On the face of it, this little piece of digital ephemera shouldn’t matter. It’s simply an order for two Moleskine sketchbooks made two and a half years ago. But it’s much more than that…
Firstly, these two sketchbooks were the first I bought after returning to drawing following a ten-year break.
Secondly, the date of the invoice shows that they were bought on the same day I heard that my friend Mary Gordon had died.
Mary dying was the catalyst for my restarting to draw. I remember clearly that when I heard she’d died, I knew — suddenly and without doubt — that I needed to draw again. That I didn’t want to die without at least trying to get back to a drawing practice.
What I didn’t remember was just how closely these two events — hearing of her death, and ordering sketchbooks — sat together. According to the invoice, they were not just related, but simultaneous. The sketchbooks were bought on the same day.
That realisation has given this little digital record a much greater significance — it has become a timestamp that shows not just when I returned to drawing, but why.
See also: Finding out that Mary had Died and Drawing Mary (upside down)
