I took a day trip into Arkansas with two photographers this past week. I drove and Matt played tour guide, and one of the places he took us was to this burial monument just outside Earle. It's the grave of a former slave who became one of the biggest land owners in the county. His monument sits up on a burial mound surrounded by cotton fields, and it feels very appropriate and wild and beautiful. I sketched it quickly in black and white, trying not to keep the faster photographers waiting, and then I sketched quickly again at the graveyard outside the church where the same man, Rev. Washington, was pastor.

I couldn't stop thinking about the place, though, and apparently I'm in good company because Carroll Cloar, who grew up in Earle, also painted this angel. I went back with a much bigger sketchbook and my watercolors a few days later and did the sketch at the top.

Here's a quick sketch I did from a photo I took after I got home from the first trip. I'm pondering a print of it, and I wanted to do a little bit more zoomed out sketch while it was all still fresh in my mind. Watch this space for more versions...

I posted snapshots of my museum sketches before I got home, but here are the scans that are a little cleaner and easier to see. I had so much fun doing these. The blue and black O'Keefe was a great starter sketch with simple colors and flat planes. Some painters are a lot easier to sketch than others, especially in the U.S. where most museums only allow you to use dry media. I love doing tiny watercolors with a self contained brush in Europe, but the museums here are super restrictive. Using only dry media means you have to have every color to match the painting you want to sketch since you can't mix colors. I used Inktense pencils (ink rather than watercolor ones so darker and richer, but which still activate with a little water over the top) and Neocolor watercolor crayons, which also take a nice wash later. There was a gorgeous eggplant piece I would have enjoyed sketching (with a bench right by it even! I had to sit in the floor for all three of these), but I didn't feel I could get the colors right. Same with an iris one. So I chose ones I felt would go reasonably well, and the process of drawing helps me look more closely at how artists make the choices they do. They copies are never exactly right. The sunset Shelton piece is more vivid than the original -- again, I had to use the colors I had, plus museum lighting is always pretty dim to protect the art, so I usually end up a little more vivid than the original, just hoping not to get into "garish" territory. I was overall really pleased with both of these.

After lunch I saw the permanent collection, which had a lot of great late 19th century/early 20th century works, including a couple by George Inness, one of my favorites. I loved the super dark sky of the storm behind the trees and the richness of the depth. It took a while to get the layers right. I used more crayons and less pencil with this one. I'm a little less satisfied with it as a copy, but I loved doing it.

I really enjoyed my quick trip to Atlanta. It helped that I drove in Monday evening, parked the car, and didn't move it again until I left Thursday morning. I could walk to the High Museum (my main reason for the trip), but I was also just across from Piedmont Park, an enormous urban park that had some lovely old trees and also some views out to the high rises that reminded me of the views from Central Park. I walked there all three days, and the last day I left the museum early and headed over with my sketchbook. I did a view my friend Sri had shown me, across the lake and off to the Midtown buildings, and I sketched one of a dozen fantastic trees I saw. I had forgotten my dip pen, and I was just finishing up (hallelujah!) a sketchbook that didn't accept my regular fountain pens. Even the brush pens had trouble getting purchase on that paper, which is why I've done so very many Inktense pencil sketches lately (like the skyline above). I've enjoyed stretching myself to use other materials, but I'm thrilled to be going back to my regular Handbook. I miss the smoother paper that also dries more quickly, I miss the pocket in the back, and the ease with which it fits on my regular scanner instead of my oversized one.

This one is a Hahnemühle, and I liked the slimmer book and the slightly wider format (also the reason it didn't quite fit on my scanner), but the paper bled through badly, and I've really been missing my pens. It's good to try new things, but I was happy to use one more museum trip, using dry materials anyway (Inktense plus neocolor crayons) to finish it off.

Here is one more non-museum sketch. I walked out on the tiny balcony my first morning there (I love a balcony) and spotted the moon setting through the trees. I grabbed a chair and my sketchbook and drew it quickly before breakfast. Traveling always gets me sketching at a higher frequency. At home I can think, well, I'll see that again, but on the road, you've got one shot at it. I was so glad I did before settling in for breakfast. It was a lovely way to start the day. And then I got to the O'Keefe show and saw probably 10 paintings of hers with the moon and felt very in synch with a painter I greatly admire.

The High Museum in Atlanta has an exhibition of Georgia O’Keefe’s New York era paintings, a broad selection of her work, but clearly (above) I was drawn to the skyscrapers. I highly recommend the show to anyone who can get there. I had a whirlwind trip. I’d pondered going before the snow, and clearly that was a bad idea. Then I thought about going next week, but the forecast when I checked looked ominous again, so Monday morning over breakfast I decided that that was the day. I had scouted out a garage apartment in walking distance of the High that was only available until Thursday, so I made the reservation at 7:30, threw some things in the car, and was out by 9:00.

I’ve been feeling for a while that I was stuck in a long covid rut, partly from fatigue, partly because of a fear of reinfection, and partly because it became very easy and comfortable to stay home. Having learned covid strongly disagrees with my particular biology, I’m still masking in public and miss the dancing I used to do. But I chose Explore as my word of the year and set myself a task to go somewhere new each month, even if it’s close to home. Museums are great because they’re not too crowded, and there isn’t that focus on food and drink, plus they feed my soul. I loved my Crystal Bridges/Nelson Atkinson trip last fall, and I’d like to do some more museum visits. I been once to the High around college age, but it’s been so long that I counted it as a new place. Piedmont Park certainly was. As with my fall trip, I brought along food, stayed within walking distance of the museum, and never moved the car (more key in Atlanta than some places). I went to the museum both mornings but walked in the park afterwards (and even the first night I got in). That rhythm of walking and looking at art and sketching really feeds my creativity. I also saw two old friends I hadn’t seen since before covid, which feeds my soul.

I did three museum sketches, two park sketches, and one early morning full moon sketch off my tiny balcony. There was a lovely large table and good light in the apartment too, and I did a bunch of Henry in the snow sketches while I was there too. Trips often get my sketching into overdrive. I’m working on a new graphic essay, maybe even a book, from my photos of him in the snow. It was an excellent three night getaway, and I’m so grateful I could just go.

After years of using a square format sketchbook that opens up to a strong horizontal, I fell in love last year with a more upright version, slightly larger than my small square sketchbook but smaller than the larger watercolor version I had been using. It didn't feel as time consuming to open and just do something in, so it became my easy go-to for almost all situations. The smaller square book (5.5x5.5"), though, fits beautifully in my small purse, though, and I enjoy switching up formats sometimes. I'm trying to remember to reach for it and use it as well. Here are a few recent(ish) sketches in that book.

I've slowed down on the sketching as we've hit both some rain and some busy days, but I did get in this across-the-fields view of a farm down in the Skagit River delta. I love that area. The walk-in scale of the farms and the rows of poplars with large mountains and even bigger skies rising up as background. There aren't a ton of good places to pull over and park, and I rarely get a chance to sketch down that way, but this was from the nursery that we'd visited the previous week. We made a second stop to revisit their gift shop and let me do this sketch of a view I'd been thinking about ever since I was there. The linework is in Kaweko Paradise Blue ink that was my find of the summer. I like the way it melts a bit with the paint I put on top. 

We also went on into Anacortes and got the last Sunday New York Times paper from the bookstore there, which is the only place in the region I've found that carries them. I'm happily reading on it this week, spreading it out till I get home to my regular subscription. I do love a real newspaper with breakfast.

We've been making the rounds in Washington, visiting favorite restaurants and bookstores while I'm here. We took the girls to lunch at Slough Foods, a charming spot on a slough with outdoor seating and fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches. A few days later we visited the LaConner Brewing Co., which has a great rotating selection of hard ciders, and I tried their pizza for the first time, which was excellent. I've eaten more cheese in the last week than I have in the last month, but that's what vacation is for, I guess. 

We also stopped at a fun nursery with extensive grounds, an antique schoolhouse building, and a decidedly UK feeling gift shop. I'm still thinking about the Aran sweaters there, but I confined myself to sketching. Yesterday was two rainy soccer games, cheering on the girls, and hanging out with family. It was lovely. I'm feeling rested and ready to dive back into shows when I get home. 

Rasar State Park is one of my favorite spots in Washington. It has forest, beach, river, and meadow with mountain views. On an unusually sunny afternoon for late October in the PNW I headed there to walk and sketch and drink in a bit of sunshine. There's a perfectly positioned picnic table, lovely for perching and sketching, that I drew the overall mountain and cloud view from. I did a couple of trees on a smaller path.

The tree watercolor uses Diamine Ancient Copper ink to its best advantage. I forget occasionally and try to use it with buildings, and it bleeds all over beejeezus, but it's perfect for the organic nature of trees. The day had a ton of moisture in the air, and the paint took forever to dry, which meant it would often bleed into the color next door. That totally worked on the tree sketch, a little less so on the landscapes, but it was an interesting challenge. The odd one out is a walnut ink sketch with a dip pen of a nurse stump. The stumps of fallen trees will often "nurse" a new tree growing up and out of them, and the visual effect is dramatic. I also love the symbolism of new life, or new opportunities springing forth out of destruction, as has happened more than once in my life. 

​I walked three miles and did four sketches, and it was a total win of an afternoon. 

I'm taking a second quick trip before the holiday sales start in earnest. Washington state is a little drizzly some days, but yesterday I caught a lovely sky walking across the boardwalk into Anacortes. It ended up being a perfect four mile walk that ended at Pelican Bay bookstore. I hit the Watermark bookstore too, for a New York Times, which I have to drive an hour for up here, so it was a pleasure to get the Sunday one for several days' worth of reading. I also hit an antique store on the way home and found a really beautiful set of bird china, cup and saucer, cream pitcher, and a sugar bowl with no lid, but it's perfect for setting the tea bags in after pulling them out of the pot, and I hated to strand it by itself. I've never seen china like this before, and it was just too lovely to leave. I did a celebratory sketch last night that got a little muddy (it's been good to get back to sketching after several turnaround days at home with lots of business to take care of), mostly because I chose a very bleed-y blue ink to start with, but it was still fun. 

Day Four of my museum trip was back in the Nelson Atkins. I went through the remarkable Hokusai exhibition, which included his teachers, peers, and modern artists influenced by him as well as reams of his own work. It was stunning. I drank it in without sketching, moving back and forth and revisiting favorites before I exited.

The museum cafe was much more crowded on a Saturday, so I bought a drink and another excellent scone to supplement the apple I had brought and took it out to a front patio shaded by cherry trees. I love the shuttlecock sculptures and took some lunch break drawing time before diving back in. I revisited favorites this last day. The stunning, dark Caravaggio of John the Baptist had been calling me since I arrived, so I took the time to settle on a handy bench and sketch it. Later I was wandering through the Egyptian section and drawn by this life sized relief from Nimrud. I sketched one of the museum goers with it. I had meant to include more, but people were so kind about not blocking my view that I really didn't get the chance. The black stone sculpture of Horace also enchanted me. I could spend a week in this museum without sketching everything I want to. I've made a commitment to myself to do more art trips within a day's drive of Memphis. It's so renewing for me to take time to sit with great art. I've been missing my European trips through covid, and I hope to get back sooner rather than later, but I should absolutely take advantage of the things closer to home as well.

It was an early closing day at 5pm, and the light and evening were lovely. I sat out on the lawn and drew the shuttlecocks with more of the museum facade. I was tired, and it wasn't very good, but it felt nice to respond to all the art I'd seen by doing a little more sketching before driving home the next morning. What a treat of a trip. I met some lovely people that I wouldn't have talked to if I'd had a companion with me. People in groups are their own small bubbles moving through space. When you're alone, and often when I'm sketching, people feel much more comfortable having a conversation, and I had a great couple of conversations that started with my asking a museum guard a question as well. It's an unhurried, wide open way to walk into the world. I love trips I take with various friends and family, but I always love a solo trip too. Such a luxury to do exactly what is calling my name in any given moment.