Gardening in January...

My mind is thinking of gardening today. Love the little postage-stamp sized gardens one sees from the train when traveling in the UK. Small, tidy and intimate. Might do a series on these. Here's a color rough of one.

Thawing

Well, not like this is the end of winter, but we do have a small thaw going on at the moment. The mercury is above 30°! The streets are now bare of snow, but plenty of white still blankets our landscape. I walked Hickory Hill park yesterday. Someone had made the sweetest group of snowmen close to the pathway. Often, people leave small art offerings in the woods. Once, someone made quite an impressive art installation of a glass window temporarily hanging from between two trees. Magic. Here's one such snow sculpture by an anonymous artist, also a small scratchboard of my favorite oak in the park.

Frosted greetings

Snow and cold again today. Hand-prints on the frosty exterior door of a local coffee shop caught my eye. Like the pre-historic cave paintings at Lascaux, they say "I am here!" despite the winter.

The Old Miss...

Took a family field trip this weekend to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. It was an inspiring afternoon to reconnect, sketch a little and get out of the 0° temps. Lots of wonderful things to draw- someday, I'd like to do a picture book on an aspect of this mighty river's natural history. There were some very interesting faces staring back at me at this museum. Above, I had some play with an alligator I sketched (he was in a far too small display- the museum is expanding it's bayou exhibit this summer, thank goodness) Should he be reading on land or in the water? Lantern on the tail? Maybe...

www.mississippirivermuseum.com

Happy New Decade!

May the hanging of a new calendar-virtual or otherwise- bring a sense of hope, peace and new beginnings to you on this first of January!