An October Sketchfest

 

I do love autumn: the cooler temps, the dramatic weather, and the long nights. Mmmmm...this shade-loving plant hums with contentment this time of year.

Self-portrait 1990

So far it's been a glorious October that started off with lots of fine days in the forest hiking and sketching and now is transitioning into more and more hours in the studio turning some of those sketches into prints.

Some sketchbook pages

In addition, I've started another accordion sketchbook project, this one inspired by "A Naturalist's Year in the Pacific Northwest." It was written by a local naturalist and is chock-full of fantastic photos and interesting information about the flora and fauna pictured. 

Awesome source of inspiration

The book is organized by day, as in on September 27 over the course of some years, the author spotted the following species. Due to Bezo's business practices and monetary support of the fascist Trump regime, I don't usually buy or recommend anything from Amazon. However, Geoff's book is only available there and it really is a treasure trove for anyone who wants to learn more about the plants and animals of the PNW, so here's the link if you're interested:

https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Year-Pacific-Northwest/dp/B0CLK24J7K

For my project, every day I choose one of the images for that day and draw it in colored pencils while still sitting at the breakfast table.

Post-breakfast drawing

The author has kindly given me permission to be inspired all I want by his work and share it with others, for which I am grateful. If you'd like to see my sketchbook as of October 29, click here to see a video of it on my Substack: sketchbook share

Even though the weather is getting colder and wetter, I'm reminding myself still to get outside sketching as much as possible because of how calming and grounding the experience is. Drawing outside gets me out of my head and off the internet, and it reminds me that this current insane period in human history is but a blip in geologic time.

I'll end this post with some photos from the last No Kings rally and a reminder of my fundraiser for Indivisible.

       

Yours truly                            About 30% of Port Townsend showed up

       

and they showed up in style

Help raise money for Indivisible by purchasing "My Little Chickadee". All proceeds go to Indivisible.  

7x5 in handmade linocut

Thank you and take care!