It’s finished. My interpretation of “the secret and how to tell it” is packaged and mailed back to The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition. It was hard to let it go.

It might more aptly be titled “An Exercise in Cross-Hatching.” That technique is relatively new for me and sort of just happened along the way.

It’s different from anything I’ve done before, and I’m really very proud of it.

I could go through and point out all the flaws, but I won’t. I love it, flaws and all. I love that I took the risk of drawing in ink so I’d have to live with the flaws. I love the progression I can see in its pages, as I grew more sure of my vision and my style. I love that it’s done and I can move on.

The entire book can be viewed in my gallery by clicking on the image above or clicking here. You may see some of your ideas in there, and a few thank yous hiding in the end.

I hope you’ll enjoy it!

I’m feeling quiet these days. And I do really need to buckle down and finish a few things. So, I’m taking a little break, but I’ll be back in a while. Catch you then!

Yes, more of the same. I’m stuck in a bit of a hang-up with neglected chores and the usual creative procrastination, and it seems it increases the closer I get to my sketchbook deadline. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

I have done the pencil sketches for a few spreads. It’s just a matter of taking that deep breath and leaping into the permanence—the danger—of ink.

Maybe after I do a few less urgent, more useless things first….

Been a little busy lately, and then I get tired and spend the evening doing … I don’t know what. So not much creativity to show for the week. We’re making bread, though. Testing out different recipes for Easter. We have to test, right?

When I’m kneading bread dough, I always think about great-great-grandmothers, the tough farm women who made bread every single day, who used their hands to feed and care for their families. No wonder we find comfort in bread—it’s probably some genetic memory of those days when bread-baking was an every day, matter-of-fact occurrence of Mother’s provision. It’s more of that rich heritage of simplicity and care that I love so much.

Now I’m teaching my daughter to knead dough and wondering if someday she’ll be making bread for her own children and thinking about great-great-grandmothers….

Another spread in the Secrets sketchbook.

I’m spending a good bit more time on these drawings than I did on the last sketchbook. That one was more of an exercise of creative play, random and quick. This one is focused, purposeful, and much more involved.

Despite some bits I’m not happy with (ink is so terrifyingly permanent!), I like it, a lot.

Today I’m going to play along with Anna and do the “five things” game that she tagged me in. I never do this sort of thing, but I like Anna, and I like that she’s supplied me with a post topic (ha!). (The photo is an entirely unrelated Instagram snap that I took today.)

So. Five facts about me. I always have a hard time with these….

• I love lemonade, and if you blend it up with crushed ice, even better.
• I am assistant teacher to a class of three-year-olds every Sunday morning. They are exhausting and wonderful.
• I never—I mean, never—change my earrings: a small diamond stud and a small silver stud in each ear. It’s just too much work.
• I love living in farm country. It’s beautiful. Smelly, yes. But beautiful.
• I am currently reading War and Peace. I really enjoy Russian literature.

I’m not going to tag anyone else, but why don’t you leave me a comment and tell me something interesting about yourself that I might not already know?

This one found me playing with different thicknesses of pen. There are areas I don’t love, but it still meets the overall vision I had in my head.

Here I wanted to make use of negative space and interesting composition, and it looks just the way I wanted. Thanks to Kellie for the fortune cookie suggestion.

I’m already working on the next one and hope it will meet my vision as well. Putting things in ink always makes me nervous!

I spent the weekend holed up in a cabin with some girlfriends and an abundance of beautiful, old, hand made quilts that I came thisclose to stealing. I spent it drawing, reading, talking, eating … you know the sort of thing. It was peaceful and somewhat quiet, and now I’m back trying to figure out what I was doing before I left. Do you ever get that feeling?

We have a modified version of my watercolor “Seek”:

To download this template, click on the template below, or here.

And a girl and her wolf, in “Daisy Ring”:

To download this template, click on the template below, or here.

The sample paper cuts are in the shop ready to go for anyone who doesn’t want the trouble of all the cutting.

Happy weekend!

St. Patrick’s Day 5k race (that’s 3.1 miles, for all you non-metric-ers).

I finished in under 30 minutes, faster than I’ve ever run it before. The last mile was run at an average pace of 9:25 minutes/mile. That’s 45 seconds faster than my usual “I’m pushing it hard, my face is turning red” 10-minute mile pace. For non-runners that may sound like a small difference, but trust me, it’s huge.

Afterward, we participated in a one-mile fun run with the kids.

His little legs churned as fast as they could go for about 60 seconds, and then I ended up carrying him the rest of the way while he chatted to me about woodpeckers.

She ran the entire mile.

Also: On mile 3, I asked my pace-setter hubby, “Are you running faster all of a sudden?” He said, “No, are you running slower?” He was totally lying.