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I got to walk through a pine woods to visit Walden today. I had read a good but of the book on the plane on the way up here to prepare, and it was lovelier than I expected. Much, much bigger. Down south we would call it a decent sized lake instead of a pond. And it has a full beach ringing it. I was delighted to get to walk and watch clear water and pick up a few stones for friends from the water's edge. In Memphis, our water is the Big Muddy. A clear beach was an unexpected treat.
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I'm in Lincoln and Concord today, and the history is breathtaking. Everything is so much older than down south. The trees are equally stunning. There's a proliferation of beeches here, and I'm a total sucker for them. And then there's this gorgeous one outside the Lincoln library, which is in itself gorgeous.
The cemeteries look different too. Our ones are replete with Victorian monuments. Here they are lovely-shaped slate headstones with interesting and different relief carvings. I did this one as the front piece for my travel sketchbook.
Here's one of the beeches on the walk back
Also drove into Concord and saw Louisa May Alcott's home.
And a place where both Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote
Did one more very quick sketch of an inn where George Washington slept. Sadly they no longer have banjo music on Wednesday nights.
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I've had a hectic schedule lately, which has made it tough to dive into a new intricate print. The sketch from that first house concert kept calling my name. It's an unusual sort of print for me, very little detail, but I was happy with the image and wanted to try to make something more from it. It's also a lovey sort of simple thing to do in a busy week. So I did this, of Larry Unger and Audrey Knuth, and I'm not pondering a small dance piece in the same style to go with it. I intentionally made this one the same height as "The Waltz", my smallest of the dance prints, thinking perhaps I'd end up with a series for my spring show. I'm just starting a much bigger print, so I haven't gotten further in my thinking, but it's germinating on some subterranean level.
In the meantime, I'm grateful to Audrey and Larry for a marvelous weekend in their company and for the music they played in my house.
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I am both listening to and sketching an awful lot of music lately, which is a lovely state of affairs. Nine days after hosting my first ever house concert, I hosted my second as well. My friends and one of my favorite local bands the Side Street Steppers had musical friends coming through town, and I have a bigger front bigger front room than they do. So they brought some more great music to my house and opened the show (above).
Their friend Putnam Smith, who not only plays banjo but also owns a printing press, brought his band the Swamp Brothers. Banjo plus letterpress was all that was needed to talk me into hosting them.
I got their name wrong in the sketch below. Putnam was going through all the iterations they had tried along the way, and when I'm drawing I don't always process everything verbal going on around me, so I ended up with Swamp Boys instead in the sketch...
Their friend Putnam Smith, who not only plays banjo but also owns a printing press, brought his band the Swamp Brothers. Banjo plus letterpress was all that was needed to talk me into hosting them.
I got their name wrong in the sketch below. Putnam was going through all the iterations they had tried along the way, and when I'm drawing I don't always process everything verbal going on around me, so I ended up with Swamp Boys instead in the sketch...
I did a little audience sketching as well, though with three bands in the living room, fully half the audience was also part of the show. That's Ben Hunter on the left and Christian and Vera of the Steppers on the right.
The third act, amazingly playing in my own house, had just won the International Blues Challenge that week. It's a huge competition here in Memphis each year, with two winners, a solo/duo category and a band category. Out of all the musicians who descend from around the world. I was delighted some traditional blues (fiddle, acoustic guitar, harmonica) had won the contest this year and even more delighted to have them play in my home. Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons put on quite a show.
Interestingly, both groups have a printing connection, and I managed to barter for all their cds. Putnam letter presses all his cd sleeves, and Joe's mom is a gorgeous block printer and did all the art for their album. I'd love to do some album artwork sometime. Putnam really liked my recent favorite print, "the Waltz," so my favorite waltz partner and I have now gone to live in Maine. Joe and Ben wanted some letterpress cards, so I got their cd as well, and an invitation to visit the art space they run in Seattle. It was a lovely evening of music and art.
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It was the Cabin Fever dance weekend in Maryville, TN, this past weekend, and I drove east early to visit one of my favorite towns. It had been a crazy enough week that I had been having dinner in my car between meetings, so the evening I arrived I went to my favorite tapas place for a lovely salad, a couple of small pork rolls, and a flan. I had thought I was too tired to sketch, but the flan was so pretty I couldn't resist.
I enjoyed walking around town and hitting the book stores and my favorite brocante, the Downtown Market. It's an indoor flea/antique market with several lovely clothing vendors. I found two cashmere sweaters, real silk pajama pants, and red velvet coat that makes me feel like a movie star. I also sketched my favorite trees there while I was wandering around.
I enjoyed walking around town and hitting the book stores and my favorite brocante, the Downtown Market. It's an indoor flea/antique market with several lovely clothing vendors. I found two cashmere sweaters, real silk pajama pants, and red velvet coat that makes me feel like a movie star. I also sketched my favorite trees there while I was wandering around.
Dinner on Thursday was at a newish place with the alluring name Nightbell. A sweet little upstairs place with small plates and cosy corner sofas. The duck confit on a waffle was just lovely, as was the baked Alaska, my first time to ever try it. I did this sketch largely in the dark. Very dim lighting, but I was charmed by the brocade sofa next to me and had to try.
I spent the rest of the weekend at a house party at my sisters. Nine of us total in the house, and I was way too busy dancing and playing a few tunes to sketch.
For purely self indulgent reasons, I'm going to include this photo from the weekend, taken by Lanny Huddleston. This is my favorite way to find joy when I'm not making art, and Charlie Zisette, with his marvelous dips, made me feel just lovely this weekend. Sometimes it's good for me to move away from the micro movements of carving prints and move my whole body instead. This is the very best way I know how to do that.
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.....This time I played. That's my bass, still in its case, with the empty chairs waiting to be filled. I decided sketching was better than sitting around and thinking about being nervous. Andy Cohen sometimes asks me to play bass for him when he's in town. It's always a wild ride, because he usually does plenty of songs we haven't rehearsed and often songs I've never heard before, but it's fun, and I get a front row seat to watch him perform. And it's sweet that he wants me. Usually I just play in a weekly jam in someone's back living room.
It was a double bill, so I did get to sketch for part of the concert. Below are Andy and his wife Larkin listening to his friends open the show. I realized when I scanned this in that I went from dinner on Monday to Saturday night without sketching, but I had a home show to put on in between, so that took up a lot of the week.
It was a double bill, so I did get to sketch for part of the concert. Below are Andy and his wife Larkin listening to his friends open the show. I realized when I scanned this in that I went from dinner on Monday to Saturday night without sketching, but I had a home show to put on in between, so that took up a lot of the week.
Here are the other concert sketches. My watercolor marker didn't work as well as I remembered it doing before, and I ended up soaking through the page and getting more bleed than I normally. Or like to. But it's just a sketch book.
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I'm behind on my scanning and posting since it's been such a busy month, but I spent a couple of afternoons going to the forest just to enjoy unseasonably warm weather and escape mentally from all the zoo destruction of our park.
It's lovely to take a camp chair (I have a sit-on-the-ground one that's quite light) and settle in with sketchbook and journal and make an afternoon of it.
This one below is much older, but I think I forgot to post it. We've had several lovely spells this winter for forest sketching.
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I had not only never hosted a house concert before last week, but I had never (amazingly) been to one. That is now rectified on both scores. Larry Unger, amazing waltz and tune writer as well as exquisite player, and Audrey Knuth, a marvelous fiddler who amazed my whole crew here, played in my front gallery. I love having my house full of music, and it was also a lovely excuse to invite some different folks in to see my art. We jammed afterwards, and my house was utterly happy with all the music and joy.
Mr. Darcy had a great time too. He lay at Audrey's feet for most of the concert. He was utterly fascinated by Larry playing the jaw harp. He'd never heard anything like it and made hilarious faces.
I did two kind of labored and fussy watercolors and finished with the quick pen sketches above once I was warmed up. I wish I'd done more of them. The left one made me especially happy. I'm still having trouble capturing greater detail in my people sketches. Guess I'll keep practicing.
Mr. Darcy had a great time too. He lay at Audrey's feet for most of the concert. He was utterly fascinated by Larry playing the jaw harp. He'd never heard anything like it and made hilarious faces.
I did two kind of labored and fussy watercolors and finished with the quick pen sketches above once I was warmed up. I wish I'd done more of them. The left one made me especially happy. I'm still having trouble capturing greater detail in my people sketches. Guess I'll keep practicing.
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I am continuing to enjoy the meditative effect of painting my tea, food, or other comestibles. I also like being surrounded by a cloud of friends, even when I am eating on my own, as I often do since I live alone. My tea this morning was in a cup made by my friend potter Melissa Bridgman (who will be joining me at my place again for our Valentine Open Studio Sale on Feb. 5-6). The spoon was a recent present from my best girlfriend Jill, keeper of my secrets, travel and dance buddy, oldest sister in spirit if not blood. And the teapot (which I put into the sketch after I scanned it in) was bought in NYC on a trip for my blood sister Marian's birthday last year. We visited yet another sister who lives there. I am deeply blessed in my community.
Similarly, my wine last night was in a glass made by potter Dale Baucum, a longtime friend and fellow congregant. He and his wife Brin and I taught art together one hilarious Vacation Bible School years ago. And the wine was a present from newer friends, neighbors, who are recent art school grads. They now don't have access to a school press, and they came over to use mine instead. It's fun to be able to have a bit of community when creating art. I am deeply lucky in the people around me.
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I've been giving myself a bit of an easier schedule at the start of the year, which has been a lovely break. I have also, due to several family and social circumstances, had a few more meals out lately than my usual. Two of them made it into my sketchbook. A Saturday night out on the town at Casablanca, one of my favorite restaurants, and a Tuesday lunch at my favorite Mexican place. It's on out from my house but around the corner from my dentist, so I always try to schedule a dental appointment just before lunch time to have a small treat after.