February: We've been here before

After the resolutions

I didn’t make any resolutions this year, but I’ve been wanting to share another sketchbook series with something like that in mind—not because the drawings have anything to do with exercise routines or sleep schedules but because I think resolutions often are about the reach and hope for a new perspective.

So let’s head back to Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a semi-local getaway for me and mine. I shared about it before when we took in The View—and I also included several scenes from the area in ‘Tis the Season, a post about winter pansies.

We went there again over Thanksgiving. The sketchbook I made set up a friendly competition between two walks—one at Savage Neck Dunes Natural Area Preserve and the other at Eyre Hall. How would the two compare to each other? (And how would I deal with painting on paper that I found kind of annoying?)

I’ve pulled out some of the images from the sketchbook video to show how I put the places next to each other, always with Savage Neck Dunes first and Eyre Hall second:

1. Tree-lined walkways

2. Plant companions

3. Plants

4. Views of the water

5. Standout moments.

But there is one more thing. The face-off always was intended to be less competition and more of a framing device, but at the very end, I actually came to a surprise “winner.” In short: For all the time we spent outside in spaces that people cared for in one way or another, the most amazing natural sight we probably encountered on that trip was a bit of wild at a local gas station. Off to the side, away from the pumps and from the convenience store register was a line of trees that had naturalized vines winding all throughout—and they were full of pumpkin-shaped gourds. Twenty feet up in the air, also resting on the ground: vines and foliage and smooth greenish-yellow fruit.

Of course it seemed extra perfect that this happened at Thanksgiving. But also just because it was.

“Did you know that you have pumpkins in your trees?” I asked. “Yes!” he said. “But those are gourds.”