I've been trying to do at least slightly more restrained sketches lately, but I was ALL over the page with paint and pattern this weekend. But I had a good time with both, even as I watched them spin slightly out of control. Saturday was the East Buntyn Art Walk. I visited a few friends who were exhibiting, had lunch at the fantastic Flipside Asia food truck, and settled in to sketch with Christina. We sat on the curb with our feet in the gutter as per usual, both fascinated by the lovely little field stone church in the middle of Memphis. I had forgotten my black waterproof pen I've been using a lot, and I didn't have a brown one, so I dove in again with the Diamine Ancient Copper. I forgot that I'd intended to use it for natural scenes but NOT architecture because it bleeds so badly into the woodwork I'm trying to leave white. But there we are. I'd like to go back and try again sometime. It truly is a lovely church.

Today I did mostly printmaking, but I did take my sketchbook along for my walk in the forest. There were some great clouds out in the park, but it was also super windy, so I kept going on into the forest where there would be much more shelter. Again I covered the whole page, but it was nice to be outside in the sunshine doing some sketching. I've been working so hard on prints that I've barely sketched since the Eclipse. It felt good to get back to it.

I looked back at my Eclipse sketches this week while I was working on a print from them, and this page looked a little bare. I also wanted to keep a souvenir of the cool Eclipse glasses we all got, so I ended up doing a small scrapbook page to go with the sketch. I love the idea of collage, but I’m terrible at it. My attempts always look like a 4th grade art project gone wrong. But sometimes I want to preserve a special bit or piece from a day out or a trip.

Since I was in that mode, I also added my “number being served” ticket to my County Clerk’s office sketch. The number I pulled at 8:03 when the office had opened at 8….

I’m a bit more prone to do this kind of thing when I travel and pick up ticket stubs or other cool souvenirs. did a couple at my WAMA show to celebrate both a gorgeous bunch of tulips from a friend and also some King cake.

This last one is my favorite, but that might be mostly because of the King cake, which was delicious.

We had a family day at the farm last weekend, and as everyone scattered for a few chores, Henry and I headed to the daffodil hill for a little sketching. The last, small, white, double narcissi are blooming, even though the carpet of yellow is long gone. Henry poked around, and I caught him quickly in mid-stride heading through my sketch. Below he's posing with the finished product.

My family and I (and an awful lot of Memphis) drove over into Arkansas for the Eclipse yesterday. I was traveling in 2017 and out of range, so it was the first time I'd seen one in person. We went early, took a smaller but good highway into Bald Knob, and drove down into the Wilderness Refuge. There was no one around except a farmer on his tractor, and we sat in the shade and picnicked and waited for it to start. I love the wide open Arkansas landscape and did a couple of sketches waiting for things to start. I also liked the stances of people looking up through their glasses, so I did a few quick sketches of my companions as well.

The Eclipse itself was 2 1/2 minutes, so FAST. The top photo is my real time sketching of it. The first was the partial view through the eclipse glasses, and during the partial I also sketched the shadows on the ground. The total was truly lovely. You could look straight at it and see the ring of light around the moon. My background, that I'd been using through the eclipse glasses, ended up too dark for what I actually saw, but it was fun to draw the sun as well as Jupiter below it in real time. I always seem to process things through art. I didn't take a photo at all but did sketch. The light was eerie and beautiful through the whole transition too, but I didn't feel I could capture it well and didn't take the time to try.

Afterwards we went to that classic Bald Knob diner the Bulldog. The employees had awesome Eclipse day shirts of a bulldog wearing the glasses. I hadn't had a shake from them in several years, and it was fresh strawberry shake season, so I was delighted. I'll have to try to get over for peach season this year. It's been too long. My family really enjoyed the Bulldog too, and I'm so glad I could offer a fun day out for them.

This morning I woke up realizing I hadn't really caught what I saw, and I had another run at it with my breakfast tea, getting more of the lighter blue sky and the different lengths of rays around the sphere. Still not what I have in my mind, but close, and it felt nice to honor that vision before it fades. Even years later, the process of sketching can help me keep the details fresh in spite of not getting them exactly right on paper. I'm grateful for this way of experiencing the world and processing it for myself.

Wildflower season in the Old Forest of Overton Park is always my favorite. Henry and I have been walking and watching them emerge, and I've done a bit of sketching over the last couple of weeks. The top one is my overall view of Jacob's ladder and a few trillium in the foreground. It's my much more traditional walk-into-the-scene scale. I tend not to do either huge, swallow-you-up panoramas or really close up pieces. I've got a modest, person sized landscape that appeals to me for my main work, but I make an exception for wildflowers, and teapots, of course! I do also sketch my tea things close up. So here are some closer views of the wildflowers that I have done just for fun, starting with the one small gorgeous circle of yellow trillium. Most of our trillium is that purple-y brown, but I love this one vibrant patch.

In other news, these are all in my newest sketchbook, at roughly 5x8 size that opens up to an ever so slightly landscape format. It's by Handbook and has watercolor paper but is more modest than my longtime 8x8" size. I'm really enjoying the change of shape and the smaller amount of real estate to fill. It feels less daunting to sit down and start a spread, but it still has room for what I want to do. I've ordered another one and asked my local Art Center to start stocking them. I think it's my new go-to after trying several different ones over the past year.

The trillium above and the mayapples/Jacob's ladder below both have watercolor crayons (Neocolor 2) as their base instead of ink from a fountain pen. I try to mix it up some to keep myself fresh. I enjoy the extra texture of the crayons, but ink remains my go-to, especially for more architectural landscapes around town. But the crayons work great for organic shapes and especially the looser close ups I've been doing with the wildflowers.