Happy Earth Day!

35th International Sketch Crawl

Here are the sketches I did yesterday at the University of Mary Washington where 5 of us gathered for the 35th International Sketch Crawl. If you would like to see what people from all around the world sketched yesterday be sure to go to the forum section at www.sketchcrawl.com

Sugar Maples with sap buckets

Highland County VA Maple Sugar Festival

I spent a recent weekend with dear friends in West Virginia a couple of weeks ago. I had broken my little toe and was unable to wear regular shoes so, while my friends went hiking, I stayed at the farm and sketched. We went to the Highland County (VA) Maple Sugar Festival in Monterrey, about 12 miles from where we were staying and had a great time.The maple syrup farmers had a bad year because the winter was so mild and the maple trees need periods of freezing weather to make the sugar water flow. Some who produced 300 gallons in a normal year were able to make only 30! There was plenty for sale though, so I brought some home and have been enjoying it.

I've started a new sketchbook and I like it. It's a bit smaller than I'm used to but the paper is nice. It's a laid finish so I wasn't sure how it was going to work but the sketches above were done with water color pencils and it took the water well.