While I am carrying on a conversation with someone, I find that I am drawing with my eyes. I find myself observing how his shirt collar comes around from behind his neck and perhaps casts a slight shadow on one side. I observe how the wrinkles in his sleeve form and how his arm may be resting on the edge of the chair. I observe how the features on his face move back and forth in perspective as he rotates his head. It actually is a form of sketching and I believe that it is the next best thing to drawing itself. I sometimes feel it is obsessive, but at least it accomplishes something for me.
This is interesting — it reminds me of what Trollope said about his process of writing. He wrote 2.000 or 2,500 words per morning (his rigorous methods were famous), but he said that the real work came throughout the day, when he “daydreamed” about his characters and got to know them so well that he knew exactly what they would do in each situation that presented itself in his novels.
That reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw yesterday:
THINK! It’s not illegal yet!
Thank God we can daydream whenever we want.
Vasari on Da Vinci from THE LIVES OF THE ARTISTS: