After days of rain, it is sunny and 72 degrees today, so it is a joy to be able to get outside and sketch. I've had a couple of new prints in my head for a while now, and it was good to do the detailed pencil sketches for them. Above is the scene I walk past every day in Overton Park, and New Year's morning the trees caught my eye meaningfully and asked to be in a print. This one will get a little wider (more space between birdbath and bench, and bench and tree), and it will join my art deco series of color prints.

Below is a study for a black and white one, though it will have "Midtown" carved underneath it. Local realtor Joe Spake has been asking for a print that is quintessentially midtown to put on the coffee cups he hands out, and I have always loved this bungalow in my neighborhood.

Funnily enough, Elmore was biking past and saw me sitting on the sidewalk drawing and thought I was a sidewalk bum. He had to do a double-take and turn around up the block to come back and say hello. I'm lucky this neighborhood embraces its eccentrics. No one tends to bother me even when I do settle into the sidewalk for a spell.