one of my favorite springtime memories.