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| Another 5x8 gouache sketch from the canyon |
This week, I finished "The Pandemic Sketchbooks, Vol.1." That's what I'm calling my collection of 46 gouache sketches of the canyon behind my studio. I started painting these on April 3rd as a way to clear my head and relax—and to avoid checking the body counts every hour. This has been one of the best things for me, and even now that the country seems to be opening up, it is a practice that I will engage in again and again. It's good for the soul.
I didn't go out every day, but I did go out most days. Usually after lunch, when I knew there'd be some good, strong sunlight on the north wall of the canyon, creating interesting abstract patterns. (I went out mornings sometimes, too, but these sketches were more difficult; for some reason, I find it easier to abstract a pattern that's mostly light than one that is mostly dark. In the mornings, the north wall is mostly in shadow with a few light spots.) I'd take my cushion if I thought I could find a shaded rock to sit on or my stool if not, and then lately, my bug spray as well. Early summer has seen a blossoming of little gnats—cousins to Scotland's midges—the bite of which you never feel until the damage is done.
Every session was a moment of peace. I looked forward to my quiet time, when the chatter in my head would fall silent, and my senses would open up, like two hands lightly cupped to receive communion:
While I sketch in the cool shade of a juniper, the morning grows hot, and the vanilla scent of ponderosa pines fills the air. Cliff swallows arc in the space between me and the canyon's north wall. A Gila woodpecker drums against a dead snag, the sound a counterpoint to the canyon wren's descending notes. The blue shadows under the north wall's rim shift like the minute hand of a clock.
Afterward, I walk slowly back, along a now well-worn path between the clumps of cactus and penstemons. Though I may have hurried out to paint, the return trip is leisurely, and there is nothing beyond the moment.
Will there be a second volume? Most likely.
