When I first stepped into my studio this morning, frost glittered on the deck out the sliding doors, the light pale as the sun cleared the tops of the trees on the hill behind our house.

“In the pocket of her jacket, Aunt Edna found a small sable brush, and throughout dinner she repeatedly dipped it in her water glass and drew…. upon her absorbent napkin.”

Right now I don’t have the energy or the brain space to write the post I wanted to for today. So I’ll just check in with you. See how you’re doing. Tell you I’m doing fine. Send some words of encouragement your way.

I’ve been thinking about failure. About journeys. Curiosity. Ebbs and flows. Changes.

We’re constantly in a state of change. Sometimes the change is so slow, so gradual, we don’t notice. Other times we’re faced with bigger changes. Or decisions we have to make which will lead to change.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts (in comments and email) after my questions about blogs in last week’s post. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking after reading what you wrote; your words brought about a few epiphanies for me.

Do you keep a sketchbook? Right now I have nine sketchbooks on the go, which might be a bit overkill.

But each book has a different purpose. They're different sizes and different types of paper. One of them is nearly filled and two I recently started for very specific projects -- one dedicated to color and the other as a garden journal.

I think one of the reasons I have so many different sketchbooks is that I've been chasing the myth of the Perfect Sketchbook.