the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face

The last day of January; it was a long, busy month, wasn’t it? Long, cold and dark, with not as much drawing as normal. Well the Sun came out and so did I, with the sketchbook.

The last day of January; it was a long, busy month, wasn’t it? Long, cold and dark, with not as much drawing as normal. Well the Sun came out and so did I, with the sketchbook. Wandered town looking for something to draw; I was not inspired by anything new, so went somewhere old. It’s the time of year when trees are like bare spindly bones, just asking to be sketched. Of course drawing them out in the open takes time and patience. I may have to photograph a few while they’re still leafless and draw some complicated pictures of branches at home in the warm (like I did here and here and here, a couple of years ago). No branch left behind. Doing them outside is fun too (like here and here) but going for branch accuracy in chilly weather can be a struggle on the old fineliners. Still, in yesterday’s cold sunshine I gave it a shot.

I’m making a habit of revisiting old spots. I last sat and sketched this corner, 5th and E Streets in Davis, about two and a half years ago. Here’s how it looked back then, on a hot July day (in moleskine #1, when for some reason I didn’t want to draw powerlines):