I keep mentioning it, but the Memphis Urban Sketchers have changed my life. Several people in there are never without a sketchbook, and I'm trying to emulate that. This is from my tiny one (3x5", I think) that fits in my pretty small purse. I also learned this sketching technique from the Memphis group recently -- just a fountain pen and a water brush for washes. It's a very nifty, streamlined kit to carry around with me, unlike my usual bulky backpack of supplies. And I love being able to pull out a sketchbook wherever I am. Hopefully I can keep this up.

I had a rare day where I didn't make any art yesterday (a series of other obligations and a little time just sitting in the park to drink up some winter sunshine), but the day before I put the sky into this painting. It felt great to play with clouds in oils again. The main thing I'm unhappy with in my watercolors is my handling of skies. It's fun to be doing a lush one in oils again.

Today I'll be back in the saddle.

It was another beautiful day in Memphis, and by the time I got home from church, I grabbed my sketchbook and headed to Overton Park to draw my favorite tree. Again. Before lunch. This is the view from my favorite picnic table, where I also sit and play banjo if the weather is warm enough.

I went back later in the afternoon to do two more tree studies. I'm still having fun playing with the fountain pen/wash technique. I should have been doing printmaking or painting, but it was the Sabbath, so I gave myself permission to take a nap and make the art I wanted to instead of working on things due.

Above is a sycamore that rises up over Rainbow Lake, and below is a tree with mistletoe. My other favorite picnic table is below it.

Today was one of the periodic international sketch crawls by various Urban Sketcher groups around the globe. So far I've seen drawings posted from Sydney, Australia (before we even got out this morning) and Montreal. The Memphis Urban Sketchers headed to the South Main arts district and took part officially  for the first time.

I love everything about the Memphis Urban Sketchers. I love going out with a group to draw (and not be the only one huddled on the sidewalk). I love the folks in our group. And I love learning new ways of drawing. Today, inspired by a couple of people in our group, I tried drawing with a fountain pen and using plain water to make washes in the ink. I couldn't find my water brush (an all-in-one, pen-looking contraption), so I just used a regular watercolor brush instead, and I do like the softness of it.

Above is my first attempt, with a little blue watercolor added in. It's a quick method, and I did a whole series this morning, enjoying the brain fizz of trying something new.

Several of us nipped into the Bluff City coffee shop and sat at the bar in the window. It was nice to take a break from the wind and have a hot chocolate while I sketched.

After meeting up to compare sketches, five of us hung around to have lunch in the famous Arcade restaurant and keep on sketching. I enjoyed the camaraderie, the sweet potato pancakes, and (once again) sketching in company.

I added extra watercolor to this one, but I wish I'd left it a little more simple. It's easy to overshoot the mark.

My final sketch was out the window to a whole tangle of traffic lights and trolley wires.

It's been freezing and sleeting and whatnot in Memphis the last few days, so I don't have any new on site watercolors to post. Instead, I'm taking advantage of the off season to work on a larger, indoor project. This is a commission for a newly married couple at my church. I'm looking forward to doing a big sky in oils again. Much fun.

Friday was utterly gorgeous, and one of those breaks from winter that I love about living in the south. Today is cold and possibly sleety, but we had a lovely weekend. Friday was sunny and low 70's, so I spent the whole day outdoors to enjoy it.

I did sketches for prints in the morning (see two blog posts ago), and after lunch, I met a friend and her toddler at the zoo. I did this quick sketch while waiting for them.

After my zoo time with them, I was drawn (as always) to a picnic table underneath my favorite tree.

I was just packing up to go home when I noticed a lovely sky to the west. I love painting clouds in oils and pastels, but I've really struggled with them in watercolor. After a recent talk with my new brother about John Constable's sky studies, I had made the resolution to do more sky studies in watercolor and try to get better in watercolor. So here's my first attempt.

It was lovely to spend a day in Overton Park doing a number of different sketches. Sooner or later a print will also come out of this day's work. Meanwhile, back to winter and indoor work for a while. It is sleeting AND snowing as I write this. My walk in Overton Park was not so lingering today.

I know artists who always have a sketchbook with them, and I've never been that organized. Thanks to the influence of the Memphis Urban Sketchers, however, I'm working on being prepared and have a tiny one in my purse now (assuming I'm carrying that...).

Recently it's paid off, and here are two quick tree studies from (moderately) recent trips. One the left is yet another stunning tree in Tower Grove Park in St. Louis. On the right is a pine from the parking lot of the dance weekend I went to in Chattanooga, TN. I probably would have finished the top part a bit more, but it was raining lightly as I worked, and I finally called it a day.

After days of rain, it is sunny and 72 degrees today, so it is a joy to be able to get outside and sketch. I've had a couple of new prints in my head for a while now, and it was good to do the detailed pencil sketches for them. Above is the scene I walk past every day in Overton Park, and New Year's morning the trees caught my eye meaningfully and asked to be in a print. This one will get a little wider (more space between birdbath and bench, and bench and tree), and it will join my art deco series of color prints.

Below is a study for a black and white one, though it will have "Midtown" carved underneath it. Local realtor Joe Spake has been asking for a print that is quintessentially midtown to put on the coffee cups he hands out, and I have always loved this bungalow in my neighborhood.

Funnily enough, Elmore was biking past and saw me sitting on the sidewalk drawing and thought I was a sidewalk bum. He had to do a double-take and turn around up the block to come back and say hello. I'm lucky this neighborhood embraces its eccentrics. No one tends to bother me even when I do settle into the sidewalk for a spell.

I've got a couple of larger oil commissions this winter, which is a lovely time to do some studio work. Here are two possible sketches for one of them. Clients like the trees in one of my pastel studies but didn't like the airplane trails in the sky. They like my natural clouds better. So here are two quick studies with two different kinds of skies for them to see which they prefer before I start in on painting.

The other thing I did today was help hang the Memphis Urban Sketchers show at ANF. It took three of us two hours to hang artwork from about 16 of our regular artists. It's fun to see the group's work all up together, and I like spreading the word about the genre of urban sketching.