I recently saw a couple of exquisite gouache studies posted by someone on the Urban Sketchers site, and I loved them. I have continually struggled in watercolor to depict skies and clouds the way I would like to. Gouache is opaque, and a little bit more like oils, but portable and water based like watercolors. I'm still getting used to it, and the only green I have is quite vivid, but I think this could become a new love for me. Above is my first effort a few days ago, and then I went out early this morning to paint clouds. Now that I have gouache, apparently the clouds disappear for summer here in Washington (as they largely do at home as well), but they made a reappearance this morning, and I was grateful. I definitely need more practice, but here are my early results.

I took a quick trip to the Olympic peninsula to see a rain forest and the Pacific Ocean. It was a stunning place. I didn't have a lot of time for sketching, especially since the rainforest was a national park and wouldn't allow my dog, so I didn't really linger there. It was also dense enough visually that it might have taken me too long to try to focus in on something to paint anyway. But the beach was beautifully open and simple, and I could dive in and paint . First Beach at La Push, and the Native American reservation, thankfully, values the companionship of animals, and I could take Mr. Darcy for walks on their beach and settle in to paint a bit.

I also realized recently (or realized again) that I really do need an emotional connection with a place to really paint it. Not necessarily do a quick sketch for my journal, but to dive in more deeply. First Beach, with its small islands just off the coast, reminded me of the coastline in Greece, where I've spent time in the past, so it was more immediately accessible to me to paint than the rain forest, lovely as it was. I could paint this coastline very happily, I think.

We stayed two nights in Forks because they had a hotel that would take Mr. Darcy. They also had a home cooking restaurant that had bumble berry pie, which was a mix of rhubarb and several berries. That is not something that is available to me in Memphis, and it was delicious. It was certainly worth memorializing in my journal. I alway like to remember good desserts. It was fun to get away and see something new, but it was also good to get back to Concrete and dive into the last phases of the book project.

Or "Things We Don't Have Down South."

I've got several truly intricate blocks to carve for the book project, which have been taking all my attention lately. But I've been missing sketching, and I decided to do a quick lunchtime sketch to remember this delicious thing that I have certainly never run into back home.

I've been enjoying illustrating poetry lately, and I did another one today. It's based on this poem, and I had been carrying this phrase around for a week or so, wanting to paint from it. I treated myself to a long lunch at a pebble beach. I took a picnic and Mr. Darcy and did three watercolors while enjoying the sunshine and warmth that have finally arrived.

I also did a second version of the last poem I illustrated. I wanted it in my journal too, and I had fun placing the words in a longer format instead of the more square watercolor paper I usually use. It's based on this poem. The rocks are less detailed, but I think the wording was more successful.

Here is the original version.

I have been enthusiastically collecting river stones since I got to Washington, as well as for years before. I remember the pebble beach on Hydra that my sister Marian and I went nuts poring over, picking up, putting down, ultimately bringing a few multi-colored stones home to remember that place. There's a small shelf over the sink in my bathroom with stones from a number of special places and trips. My friend, show-partner, and fellow stone nut Melissa Bridgman more recently turned me on to both heart shaped and striped stones. She gave me one of each in a hard place last year, and they have been talismans for me since. She says stones with an unbroken stripe around them bring good luck. Both are in profusion here in Washington. I have never seen so many heart shaped stones in my life.

Yesterday Jude took me to a national forest with a gorgeous boat ramp/pebble beach at the confluence of two small rivers. I was charmed and brought home a handful of stones, and he later wrote a poem about it. You can read the full poem on his tumblr site. Melissa has sketched lovely river stones in her journal and made pottery in their image, but the poem gave me a new twist to use instead of just copying her idea. I've had a full day of printmaking but wanted to do something fun for myself, as well as celebrate this beautiful poem.

My friend John Reed is a poet in Memphis, and there is a documentary being made about him and his work. For part of the project, artists have been invited to create works based on his poems. I have been enjoying painting from other poetry and jumped at the chance to be included in this project. I've always loved John's poetry. Plus the Mr. Darcy blog has me enjoying mixing text and images again and working in foutain pen and watercolor together.

I knew exactly which poem I wanted to paint from, and I made a trip down to the coast on a sunny day to visit an overlook where I could see the coastline laid out beneath me. I did two journal sketches (below) on site and then came back and used them to create the triptych. Each panel is 6x8", since I work in modest sizes in watercolor, but the three together hold a nice space.

Here's what it looked like laid out on my work table.

And here is John's award winning poem, which he was kind enough to say I could share here.

​The Cartographer's Proposal
I've set their names on maps, but never found
the things themselves. Vainly, I sought escape
in Mystic, Concord, Providence, New Hope--
a gazetteer of irresistible lands
each marking a potential journey's end.
Always a stranger, I never learned the ropes
and wasted time exploring tourist traps,
missing what I'd come so far to find.
But look: a place explorers have passed over
and mentioned only in this arcane chart,
pristine and fraught with possibility.
No human plan's imposed on plain or river,
but mail addressed to Mercy, Healing Heart,
will reach us there, if you will come with me.


John Richard Reed
River Styx 97

I went up Mt. Erie (to the mild dismay of my hill-challenged Prius) on a rare gorgeous morning to sketch the view. I'm hoping to do something from these sketches, but even if it doesn't pan out, it was a lovely site to visit. I was huddled in a down coat as I worked. I keep hoping spring will arrive in Washington. We've seen a few lovely flashes of it, and the wildflowers keep coming out, so perhaps I will be able to sketch without chill here soon. In the meantime, I have plenty of indoor work on the prints going along as well.

Most of my working time is going to the book project, but the sun coming out the other day necessitated a break to enjoy that rare event. I'd been wanting to sketch the carpet of dandelions in the meadow at Rasar State Park anyway, so Mr. Darcy and I took a break and headed there. It was windy enough to make painting difficult, but it was lovely to sit in the sunshine a bit.