Another Sketch, Another Book

We've had a pretty glorious week of temps in the 70's and several good rains that have helped clear smoke from the air and dampen down some nearby forest fires. I've been back on the deck reading in the afternoons and enjoying some walks including one down at city beach. I really wish I'd thought to bring my swim suit - it would have been perfect for a dip in the lake! Today was just too good not to grab a sketchbook so I could stay outside a little longer as I walked around McNearney Park. I certainly need more practice, once again running out of room for the entire building here and wishing I'd turned the sketchbook sideways so I could have gotten it all in. I will post this anyway on the Urban Sketchers Facebook page, remembering what Angela Walters reminds us: "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm certainly not as good as many of the posters, but as I sat in the sun and sketched away while children and adults alike enjoyed the pump track, I certainly felt joy and no need to compare my sketch to others.

I'm gearing up to make another french link book, using cardboard from a cereal box covered in that cat tissue paper. I nearly tossed or gave it away since I am not a cat person. But then I remembered someone who very much is who I had planned to make a book for some day. That day is here. I wasn't going to use cereal boxes again as covers because of some issues I had, but I'm telling myself I will be more careful about applying the glue and weighting. As you can see, the ribbon I'll be sewing over is narrower than what I used on the first book and has a light and a dark version depending on which side of the ribbon you decide to have showing. And you can also see that I will have a choice to make - the blue (there are bits of blue here and there in the print) or the pink (which shows up in dark bits as well as the light background). I hope I don't end up spending too much time making up my mind. Maybe I'll use both!