We had a stormy Saturday so Memphis Urban Sketchers met inside Crosstown Concourse, a huge old Sears distribution center that's been converted into apartments, offices, a high school, a YMCA, two theaters, a brewery, and (crucially) my favorite bread bakery Lucy J's. (As opposed to my favorite cake and cookie bakery.) That morning I went in for a ham and cheese pocket or something like that, but the cinnamon rolls smelled SO good that I got one. I got a tea to go with it and settled in to wait for the rain and for friends to show up. It's fun to sketch a treat because I take more time and enjoy it more in the process. It was delicious.

Later while talking to friends I did a quick, smaller sketch of the classic red stairwell in the art gallery section of the building.

I finished the morning having a chat with a different friend while I sketched inside the Memphis Listening Lab with their stunning collection of vinyl that you can have played for you. They have a great soundtrack running, needless to say.

I haven't been sketching much lately, so it felt great to go out and do several, especially while seeing friends at the same time. Urban sketchers is a big part of my social calendar and my absolute favorite group.

I gave myself an art day out today after turning in the cover art for Memphis Magazine's February issue a couple of days ago. I know artists who are disciplined in their work hours and days, but I am not one of them. I work through a lot of weekend time but give myself days off while everyone else is at work (which is the nicest time to take them except for seeing friends who are off work on weekends). Also my time off is muddy anyway, as non artist friends have pointed out to me, since sketching is often part of a day out for me.

Elizabeth Alley was talking at Dixon on her art residency in the arctic circle, which was fascinating. I love the noon Wednesday lecture series because it gets it on my calendar to take a museum day. And I love vicarious travel and artists talking about their craft. A perfect excuse to get out. And it was great. I chose paradise blue ink to do some of the sketching in because it felt as appropriate for the chill of the subject matter as it does for the blue of the Caribbean. That was the one I spent the most time on, but then she got to her slide of a polar bear track, and I grabbed my tiny purse sketchbook to record that.

It's 70 degrees today and gorgeous, so after walking through the printmaking exhibit again I ordered a peach tea latte and a blueberry muffin to take out into the gardens. Day out indeed. The drink making is delicious but a little slow, so I sat down to wait and sketched the croissant in the case while I waited. That's my gamboge Windsor and Newton watercolor marker as color. I love their juicy, saturated markers.

Sitting outside at Dixon feels a tiny bit like Paris. There are tables behind rows of  pruned trees and boxwood hedges with a view through to a Rodin statue. It always makes me think of the sculpture garden at the Rodin museum just a little, and it's a happy place for me. Sometime I'll sketch that view, but Elizabeth's talk about drawing patterns on her trip stuck with me, and when I looked down at the table base, I drew that instead. I did a whole series of sketches of my black boots when I was traveling in Paris, so again it felt like a small flashback to good times. It was a truly excellent day out.

I'm trying to get myself back to sketching more, and I had a good time with it on Sunday. I watched the last baseball game of the year (for my Cardinals at least, sadly), went and took down my bit of info and some prints I'd put up at the Pink Palace Crafts Fair, and decided to take myself out for fish tacos on a perfect patio night. Henry and I hung out, shared some tacos, read a bit of a good book, and finished with a sketch of the moon. It's Diamine Aurora Borealis ink in my new Lamy fountain pen with watercolor on top. The Baseball one is waterproof black ink with a small patch of watercolor (different Lamy foutain pen).

I had a great weekend. My sister visit led into it, and then Saturday morning I found plums at the farmers market. The NYT had done a piece a few months ago on the most requested recipes of all time, and this plum torte was at the very top of the list. I'm reading Ruth Reichl's memoirs about food at the moment, and then I found the plums. Trying that recipe felt inevitable. It did not disappoint. I put it on my birthday plate from Melissa Bridgman, which (if seen in its entirety) has the quote, "Joy is not meant to be a crumb," and it felt made for savoring this truly delicious thing.

Jill, my honorary sister, met me at the Shell to see Pokey LaFarge, whom I've loved for 15 years, ever since he played a coffee shop concert as one of three jug bands using kazoo. He's more mellow than he was then, but a really good songwriter and a super fun show. Henry and I sat at the way back, and Jill was kind enough to join us in the outcast dog section. Officer Harris, one of the security guards, snapped a photo of the three of us, and I stuck in a little video for fun too. It was great to listen to good music, see friends, sketch a little, and walk home surrounded by neighbors. What a perfect evening.

I got jumped by a bunch of family business on my return from New York and spent a week or so not sketching. I have managed to jump back in over the last week, starting with a farm sketch out at the family farm, followed by a pastel de nata at a new chain bakery in Memphis. I have loved these in Paris and been unable to get them in Memphis, so I had high hopes. It was ok but not great sadly. Phyllo instead of pie crust. Not satisfying enough to be worth the splurge but fun to sketch in my small sketchbook.

Then Memphis Urban Sketchers met at the main library yesterday. It's a bit of an overwhelming building to take on perspective-wise, but I love the colors and light. It was fun, even if I flunked corners of the architecture.

I did a super quick sketch in my small sketchbook at the end. I love the trees in there but didn't have time to do much I was proud of, but it still felt fun to try.

Memphis Magazine let me illustrate their back page feature "The Last Stand" last month. I loved having an open ended invitation to tell a story. It was a quickish turnaround, and I didn't manage a full narration, but I went to two farmers markets after getting the assignment and had fun conversations as well as seeing the rich visual bounty of such places. I ended up doing a graphic feature called "Farmers Market chit-chat." I keep saying I'd like to do more visual storytelling, and it was lovely to get the invitation. See the whole spread here.

And of course Henry made an appearance.

Christina and I went to Tonica for a second time. It's a tapas place right in the neighborhood with a small back patio that feels like a cafe alleyway from Europe and that also is dog friendly. I appreciate the places where I can walk Henry, get a lovely meal, and walk home again. I also appreciate the slightly fancy places that still welcome dogs, since Henry completely panics if he's left at home alone.

I was right at the end of a sketchbook, and I did the last two pages. I wasn't super inspired about anything except my truly lovely sangria. Always sketch the pink drink, to misquote another friend. I seem to get the base of every wine glass I draw way too big and only realize it after the fact, but I had a good time anyway. Christina was facing the other way, back towards a tiny, lush patio of the business next door, and she was still working after dinner. I decided to do an even faster one just for fun. Neither is really great, but I'm always happier when I sketch, and it's always good practice.

I was having a run around day a couple of weeks ago, and it was sunny and halfway warm for the end of January. I felt like stopping at my favorite deck and having a chai. I had just started a new sketchbook, back to my old favorite Handbook after trying something less satisfying, and I also had a new yellow watercolor marker. I did the sketch above with the watercolor and then did a second one of umbrellas and the sycamore across the street that I love. My fountain pens hadn't really worked on the paper in the previous book, so I'm enjoying getting back to them. And sketching a treat slows me down to both appreciate and remember it.

A couple of days ago I got my favorite Lucy J's bakery croissant at the farmers market and came home for second tea. I hadn't been sketching in a few days, so it was nice to take a slow Saturday morning and enjoy both the sketching and the croissant.

I keep thinking about food trucks lately, ever since I sketched one in Little Rock on my way to my mini museum tour. They're colorful (often) and interesting visually and fun. I had done a couple for the M is for Memphis book too. I'm not sure where this is going, but I want to get out, sketch a few, and sample their wares in the new year. I had sketched Byway Coffee briefly in the Winter Arts parking lot early in December, then they they showed up again in Overton Park. I went back from my walk to get my full sketching kit and did a color version.

Before the stomach bug took me out of action for a few days, I had a great Saturday. I went to the farmers market early and snagged a parking space with a great view of the Flipside Asia food truck, my favorite one in town. Their yellow curry is my favorite, and I buy several at a time for the freezer. I've been jonesing to sketch more food trucks, and theirs, with that gorgeous big green dot, is one I had definitely wanted to capture. Sadly I closed my book too soon on a cold morning, which retards the drying, and the side got a little muddy. I'll probably take another run at it sometime. Frustrating when I was so happy just as I finished it, but there you go. Art out in the world has a life of its own.

Then later that day I met my sketching buddy Christina at Crosstown. They hang lights in the main atrium at the holidays, and it is gorgeous. I'd been eyeing the disco ball and wanting to try my hand. We got lunch from Global Cafe and carried it up several levels to a quiet table where we could drink in some sunshine and have a good catch up. Such pleasure. I ended up doing two sketches of the lights from different vantage points. I managed to leave my taller book in the car so I contented myself with the more horizontal format. It's good to mix things up sometimes, and it especially worked on the bottom sketch.