 My sister and her husband came to stay for the Elmwood party and stayed into the holidays, so I've given myself a bit of time off. It was such good family time, celebratory time, hang out time, and I'm grateful. After they left, I got out a couple of times over the last weekend. I went to Six at the Orpheum, and I got there a little early to sketch. It's such a magnificent building, and I always love sketching there. Then Saturday my friend Christina was still doing homework for her architectural sketching class, so Henry and I walked over with her (after some excellent curry from Flipside Asia at the farmers market) to draw (me) and watch the world go by (Henry). I love sketching outings with friends. Now I'm back to work and doing the Metal Museum Artists Market this Saturday from 10-4. Comfy shopping inside a huge heated tent, and a well curated group of local artists. It's my first time doing the show, and I'm really excited to be part of it. For those of you in Memphis their address is 374 Metal Museum Dr. The best way to get to the museum (and avoid the marathon traffic) would be to come down Crump Blvd, take a left on Florida St., take a right on McLemore, McLemore will turn into Riverside Blvd, and then take a left on Metal Museum Dr. We'll be easily south of all the hooplah. 
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I also had a ball this week talking to Abigail Morici at the Memphis Flyer. She loves Elmwood the way I do and wanted to highlight this new chapter for them. It was a long, casual conversation, and she put a lot of it into an article for our weekly newspaper. You can read that here. She also took a photo of me, which I wasn't expecting, but it's fun to have a shot with the new work.   In spite of starting it with tea and toast at 4am (menopause sleep loss always ramps up for me in the fall), I had a great day. I took Henry to daycare and went out to WKNO to record a radio interview about the Sunday party at Elmwood. Darel brought the new banjo that he MADE HIMSELF in for me to see and let me play it. It plays incredibly beautifully. I am so impressed with his wide ranging talents. After a big Costco run, since I was out east anyway, I treated myself to a Gulf coast scallops tortuga and a mango drink at Los Tortugas. I did a super quick sketch while waiting for my pick up order. I ate it at Shelby Farms and also got some grocery shopping in and a short nap before bringing Henry home. A good day.
Also here is one recent sketch of Henry. He's the best.   The stone carving is done, and we're having a party at Elmwood this Sunday to celebrate my first public art ever. It's free and open to the public, and we'd love for everyone to come. If you know you can make it, Elmwood would love to get you in their headcount for food (you can sign up here), but all last minute comers are welcome for sure. I did a set of 9x12" prints based on the columbaria designs, and you can see the trio below. I'll have those out there as well as a selection of my other prints, but mostly it's just a fun party with a fun band.  Here is what they look like in five foot granite. They came out even better than I had dreamed, and when does that happen??
 Last weekend a car plowed off the road and straight into the side of the Brooks Museum of Art. Sadly as well as hitting the building, it wreaked devastation on two of the three statues that Wheeler Williams had been commission to sculpt in 1961 out of Carrara marble. Like so many Memphians, I love those statues and had been by just a few weeks earlier to sketch them. I went back this weekend to sketch what remains, one lonely statue of Fall, missing her seasonal sisters, and two chipped and cracked bases. The statues have been taken to see if they can be restored, but I'm heartbroken to lose these dazzling white statues from their niches against the white marble jewel box of a museum. The only small consolation is that the museum was planning to abscond with them, removing them from the perfect place they were created to be, and take them downtown to try to catch more tourist foot traffic. We would be missing them soon enough anyway. But I hate destruction and continue to grieve for them in the park.  
Some of us hung around afterwards for take away paella on the street and then a cupcake from Muddy's. A pretty perfect Saturday. 
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online store Martha Kelly is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. Get occasional studio email updates. Categories
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