I've been giving myself a bit of an easier schedule at the start of the year, which has been a lovely break. I have also, due to several family and social circumstances, had a few more meals out lately than my usual. Two of them made it into my sketchbook. A Saturday night out on the town at Casablanca, one of my favorite restaurants, and a Tuesday lunch at my favorite Mexican place. It's on out from my house but around the corner from my dentist, so I always try to schedule a dental appointment just before lunch time to have a small treat after.

It's been a disheartening week in my beloved Overton Park. Several years ago, inspired by Henry Shaw who transformed a whole section of St. Louis by founding parks and the botanic garden and planting 40,000 trees, my dad and I asked about donating some trees to Overton to provide visual screening of the zoo lot and shade for future generations. Due to the closing of a longtime nursery and their generosity in pricing the leftovers, we were able to go big (although not Henry Shaw big) and donate 300 new trees plus another 100 shrubs.

Many of the trees are planted in a ring around the Greensward, the one big open meadow that was planned by George Kessler, a disciple of Frederick Law Olmstead, as the heart of the park and the main meeting/play place for people. It is ringed by trees, but the old ones are slowly coming down and need renewing. Sadly the zoo has been using this one big green space for their overflow parking since the 90's, and the city hasn't stopped them. This week they went off the rails and ripped out 27 of our new trees in the dark of a Sunday night. They clear cut four acres of old growth forest several years ago, so their lack of conservation is not a surprise, but they have never before ventured out from their fences to destroy trees in the park proper. I am appalled and heartsick, and I sincerely hope the city will finally stand up and keep them in their borders. They want this land outright, the very heart of the park. That cannot happen. 

This morning there was a jazz funeral march for the fallen trees and a ceremonial replanting of three new ones. The Mighty Souls Brass Band went above and beyond on their civic duty to play on a cold Saturday morning.

Below is a picture from three years ago of the Boy Scouts who helped plant the same batch of new trees that the zoo ripped out some of.

My earliest is the last Stillman and Birns that I used. I like their paper a lot, but the 6x8 size is only in spiral bound, and scanning in sketches across that gap is challenging. Their bound sketchbooks open up to a pretty square format, and I really prefer a rectangle to work in. So this was my last hurrah for their books. The first half is the second half of my 2014 Paris trip, but I kept working in it on my return, and a good third of it was 2015. A couple of my favorites were a marker sketch of Mud Island and sketches of Mr. Darcy.

My first handbook journal, January to April, hooked me on their books. They're a great size to fit in my purse, take water media nicely, and even have a small pocket in the back for museum tickets and other momentoes. This was my hands down favorite page from that one.

I also got back to Shakertown in Kentucky, one of my favorite places to sketch.

During that period I also went to Amsterdam and spent a week sketching both the city and inside the museums.

And then on to Paris for one utterly beautiful week. 

Finally, I'm two thirds of the way through the small handbook I started in October. Sketching ground mostly to a halt during my really busy pre-Christmas season, but I got over the Dixon at the end of the holiday to sketch my show, which was the single biggest moment of my career.

I also (always) continue to sketch my beloved Mr. Darcy.

I've been enjoying sketching my tea lately. I've been doing it sporadically for a good while, but recently I saw Liz Steele's blog about all of her teacup sketches, and it reminded me how much I enjoy doing this too. It's a nice break in the day.

Here's one from Boxing Day. I have several that I haven't posted yet, so here they are together.

And one from even earlier.

I plan to do more of these in the new year, now that my work schedule is finally slowing down a bit.

I've been doing tons of the business side of being an artist lately and very little sketching. I've missed it, so I eased back in recently with a couple of quick sketches of Mr. Darcy. Of course.

My lovely friends at the woodworking school Country Workshops invited me to come and stay with them for a few days. I'm in a busy patch of life, but they are dear people, and it was lovely to get away for a little bit and see my sister on the way as well as my friends who live there and around there.

I also ran into Asheville for a little recreational bookstore time.

I usually go with my sister to St. Louis once a summer to take in some Cardinals baseball. It's a fun time, and I look forward to being in Busch stadium, since mostly I just listen at home on the radio. This year I was pleased to be asked because her wedding anniversary fell on the weekend where the Cards played the Padres, which is her husband's rooting team. They made an anniversary trip of it and took in four games, but they very kindly and warmly bought extra tickets to the second two games and asked me to come join them partway through. I was delighted, and it was a lovely weekend with the two of them.

I mostly watched the games, but I did one sketch at the beginning of the game each day. The second day I restricted myself to a Stabilo fine liner and one grey Faber Castell marker, which was the sketching equipment I was handing out to teenagers on a retreat later that week where I would be teaching sketching. (I'll write about that soon. I am SO behind on this blog right now.) I wanted to do a couple of demo sketches and also just think about the best ways to use those materials. Mostly, though, I just had fun and enjoyed two Cardinal wins and hung out with the siblings.