Opera Memphis continues to do opera outside the box under director Ned Canty. I think this is the third year they've done "30 Days of Opera,' popping up and doing free bits of opera at the dog park, along the parkway during rush hour, at an arts fair, really just about anywhere. Today they were out at WKNO, our local public radio station. They did an hour's worth of opera on the patio at lunch hour, broadcast on the radio, of course, and invited folks to show up with their lunches to listen. I love sketching at music events, and I've been working hard to put together my 2015 calendars and prep for fall shows, so I decided I was due just a fun sketching break and went out. Plus I love seeing all the 'KNO folks as well as Ned. I got a ton of hugs, did some fun  sketching, and enjoyed breaking away from my computer for a while. Thanks to both organizations for a neat event!

First Congregational, universally and affectionately called "First Congo," invited the Memphis Urban Sketchers to draw during their worship service this morning and show our sketches at the back of the sanctuary afterwards. They have a ministry position devoted to the arts, ably filled by Mary Button, and they change art installations regularly. We were invited to celebrate the beginning of a season where they focus on the creative spirit of God.

It was a neat invitation, and I enjoyed walking in and seeing so many friends and neighbors there. We sang a couple of neat hymns and had a lovely table service, and otherwise I concentrated on my drawings. I did one longer term watercolor and then did several quicker pen sketches.

I think I mentioned that I got some advice from Tom Pellett yesterday at our meeting, and I worked on implementing it today. I've been lukewarm about my marker sketches, even though I love his and like the idea of the quickness and ease (compared to setting up a full watercolor kit). Tom suggested I use the wash to pick out the lines around the edges of things -- not to fill in the entire drawing with tone. So I played with that in the sketches below and was excited about the results. I'll have to do some more people studies before I go cold again. He also makes me want to sketch in the Metro next time I'm in Paris. I may have to get up my nerve and try that.

The Memphis Urban Sketchers met at the Memphis Farmers Market this morning. It's a marvelous place to sketch, with so much color and vibrancy as well as good friends cruising past every so often. I enjoyed sharing a bench with Tom Pellet, our most prolific sketcher. He's always trying new markers and materials and is generous with his excellent advice.

We met back up at noon to compare sketches. It's fun to see what others do with the same scene but different eyes and materials.

As a bonus, I took home an excellent lunch of cherry heirloom tomatoes and a mushroom tart.

Here's another bonus below, a third farmers market sketch I did a while ago but forgot (I think) to post. Whitton Farms (also featured in the flower sketch above) has the coolest farm vehicle ever. They're also great people, and Keith kept my purse for me a few weeks ago when and friend and favorite swing dance partner was through town, and I wanted to dance a little to the band without worrying about my wallet. Thanks, Jill and Keith, for all the goodness you bring to Memphis!

I'm using part of this trip to Paris to try to get the hang of marker sketches. Tom Pruett has been posting his on the Memphis Urban Sketchers blog, if you'd like to see what's inspiring me. (I don't think I can include a link doing this on my phone the way I would from my desktop at home. A google search will come up with it.)

I'm having only limited success so far getting the effects I want, but it took me a while to get the hang of watercolor too.

Above is the Seine. Below is the Bastille monument sketched after making my busking debut at the market nearby. I played my banjo for an hour and a half and garnered 4.50 euros plus one indecent proposal. I never thought If art as a solidly reliable day job, but I guess everything's relative. I had fun, but I feel lucky to be doing this instead.

I tried busking again and earned 10 euros in the same time in the Marais district. Then I bought myself a gelato, sat in the Place de Voges, and did two sketches of fountains.

To make all other sketchers feel superior, I'll include this one, which is not at all what I had hoped. And which may be the reason I mostly switch back to watercolor for this trip. But we'll see.

So I made it. My first full day was a Saturday, and my friend Rene Miller told me he was playing at the Marche dÁligre. He and his part time musical partner Stephen Harrison had been so kind to me last year and really made Paris a welcoming place for me when I was here for a good while on my own.

So I turned out to listen to him (top right), and I just hung out and sketched the market while listening to Rene. I went light and didn't take my full watercolor kit for the first day. I'm still experimenting with these markers in more of a sketching format than a painting one. I'm finding it's an uneven result for me so far, but I hope to improve this trip.

I continued to walk and sketch in the afternoon. This is the first day's set. The very last one has a watercolor wash sky along with the pens. Otherwise, it's all marker and brush pen and fountain pen.

I've continued to play with the new pens I bought after our weekend Memphis Urban Sketchers meeting. I really like the top drawing with the Pentel light black brush pen. It's a warm grey that goes nicely with the cooler black of my fountain pen, and it doesn't hide my lines.

I'm doing less well with the colored markers. I always really WANT to like markers, for the ease of them, but the colors are so strong and unvaried. I tried a quick sketch in the forest on my walk the other morning, but I wasn't pleased with it.

The weather has been utterly gorgeous here, so Mr. Darcy and I went back over to the park yesterday evening, and I did a couple more sketches sitting on a blanket with him. The color one is a bit better, but still not nearly as satisfying as watercolor would be, and I think I regressed on using the brush pen. I'm hoping it was just too late in the day.

Tom Pruett, who inspired me to try these Stabilo felt tip pens, just posted some of his work on our local Urban Sketchers blog. He's amazing. Be sure to scroll down to the last one, which is my very favorite.

He's not working to get the actual color of things with these pens. He's just using blue and brown for more or less monochromatic sketches, blending the two colors for various greys. I tried more of that tonight, sketching Mr. Darcy as he lay on the couch with me. I'm not getting as much blending/washing as Tom is, but I'm going to keep playing with them.

The Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Elmood Historic cemetery on Saturday morning. I'd missed the last couple of meetings, and it was good to make this one in one of my favorite sketching spots.

It's one of the oldest cemeteries in Memphis and encompasses much of our history, through the Civil War and the yellow fever. I love the Victorian monuments and angels. So much more lovely than the fake golf course look of today's cemeteries.

It was good to be out working with a group of artists again, and I did two watercolors from the same vantage point, while I chatted with our founder and fearless leader Elizabeth Alley.

I felt I'd gotten a little bit tight and precious on the trees in the first one (and, on looking back at them, lost the shape of their canopies as well), so I loosened up in the second sketch and drew just with my brush instead of starting with the pencil.