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We had a couple more farm visits before Mr. Darcy hit the point where he was dragging too much and not wanting to eat the things he had formerly loved. It was apparent it was time, but I was so grateful for one more day to ride around with his head out the window, have a little steak, see a couple of loved people and sit in the sunshine with lots of pets and kisses. It was a good last day, and I'm so grateful for how peaceful and sweet it was. I miss my studio helper and muse, but it's the deal you make getting a dog. The timeline is uncompromising, but the rewards are enormous. I'm so grateful to have had him as a companion as long as I did.
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Hospice for Mr. Darcy continues with almost daily farm visits. It's his favorite place, and he enjoys the ride with the windows down, sniffing out the window, as well as the actual walking time. It's also the best place for me to be able to evaluate how he's feeling. Plus I'm doing a good bit of sketching while we're there and getting some good print ideas going. It's definitely some time away from my main work, but I'm grateful to be able to be this flexible and really enjoy this last time with my boy and main muse.
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We're trying to go to the farm every other day for joy. I'm so glad the daffodils are blooming during this period. It's been lovely to bring home a fistful of sunshine from these trips. I've been sketching around the farm, and today I decided to draw the daffodil hill itself. With a really quick, sketchy Mr. Darcy. I refilled a couple of fountain pens with favorite ink, so it was fun to use this cacao de Brazil ink that I haven't used lately. I've never been able to get a sketch of the daffodils that does them justice, but it's fun to try.
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I've been going out to the farm with Mr. Darcy lately to enjoy the spring warmth after the blast of arctic weather we endured so long. We've got a nice rhythm of a walk, a sketch, and picking some daffodils to bring home on the way back to the car. I just turned in a big commission and have enjoyed running out a couple of times in the last few days.
He's feeling remarkably good after a dip a week ago scared me. I know we're getting near the end, but I'm enjoying every bit of his company that I can and grateful for all of it. He's a patient art companion and the best muse I've ever had.
He's feeling remarkably good after a dip a week ago scared me. I know we're getting near the end, but I'm enjoying every bit of his company that I can and grateful for all of it. He's a patient art companion and the best muse I've ever had.
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We've had some crazy freaking weather in Memphis lately. It was single digits overnight for about four nights, under freezing for a nine day stretch, tying a 1940's record. Really cold. Not my favorite. But I did take advantage of the situation to do some snow sketches that Memphis sketchers don't usually (thankfully) get the chance to do. The top one was done sitting inside looking out my front door with a lap blanket in my lap, but still a pretty quick sketch. The black and white tree sketches were done very quickly standing up in the park with a big, fat, water-soluble graphite crayon, and I added a little wash with my portable water brush. The bottom one was also quick and standing up, but with some watercolor added. Journal text back at home with a cup of tea.
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I've been taking Mr. Darcy to the farm a lot lately. His cancer has come back, so we're on a farm trips and extra chicken regime. He's still feeling good at this point, so I'm going to enjoy everything we get.
I painted out here daily when I started my art career, back when I was doing large scale pastels and carrying a box easel. I felt like I really did all the art I could see for a while, but it's been good to revisit it with a completely different medium after some time has passed. I'm really enjoying our sketching getaways, and Mr. Darcy is too.
I painted out here daily when I started my art career, back when I was doing large scale pastels and carrying a box easel. I felt like I really did all the art I could see for a while, but it's been good to revisit it with a completely different medium after some time has passed. I'm really enjoying our sketching getaways, and Mr. Darcy is too.
I finally made it to the virtual Memphis Urban Sketchers, and it was fun to catch up with friends I haven't seen all year. I sketched the daffodils I brought home from the farm while we were talking.
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I did this sketch a couple of years ago, fast and loose, and it's kept calling to me. I decided to try it as a print even though it's not my usual format. I've gotten this far. It has too much "noise", the traces left of the carving. I always leave a bit more than I think I really want because you can take more away, but you can't put it back in again. Conservative carving is the way to go. I played with it in photoshop a bit just to thin it out more and see which version I prefer. I'm trying to decide now. Sometimes I need to sit with things a while.
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Mr. Darcy has been enjoying country visits lately (and definitely deserves some treats these days), and I’ve been enjoying sketching on the family farm. So with the sunshine yesterday, we took off after lunch and had a lovely walking, sketching (me), frolicking in the lake (him) outing. It feels good to mix up the slow printmaking with some immediate gratification sketching, and it felt extra good to sit by a lake and drink in a little sunshine before the next blast of winter.
I’m still really enjoying the Inktense pencils and having fun with the layers of texture they get. I’ve added a couple of greens to my set, but I’m still using half watercolor and half pencil for bigger sketches like the landscape. The muse sketch was more pencil, but I did add some yellow ochre and burnt sienna to the body, along with a bit of green at the base. You can see from the photo that Mr. Darcy didn’t stay sitting up for long, but I managed to catch the basic outline (had to wing it on the light). I loved him sitting alert and listening to the spring frogs (who are going to have a shock today with snow showers forecast for one day after a 60 degree high) and his ears moving in all directions.
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I gave Mr. Darcy another farm treat after his latest treatment. I’d been thinking about this tree and wanting to draw it again. It’s one of the ones I always return to, and just afterwards, I got a four year old memory (second photo) of drawing it from Facebook. I’ve done one small print of it, but I’ve been working on a tree under night sky print, and I’d like a companion to that tree. So I drew this one again, and I started carving it this week. As I type, I realize that I haven’t shared that first tree print here. I’ve been in a spurt of printmaking work ahead of a call with the curator at WAMA to check on the state of my show. She’s delighted with the trees as well as the water prints I’ve been doing, and I feel really good about the direction I’m going now. That’s always a boost before a big show. But I’d been working to get prints far enough along to show her. Here’s the first one. The arch still needs a little smoothing out, but I’m overall really happy with it. This second tree will be in the same scale and will fit the same background, and then I might dream up some alternate backgrounds for them as well.
