Wildflower season in the Old Forest of Overton Park is always my favorite. Henry and I have been walking and watching them emerge, and I've done a bit of sketching over the last couple of weeks. The top one is my overall view of Jacob's ladder and a few trillium in the foreground. It's my much more traditional walk-into-the-scene scale. I tend not to do either huge, swallow-you-up panoramas or really close up pieces. I've got a modest, person sized landscape that appeals to me for my main work, but I make an exception for wildflowers, and teapots, of course! I do also sketch my tea things close up. So here are some closer views of the wildflowers that I have done just for fun, starting with the one small gorgeous circle of yellow trillium. Most of our trillium is that purple-y brown, but I love this one vibrant patch.

In other news, these are all in my newest sketchbook, at roughly 5x8 size that opens up to an ever so slightly landscape format. It's by Handbook and has watercolor paper but is more modest than my longtime 8x8" size. I'm really enjoying the change of shape and the smaller amount of real estate to fill. It feels less daunting to sit down and start a spread, but it still has room for what I want to do. I've ordered another one and asked my local Art Center to start stocking them. I think it's my new go-to after trying several different ones over the past year.

The trillium above and the mayapples/Jacob's ladder below both have watercolor crayons (Neocolor 2) as their base instead of ink from a fountain pen. I try to mix it up some to keep myself fresh. I enjoy the extra texture of the crayons, but ink remains my go-to, especially for more architectural landscapes around town. But the crayons work great for organic shapes and especially the looser close ups I've been doing with the wildflowers.

I'd been working on family finances and papers all week, so when my friend Christina suggested a sketching lunch on Friday at Crosstown, I was all in. I mean, ALL in. We ate at Global Cafe, one of the truly unique places in Memphis, and I tried the plaintain soup for the first time (delicious) as well as the Sudanese mint limeade. Bam. I mean. So, so good. With herbs and nubby bits and not crazy sweet. It was delicious as well as fun to draw.

Crosstown has been good to me lately. I did One week, 100 people on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and Crosstown is an easy place to hang out and sketch people. I'm there a lot anyway, picking up prescriptions, picking up bread, and taking a walk indoors when the air pollution is bad, which it has been a lot of this spring, sadly.

I used a long skinny sketchbook I'd bought several years ago on a whim but never even opened. It feels too long for landscape, so I decided to try it for the people challenge. It easily fit into my small crossbody bag, and I made it to 98 people and two dogs. Since dogs are our better angels, I consider that I actually exceeded the assignment. I rarely do challenges, figuring that I have enough deadlines in my normal work, but I've done this once before. It's short, and it's good to get me out of my landscape rut to draw people. Excellent practice.

What I found this time was that I deeply enjoyed having a tiny sketchbook to whip out whenever I was in public. I've gravitated toward doing full watercolors the last few years, and I love doing them, but I'm less likely to sketch often since it takes time. I decided to buy myself a tiny sketchbook in a more traditional shape and keep it and one pen (maybe with the brush pen added for tone that I used in some of the 100 people sketches) and try to do at least one super quick drawing every time I leave the house. The bottom sketch is my first in the new small book, and I'm excited about the new practice. We'll see how well I can keep up the good intentions.

We had a fun family day at the farm yesterday with all the younger cousins. I had a bit more supervision as I sketched than usual. The top one was drawn with a water soluble Diamine Ancient Copper ink that melds into the watercolor. The sketch below is from a few days before where I used Diamine Earl Grey with a dip pen. Black gets messy in your paints, but grey is nice and doesn't stay too harsh.

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've been working my way back into my longtime printmaking project of trees at Rowan Oak this week, but I gave myself a holiday for Leap Day yesterday. Thursdays have long been special to me, and it was not only Leap Day but also the 4x4 anniversary of Muddy's Bake Shop, my favorite bakery for both the treats and the warmth and welcome when you walk in the door. They opened 16 years ago on Leap Day and made Memphis instantly a better place.

I also dropped by a couple of thrift stores with a carload of donations, and I ended up coming home with two new-to-me cashmere sweaters for a total of $13.50. A big win. And I feel lighter in my house at the same time.

After lunch I treated myself to a trip to Dixon. I saw their current show of married artists Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown a few weeks ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. Especially Wonner's portraits. I went and sketched in the semi dark with only dry media, so these are both too saturated and not at all worthy of the paintings that inspired them. But I loved spending the time looking that deeply at paintings I admire from an artist I hadn't known before this show. He was in California with Thiebaud and Diebenkorn, and I can see that throughline. His painted lines have multiple colors making them up, just as Thiebaud's do. One of my longtime favorite artists. I plan to go back and sketch more while the show is still there.

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.