Some combination of using a dip pen with an open ink pot and sketching out in the field with wind and/or uncertain conditions means that my sketchbook usually has more blots and smudges than I had originally hoped. That's the case for both of these.

I went back to sketch my tree the next day, with the destruction work still ongoing, and I chose a spot at a different angle with the Higbee memorial in the foreground instead of the back. This is still the Inferno ink, that felt right for the moment, and a snub nosed dip pen. I definitely dropped one enormous blob of ink toward the bottom right, but otherwise I managed to control things pretty well. It felt important to sit with her through that process.

Then the heat dome finally broke (50 straight days over 90 degrees for Memphis, second only to the crazy summer of 1980), and the air pollution mercifully cleared out, and for the first time in weeks I felt I could sit out on a patio without risking all the health conditions that pollution brings on. I celebrated with a last minute stop at one of my favorite local restaurants on the way home from picking Henry up at daycare. He's a lovely plus one. And fortunately I had my sketching gear in the car, not just my tiny purse sketchbook, since I hadn't thought to bring a book for company. It felt better to sketch anyway. I didn't dive into watercolor, and since I was thinking just line I went ahead with the Diamine Ancient Copper ink that I'm always drawn to but that turns into a hot mess very quickly with paint on top. I really do love it, but I have to pick my places. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening all the way around.

Trees have always been where my art begins and circles back to and surely finally ends. There are certain ones I revisit season after season and year after year in my work. My first muse was a tree on my grandparents' farm, but there is a gorgeous, bulbous, curvy tree in Overton Park that has become my most drawn/painted/carved tree of all time. She's been failing for some time. In England they would have lowered her crown and built some props around her and let her age, but the city department, or even the park conservancy, do not have that level of resource or skill, so today they began to cut her down. The process will last into tomorrow. The whole trunk is still standing, and I'm so glad I was able to get over, bear witness, and sit with her a bit.

The conservancy nicely let me know it was happening today and posted about “Martha's tree” with one of my prints as well as their own photos. That all meant a lot. And the city workers were great. They saw me sketching and wanted to see. When they broke for lunch I asked if I could look for a few pieces, knowing several woodworkers and hoping for mementos. They went above and beyond, cut me a bowl blank, and even carried it to my car. People are kind.

I went back later in the day and did a second and third sketch. If I can I'll make it back tomorrow too. The dip pen with Inferno ink (almost black but with a little purple and some variation) was really perfect, though I tried a watercolor too. I'm going to miss her inspiration, beauty, shade, and sanctuary.

I've been in the print shop a lot this week, which is such joy after a long layoff. I'm working to get back into more serious landscapes, but the first one I carved lately was this fun one. My friend Chrissie uses the phrase “On the struggle bus,” and it always makes me smile even when the road is rough. I decided more people might like to have that in their mental vocabulary as well. I conceived of it in three colors. It's two blocks (yellow and black) printed separately with a small red stamp for the stop sign. I added in the red lights with just a brush. Then I wondered if I like the white of the paper highlighing those spaces better than I like the darker red in those holes.

But while I was proofing I pulled just a black and white image, and I liked that too. I've tried it with the red sign and with and without red lights. I've got one drying that has a black stop sign instead of red. I figure there are no real wrong answers here, and people may like different versions, so this one will be a varied edition, which means there will be a total set number of prints, but the prints won't be identical. I also use that method when I'm trying different colors of paper for the same print or different shades of color. Really this is just for fun, so coming up with one identical edition didn't seem to be the main priority.

It’s Revive a Troubled Print day here in the studio. I started this one last year as a three block print (the third image), and it clearly has registration issues where Henry's outlines don't line up. I thought it would be fine with just one background block instead of two and tested that out today.  I spitballed the sun placement but will do better once I get serious about printing it, and I tried two different greens. I can maybe raise the black key block a little to line up the Henrys, or I might need to recarve the base layer, but since it’s almost all solid that won’t be a huge chore.

Here are the two bottom layers and my print shop door. The door is a handy place to tape up in process works and stare at them from across the way, and also as I pass through regularly on the way to my kitchen. Getting back away from them and letting them settle a little while both help me see them more clearly.

One of my favorite spots to stop by in St. Louis is the Hill Antique Mall. I've found some great prints there, a silk nightgown, and a set of 8 McCarty bowls for a ridiculously low price since they were out of the geographic range where people know what they are and how much they're worth. This time I found some Payne's grey cowboy boots just my size. And for the first time I stayed for lunch. Oliva is the restaurant sharing a building that has a truly enticing patio with an old school arbor that makes me think of Greece (though clearly they're thinking of Italy). So many happy flashbacks, especially since I'm in the midst of revisiting my summer in Greece for my ongoing memoir.

It had been raining off and on, so I had most of the patio to myself, but I was lucky to get to sit and paint the arbor with only a drop or two landing on my page. The clouds protected me enough that I could sit across from it and get the view instead of engulfed underneath it. It was a crazy busy scene with a ton going on, but it was fun to dive in and do my best. I used Diamine spring green ink with a dip pen and watercolor on top in my biggest sketchbook. The staff were so hospitable and excited on a slowish day to see what I was doing. One kind woman took my photo once I was finished and sent it along. The meatball sandwich was as fantastic as the ambiance, so I will definitely be repeating this experience next time I'm in town.

I have a new favorite spot to visit in St. Louis – Papillon Press, a letterpress/stationery/pen lovers paradise. I often get myself some new art supplies in the summer to play with, usually on trips, but I haven't been anywhere, so this year it was September instead. Papillon has a whole wall of bottled inks (I love fountain pens with converters or piston filling wells so I'm not limited to cartridge colors), and they have a book of swatches of all those inks on real paper so you're not dependent on a printed label. It's a delight. They also had a Twisbi pen, which a friend of mine had highly recommended, with a stub nib, not great for fine writing but tons of fun for sketching. So I ended up with one pen plus three new bottles of ink. Plus a delightful small linocut by one of the owners.

They also had a Chandler and Price letterpress in the window, similar to the one I used to have, so I could chat pens and presses both. It was a perfect stop.

So of course I headed out to Tower Grove Park to try my new inks. The first one, with the watercolor, is Inferno ink by Wearingeul, dark but not black, and I tried it with paint to see if it would be as overwhelming to watercolor as straight black is, and nicely it's not. I used a dip pen since I had already put green in my new pen, and I liked the outcome. I may find a pen to put this into for regular use. I also use waterproof ink with watercolors, especially in more controlled illustrations, but it's fun to have more spontaneity when the ink mixes with paint in my sketchbook.

Next I tried my new Twisbi pen with the Sailor Shikiori green. It's hard to find greens that aren't acid and unnatural feeling. I love Diamine's spring green, but I was drawn to this darker tone. I tried using water to wash over it, and I wasn't in love with that, but I think it would work well with paint on top and move a little but still hold its line. That last one I planned to paint over, but I ended up liking the line drawing and left it as it is. A rare moment of restraint for me. I'm looking forward to using all of these supplies more now that I'm home again.

My favorite Airbnb in St. Louis is the Rabbit Hole, right across the street from Tower Grove Park, my favorite place to walk and paint. It's a converted 1918 garage and run by the hosts in the main house who have also turned into friends. I've sketched it several times over the years from different angles, and this trip I sketched it again.

The first one, in my biggest sketchbook, is a dip pen in Diamine golden brown ink. I had meant to do watercolor on top, but a friend dropped by just as I was laying out the main sketch. By the time the visit was over, it was darker than I had hoped, and by the next day, I decided I really liked the loose line drawing as it is, with its big white open bed at the center, so I left it.

I did do a second version, smaller and in gouache. I keep seeing artists I admire so much do amazing things with gouache, and I've been wanting to try it again. A trip felt like a good time to dive into an experiment, and I had a good time. Last time I tried, my papers all curved and cracked, but I've learned in the meantime to let it dry either taped down or on the watercolor block I used (as in this case – a 6x8” block, and I just travelled home with it still tight and flat). That seemed to work, so I'll look forward to doing some more when I come up for air from my memoir, which is still taking up most of my creative space at the moment.

I went on my first road trip in a year and a half last week, and I kept it doable at four and a quarter hours door to door. I went to St. Louis, one of my favorite destinations. I have friends and cousins there, I love the trees in Tower Grove Park, there's a sanctuary space of an airbnb right off the park, and the food is amazing. Plus it was so good just to be somewhere besides home after a long time of not traveling.

The Tower Grover Farmers Market was gearing up the afternoon I got in, and I bought the best small tomatoes I've ever had – purple and red and lovely (though my crazy Diamine Ancient Copper ink washed them all a little too dark in this sketch). Not pictured was some amazing sourdough bread. My friend Christina advised me to get cookies from Cafe Dolce, and I am not one to ignore good cookies. I ate a couple before I even sketched them, but it was fun to dig out my dip pen and small bottle of ink and just dive into a celebration of good things. I always enjoy looking back at the good things in my sketchbook and being happy about them all over again. The good things included a Payne's grey printmaking ink (that I can't WAIT to try), a new watercolor to test, and some sashiki thread actually on a spool that will make my mending life happy. All of these were from the tiny but so well curated St. Louis Art Supply that is a delight to visit.

Early in the trip I also did a quick fountain pen sketch of one of my favorite trees, an old sycamore in the corner of the park. There's a handy bench, and I always go and say hello to her. This was just in my tiny purse sketchbook, but I wanted to mark the moment.

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Saturday was the opening of the second campus for the Metal Museum in the perfectly named Rust Hall of the old Memphis College of Art. If we had to lose MCA, the second best possible outcome was the Metal Museum bringing back community art making in that space at the center of the park. I've taken and loved some classes at the old Metal Museum campus.

They'll keep that for apprentice housing and, I'm sure, wedding rentals by the river. But their space was limited – kilns came into the library space on trolleys for an enameling workshops. The new space has a dedicated enameling studio. I'm excited to take more classes four blocks from home, though I definitely miss the breadth of MCA being a part of this community.

The opening was on a first Saturday, so it felt right to have Memphis Urban Sketchers mark that moment with them. We meet earlier than the opening, so we could all get settled to sketch before things got crazy. It was hot, and I've been trying (and failing) to conserve energy before a trip next week, so I didn't linger to tour the new space, but I'll definitely go check out the galleries and museum store soon. I had a ball drawing the facade in my biggest sketchbook with my dip pen (my favorite thing lately) and paint on top. It was a good day.

I went to Dixon today to spend time with the Cleveland Vuillard before it leaves this weekend. It's fun to go to a show enough to just hang out with your favorite paintings instead of feeling you have to give everyone equal weight the way I do the first time through. I called on Steinlen, Forain, Manet, Renoir, and Whistler. I'm almost as sad about losing the cool Parisian cafe menu they created specifically to go with this show. I'm still masking in public for my health, so a crowded cafe isn't good for me, and the air is also bad outside this week, but the auditorium where they have their lunchtime lectures was unused. I ordered the salad Nicoise I've really enjoyed there as well as some lovely hot tea and had lunch by a Carroll Cloar painting I really like. Afterwards I ran into one art friend and then made a new one as well as seeing various friends who work there. It was a lovely art day out.