Down and out man, muses with toothpick and appears stately at Seattle Central Library

Seattle Central library is truly a triumph of civic architecture.  That being so, I was struck by the contrast between its lofty and progressive forms and the reality of the library's more social fabric.  Any time spent listening to conversations will yield talks about shelters and subsistence rather Kant or the new must read.  Functionally, the library is a modern knowledge center and an ad hoc social services depot.  I started to draw this man, and in quick gestural strokes, his worn shoes and plastics bags gave way to an impression that is almost stately.  A human focus reduced purely social and extraneous cues, and in this sketch's destruction of context, it elevated my impression to his essential self.  I think this man could be an English Prime Minister in some storied hall, rather than the homeless man, a continent away.