Drawn the Road Again

Category: Country Mouse

  • Forest fossil

    Forest fossil

    Millions of years ago, central Washington was a lush, dense forest (complete with prehistoric sasquatch-park-rangers, maybe?). The only evidence of it now are some petrified logs, a little museum—and this sign, looking a little fossilized itself. Which, I have to say, is why I love it so much.

  • Trick or treat

    Trick or treat

    This is my favorite time of year—the air is crisp, the leaves are golden, there are pumpkins everywhere, and tomorrow is Halloween. And as the icing on the cake, today happens to be my birthday. (I can tell you, there are few things more delightful than getting to blow out candles in a Halloween costume…

  • Pumpkin-mobile

    Pumpkin-mobile

    This had me laughing for days afterward. And now I can never look at a VW Bug in quite the same way.

  • Celtic Colours

    Celtic Colours

    Well, okay, my visit missed the actual Celtic Colours music festival by a couple of days (sad but true). But even a short two days on Cape Breton gave me a nice taste of the Celtic heritage of the island— —as well as a panorama of stunning autumn color, absolutely everywhere I looked. If that’s…

  • A world where there are Octobers

    A world where there are Octobers

    “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it?” —L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables And I’m so glad my first visit to Prince Edward Island was an October one. Even without the peak fall color everywhere, the…

  • Studio soulfood

    Studio soulfood

    My friend Jessica and I had the opportunity to teach a letterpress class at Penland last year. For one glorious week we got to immerse ourselves in Penland’s unique studio culture. Somehow these folks seem to have figured out the secret to bringing out an artist’s best work. Step one: put them in a beautiful,…

  • Rock of ages

    Rock of ages

    There’s a little trail that makes a circuit around the base of Devils Tower, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s just no bad angle anywhere—every side of the mountain is its good side. For me, the problem wasn’t finding a good sketch spot—it was racing the clock and recording every “shot” I wanted…

  • Raindrops actual size

    Raindrops actual size

    Speaking of stormy weather, it’s a little unnerving to be sitting in the passenger seat, happily sketching along, and suddenly be startled out of your reverie by massive raindrops that sound like rocks hitting the windshield. To be honest, though, it also makes for a thrilling sketch session—especially when you live in the Pacific Northwest,…

  • Brownout

    Brownout

    At the time of this posting, I’ll be away on a new sketching adventure (for clues as to where, check out the Facebook page—or you can wait until I post a few sketches here in two weeks!). At this time of year, my destination is known for unpredictable weather that can be all over the…

  • Bear crossing

    Bear crossing

    Okay, no more bear jokes. Especially since we didn’t exactly feel like laughing after the Tailor and I almost hit the real thing. (Thank goodness for reflexes and broad daylight.) Obviously I didn’t do this sketch while the moment was happening—but it was easy enough to cobble the scene together from memory. Because, you know,…