Long Distance Hug

My wife, Ieva was recently away for a tech conference, so for a few days we were carrying on our lives via video chat as so many people do these days. It was a throwback to the early days of our long distance courtship when I was still living in Richmond, Virginia and she was here in Riga, Latvia. We used to video chat everyday then; we called it, “Living through the glass.” The person we most wanted to be with was just on the other side of a piece of glass and not all the way on the other side of the world.

Often when we were vid chatting, I’d grab a screenshot if there was an interesting composition or if Ieva looked particularly beautiful or both. I always thought I might do some drawing from that trove of images, but maybe it’s not a good idea to draw your wife? It is intimidating for me because I am not used to drawing beautiful people or things and I certainly don’t want to disappoint her. Too often, I stay in my comfort zone of drawing weird, strange creatures or male weirdos, so it’s time to challenge myself; stretch those sketching muscles a bit.

In the recent call, when I saw Ieva frame her face with her black-clad arms in our video chat, I immediately knew that I had to draw her. There was something about the composition and the serene look on her face that I wanted to capture. I got a couple of screengrabs, but I wish I had taken more. I liked how she was hugging herself; a long-distance hug I wanted to give her in that moment.

I will do more in this series and think I’ll try a different kind of pen, or maybe use brush and ink.

Until next week, I say, may your wish be granted…

OK HW