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.
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I keep thinking about food trucks lately, ever since I sketched one in Little Rock on my way to my mini museum tour. They're colorful (often) and interesting visually and fun. I had done a couple for the M is for Memphis book too. I'm not sure where this is going, but I want to get out, sketch a few, and sample their wares in the new year. I had sketched Byway Coffee briefly in the Winter Arts parking lot early in December, then they they showed up again in Overton Park. I went back from my walk to get my full sketching kit and did a color version.
I still can't get enough of sketching Rowan Oak. I went down to meet my sister and brother in law for them to see my show and did a quick sketch while Marian was reading every placard in the museum. I love the pop of the green roof of the barn amid the winter greyness, and I also loved the curve of the trees framing it. More Inktense pencils, since I'm on a kick with them right now, and watercolor on top.
I've been having fun sketching Christmas this year. One scene I had spotted on the way to the farm and been dying to do is Bartlett Wines & Spirits, above, with Santa and his reindeer on the roof. I was hoping I hadn't missed it with my stomach bug, so I raced out on Boxing Day and sketched from my car (cold but partly sunny). I had a ball. It's mostly Inktense pencils with watercolor on top. A couple of days later I met friends at Dixon to see the exhibitions and do a little sketching. More Inktense, which I'm kind of on a roll with, plus neocolor crayons since you can't use paint in the museum. We moved into the cafe for a while, and I switched back to ink and paint. I love this Kaweko Paradise Blue I found this summer, but I was frustrated with the overall sketch. Overworking it wasn't going to help, though, so I switched to a few fast people studies. I had fun doing tiny family sketches for my dad's present, and I think I might like to do some more illustrated memoir projects this year, so practice live is always good.
Before the stomach bug took me out of action for a few days, I had a great Saturday. I went to the farmers market early and snagged a parking space with a great view of the Flipside Asia food truck, my favorite one in town. Their yellow curry is my favorite, and I buy several at a time for the freezer. I've been jonesing to sketch more food trucks, and theirs, with that gorgeous big green dot, is one I had definitely wanted to capture. Sadly I closed my book too soon on a cold morning, which retards the drying, and the side got a little muddy. I'll probably take another run at it sometime. Frustrating when I was so happy just as I finished it, but there you go. Art out in the world has a life of its own.
Then later that day I met my sketching buddy Christina at Crosstown. They hang lights in the main atrium at the holidays, and it is gorgeous. I'd been eyeing the disco ball and wanting to try my hand. We got lunch from Global Cafe and carried it up several levels to a quiet table where we could drink in some sunshine and have a good catch up. Such pleasure. I ended up doing two sketches of the lights from different vantage points. I managed to leave my taller book in the car so I contented myself with the more horizontal format. It's good to mix things up sometimes, and it especially worked on the bottom sketch. It's been a weird Christmas around here, and I haven't sketched or posted as much as I had planned. Winter Arts took a good bit out of me since I was low ebb anyway, and then I got the stomach flu last week. But I recovered enough to enjoy a low key Christmas and do at least a little sketching. I did get a smallish tree up, a Charlie Brown sort of cedar from my family farm, and I've really enjoyed it. It's the kind of tree my family has always had, lucky that we still have a farm to cut one on. I did a sketch of it before the bug got me. And coming back out of it, I managed (at the very last minute) to do this map of the same family farm for my dad for Christmas, putting in all our nicknames for specific places and tucking in several of our dogs and my favorite trees. That felt so good to do, and it's made me think about doing a bit more family sketching as a sort of scrap book. Then today, still tired from the bug but upright and back on solid foods, I decided a good low key activity would be a little car sketching. I had been eyeing the Bartlett Wine & Spirits with Santa on the rooftop and the canary yellow building as I've been driving to and from the farm this past month. I was afraid Santa would disappear any day, so I drove out and sketched from my car and bought a bottle of wine for the new year. A very satisfying outing. I'm ready to get back to more regular sketching.
I've been doing so much show stuff lately that it was lovely yesterday to take a whole day for sketching and friends and art. Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Dixon yesterday, one of my very favorite places. It's been crazy cold this past week, but it was warmer today and very sunny. I found if I sat in the sun, it felt great to sketch and drink in the outdoors a while. I did the top sketch, a little labored but fun, chatting with one friend. Then I went inside to warm up as the sun shifted and had a great conversation on illustration with another friend in the cafe. I drew two more friends, and the paradise blue ink ran unflatteringly into their faces (which I should have left white given the ink I was using), but I loved the half done bookshelves behind the scene. I had about fifteen minutes left to draw in one of the galleries, so it's wonkier than I would like (and I can't get the lovely muted teal color in pencil), and I added the left bit outside after we were breaking up but still chatting. After THAT a few of us went back to midtown and ate takeout Golden India outside on the patio in the sunshine (I'm still reveling in all that time outdoors after some indoor days), and finally I sketched Henry on his favorite chair just before bed. I was totally going yesterday, and it felt great to just flat out draw. None of them are fantastic, but it all felt so good just to do.
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 took a day trip to Rowan Oak to call on my show last week and also spent a perfect afternoon walking through the woods to the University art museum and sketching my way back. I am continuing my love affair with the trees on Faulkner's property. I could see a whole second series of prints coming at some point. I also checked in at the house and took a little video of my show Faulkner’s Trees. It is such a thrill to have my prints in this amazing place. I went without sketching for at least a week after my long trip because I came home to full on family events and house guests. Joyful for sure, but I've also enjoyed getting back to sketching in my daily(ish) life. The first was a forest walk and sketch of the colors changing and a couple of great tree trunks. I started using pencils more with my paints (mostly Inktense water soluble pencils) on the museum trip, and I've kept enjoying them. I like the extra texture they bring. Next is a farm sketch from Saturday. I went out and had a great visit with my folks, a great walk with Henry (we spotted the Christmas tree I want, though I'm not going to cut it yet), and a little bit of sketching time for me. Last is also pencils, using more colors than just one or two base ones. It's the view from the deck of Casablanca yesterday. I had a lovely time sitting out in perfect weather, drinking tea and having lunch and sketching with my best sketching buddy Christina. Always a pleasure.
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![]() online store Martha Kelly is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. Get occasional studio email updates. Categories
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