There's a 1900 Parisian cafe show at my local museum just now (Dixon). I love that time period and the whole slew of different styles they had going on, and Vuillard is one of my favorites. There is one stunning Vuillard on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art, and I'm so grateful to be getting to spend some time with it here. Once again I'm having to make do with the artificial colors of pencils and crayons since it's only dry media in the local museum, and it's a little too candy colored. I also sat on a bench across the room, so it's just an impression from there instead of trying to get all the details in, but I loved sitting and drinking it in for a while. A perfect sort of Saturday.

I treated myself to a day out today. I've been working on the memoir but not really sketching lately, and it's good to do work that's looser, not for publication, just for myself. (Not to mention that I don't want to show too much of something I'm hoping to publish, so I haven't had a lot for the blog lately.)

The Mary Sims exhibition at Dixon is amazing. I've been several time with various people, but I hadn't take a bunch of time just to drink it in slowly. I went round the whole thing, sat and looked at various pieces, and finally figured out a couple I'd like to sketch. I love her crazy intricate still lifes with shadows that are as robust as the objects themselves, but I knew I'd make myself crazy trying to capture one (especially with the pencil/crayon I'm limited to inside the museum). So I headed back for my other favorite works, which were the early portraits. The top one is maybe my favorite piece in the whole show, but since Dolph Smith is one of my favorite local artists, that may not be an objective assessment. I love that he and Mary, both lions of the Memphis art world, are united in this piece. And his sweet wife Jesse memorialized as well.

I also sketched this graphite and acrylic portrait. It's so minimal (flat background, as all hers are, just not something I could catch with dry materials). She uses graphite so extensively on her canvas work, which isn't something I've tried at all. The effect is wonderful. And I loved seeing her use so much gold paint. I'm always drawn to the metallics and then wonder if I'm just being cheesy, but it's good validation to see her love them as well.

It's been a rainy day off and on, and there was flat NOBODY in the cafe at early lunch time. I went ahead and actually ate inside, which was a treat. Usually I'm wearing a mask indoors. And I had fun doing a quick fountain pen sketch at the same time. I really should get out and draw more people as I'm working on the memoir, which is so figure heavy. It's never been my strong suit, but I am having a good time. This was actually my first sketch of the day -- I was starting a new sketchbook with a short, happy memory. You can see the spot for my name and information (which I ALWAYS fill out in case I lose a book) in the bottom left. Now that I'm home with my waterproof ink, I'll attend to that.

I was heading out, and the rain suddenly burst back on the scene in a pretty impressive downpour. I decided to sit and sketch this scene I'd been eyeing anyway. I love drawing Rodin. I started with the crayons since I'd had them out for the museum pieces but added some real watercolor on top. It was a lovely way to pass the time until I could walk more easily to my car.

I've been doing a lot of illustration work lately, but not just sketching from life for personal happiness. Sunday was a gorgeous day, and the wildflowers are at their peak. Henry and I went early and walked up a small wash where we wouldn't hurt anything but also where we'd be a little off the path since it was a weekend. I wanted to settle in and sketch before chigger season, which bit me (literally) last year. I found a few bunches of bluebells that I didn't know grew in there.

I have a certain scale that makes the most sense to me visually as an artist. I don't usually sketch close ups of the landscape or huge panoramas. My brain (and probably my heart) do best with mid-sized landscape that's perfect for a person to walk into. But I love the wildflowers so much that I try to paint at least a few almost ever year, to greatly varying results. I wanted to mark the bluebells, and after butchering some trillium last year in a deep purplish ink, I reached for the Derwent Inktense pencils, which I have fortunately supplemented with a pink for the buds. I used paint on top but laid out the bluebells with a blue pencil. It's not amazing but it was fun to do, and I was happy with the colorful riot in my sketchbook as a celebration of spring. This is always my favorite season in the forest.

That evening I had kept my paints handy for illustration work but didn't have my sketchbook in reach. Going to get it would have disturbed Henry, who was looking cute in his favorite chair, so I did a small freestanding watercolor with no lines first, just drawing with the brush and a light grey to start with. He moved partway through (of course), but it was fun to get back to evening Henry sketching, and I'm going to try to remember to do it more.

The Mid-South Cartoonists Association kindly arranged for the Memphis Urban Sketchers to join them at the Fontaine House, one of our old painted ladies which is now a museum. I've loved this house since I was a kid, and it's always a treat to go there. I sat outside with my big sketchbook to begin with and sketched the house full on. I started at the tower and cut off the very bottom but got more of it than I thought I might when I began. I used a big brush and tried not to get bogged down in all the gingerbread, just to get the impression of the place.

By that time I was cold, and I joined friends inside. I love this view in the top hall just below the tower stairs. I sketched it several years ago (below) and had another, quicker run at it yesterday. The light was glowing pink that I couldn't quite catch, but it was fun to try.

I do love the tower. Sometime I need to go back and sketch this view that I took a photo of out the round window. And Christina got a shot of me when I was still outside sketching the facade. Fun to see myself from a bird's eye view.

I'm doing the less fun thing of scanning in a bunch of family tax documents this month, and I realized I hadn't scanned in this recent9ish) forest sketch. I've been more in my print shop lately than sketching, and this is a nice reminder to get back to my sketchbook as well. Inktense pencil and watercolor. In related news, I also need to clean my black fountain pen in my sketching kit which wasn't working when I reached for it, but I'm happy with the pencil on this one.

Five in One kindly hosted the Memphis Urban Sketchers on Saturday. They're a cool art gift shop (my favorite stickers), print shop, and crafts camp for grown ups. I love what they do and was excited to sketch their cool space. I love their facade, and even though it was chilly I perched outside a while catching their awesome row of windows and bling. Nicely it was sunny and not at all windy and certainly warmer than the icy weather we had been having. I'd been wanting to do a big sketch again, and this is in my largest book. I used a charcoal grey Inktense pencil with watercolor on top.

Afterwards I moved inside to chat with people and did another tiny sketch in my smallest book with just a fountain pen and a W&N watercolor marker. It's fun to do those quick, free sketches after spending a bunch of time on an intricate one.

I was flipping through older sketchbooks and realized that I haven't been sketching my tea things lately, and that's always such a short cut to happiness. So I'm going to try to get back on that bandwagon a bit more for 2026. Here's the first one. The cup/saucer/creamer are handpainted Scottish stoneware. This was our everyday dish set growing up since my mom graduated from the University of Edinburgh and loved all things Scotland. Two successive stepmothers liked this dishware less, and we didn't use it for ages. Now it's happily in use at the family farm, but I found these tea things at antique malls for my personal use and happiness. They're paired with a Shearwater pottery teapot from Ocean Springs for even more personal happiness. I sketched in a blue Inktense pencil and put watercolor on top.

Memphis is sleeted in, but ohmygosh so much better than being iced in the way Nashville and Oxford and a whole belt of Mississippi are. We missed the damaging ice by about 7 miles, and I'm absurdly grateful and then a little guilty for being that grateful, but I'm here and warm and mostly home. I've been doing more print work than sketching lately, and I've got a house guest who had the bad luck to choose this stretch of time to visit, so I'm just doing less art than I might be anyway. But Monday I sat in my print shop and sketched the snow shadows outside the French doors, and then I sketched a super small/quick one from my kitchen island. I'm also posting, on the general theme of "home," a recent sketch of my stepmom in her wing chair. I love having my parents right in the neighborhood.

I also sketched in line at the grocery store before the snow hit. Fresh Market usually has little to no line, but leading up to the storm Memphis was stocking up. I had had a conversation with a new artist friend about reaching for a sketchbook instead of a phone, and I'm trying to do more of that. The constant struggle.

It's been a sunny and unusually warm start to the year, and I'm taking advantage with some sketching walks in the old forest. It feels good to get out, let Henry explore a bit, and enjoy a place I love so much. This first is Diamine Golden Brown ink with watercolor. I've done a couple of different graphic essays with those materials, but I recently refilled a pen that had dried up, and I'm planning to use it more. The ink is dark enough to show a line but light enough to meld with the paint without making a muddy mess. Really perfect.

I did a super quick one New Year's Eve. It was late in the afternoon, and I mostly just painted the sunshine itself. The sun and owls and a feel good day for me felt like a good omen for the coming year. One of those moments I wanted to memorialize for later in my sketchbook.

Here are a couple of older ones, one complete with a few raindrops as I was finishing. That's the Diamine Ancient Copper ink again, and the last one is Inktense pencils with watercolor on top.