On the last day of January I got sick, and stayed home, getting progressively worse. By the first day of February I was laid out in bed with a fever and in no mood for anything. I slept all day long, onyl getting up shortly before two to grab something to eat and catch the news – I saw that Lewis Hamilton had signed for Ferrari? How long was I asleep? That was exciting news, though it wouldn’t happen for another year, so I went back to bed. I did get up shortly before it got dark out, and went for a quick walk on the Greenbelt to get some fresh air. I sketched a tree with the sunset behind it while sat on a bench, drawing in that Nero pencil that I got from one of the symposiums (wait, the last symposium I attended was in 2019?). I like that pencil though, with its thick black texture. The sunset was lovely. I was not feeling lovely, so went home and slipped back into bed.

These trees were an experiment using these Derwent ‘Graphitint’ watercolours that I bought recently, I was really interested in seeing what they could do. I think I like them? I mean I suppose, well no, I don;t like them that much, really. They don’t act like normal watercolours for sure, they do have an interesting texture and yes, feel like they are full of graphite pencil which I suppose they are. This is the view of the back of Covell Commons as seen from the Greenbelt in north Davis. That green rise, that’s beside where me and my son would play with the football when he was much smaller, before he was on soccer teams, we’d go out for a kickaround there setting up a couple of goals, and I’d usually lose. Seems like a long time ago now, but I always think of that patch as our little patch. This isn’t the most accurate sketch, though the day was gloomy with rain coming in and out, so atmospherically it’s accurate enough. I probably won’t be using the Graphitint paints while out urban sketching much but they are interesting enough. I was feeling much better by that Sunday, to the point where my energy was rushing back in, so much so that I could not sleep at night at all, leaving me exhausted the next day.