I had a great weekend. My sister visit led into it, and then Saturday morning I found plums at the farmers market. The NYT had done a piece a few months ago on the most requested recipes of all time, and this plum torte was at the very top of the list. I'm reading Ruth Reichl's memoirs about food at the moment, and then I found the plums. Trying that recipe felt inevitable. It did not disappoint. I put it on my birthday plate from Melissa Bridgman, which (if seen in its entirety) has the quote, "Joy is not meant to be a crumb," and it felt made for savoring this truly delicious thing.

Jill, my honorary sister, met me at the Shell to see Pokey LaFarge, whom I've loved for 15 years, ever since he played a coffee shop concert as one of three jug bands using kazoo. He's more mellow than he was then, but a really good songwriter and a super fun show. Henry and I sat at the way back, and Jill was kind enough to join us in the outcast dog section. Officer Harris, one of the security guards, snapped a photo of the three of us, and I stuck in a little video for fun too. It was great to listen to good music, see friends, sketch a little, and walk home surrounded by neighbors. What a perfect evening.

I gave myself the day off work on Saturday, which for me meant getting out and sketching. There is no bright line between life and work because art is always what I wake up wanting to do. I went to a fun estate sale where I bought a couple of plates that remind me of Paris, and it was right near Dixon. Ceres had magnificent plantings around her when I was there last, but I hadn't had my bigger sketchbook or watercolors with me. I walked through my favorite parts of the current exhibit again (hint, Paris!) and then headed for the garden. I've been trying to mix things up and draw in Inktense pencils for a change of texture lately instead of reflexively reaching for my fountain pen. I was happy with the plantings, a bit less happy with the statue, but there it is.

The day was glorious, and I was starving, and Christina was happily free to meet me for a patio lunch at Cafe Eclectic, a favorite spot. I drew a wonky green umbrella and had a wonderful lunch with London fog tea latte and a biscuit on the side. I also drew the charming dove who made a nest right on top of one of the patio tables in a redbud tree. That one is in my small sketchbook, just a few minutes of standing and sketching with paint added sitting down afterwards. She has been remarkably unconcerned with the hubbub around her. It's such a treat to see a bird's nest up close.

It was a great day out. I came home happy, opened the windows and watched a little British mystery. Pretty perfect.

I grabbed my small sketchbook on a slow weekend morning, and my Inktense pencils were on the coffee table, so I did a bit of sketching just for me. I'm doing a big illustration project that I can't show right now, and it was fun to do a bit of loose, no agenda sketching before diving back into that job. These are the water soluble pencils that get really deep and rich with some water, but I was happy with how it looked like this and didn't push for anything else.

The Backsliders are one of my favorite local bands, but they haven't been playing as much lately. I try to get out and catch then when I can. Sunday the two band founders were playing a skeleton crew set and got joined by their bass player a bit later on. That's Jason Freeman on left with the rockabilly 'do and the guitar, and Michael Graber on the right, mostly on mandolin. Khari Wynn joined in with some amazing acoustic bass. I'm out of practice drawing people, and people with instruments are so visually enticing but also more complex. I kept it simple and sketched with a document brown ink in my Lamy All-Star fountain pen. I didn't do any of these guys any favors, but it was fun to try to capture them. The first (clearly disjointed across the page gutter in both the continuity of the curved bench seat and in the scale of the figures) is in my bigger sketchbook (5.5x8") that's my go-to these days. Then I downsized to the small 3.5x5.5" that lives in my purse and did a bunch of super fast, smaller attempts. I had fun and got to hear some great music, and now this day will live in my sketchbooks to remind me, even if none of these turned out how I had hoped.

The last sketch is Jason's dad out dancing to his son's music. Don and June show up to almost all his gigs, and as I'm watching my own dad decline (but also continue to show up for my art events), this connection touched me.

Here's a small snippet of video for you to see them in action.

I've posted about it before, but a few months ago I got a smaller sketchbook (3.5x5.5" I think) to easily fit into my small purse. I'm trying to make it easy for myself to sketch out in the world when I have pockets of time instead of automatically reaching for my phone. I've got a selection of pens and markers in a pocket of that same small purse. Then, of course, I ended up needing a non-black purse the other day for errands and grabbed only a couple of fountain pens. I recently got myself a new mint green Lamy All-star with a converter for using bottled ink. I also got some nicely complimentary Diamine Aurora Borealis ink to go with it. So that and my regular black one were the two I grabbed. Of course, that's the day I ended up on a perfect cloud day sitting and waiting for some paperwork in an office with a stunning view. I was kicking myself for not having watercolors with me. But it was fun to draw the way above the treeline view anyway, and I told them I may go back and camp out in their conference room for 45 minutes or so sometime with my full paint set.

From there I went to Dixon to see the new show and for a bit of something for myself after all the family business. Ceres is my favorite to draw, and she had some lovely tall plantings around her. I need to get back there with my paints as well.

The last sketch is some new brown De Atramentis waterproof ink I've been testing out. I added yellow watercolor marker to a line drawing I was happy with and then wished I hadn't, but that's sketching for you.

I got jumped by a bunch of family business on my return from New York and spent a week or so not sketching. I have managed to jump back in over the last week, starting with a farm sketch out at the family farm, followed by a pastel de nata at a new chain bakery in Memphis. I have loved these in Paris and been unable to get them in Memphis, so I had high hopes. It was ok but not great sadly. Phyllo instead of pie crust. Not satisfying enough to be worth the splurge but fun to sketch in my small sketchbook.

Then Memphis Urban Sketchers met at the main library yesterday. It's a bit of an overwhelming building to take on perspective-wise, but I love the colors and light. It was fun, even if I flunked corners of the architecture.

I did a super quick sketch in my small sketchbook at the end. I love the trees in there but didn't have time to do much I was proud of, but it still felt fun to try.

Two weeks in a row I've managed to make it to the midweek lecture at Dixon. This week it was their membership person Dorothy Svgdik talking about why she loves museum. So fun, and I did three quickish sketches while I was listening. I'm still really enjoying having the small sketchbook in my purse with a handful of pens for easy access. I'm so much more likely to sketch instead of looking at my phone if I make it super easy and accessible for myself. And I'm invariably happier afterwards if I do make that choice.

Afterwards I took a walk with friends around the garden and then went back inside to sketch in the gallery. I love the spaces in museums and have been seeing a lot of online sketches lately inside museums. Not exclusively copies of the art, but drawings of the space. I would love to do more of those myself, though I so miss being able to sketch in pen and watercolor. American museums tend to be really restrictive about materials in a way most European museums aren't. So it didn't come out as hoped, but here was my bigger sketchbook gallery landscape in pencil and watercolor crayon. I had fun sitting and looking at the space and light even if it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. Honestly no sketch ever matches the vision in my brain that I have when I start, but some get closer than others. This one wasn't close, but that's how it goes. On the other hand, I was really happy with my sketch of pewter and people above, a couple of audience members off to my left.

Friday night, at the beginning of the heat, Christina and I headed to Memphis Pizza Cafe, which has a shady back deck with trees and ceiling fans. It was really perfect. We've met there a couple of times, and it's great for Henry accompanying us. I also like that I can get a fresh crunchy salad and one good sized slice of pizza without ordering a whole pie. And they have meatball pizza. We had a good visit and a nice sketching session.

As a bonus, here's my sketch from last time we went, sitting a little closer to the tree and seeing the whole arch.

Colleen Couch gave a lecture at Dixon today on her joint show with mentor Dolph Smith, and it was great. I listened and enjoyed slides of Dolph's methodical sketchbooks/studio journals where he worked out his ideas (or sometimes not, as the last page here shows). I did sketches in my tiny purse sketchbook with a fountain pen, a brush pen with black ink, and a couple of watercolor markers for the last two. I sat with friends and had a great talk about art careers, making your own goals, and the ongoing need for discernment. I have several friends trying to figure out the next chapter or streamline the current chapter to make it work more smoothly.

It was a timely talk, and it's always good to hear that sometimes even art heroes like Dolph end up with "shit!" on occasion.

I'm still playing with the limited group of Inktense pencils in my dedicated forest sketching kit. This sketch was started with a middle green pencil (which you can see in the date), a light sepia one (mostly in the path) and a "bark" one, the tree trunks, that is vividly warm with water added on top, almost a reddish purple, but which feels more natural than a solid black. I think I'd like to add one dark blue green pencil for forest depth quickly (which I did with paint here), but it's fun to have to make choices with a limited palette.