Odd things happen in New York, which is why it's such a great source of stories.

On the other hand, I'm drawn to top hats, and spats, and mustaches. I haven't read a Missed Connection yet with someone wearing a monocle, but rest assured I'll snap it up if I do.

I usually draw in silence, but listen to music or public radio when I'm painting, after all the important decisions have been made.

There's arrogance for you. I think all artists insert themselves into their subject matter.

I did have a couple of people asking me to illustrate their MC in a hope to widen the exposure, unfortunately the messages weren't a good fit, so I couldn't oblige. And I didn't really want to become a matchmaking service. Someone posted a missed connection "I like your blog" which was directed at me... that was kind of fun to stumble across.

I toyed with making portraits based on people's discarded shopping lists found on the street, or old diaries bought on eBay, or other forms of borrowed stories. When I stumbled across the Missed Connections listings, I knew immediately I'd found it.

I look for ambiguous messages to illustrate...I like some detail but not too much detail.