Drawing the War Memorial Tower at the summit of Mount Greylock this morning requires some investigation. I circle the tower numerous times to learn how the morning light rests on its tall yet rounded form. Once deciding on a particular angle, I begin the walk to and from the tower in a line. Will I draw the tower from immediately beneath or from afar? Will I lie on the ground, or sit on the stone ledge? Not until I finally bring out the pastels and begin the drawing, do visitors understand my nonsensical wandering about the tower. Alas, the best place to draw happens to be in some clover-covered grass. This of course means I will be drawing in the midst of bees (who love clover). But hadn’t I decided this was the BEST angle to draw from? Hadn’t Joseph Mallord William Turner strapped himself to the mast of a boat to experience the fiercity of a storm before painting it? Okay, not quite the same, but regardless, I stay put, bees flitting about my head, swirling in and out of my drawing space. We commune for hours, the bees and me, losing all sense of time, as tall windows reflect the blueness of the sky and it occurs to me that I have forgotten to apply sunscreen.
Valerie Carrigan
a blog about art, teaching, and paying attention
Valerie Carrigan 
Love the last line. So like a focused artist…to think of oneself first, is a skill often not soon mastered.