Inktober 2018 Day 26 "Stretch"

Day 26 of Inktober, prompt word "Stretch." I previously wrote about Inktober here. This is an edited version, but I'm posting these daily on my Instagram, @St.Rhinoceros:

Day 26 of Intkober 2018, prompt word "Stretch." Dip pen and ink. by Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros. [Image description: black and white drawing of an interior looking through two doorways into a third room with a window. A man sits in a chair in front of the bright window turning halfway to look behind him. Behind the door frame in the second room, just out of his view, is a woman standing with one leg bent as if hesitating to take a step, with her head tilted as if about to peer around the corner or contemplating what is around the corner, and her hand is over her heart. She stands mostly in shadow. The drawing is shaded mostly with horizontal pen strokes. The space around the doorway closest to the viewer is black, with reflected light from the window on the floor creating sort of a bright visual runway for the eye of the viewer to travel toward the man and window. Style is realistic.]

A single man watching a couple toss away their key on the "Padlock Bridge," Paris, by Ciana Pullen

A single man watching a couple toss away their key on the "Padlock Bridge," Paris, by Ciana Pullen, 2014

There's been a tradition since about 2008 for lovers to attach a padlock to the railing of the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, then toss the key into the Seine to symbolize eternal love. So many thousands upon thousands of padlocks hang off the railing in glittering clumps that authorities are removing the railing and replacing it with plexiglass in order to protect the bridge from undue weight, thus ending the tradition. As I was passing under the bridge I caught this man standing alone and watching a couple toss their key into the Seine.