Sketchbook Tour #1: Chicagobound
We love being in Chicago, but our indoor life wasn’t always so spacious.
(Home in Chicago - watercolor and ink, 2022)
This watercolor book was my little biographer from 2020 to 2022, tracking our move from DC to Chicago
Before the pandemic (when I started actively sharing my art journey), we lived in a tiny house nestled in a suburb of Washington, D.C. for three years.
(Carefully Tucked - gouache, 2020)
When we first got the tiny, we re-stained the weathered siding, but somehow got the gable darker than the rest of the house (we also fully replaced the siding with light blue vinyl before selling, but this is how it looked for most of the time that it was ours).
(Torple - gouache [older sketchbook] 2018)
North Avenue Beach, Chicago, IL - (watercolor, 2022)
As someone who grew up on the east coast, the idea of a “lake beach” cast a dismal mental image, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the aqua blue-green water of Lake Michigan, strange as the juxtaposition of skyscrapers looming nearby was at the time.
Our last spring there was filled yardwork and made up of days marked by how long it took the wildflowers to open. I would bring my coffee outside each morning and whisper words of welcoming and encouragement to all the newcomers before starting the day’s projects. The first poppy took four long days of anticipation and cornflowers seemed to bloom overnight in a variety of colors. The outdoor space was one of the things we cherished (and miss) the most about our time there.
(Blooms of our Labor - gouache, 2021)
It was an interesting life and were excited to be living out one of our dreams tiny life homesteading, but after a few years (plus the months of lockdown), we were ready for the next adventure- which turned out to be a blind move to Chicago for Bobby’s new job!
(gouache, 2021)
Black Rock Harbor, Bridgeport CT (gouache, 2022)
This was just a short walk from where my in-Laws used to live; I liked to slip off and find spots like this to commit to memory when no one else was around. I never really thought of where I grew up as a beach town, but in comparison to the bustle of Chicago, it does seem a little more salty and quaint than I remember looking back.
& a little peek at the seedling of Doubt Sprout Studio in 2020:
At the start of this journey, my workspace
was just this little reading nook
-which could only be accessed with a ladder, like a floating clubhouse just for me (and Tib, he loved it).
Grateful through it all ♡
