Eavesdropping without consonants
November 28, 2007 by Jana Bouc
Purple ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook (Larger)
I love overhearing snippets of other people’s conversations and how they flavor my sketches in cafes. I’ve drawn and scribbled overheard conversations at Peet’s Coffee’s 4th Street shop in Berkeley before. When I saw Pete Scully’s fantastic sketches with conversation snippets I thought I’d try it his way with the words in little boxes. But I’m not as tidy at printing as he is.
Purple ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook (Larger)
So on this one I wrote the words I overheard on the newspaper above. Maybe the passerby didn’t really say, “…and I got all my potatoes back, you know…” – my hearing isn’t what it used to be so sometimes my imagination fills in the blanks with things that make me laugh. I can hear the words but the consonants aren’t clear.
It’s amazing how one wrong consonant can change the meaning of a sentence. (He says, “Hey, guess what! I got a hog!”…so I’m thinking…he got a pig?! oh maybe he got a Harley motorcycle, they call those “hogs”….and then I realize as he goes on talking that he said he got a DOG, not a HOG and he said it was BIG not a PIG!)
thanks for the nod! great sketches, that’s the peet’s down at 4th street, i remember you did one there last year with all this conversation going on, and that inspired me to start drawing out and about. I love the loose lines and the colours, and the beloved purple pen!
Beautiful work. Props to the potatoes.
Great, fun sketches with comical inserts! Yes, you can really end up with a completely different story if you hear those consonants wrong! I like the first sketch especially…it looks busy and sunny and lively.
ronell
These are great! Creative hearing can add so much fun to life, makes it interesting to fill in the rest of the story in your mind.
It’s so true! Hearing just snippets of other people’s conversations is quite hilarious.
What a great idea - these are so much fun to look at and to read. I’m going to try that one of these days.
When I saw the first one, I know instantly where it was! These are marvelous; I love the bright colors. I wish I have written down all the funny conversational bits I’ve heard over the years.
Great sketches! I will definitely try this game of ‘fill in the blanks’!
I’m sitting here cracking up. I can just picture you sketching and trying to get snippets of conversation. It would make for a great sketchbook with descriptions of what you were thinking at the time.
That brought a smile to my face!
I sometimes do the notes thing as well - the ones I like best are kids being indiscreet VERY LOUDLY! Then I keep my head down as if I haven’t heard and write it all down so I don’t giggle!
The best one was “Does Grandpa use his hearing aid as a pipe?”
These are wonderful — doors and windows into lives. And it makes me look at the Peet’s on 4th street with a completely different eye than I usually do (which is an eye to getting in there and getting what I want and getting out!) xoxo, Lily