In Kreuzberg the streets were full again in mid-May. As if nothing had happened or everything was already over. The decision for Lichtenberg was absolutely right. I wanted to draw Berlin in times of Corona, while keeping my distance. If I had arrived a month earlier, I would have found almost deserted places. Even now it was still relaxed here. The people left me alone and I could work undisturbed.
Basically the motif of a drawing is irrelevant. It is the occasion for lines on paper. But for the viewers, for whom I also draw, it is nice when they can compare their view of things familiar to them with the view of the draughtsman. For me, a theme and a new place is an incentive to draw, especially when there is a task or an assignment. I would never think of simply sitting on a street corner in familiar surroundings to draw.
I had made a list with some places. The Ring Center at the S-Bahn station Frankfurter Allee, the zoo, the Stasi Museum, the Socialist Memorial at the Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde, the Mies van der Rohe House, the studio in the HOCHHAUS… On my bicycle tours I came across other places.
I found some suitable Corona motifs by chance on the way. Mouth and nose protectors as poster advertising on advertising pillars, as fashion accessories for mannequins in a bridal shop or as sales merchandise of an Asian retailer on Anton-Saefkow-Platz. A butcher noted the new safety regulations on one board and the products of his meat counter on the other. I had to draw that too.
Drawing is easy. I do not need much. Some drawing pads in A-4 format, two mechanical pencils (the second pencil in case the first one gives up the ghost), a folding drawing stool, a cap that protects the eyes from the sunlight. Drawing is work, distraction and relaxation at the same time. There is no better way.
