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After doing two in gouache, there wasn't much time, so I did one fast, small watercolor just to have the day in my journal as well. I was missing line and wanted to play with my green ink a little too. The two gouaches are on freestanding Kraft brown paper. It's always fun to sketch Elizabeth in her nifty sketching hat.   My friend and sketching inspiration Elizabeth Alley was giving a lecture on sketching at a conference and wanted to practice first on some friends. Naturally several of us sketched her as well as listening, and I took some notes too, since it was really interesting information. Plus I never pass up a chance to draw a Muddy's cupcake, which she kindly provided for the group.    The weather has been delicious for getting out and sketching lately. Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Elmwood, the historic cemetery in Memphis, which is one of my favorite places to go. I love the enormous magnolias paired with the angels and upright monuments. And then the Memphis Urban Sketchers exhibition started at Dixon, so for a third time, I have art in that beautiful museum. I went to check it out and see the large show of the usually in storage permanent collection there (they have much more than they can show regularly and still have traveling exhibit space). Of course I had to sketch While I was there. I’m always drawn to Ceres. I just can’t resist her graceful curves. And the tulips are fabulous right now.   I had a lovely evening this week having dinner with two artist friends. Christina cooked a yummy Mexican chicken soup for us, and Elizabeth brought homemade cake. That alone would have been awesome, but talking shop, visiting more generally about our lives, and hanging out sketching after eating made it a perfect night. As did sitting in Christina's marvelous mid-century house that always makes me want to come home and get my own in better order. I'm grateful to Memphis for having an art community that supports and roots for each other.    The Memphis Symphony did an unusual concert last night. Our new conductor Robert Moody noticed striking parallels in the devil at the crossroads stories of Stravinsky and Robert Johnson and decided to do a mashup. He used a chamber group and brought in bluesman Vashti Jackson to both be narrator and to play Johnson's blues interspersed with the Stravinsky pieces. There was also dancing and and an actor and film bits shown as well. It sounded a bit bizarre, but it really worked. My companion noted that both musical forms have a strong percussiveness. I had hoped to mix some ink that would be a lighter flesh tone in a brush pen (those are hard to mix in the dark of a theater), and I tested it at the top right before going. It was a sad failure and ended up both grainy and with the turkey basting quality of old TCM colorized films. I ended up just doing a series of line drawings in various pens, though I did add in the red suede shoes and matching tie of Mr. Jackson. It was a fun night.      I made it! Only because I had two different stints in waiting rooms last week. The #oneweek100people challenge could not have been better timed for me. Quite often I'm working at home by myself and see a couple of people, tops. But this particular week I was up and out, and I added in a park trip and a little sketching in the passenger seat one evening to make sure I got my quota, since I was so close. It was fun to have a challenge to mix up my sketching a bit.  I kept them all pretty small and quick, but I did one longer one to celebrate #100. I figured it would be right to end with "my" special person...   There's an Urban Sketchers challenge to draw 100 people in one week this week. In a stroke of good luck, it is also my week to sit for extended periods in waiting rooms twice this week. I'm delighted to have a challenge to make the time pass and feel productive. I've been wanting to practice people more for my illustration work anyway, so I went for it this morning. I managed to make it to 54 in one day. I asked Elizabeth Alley if that was cheating, and she said, no, it's winning! So yay.   I did all of these with my latest favorite pen for sketching (except for my lovely Pelican I'm using for the Mr. Darcy book, which lives on my desk now) -- a Lamy safari pen with smokey gray ink inside. The darker, wider bits are a brush pen with some diluted Sumi ink inside.     Every once in a while I'm lucky enough to go out for a sketching dinner with some like-minded girlfriends. We catch up on our lives, eat good food, talk about art, and draw while we're doing all of it. Last night we went to Next Door in Crosstown. I had the meatballs, and they were utterly delicious. I've traveled a lot over the last year, and it's good to have relaxed, sit down, face time with friends I value. I'm also still working on drawing people more, so I did a bit of that too.   
  Plus I always enjoy sketching my tea things. One last one. Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Cleveland Street Flea Market (a recent victim of gentrification) on its last weekend. I've bought many clothes there, including cowboy boots and my current favorite sweater, plus my dvd player and vacuum cleaner. It was a great community of folks every weekend and an irreplaceable personal resource. I am so very sad to lose it.  |
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Martha Kelly is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. To sign up for my emails (show notices, occasional news, and resources I find helpful), fill out this form: To subscribe to this blog, by email: 
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