I've been getting back into printmaking, which is slow to have something to show, but I've also been doing smaller things over the past week or so. One is finding the best baklava I've had (by a lot) on this continent, and doing a little sketch of it in Diamine Ancient Copper ink plus watercolor. Sometimes the ink gets too hot, but sometimes it's really right and rich, and it felt right here. If you're in striking range, getting down to the Mediterranean Bakery and More market in Southaven, MS, is so, so worth it. Ridiculously worth it.

Speaking of worth it, I also took a mini, free online illustration portfolio class with Mike Lowery, an illustrator I follow on IG and admire. I generally dislike online classes, but this one was in easy bite-sized chunks, and we did one achievable project. He walked us through both Photoshop and Procreate for adjusting a basic on-paper sketch, and I learned how to color in layers. Usually I just clean up finished watercolors. I mostly like to work on paper, but this is a good, small set of starter skills I'm happy to have. The project was to make a sticker, and I haven't ordered them yet (I'm still tinkering with the lettering on the Woman's Best Friend one), but I plan to. (I mean, how did men get dogs and women got stuck with diamonds?? What a racket. I'm making a play for the dogs.)

Memphis Urban Sketchers met on Saturday for our monthly outing. This time was Overton Square, and we had folks all over -- front, back, in the Memphian hotel lobby, you name it. I settled out front at the main Madison/Cooper intersection because I love all the shopfronts and signs. I sketched Bosco's across the street because I'm a sucker for stripes, and then I did a fast one of the Lafayette's sign. After we gathered and showed our sketches several of us walked across to Bosco's and had lunch on their patio. I'm also a sucker for an umbrella, so I did one more quick sketch while waiting for our food. It was a great day with friends, and I'm so glad for a group that goes out and makes art together.

I did two straight days of adulting on so many different fronts, so when my friend Christina suggested lunch on Friday, I was more than ready. We both gave ourselves the beautiful afternoon off and had a leisurely lunch at Cafe Eclectic, enjoying the sunshine on the deck. Henry had a ball too, especially when our nice waiter brought him a plate of bacon. I did a sketch with the black waterproof DeAtramentis ink I'm using for M is for Memphis in a bent nib pen.

We walked into the neighborhood afterwards and sat to sketch. For the second sketch I used my Ancient Copper ink by Diamine. It's water soluble, and I love it in the trees, but it's always a little more iffy on a building. I dove straight into the roofline without looking or measuring as well as I would have liked to once I screwed it up, but overall it's a fun sketch of a lovely day and a hillside of daffodils on a block I walk more days than not. So happy. And we had a lovely visit while we sketched. Afterwards Henry and I took a long loop through the forest at owl time as the sun was getting low. A perfect afternoon.

I'm still working slowly toward M is for Memphis. It's a mix of new sketches (the drummer at the I Am A Man mural, based on a photo Jude Dippold took when we were there a few years ago) and sketches from previous outings, like the sculpture and plaza I did with Memphis Urban Sketchers. It's fun to have a way to use some of my sketchbook images I'm proud of and also fun to be revisiting and sketching places around town. I've got a few days to work hard between a house guest and a visit to my sister, so I'm diving in. Obviously I is for I Am A Man, along with the IBC (International Blues Challenge) that's such a big deal for Memphis.

We had a truly lovely week this past week, perhaps as cosmic atonement for the awful snow and cold, and I made the most of it. I've been outside sketching and lunching and walking and generally hanging out. Friday Jude and I had brunch at Cafe Eclectic. I get there a lot, but they're four blocks from my house, dog friendly, and are consistently willing to serve outdoors, unlike some places that shut it down no matter what the weather through the winter months. With a separation anxiety dog, I'm grateful for anywhere that lets me bring him to hang outdoors when the weather permits.

For the afternoon we wandered around downtown, letting me take photos for the M is for Memphis book, and we ended up at the river for the late afternoon and sunset. This sketch was when the sun was higher, but the sunset put on a real show, and it was lovely to sit and watch. One of the best things about Memphis.

I've mostly been doing book work lately, illustrations meant specifically for M is for Memphis. I'm excited about how it's going, but I also feel myself tighten up a bit when I'm painting for a purpose like that. It felt good yesterday to take advantage of a sunny 60 degree day and go get chai with my partner and then head over to the park for some sky studies. The clouds had been amazing as we sat on the cafe deck, but they were moving rapidly out by the time I got to the park and was settled on a picnic table with Henry tethered beside me to hang out.

I did one quick cloud study as the front piece to a new sketchbook. I'm kind of excited about this one. It's a Handbook watercolor book, like my normal bigger (8x8") size, but it's 8x4" or so. I had a vertical one this summer that was 8x10". It was fun to branch out of my normal landscape format double truck and have something more upright, but it was SO much real estate to cover that I was a little reluctant to start a piece if I didn't feel I had a good long time. I don't need a sketchbook that makes me reluctant to open it. The nice thing about that one was that it was slightly landscape format, but tallish, when open. This one is purely square, which isn't my favorite, but it's good to mix up my shapes, and I love the size. I stumbled on it in an art store out west and have been waiting to finish my last bigger Handbook to start the new one. I had fun and did a sycamore tree I love against the blue, blue sky once the clouds had gone. I'll be curious to see how this format feels as I use it more.

Memphis had eight solid days of snow and ice, so I treated myself to a staycation writers retreat. One of my two big goals for this year is to get a new alphabet sketchbook done. It's M is for Memphis, which my local bookstore has been nicely requesting. They sell a lot of P is for Possum and would love a broader Memphis book as well. I've been tinkering with the alphabet for over a year, but the last few weeks I've made a strong start on actually getting art together and putting it on pages. I'm doing a good bit of new work (A is for Arcade at the top)but also plundering my sketchbook to see if I've banked sketches over the years that would go well in the book. I sketched the Arcade's sweet potato pancakes several years ago and will add that sketch to the overall piece of the building itself. I go back through my sketchbooks fairly regularly for inspiration for prints or paintings, but it's fun to be able to pull out those done-on-the-spot images to use as they are.

This is going to take most of the year, but I'm hoping to be able to have it out for fall. Fingers crossed. Books always take longer than I think they well, but I'm pleased with how it's going so far.

I spent the lovely last day of 2023 outside at the park with Henry. We sketched and walked and sat and watched the sky and did a circuit of the neighborhood too. It felt lovely. January 1 was much less lovely, though I'm very glad to see a new year coming in.

I still made art that day, meaning to start the year as I hope to continue it. Henry and I had stumbled across a full length mirror in the Old Forest a few days earlier, and I took a series of photos. I can't stop thinking about how magical that pool of reflective light felt in the midst of the forest. I have two big projects on my plate, but I'm giving myself permission to follow the shiny object and do a small graphic essay. That's especially true at the holiday season, but I do try to take advantage of the more persistent inspiration when it shows up. It may not mean much to others once I finish it, but I'm enjoying the process and the play this week and am hopeful it might be something lovely when finished. After struggling to take my normal forest walks for a lot of the past year, it feels lovely to be starting out in a place that inspires me and feeds my work.

My friend Christina and I went out sketching in the neighborhood again. I was super drawn to the tree and then struggled a bit with the house behind it (partly because I used a water soluble ink without thinking and had to add a bit of gouache to the trim later to keep it from being super muddy). I finished with a super fast line drawing of a different house that was a lot less intricate and more fun. Of course. And I rounded the page out with a Christmas present from my potter friend Melissa Bridgman. So lovely.

Henry and I went out to the farm a couple of times this past week. I had thought maybe I'd missed my moment (of energy and will) to get a tree, but then I found a teeny tiny one that could be a table top one (out of Henry's reach). So we went back the next day with loppers, no saw needed. I sketched both days and enjoyed being out there in the winter landscape with a big open sky. I think we'll do this a bit more over the winter when there are neither crops in the fields nor ticks making their unpleasant presence felt.