„There’s many ways you communicate. With colour, texture, sound… even words can communicate.” – David Carson

The coffee shop was too crowded. All good seats taken. Noisy. People busy walking in and out. But there’s very good bagels, and good tea. So I took a seat at the window, looking out onto the street, my back to the room, and a few seconds later I was one of them.

I spent half an hour on Instagram, which I found very unusual for me. But David Carson. Five days ago I’ve stumbled upon his intro for MasterClass, I remember him pointing, speaking, showing, smiling. His record cover design for John Coltrane, 1963, New Directions, took one of the good seats in my memory. Three days ago I did a first, inspired sketch. Had it fermenting. And this coffee shop was too loud for writing today’s blog post anyways.

I liked the feeling when I reached into my bag. I had the feeling I’m going to do good work. Then I spent two hours moving text around, layering images. Tearing my invoice in half. Trying to get Airdrop to work from my iPhone to my MacBook. Google. Restart. Google. Update. More Google. Then adding more images, more text.

Then there was a power outage. Another half hour later all guests have left, except for me and a woman at the other side of the room. Without the loud humming from the appliances and without the bright lights the coffee shop was wonderfully quiet. I didn’t look at her face directly, but the sudden silence did something for us. The pleasant natural sunlight falling through the tree from outside, mixed with the dim shadows from the wooden interior. I filled my glass with fresh water from the service desk. The ice cubes falling into the glass, the sounds of my footsteps through the silence. One of those rare moments that pull us into mindfulness, that carry on with us, that take a special seat in our hearts. But my eyes were already tired, my MacBook battery almost empty, so I packed up.

Later, at home, I took more pictures, added shadows, changed text, changed images, removed shadows, added more pictures, added more layers. Removed some again.

And it’s bedtime again. I don’t know about time these days. Someone should check the universe if it’s still working. Face masks. Morning, lunch, skipping dinner, bedtime. But I have a first version of a book cover now.