I'm still playing with the limited group of Inktense pencils in my dedicated forest sketching kit. This sketch was started with a middle green pencil (which you can see in the date), a light sepia one (mostly in the path) and a "bark" one, the tree trunks, that is vividly warm with water added on top, almost a reddish purple, but which feels more natural than a solid black. I think I'd like to add one dark blue green pencil for forest depth quickly (which I did with paint here), but it's fun to have to make choices with a limited palette.

I am really struggling with fatigue this spring. I've had long covid for two and a half years, but it's especially bad just now. I miss traveling and seeing friends, but I've decided that if I can't go far, I can at least go deep. I've made myself a special Old Forest backpack to keep the car and always have (since I'm driving to the forest instead of walking there just now). It's got a smaller sketchbook, a more limited set of sketching equipment, a waterproof inflatable cushion to sit on (key with the wet week we're having), and a set of binoculars a friend gave me a few years ago. The top sketch is actually my full sized sketchbook (5.5x8"). I had my full kit so the Lamy pen had Diamine Earl Grey ink in it. It's not waterproof, and I like how that gentler color melts into the paint. Black ink would just make a puddle, but I like to draw with grey, brown, or green that will play with the paint.

Below are two from my new kit. It's a sketchbook I had started but but not gotten very far in. It's a 5.5" square that opens out to a more full landscape format. This was my go-to size for years, but I've gone a little bigger recently. It's fun to mix up shapes though. My friend Elizabeth knows I like Inktense water soluble pencils and gave me a bundle she was no longer using. I put several basic colors in this new sketch kit and then used a bit of watercolor on top.

This morning Henry and I were in the forest when a fellow walker called me off a few paces onto a side trail. He'd spotted a barred owl. I saw one last week before I had my sketching kit, so I was delighted to get a second chance at sketching one. She sat and watched us for ages, not too far off the ground. I used the black and the bark Intense pencils with just a little water on top to activate them, no extra paint. She finally took off, but I got to really study her with binoculars and pencil both. Owls have a prehistoric and a magical feeling, like you've stepped slightly into a different world. I'm grateful every time I get to see one.

I started a tiny sketchbook on Friday since I often carry a pretty tiny purse. I'd like to do more sketching my daily life. I've been using the Handbook watercolor books, but this was my first not w/c paper since they got bought out by Strathmore. The paper quality is definitely down, but I liked my first sketch once I added more paint. It bled through a little with the pen work, but not too much. The second sketch I did with a felt tip instead of a fountain pen, and I I had no bleed through. For this tiny size I might try one of the softcover Stillman and Birn, but for my bigger sketchbooks I still like the hardback nature of the Handbook watercolor, and I love having the pocket in the back.

Because the sketchbook was in my purse this morning, I did a second quick forest sketch, the one with the Pigma Graphic 1 felt tip, and it was fun to pause for not too long on my forest walk and do a quick sketch. Hopefully this will get me back in the habit.

On Friday I met my sketching friend Libby at Dixon for Food Truck Friday My favorite food truck Flipside Asia was there, so I made a point of getting to it. I did the superfast sketch of the small girl statue as a warm up and then moved to. my bigger book. Of course I liked the fast, looser sketch of the girl herself better, but I ended up liking the conservatory and the deep shadows of the full page version too. I started both with a fountain pen using KawekoParadise Blue ink, which is my favorite funky color lately. It's water soluble and melts into the paint, which is fun and loose. Then I went and got meatballs in an Indian marsala sauce to eat in the gardens with Libby. A lovely day.

I'm working on a companion piece to my first snow tree, but it's really slow carving with all those tiny branches. I can work on it for a couple of hours in the morning when the light is best on my print table and I'm fresh. Then I do some other work later in the day. I won't be able to proof it for several more days yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I'm drawing out a spring tree print with leaves on all those branches, which won't be fast (I mean, what carving is?), but which should move at a much better pace than this current one.

You can also see my muse watching me hopefully and waiting for a trip to the dog park.

I had a crazy week last week, and it was good to get a day where I could carve in the morning, take a nap, and head to the forest for a late afternoon ramble and sketching trip. The wildflowers are almost gone, but there are still lovely ones popping up. I'm also thinking my way through a new tree series (starting with the snow tree print I just finished), and it's been fun to walk and look at trees and ponder new ideas. Henry is always up for a walk and a poke around the forest, so we both had a great time.

I've been really busy with family business lately and not getting much art time, but I am taking breaks to get out in the sunshine and enjoy spring. It refills the cup. Henry and I took a lovely afternoon hiding deep in the old forest so I could sketch and enjoy the wildflowers, and I decided to put him in the foreground of this first one. I did a number of sketches of Mr. Darcy leaning against my knees or sleeping on my feet, and the intimacy of those sketches makes me happy. Here I had looped Henry's leash over my boot while I made a mess of sketching some trillium. I did this second sketch after, which I was really pleased with. It much better captured the full joy of that afternoon.

The next day my sister Erin suggested an impromptu visit to the family farm to pick the daffodils that have naturalized over the 19th century home site out there (the house was gone before I was born). She and her boys met me out there. They all moved crazy fast, and I got Wesley (the smaller one bending over) too big, but it was fun to catch that moment on the fly. I stayed after and finished the background. Always draw the bits that are going to wander off first.

Yesterday I went back to the park after spending most of my day doing business-y things instead of making art. It felt lovely to walk and sketch. This tree has been calling my name for several weeks now, and I enjoyed settling in to sketch it.

I've been carving this one for weeks. With lots of interruptions, but it's still the most painstaking, intricate print I've worked on since the seagull murmuration for my show at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. Fortunately for me, this one is 9x12" instead of 18x24". I've enjoying having something to dive into for an hour at a time while I juggle a ton of other responsibilities this month, and I finally have gotten it to the place where I could pull a print and see what it looks like. I had to get the entire carving roughed in so I wouldn't lose the delicate drawing on the block into a big smear of ink. I'm cleaning up and thinning out very slowly so I don't overshoot, so there's not any dramatic difference to see the biggest clean up will show in the path, but I'm still working on that bit. 

This is from a photo I took during Memphis's unusual, actual snow this past winter. Usually we're right on the ice line, but for once we got a fluffy, photogenic kind of snow. This must be the fourth print I've done of my favorite tree over the years, alongside who knows how many sketches, and I just couldn't resist her beauty all dressed up for winter. I should be done in a few more proofs with smaller and smaller changes as I go along. Soon...

The weather has been utterly gorgeous this week, and I'm trying to get out and take advantage of it with sketching walks and patio meals. I'm low energy this week, but wandering around the park with a sketchbook is just right, and Henry and I have been over several different days. Such pleasure.

I'm continuing to give myself a slower January after the show craziness of Winter Arts. I'm cleaning my house some to get it pleasant again and doing a bit of print shop reorganzation, but I'm also trying to keep my sketching game going. I did another cold weather sketch on my dog walk yesterday, again just using pencils and crayons without getting out all the paint things. I'm kind of hoping this cold weather training will get me used to being out so I can sketch in the snow tomorrow. I never really want snow -- I like to walk out in the world without worrying about slipping -- but it is quite lovely visually. We'll see if I have the intestinal fortitude to sketch outside tomorrow. Watch this space...

Memphis Urban Sketchers met inside Crosstown today, a converted old Sears distribution tower that calls itself a "vertical village." It's a wonderful community space with lots of indoor vistas on a chilly January day. I had seen and loved the red tree in the Crosstown Arts area and was glad to see it still up -- I like it when people celebrate the whole season of Christmas and not just a single day. Henry and I settled there for a while to do a fairly intricate and layered space with the tree front and center. Afterwards we moved out to chat with friends, and the graphic orange restroom sign caught my eye, so I did it quickly before our meet up.

After more chatting and lunch with Christina, Henry and I walked towards home. It's going to get crazy cold, and I got warm walking, so I decided to keep going to the park and take advantage of the last chance to sketch outdoors for a while. I hadn't drawn "my" tree in a good while. She's decayed a lot but is still lovely, so I camped out on a picnic table and did one good sketch before heading home to warm up. First Saturdays are always one of my favorite days of the month. I love our great sketching crew, and it's a lovely excuse to get out and draw for the sheer pleasure of it.