I'd been working on family finances and papers all week, so when my friend Christina suggested a sketching lunch on Friday at Crosstown, I was all in. I mean, ALL in. We ate at Global Cafe, one of the truly unique places in Memphis, and I tried the plaintain soup for the first time (delicious) as well as the Sudanese mint limeade. Bam. I mean. So, so good. With herbs and nubby bits and not crazy sweet. It was delicious as well as fun to draw.

Crosstown has been good to me lately. I did One week, 100 people on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and Crosstown is an easy place to hang out and sketch people. I'm there a lot anyway, picking up prescriptions, picking up bread, and taking a walk indoors when the air pollution is bad, which it has been a lot of this spring, sadly.

I used a long skinny sketchbook I'd bought several years ago on a whim but never even opened. It feels too long for landscape, so I decided to try it for the people challenge. It easily fit into my small crossbody bag, and I made it to 98 people and two dogs. Since dogs are our better angels, I consider that I actually exceeded the assignment. I rarely do challenges, figuring that I have enough deadlines in my normal work, but I've done this once before. It's short, and it's good to get me out of my landscape rut to draw people. Excellent practice.

What I found this time was that I deeply enjoyed having a tiny sketchbook to whip out whenever I was in public. I've gravitated toward doing full watercolors the last few years, and I love doing them, but I'm less likely to sketch often since it takes time. I decided to buy myself a tiny sketchbook in a more traditional shape and keep it and one pen (maybe with the brush pen added for tone that I used in some of the 100 people sketches) and try to do at least one super quick drawing every time I leave the house. The bottom sketch is my first in the new small book, and I'm excited about the new practice. We'll see how well I can keep up the good intentions.

We had a fun family day at the farm yesterday with all the younger cousins. I had a bit more supervision as I sketched than usual. The top one was drawn with a water soluble Diamine Ancient Copper ink that melds into the watercolor. The sketch below is from a few days before where I used Diamine Earl Grey with a dip pen. Black gets messy in your paints, but grey is nice and doesn't stay too harsh.

I've been getting back into printmaking, which is slow to have something to show, but I've also been doing smaller things over the past week or so. One is finding the best baklava I've had (by a lot) on this continent, and doing a little sketch of it in Diamine Ancient Copper ink plus watercolor. Sometimes the ink gets too hot, but sometimes it's really right and rich, and it felt right here. If you're in striking range, getting down to the Mediterranean Bakery and More market in Southaven, MS, is so, so worth it. Ridiculously worth it.

Speaking of worth it, I also took a mini, free online illustration portfolio class with Mike Lowery, an illustrator I follow on IG and admire. I generally dislike online classes, but this one was in easy bite-sized chunks, and we did one achievable project. He walked us through both Photoshop and Procreate for adjusting a basic on-paper sketch, and I learned how to color in layers. Usually I just clean up finished watercolors. I mostly like to work on paper, but this is a good, small set of starter skills I'm happy to have. The project was to make a sticker, and I haven't ordered them yet (I'm still tinkering with the lettering on the Woman's Best Friend one), but I plan to. (I mean, how did men get dogs and women got stuck with diamonds?? What a racket. I'm making a play for the dogs.)

Memphis Urban Sketchers met on Saturday for our monthly outing. This time was Overton Square, and we had folks all over -- front, back, in the Memphian hotel lobby, you name it. I settled out front at the main Madison/Cooper intersection because I love all the shopfronts and signs. I sketched Bosco's across the street because I'm a sucker for stripes, and then I did a fast one of the Lafayette's sign. After we gathered and showed our sketches several of us walked across to Bosco's and had lunch on their patio. I'm also a sucker for an umbrella, so I did one more quick sketch while waiting for our food. It was a great day with friends, and I'm so glad for a group that goes out and makes art together.

I've been working my way back into my longtime printmaking project of trees at Rowan Oak this week, but I gave myself a holiday for Leap Day yesterday. Thursdays have long been special to me, and it was not only Leap Day but also the 4x4 anniversary of Muddy's Bake Shop, my favorite bakery for both the treats and the warmth and welcome when you walk in the door. They opened 16 years ago on Leap Day and made Memphis instantly a better place.

I also dropped by a couple of thrift stores with a carload of donations, and I ended up coming home with two new-to-me cashmere sweaters for a total of $13.50. A big win. And I feel lighter in my house at the same time.

After lunch I treated myself to a trip to Dixon. I saw their current show of married artists Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown a few weeks ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. Especially Wonner's portraits. I went and sketched in the semi dark with only dry media, so these are both too saturated and not at all worthy of the paintings that inspired them. But I loved spending the time looking that deeply at paintings I admire from an artist I hadn't known before this show. He was in California with Thiebaud and Diebenkorn, and I can see that throughline. His painted lines have multiple colors making them up, just as Thiebaud's do. One of my longtime favorite artists. I plan to go back and sketch more while the show is still there.