I've been in a walking in the afternoon rhythm lately, and then this week the sunset jumped backwards so it turns out that golden hour is now about 3:40pm. I am at least getting some good slanted light sketches. I've been mixing up materials, with a dip pen and watercolor, Inktense pencils and watercolor, my new Lamy fountain pen with brown ink, water soluble graphite (which I paint on with a brush from a tin), and back to the dip pen with that lovely warm Diamine golden brown ink that kind of melts into the paint. That last one is from earlier, but I inadvertantly saved it in the wrong folder, so it didn't make it onto the blog before now. I'm not sure if all the materials are keeping me loose or keeping me from developing a groove, but I'm having fun, so here we are for now. I'm just reaching for whatever feels right for the scene.

I've slowed down on both sketching and posting this last month. I've been working on some print things and spending some family time, but here's a pair of at home sketches.

I continued my water soluble graphite streak with this one of Henry and my favorite lamp, plus some watercolor. I need to get back to this little series. I was having fun.

And this week my dear friend Jill came to tea and brought me late flowers from her own garden. I put them in a Japanese vase of my mom's and sketched them one evening with a British mystery for company. They're currently sitting on my coffee table making me happy. I love sketching flowers friends bring my because then I get that joy again later when I open an old sketchbook and remember that kindness so vividly.

I stumbled on a tin of water soluble graphite in a Parisian art supply store years ago. You use it with a paint brush and water, and it's lush and fun. I hadn't used it lately but pulled it back out recently. It's a perfect quick-after-dinner-sketch kind of material. Fun and immediate, and you just can't fuss too much. These are in my small purse sketchbook, just keeping things super simple. I'm glad I've remembered how much I enjoy working in this. The last sketch adds line with a charcoal inktense pencil. The others are all brush.

I took a quick trip this week to Nashville for an appointment at the long covid clinic there, and I found lodging at the Skarritt Bennett center. It was a college campus until it closed in 1988 and is now a conference center with lodging in the old dorms. The rooms were large and comfortable, if clearly former dorm rooms, and it was crazy reasonable, and the campus is absolutely gorgeous. And so quiet, right next to Vanderbilt. It's the furthest I've been able to drive since January, and I didn't do much at all except hang out on the campus. I took my own food (which I often do when I travel), so I spent all my extra time sketching.

I love this neo-gothic style of architecture. My lifelong church Idlewild Pres is in this same vein and shares a quarry with Rhodes. This place apparently shared an architect with Rhodes and had slightly blonder stone, but it felt like a mini-me of a familiar place. The arches and slate roofs and the glow of the stone all called me. In spite of my familiarity, it took me a few sketches to get my sea legs with this place. The first two were in Inktense pencils, which I've been enjoying lately. I think there just wasn't enough definition in that first one, with the wide view of so many different elements. The pencils felt better in the more limited sketch of a pair of arches.

The next day I used Diamine golden brown ink, which melts into the paint, and it fuzzed up some of the lighter elements of the drawing, but the color and overall feel did great. But I'd forgotten to refill this pen before I left, so I switched to a waterproof brown ink after.

I've been enjoying that ink a lot lately, but somehow the next one felt a little more stiff.I think it worked better on the last sketch, a fast one at twilight of a magnificent cherry tree. I really enjoyed my stay and hope to go back again soonish and visit the museums I didn't have the time to get to this trip.

Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Brooks on a drizzly Saturday. The museum is free till noon, so it suits our group for free and open (and available bathrooms). I sat out on the front porch under cover and chatted with a couple of friends and did a frustrating line sketch with a pen that was getting clogged up (below), and then I went inside to sketch in the galleries. I've enjoyed drawing museum spaces lately, even though that limits me to pencils only (in the US, at least). So they always turn out a bit more candy colored than I'd like. I've really enjoyed the pencils lately, but generally I use them for the drawing and add more subdued paint on top. I did take this one outside and added water after. Maybe I need to experiment with much lighter tone and water RIGHT after so I still remember and can tone things down better. Brooks is near my house and a good place for me to get in and out of. It was good to get back and remind myself to go there more often.

Now I need to go refill some pens and see if I can get this one flowing better again.