Here it is...that ache so familiar...a longing for something other, right here at the beginning of December. It comes to me in the early hours just as the sky outside my studio window begins to glow. It comes as I pull out decorations, some as old as my husband and I have been married, 34 … Continue reading The Ache of Advent
As evening comes so early these days, I'm like a plant straining towards any light she can find. Advent is a wonderful time to lean into light-filled endeavors, from stringing up twinkle lights to reflecting on the reason for the season. It's also a wonderful time to lean into making things, be they for gifts … Continue reading The Light Letters
I have begun to read Wheesht, a book by Kate Davies, a knitwear designer I have long admired. My dear friend Ellen gave me this book some time ago and I never got around to reading it. Creative Making in Uncertain Times is the subtitle and I came across the book yesterday in an upstairs … Continue reading Wheesht
I walk into a garden and I immediately sense a shift. Perhaps it is simply the aromas of thyme underfoot, jasmine on a trellis, roses in bloom, and rich loamy soil. Maybe it is the visual profusion of greens punctuated by blooming color. Whatever it is, I cannot help but feel a pulse of life … Continue reading A Life-Giving Force
Courtyard Garden. Ink & Watercolor. Sketchbook. When you look up synonyms for the word Devotion, you read words like affection, ardor, zeal, attachment, fondness, love and passion. There is always something or someone on the receiving end of these words. It isn't possible to just be devoted. One is devoted TO something. One has fondness … Continue reading Devotion
Though every day, every moment, is a drawing opportunity, I have been offered a huge opportunity to go draw at a beautiful garden in Asheville, NC. This weekend I am headed to Devotion, the name of Mignon Durham's beautiful garden and home which she has built, planted and curated for the past nine years. To … Continue reading A Drawing Opportunity
I wake up each day and wonder what drawing adventures I will have. Some days I have in mind what I'd like to draw, and I purpose to take my sketchbook, chair and ink outside. For this adventure I needed to go no further than our yard, having seen the rhododendron blooming behind our back … Continue reading Drawing Adventures
I have been going to sketch in a garden at least once a week for a few weeks now. What a joy and wonder it is to see the earth come alive in all its spring splendor in a garden! I'm not sure there is anything else quite so grand as to sit and soak … Continue reading Gardens, Gardens, Gardens!
The season of Lent is not traditionally thought of as a "happy" time. It is meant to be a time of contemplation, of pulling back from areas of dependency to create longing and space for reflection. I decided to pull back from so much Instagram activity but to draw every day in my sketchbook through … Continue reading Fresh Wind in the Garden
As the seasons turn, so do my drawing habits. What was in winter an every other day thing, is now a daily compulsion perhaps akin to all the growing things bursting through the ground these days. Spring has always been a time when I long to be in my sketchbooks more, to be outside painting … Continue reading Turning
