New Experiences

About 20 minutes from where I live there is a tiny little downtown are called Ada. If you blink you will miss it, yet it is one of the most affluent parts of Grand Rapids. The downtown is quite literally not more than a few blocks but it is home to many boutiques, salons, shops and restaurants, including a gourmet grocery store named Grand River Grocery.

When I was employed at Baker I was a part of a group of nine women who were all about the same age. We called ourselves Baker Babes. Many of these gals have remained my friends during my unemployment and I am quite fond of them. Every Wednesday at 9:30am we Baker Babes would pile into one or two cars, depending on how many of us were available, and go to Grand River Grocery to get coffee at the Starbucks that's inside. Once during our weekly coffee run, right before I was let go from Baker, I noticed a sign on the door of the store that advertised a need for a chalkboard artist.

Now I can't draw. At least, not very well. That's why I chose photography and graphic design; I have machines to create the pictures for me. I can draw simple things, and cutesy cartoony things, but when it comes to drawing anything more than the outline of say a pear, I am not that talented. But ever since I had seen job postings for chalkboard artists at Trader Joe's, I thought maybe it was something I would like to try. Unfortunately there are no Trader Joe's in Grand Rapids. So when I saw this, I just had to ask.

Much to my delight the manager, Georgia, wanted someone who knew more about type layout than drawing. Once I showed her that I could reproduce different fonts by hand using chalk she gave me the responsibility, agreeing that we would barter for my services rather than have her actually pay me. Gives a whole new meaning to starving artist when you are literally drawing in exchange for gourmet cheeses, organic produce, fine wines and Starbucks coffee.

The photo above is of the first chalkboard I drew yesterday. It took five hours. I thought it would only take one and a half, two at the most. Surprisingly, things take much longer by hand than they do on a computer. There is also a certain lack of precision when you are writing and drawing things by hand. All the letters and spacing are not perfectly uniform, and if something isn't quite centered I can't just use an arrow key to nudge it to the proper position. I imagine that I will eventually get faster at this. But drawing with chalk is actually a new experience for me. Yesterday was full of new experiences.

I got to ride on a friend's sailboat, swim on a private beach, and drive a scooter. Then there was the chalk thing.