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.
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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...
Henry and I went out the other day to take advantage of a gorgeous, sunny afternoon at Elmwood Historic Cemetery, one of my favorite longtime sketching spots. I hadn't really registered this hobbit-looking grave before and was completely charmed by the hillside entrance and round door. After a bit we walked on to one of the many stunning trees out there. I got a box of Windsor and Newton watercolor markers recently. I'd had a single blue one years ago that I loved for its broad tip and its lush color, so I took a chance on a box. I tried both greens on this piece. Greens are tricky, and these both felt a little too chemically, though my choice of Paradise Blue ink to start with in a fountain pen probably pushed them even further toward the cool end. The tree has some gorgeous blue undertones I was trying to catch, and it is always fun to play with different colors. I'm happy with bits of this but not the overall color tone. I went back to my regular black pen and watercolor for the third sketch. It's a closeup of a magnolia I'd spotted as we started out but wanted to walk for a bit before settling down to sketch. I love all the huge old trees out there. Finally here's another tree sketch from a newish greenway down by the river the other day. This is grey ink with a dip pen and watercolor on top. It seems to thematically go with this entry, so I tucked it on in. I'm trying to branch out and explore some newer places this year, and I really enjoyed this quiet walk with the levee in the background (the yellow band behind the trees).
After crazy cold weather and a sprained ankle it was really good to meet my friend Christina for lunch and sketching. We had a catch up and a burger and then moved out into the sunshine on the plaza outside Crosstown to draw. It was chilly and a bit windy, but the sun helped, and it felt good after being cooped up so long. I did the pretty complex top scene, sitting and chatting and going back in to fiddle a little more. It's in my favorite Diamine golden brown ink. I'm finally back in a sketchbook that takes my fountain pens again and really enjoying that. This one is water soluble, so you can see that it melted into the paint a bit. I put some of the lines back after painting, but I also like the looseness of that melt. I also did this super not flattering sketch of Christina. I'm trying to get back into drawing people more again, especially since I'm really enjoying illustration these days. But I tried to catch her smiling and instead did something truly awful with her mouth. So I'm going to post a second older one with it, a fast line sketch, that I think does capture more of her beauty. I went down to pick up Henry afterwards and was a little early, so I ran through a fun little grocery by the river and then just sat in my car and did this sketch of a couple of trees that caught my eye (of course). A really good sketching day.
Y'all, what a great week. Memphis Magazine published a truly glowing article about my book that meant so much. Jesse Davis saw what I was trying to do with my art and put it into words better than I ever could have. I'm so grateful. You can read it on their site here. My only regret is that I wasn't smart enough to think of the name Memphabetical for the book itself. And I mean... "And what beautiful pages they are — Kelly’s paintbrush seems to capture Memphis on those rare and perfect spring days. The Southern sun shines off the glass storefront of A. Schwab on Beale Street and the stained-glass windows in the historic Clayborn Temple. Deep-green shadows pool beneath magnolias at Elmwood Cemetery, seeming to suggest quiet contemplation. Kelly’s artwork is dazzling, and she has trained her eye to look beyond the first thing she notices. In her hands, Memphis is seen lovingly and honestly." Also this, so exactly what I hoped people to feel, but again, in better words: "The book does not set out to tell some imagined definitive “true story” of Memphis; rather it reads like a series of postcards sent to a close friend. It’s Kelly’s attempt to show the reader Memphis as she sees it, to show what she loves about this multifaceted city by the mighty Mississippi." So many thanks to Willy Bearden for taking the photo at the top JUST before Memphis Magazine asked for one to use. I didn't have a current one I was happy with and was thrilled to get this one. It's from the Burke's Books signing party back in December. They even did the chalk board specially for me! Here are a couple of less high quality snaps, including one of me and my dad, but I'm in good memories mode this week with the article coming out. Also this week Channel 5 news saw my book at Dabbles (shout out to Debbie for my best hair cuts, dog love, and her unstinting support of my work) and asked for a feature interview. I met Taylor Tucker at Crosstown and had a lovely chat, which she boiled down into this feature on last night's news: 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. 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...
I delivered books to the Shelby Farms gift shop yesterday and took the opportunity to walk in a different park. There is a pair of small lakes I love from previous bike trips out there, so I headed that way. It was super cold but also a little sheltered back off the main area, and I took my sketching pack just in case. I'm trying to sketch more this month. I ended up doing two quick ones. I didn't take time to get paint out, just used the Inktense pencils with water brushed over the top (which is why that purple in the background is so vivid -- I would have mixed it down a bit in paint). But fun to try to catch the essence of a spare scene quickly. My second sketch was a tunnel of privet. I really love a tree tunnel, and though I generally dislike privet as an invader that causes a lot of trouble in natural places, I was charmed by the tunnel anyway. I remembered the crayons this time to get a little more blocky color in still without getting out paints.
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