I finished the three day process to a second proof of the phlox forest today, and I'm largely pleased. There's a little glare on the photo. The black will be black in person. And I have to clean up color in the path a little, but it's about ready to pull some final prints.

The weather was almost picture perfect this weekend, after a slightly stormy start. Sunny with low humidity and a great breeze. Mr. Darcy and I took off for the forest with a sketchbook in hand one afternoon. I sketched the "Elvis urns" in the forest, playing with the varied colors they've weathered to. These huge concrete urns sat on the stage at the Shell when Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee performed at the open air band stand back in the day. They have since migrated to the forest to decay picturesquely.

The clouds were gorgeous, and I'm trying to figure out clouds in watercolor, so I took a little time to paint them as well. I loved sitting and enjoying the breeze in the shade at the edge of the Greensward.

Last night I went to the Shell to hear Rising Appalachia. It's a beautifully restored place, after being derelict for a while, and they put on about 50 free concerts a year. It's also four blocks from my house, which is lovely.

I also spent some non sketching time in the park. It was the Day of Merrymaking festival on Saturday, put on by the Overton Park Conservancy which manages the park. They had an empty slot in their entertainment, and since I'm on the board they asked if I would fill it. I was a bit nervous, since I don't usually perform on a stage with a sound system. (In fact, there's really not a "usually" at all. I usually play at home for my own pleasure.) But I had a total ball, didn't embarrass myself, and now would kind of love to sing songs in public once in a while. It helped that I had the moral support of Mr. Darcy, since I really never go to the park without him.

Even better, Allison sketched me while I was playing! I've been drawing musicians for years now, and I was completely thrilled to have her sketch me while I was, for once, the one playing in public. It's doubly lovely because Allison was at the class I did recently with a 5th and 6th grade art class and got fired up to sketch again when I showed off the ease of the brush pen. I'm so happy to spread this everyday joy, and I'm so grateful to her for coming out to both support and sketch me.

I'm finally getting this phlox print to the full proofing stage. I started it before my trip to Paris, and it's taking a while to get it together, especially since I came home with other prints in my brain. Above is the first full, three layer proof. I missed some tree trunks in the green block that I need to carve out for the brown paper to show through. It also falls off a bit over on the left side, but it's moving close to being finished. This is my favorite spot in the forest in springtime, just magical, and I had to try a print of it.

Here's what the two under layers look like. I tried some different colored papers just to see, but I had planned it for brown, and I definitely like the brown best.

Memphians are still fighting our own city council to save the central area of our huge central park from being paved for yet more parking lot for the adjacent zoo. It breaks my heart. So I went down for the second reading of a resolution to hand the zoo the land. I was pleased to see a large turnout of people who waited patiently for a couple of hours and stayed to both speak and listen to all the other supporters speak as well. I'm so nervous for our park and hoping for the best. Overton Park is my main muse. It's where I walk every day and paint regularly. It's historic. It is needed respite from asphalt and city life. I have been heartsick about this all year.

I painted in the Tuileries in the afternoon. I've been thinking a lot about park spaces since we in Memphis are currently fighting our own city government to protect my beloved Overton Park. It's both good and bittersweet to see how fierce the French are about protecting their public spaces.

After painting I went back to the Musee d'Orsay for the evening hours. I was blown away by the five versions of Rouen cathedral in a row. Monet rented a shop window and painted I don't know how many versions at all times and weathers. I had just seen two in the Boston museum and loved them.

I had a Monet evening, also doing a sketch of his large, spectacular painting of turkeys. Something about the light and color and scale always makes me think of Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, which is amusing with the different subject matter. It's one of my favorite Monets, and I decided I was due to spend a little time looking at it closely, which for me usually equates to sketching it.

I had hoped to see the full moon rise over the Louvre afterwards, but there was a solid low bank of clouds, and the evening was fine, so I ended up just walking beautifully home through the warm streets. It was a delightful day

I had a bit of time a couple of weeks ago where my scanner wasn't talking to my computer, so I'm still catching up on those sketches. Here are a few wildflower sketching days. I'm under the weather this weekend, so I'm going back to post these now, since my walking is curtailed at the moment.

That was my warmup on the phlox. I went back to do a fuller landscape a few days later. I'm drawing out a print for this one now.